Tag Archives: Jasmine

Al’s Shaving Products – Lather Shaving Cream – Blue

16 Monday Jun 2014

Posted by in Al's Shaving Products, American, Cream

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Al's Lather Shaving Cream - Blue

So Al’s got a new line of shaving cream which he’s in the process of developing. He sent me out a sampler pack of a bunch of scents that he’s trying out right now, including the one that he currently has available, Blue.

It’s supposed to be a more affordable option than his main line of creams. I guess the million dollar four dollar (the price difference between the two lines) question is whether or not the savings in cost came at the expense of performance? Well, IMHO, yeah, a bit.

Don’t get me wrong here, the lather shaving cream is still a good cream. It’s just not a great cream, which I feel that Al’s main line is. It lathers up easily, however I wasn’t able to get it quite as thick and creamy as I can get the main line. It’s not a very thirsty cream, so just a tad of water would be needed. Folks used to his main line should be warned not to over-water it, as it will start to thin out appreciably if you use the same amount. Still, it yielded a nice and slick cream with some good thickness. Some minor stability issues, but I do mean minor, only thinning out a bit while applied to the face during the shave. One thing it does share with the original formulation is a good amount of volume produced.

The line is designed to also appeal to those who like a more subtle scent to their shaving cream. So, well, anyone who’s been reading my reviews will know that is one aspect I’m not going to be a fan of. That seemed to be the case for the sample I tried, coming in at what I’d consider to be just under a medium strength scent. So great for those of you who don’t like their scents strong I guess.

The “Blue” is designed to be a rendition of Davidoff’s Cool Water, which was itself an homage to Creed’s Green Irish Tweed. It’s a pleasant blend, although like most “cologne-y” scents, I have trouble picking out any of the individual notes. Al says it’s crafted with lavender, peppermint, geranium, jasmine, coriander, rosewood, musk, and amber. Quite pleasant.

  • 9/10 Scent Pleasantness
  • 7/10 Scent Strength
  • 8/10 Lather Quality

Overall, I’ll give it a 7/10. It’s a good cream, but I’d mostly recommend sticking with the originals instead, unless you’re one of those folk who do like their creams to not be as heavily scented.

Gear used:

Ingredients: Aloe Vera, Water, Stearic Acid, Myristic Acid, Potassium Hydroxide, Glycerin, Coconut Acid, fragrance, Sodium Hydroxide

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Kell’s Original Hemp Blend Shaving Soap – Black Tea

17 Sunday Mar 2013

Posted by in American, Kell's Original, Soap

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Kell's Original Hemp Blend - Black Tea

Kell’s Original Black Tea is one of those ones were it’s probably best just to start off by giving you the listing of how they describe the scent:

This smoky, sexy and sophisticated fragrance is reminiscent of roasted tea leaves with strong overtones of tobacco. With surprising top notes of Italian Bergamot, Sicilian Lemon and Southern Orange, the blend winds down with Black Tea Leaves, Star Jasmine, White Cedarwood, Amber Crystal and a rich musk. This is a bold and unusual scent sure to intrigue.

So, as you can see, it’s a fairly complex scent. I’m not going to lie, had someone asked me to sniff it and give a description, I’m not sure that “tea” would have popped up. But, knowing that’s what they’re going for, I can see how it hints at that. I’m not entirely sure that I pick up everything listed there, in particular I don’t get all that much of a citrus impression at all, be it lemon, orange, or bermagot. As an aside, I think I would greatly enjoy a shaving soap that manages to capture the essence of Earl Grey, a classic blend of black tea and bermagot.

Anyways, it’s a complex scent, but it’s rather enjoyable; I found it to be somewhat invigorating, it’s just spicy enough to give a little bit of a kick to the senses. It comes on just shy of “strong”, but manages to avoid fading noticeably from there.

As is expected now from Kell’s Original, the lather is quite nice. It’s provides good performance in thickness, glide, and moisturizing properties, provided that you remember to use enough water! Quite voluminous as well, a fully loaded brush will provide far more lather than is needed for a typical 3-pass shave.

  • 9/10 Scent Pleasantness
  • 9/10 Scent Strength
  • 8/10 Lather Quality

All-in-all, 8/10. I’d definitely recommend at least trying out a sampler. Also available with aloe, although I haven’t tried that formulation.

Gear used:

Hemp blend ingredients: Coconut Oil, Palm Oil, Olive Oil (Grade A extra virgin), Safflower Oil, Glycerine (vegetable origin), Hemp Seed Oil (unrefined), Purified Water, Sodium Hydroxide (saponifying agent), Sorbitol (moisturizer), Sorbitan oleate (emulsifer), Soy bean protein (conditioner), Wheat Protein (conditioner)

Kell’s Original Hemp Blend Shaving Soap – Energy

20 Tuesday Nov 2012

Posted by in American, Kell's Original, Soap

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Kell’s Original rather clearly based the scent of their “energy” soap upon the fragrance oil of the same name available from Brambleberry.com (as they appear to have done so with a number of their other scents as well). After all, they use the exact same description for the scent:

A stimulating blend of Citrus, including Grapefruit, Lemon and Lime, with hints of fresh Cucumber and Jasmine, and a touch of Pineapple, Blackberry and Champagne. Energy is an exciting mix that’s perfect for spring and summer.

