Tag Archives: Green Irish Tweed

Queen Charlotte Soaps – Green Irish Tweed type shaving cream

12 Friday Jul 2013

Posted by in American, Cream, Queen Charlotte Soaps

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QCS - GIT Cream

Today’s review is of Queen Charlotte Soaps’ Green Irish Tweed shaving cream. Now, I’ve reviewed their GIT soap before, and found it to be somewhat lacking, especially in scent strength. This fared better.

The cream’s lather was pretty good; fairly thick for a cream, it lathered up with a bit of elbow grease to something with a good balance of thickness and lather slickness, with a fairly wide “sweet spot” for acceptable water content to pull this off.

The scent seemed like a pretty decent Green Irish Tweed imitation (keeping in mind that I’ve never smelled the actual stuff!). For those who don’t know the scent, here’s how QCS describes it:

This is our rendition of Green Irish Tweed, the cologne created by Creed that is a favorite among the famous and royalty. With top notes of lemon and verbena, middle notes of iris and violet leaves, and base notes of Mysore sandalwood and ambergris, Green Irish Tweed smells refined and sophisticated.

Now, back to the soap version of the stuff, I could barely detect any scent whatsoever. This stuff is far better in that regard. This isn’t to say that it’s a strong scent, mind you, but at least you can tell it’s there, albeit with a fair amount of fading during the course of the shave.

  • 8/10 Scent Pleasantness
  • 7/10 Scent Strength
  • 8/10 Lather Quality

All in all, it’s a decent enough if rather middle of the road cream. Not outstanding in any aspect, but it doesn’t fall flat anywhere either. 7/10 overall.

Gear used:

Ingredients: Water, saponified stearic acid, glycerin, saponified tallow, palm oil, olive oil, and coconut oil, aloe vera extract, fragrance oil, kaolin clay, phenoxyethanol (and) caprylyl glycol, vitamin E.

Mystic Water Soap – Irish Traveller

31 Wednesday Oct 2012

Posted by in American, Mystic Water Soaps for Men, Soap

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Mystic Water Soap for Men is hardly unique in doing an interpretation of Creed’s Green Irish Tweed scent. It seems like every artisan soap-maker with more than a dozen scents gives it a go. Irish Traveller is theirs attempt.

The scent itself is quite nice, what I will assume is a reasonable interpretation of the original (I’m hoping to get a bowl of the Creed stuff for xmas!). The strength leaves something to be desired; the soap itself smells fine, but like a lot of soaps, the lather fails to deliver. I was only able to catch the occasional faint whiff when it was applied to the face.

The sample is generously sized; the soap pliable, but not enough to be considered a soft soap, or a “croap”. It lathered up easily, and performed decently. I would have preferred a bit more slickness, but it cushioned quite well, and overall gave a perfectly decent shave.

Overall, I’d say it’s a 6/10. I was far more impressed with their Coconut Lime Verbena; I’ll see how the rest of the samples go.

Gear used:

Ingredients (actually listed on the sample package!): Tallow, Water, Castor Seed Oil, Glycerin, Potassium Hydroxide, Shea Butter, Avocado Oil, Palm Oil, Fragrance, Sodium Hydroxide, Stearic Acid, Aloe Vera Leaf Juice, Bentonite, Silk.

Man Cave Soapworks – Gentleman’s Tweed

29 Monday Oct 2012

Posted by in American, Man Cave Soapworks, Soap

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After a recommendation from a fellow redditor, I looked into Man Cave Soapworks, and promptly bought every scent they make. As an aside, it seems like most artisan soap makers put little effort into their packaging; I usually only buy the puck itself and just throw it into a mason jar or tupperware. For these, however, Carrie over Man Cave Soapworks appears to have actually put some effort and skill into crafting unique interesting labels for each of her soap scents. So, to any other soap-makers out there, presentation counts too!

Gentleman’s Tweed would be their take upon Creed’s classic Green Irish Tweed scent. Here’s what they have to say about it:

This rich, sporty scent bursts with a sprig of Dublin ivy and a blend of French verbena and lemon. Green herbaceous clover, sublime notes of mysore sandalwood and gray amber will make you wish you were with nary a care on O’Connell Street in Dublin; Guinness in hand.

It’s a bit sweeter than most other versions of this scent that I’ve smelled so far. All in all, it’s an extremely pleasant scent. Unfortunately, it’s not strong enough. Quite nice in the jar, but when lathered and applied to the face? Only the faintest occasional whiff. As anyone who reads my reviews on a regular basis knows, this is all too common of a fault amongst soaps across the board. Seriously people, I like your scents! I want to be able to smell them when I’ve shaving, not just when I’m sticking my nose in the jar.

For the shave itself, it performs about the same as most other Glycerine shave soaps that I’ve come across. Nice and thick lather, fairly decent amount of glide. No issues finding a good balance between the two. Plus it did seem to leave the face seeming a bit softer / nicer than most soaps.

Overall, I’d give it a 6/10. I wish it could be a bit stronger scented, but at that price point it might still be worth a shot.

Gear used:

Ingredients: Coconut Oil, Palm Oil, Safflower Oil, Glycerin, Purified Water, Sodium Hydroxide,  Organic Shea Butter, Sorbitol, Sorbitan Oleate, Bentonite Clay, Soy Bean Protein, Wheat Protein, Fragrance.