That having been said, I can see why they didn’t want to mess with a formula that works. This is an absolutely wonderful scent. I can see why they call it energy, as it’s almost a bit of a pick-me-up in soap form, sniffing it seems to invigorate. It’s fruity and citrusy and sweet.

Strength-wise, we’re talking just shy of perfect. The soap itself is very strongly scented, and the lather doesn’t disappoint. It stays fairly strong throughout the shave.

The lather itself was also quite nice. It was a fairly thirsty soap, but absorbed the extra water while staying nice and thick, ensuring a slick glide in the process. It was also fairly voluminous in the amount produced. Left the face feeling quite nice.

9/10, and I think this might be in the current running for 2nd favourite soap to date. Well worth a shot. Also available with aloe, although I haven’t tried that formulation.

Gear used:

Hemp blend ingredients: Coconut Oil, Palm Oil, Olive Oil (Grade A extra virgin), Safflower Oil, Glycerine (vegetable origin), Hemp Seed Oil (unrefined), Purified Water, Sodium Hydroxide (saponifying agent), Sorbitol (moisturizer), Sorbitan oleate (emulsifer), Soy bean protein (conditioner), Wheat Protein (conditioner)

The Strop Shoppe – Baker Street

15 Monday Oct 2012

Posted by in American, Soap, Strop Shoppe

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Here dwell together still two men of note
Who never lived and so can never die:
How very near they seem, yet how remote
That age before the world went all awry.
But still the game’s afoot for those with ears
Attuned to catch the distant view-halloo:
England is England yet, for all our fears–
Only those things the heart believes are true.

A yellow fog swirls past the window-pane
As night descends upon this fabled street:
A lonely hansom splashes through the rain,
The ghostly gas lamps fail at twenty feet.
Here, though the world explode, these two survive,
And it is always eighteen ninety-five.

– 1895 by Vincent Starrett

With their Baker Street soap, the fine folks over at the Strop Shoppe attempted to evoke images “of sitting rooms, pipes, and foggy London streets” to start off your day with “The Game Afoot”.

And I would say they succeeded marvellously. The blend of Bergamot, Juniper, Jasmine, and Patchouli have combined wonderfully to create a scent that could easily be something that Mr. Watson or Sherlock Holmes would have worn. This is my 2nd favourite scent, behind TOBS’s Jermyn Street.

And they didn’t skimp on the scent either. The soap itself smells quite strongly, and the lather carries the aroma rather nicely, staying noticeable throughout the entire shave, without fading. I might have liked perhaps just a fraction stronger, but I am hardly complaining.

The shave itself was likewise great. It lathers up very easily into a thick creamy voluminous foam, with quite a wide “sweet spot” for the amount of water it needs to balance the thickness with the slickness. During a normal shave, it left the skin feeling quite and moist afterwards. The only downside I saw was some irritation when I left it sitting on my face for a while (when I was testing how long the scent would last), but that took longer to emerge than the average shave takes me anyways, but those with sensitive skin might want to be a bit wary.

I’m not sure if it’s on purpose or not, but the cakes sent out fit just perfectly into the wide-mouthed mason jars I use to store most of my soaps (when I don’t feel like paying extra for a jar from the manufacturer). A nice bonus. One note, this review was of the original vegan-friendly vegetable-oil based configuration. This scent is also one of ones being offered in a tallow-based soap or in their “special edition” with shea and cocao butter.

Normally, I might be debating whether or not to give it a 9/10 or a 10/10, but seeing as how this is currently my favourite shave soap to date, I’ll go ahead and round up. 10/10. Sir Conan Doyle would be proud.

Gear used:

Ingredients: Stearic Acid, Glycerin, Coconut Oil, Palm Oil, Rice Bran Oil, Fragrance.

Saponifying agents : Potassium Hydroxide, Sodium Hydroxide.

May contain : Sunflower Oil (Used as a substitute for Rice Bran Oil when needed).

RazoRock “La Famiglia” Cumba Cheech – orange blossom and jasmine soap

30 Thursday Aug 2012

Posted by in Italian, RazoRock, Soap

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Edit: This scent has been discontinued

No, I have no idea what exactly a Cumba Cheech is supposed to mean or refer to. Other than a rather nice shave soap, that is. The first impression is that it’s a quite soft shaving soap. Almost seems to have more in common with a cream than with a hard triple-milled style soap, with a bit more stiffness than Play-Doh.

Now, when shaving with most soaps, I’ll typically lather the soap in the container it came in (or whatever container I put it in), whereas with a cream, I’ll transfer a bit of the cream to my scuttle and lather it there. For this soap, I did one day of each, and found I had better results treating it as a cream.

It easily lathered up into a nice thick cushioning foam, which provided enough slickness and lubrication to make the shave go well. Or at least, the aspects of the shave that didn’t go well this morning I chalk up to the blade. I think I’m done trying out the Derby Extras.

As for the scent, it was rather nice. The sweetness of the orange blossom was mostly overpowered by the jasmine, with a hint of bitterness to the aroma. Overall, it came together well, and I rather enjoyed it.

Strength-wise, it came on strong enough, but dissipated quickly. So lather early and lather often! As I usually only lather a third of my face at a time (left, right, muzzle), this wasn’t too much of an issue.

  •  8/10 Scent Pleasantness
  • 7/10 Scent Strength
  • 10/10 Lather thickness
  • 8/10 Lather slickness

Overall, I give it a 8/10. It gave a great shave, smelled good, and you certainly can’t argue with the price.

Gear used: