Mystic Water Soap – Indian Summer (Scent off entrant)

Tags

9/10, ginger root, mystic water, pumpkin, saffron, Scent Off 2013, shaving soap, spice

This review is for one of the entrants for our good pal mantic’s 2013 Scent Off! I was lucky enough to be selected as one of the judges. The first one to be judged in the contest will be from Mystic Water Soap for Men, a soap they call Indian Summer. I’m sure many of you will have seen the overview from all the judges already, but here’s my impressions.

The soap is a newer formulation than ones that I’ve tried from them before (the main difference appearing to be the addition of lanolin), and I think I do like it better. Previously I’d had issues with getting a good balance of glide and thickness out of their soaps, they needed fiddling to get the right balance; that really was not an issue with this soap at all; there was some risk of not having enough water to get a good glide, as looks could be a bit deceiving, but that was easily rectified once I figured out that it needs a tiny splash more after it looked good enough, but some experimentation showed that it wasn’t easy to overshoot the sweet spot. But enough water and a bit of elbow grease and I got a great shave out of it; nice thick cream for a good cushion, plenty of glide, good stability and it left the face feeling great to boot.

Of course, since it’s the scent off, I’m sure you also want to hear about the scent! It’s a nice sweet scent that has a bit of spiciness to it. They were shooting for a scent that brings to mind an Indian summer day in Indiana; here’s what they had to say:

I wanted to combine the scent of freshly cut pumpkin with ginger root, cream and spices that, to me, evokes comfort and warmth as we go into the cooler season. I added Italian saffron for color and subtle fragrance.

I thought it to be quite pleasant, although I’m not entirely sure I get all that much pumpkin from it. The strength was also quite good, starting off with what I’d say is just below a “strong”, with very little fading at all. I also feel it fit well with the theme of the contest.

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

So, overall, yeah, I’m happy rounding up to a 9/10. That having been said, some of the other judges did have a reaction to the soap, myself being blessed with skin of steel not being amongst them, so if you’re got sensitive skin you might want to stay away from this one.

• Cost: Nil, since I’m judging it for mantic’s contest. And it doesn’t look like they’re selling it to the general public. Sorry.

Gear used:

• Brush: Mühle HJM Black Fibre
• Razor: 1966 Solid Nickel Gillette Tech
• Blade: Treet Dura Sharp
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

Ingredients: Tallow, Water, Ricinus Communis (Castor) Seed Oil, Glycerin, Potassium Hydroxide, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Fruit, Persea Gratissima (Avocado) Oil, Elaeis Guineensis (Palm) Oil, Sodium Hydroxide, Fragrance, Stearic Acid, Lanolin, Aloe Barbadensis (Aloe Vera) Leaf Juice, Bentonite, Allantoin, Silk, Saffron (Crocus Sativa) Flower Extract.

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Mystic Water Soap – Lilac shaving soap

Tags

7/10, floral, lilac, mystic water, shaving soap

Lilac is one of my favourite floral scents, and Mystic Water did a pretty decent job of replicating it here. T’is a shame the girlfriend can’t stand lilacs. Oh well. The strength of the aroma was just ok, it started off decent enough, but faded a fair bit during the shave.

Strength-wise, it was decent enough. It started off rather strong, and faded a bit, rather quickly, but after an initial drop off stayed fairly steadily strong throughout the shave.

The lather was good; a decent amount of glide combined with a nice thick lather; a reasonable balance. I’d say the amount of water required to achieve this would be a bit below average. Definitely what I’d consider a quality shave.

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

Overall, I’d say it’s a 7/10. A bit stronger would have been nicer.

• Cost: $9.91 for a 4 oz puck or a 2 oz shaving stick; $11.79 for the puck with a tub; 1/2 oz samples are 3 for $3.50. 

Gear used:

• Brush: Mühle HJM Black Fibre
• Razor: Edwin Jagger DE81BL (Red)
• Blade: Crown Super Stainless
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

Ingredients: 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.

Mystic Water Soap – Marrakesh shaving soap

Tags

7/10, cedarwood, cinnamon, citrus, Lime, mystic water, Orange, patchouli, shaving soap, spice, wood

“I believe that Marrakech ought to be earned as a destination. The journey is the preparation for the experience. Reaching it too fast derides it, makes it a little less easy to understand.”
― Tahir Shah, In Arabian Nights

I managed to wrest a very good lather out of this soap, although I found I needed to do a fair amount of fiddling with the water content to keep it where I liked it, as some of the water evaporated off between passes. I think one aspect that tends to get overlooked when making lather is just good old elbow-grease; put a bit more work into actually working your lather and the results do improve, just don’t be lazy! Anyways, a good shave, with good enough glide (assuming you keep the water content high enough!) and nice and thick.

I’ll note here that I’ve decided to slightly tweak my scoring system when it comes to the lather quality; I’ve been giving out too many 9/10s, and there’s sufficient range within that group to justify two rankings. So now, the “high 9s” will be staying 9s, the “low 9s” will be bumped down to 8s, and everything below it will drop a score too. I’ll be going and adjusting the scores on previously submitted soaps as well.

The aroma today was, well, rather underwhelming. Mystic Water touts it as “dark iron-distilled East Indian patchouli, Virginia cedarwood, cinnamon leaf, oak moss, lime and petigrain essential oils” which seems accurate enough. It’s earthy and woodsy, and reasonably pleasant. Just not strong enough; when you first lather it up and slap it on your face, you only get just a hint of the scent, and even that mostly fades away as you shave.

• 8/10 Scent Pleasantness
• 6/10 Scent Strength
• 8/10 Lather Quality

So, overall I’m going to give it a 7/10. There’s nothing bad about it per se, but nothing stands out.

• Cost: $9.91 for a 4 oz puck or a 2 oz shaving stick; $11.79 for the puck with a tub; 1/2 oz samples are 3 for $3.50. 

Gear used:

• Brush: Wee Scott
• Razor: Edwin Jagger DE81BL (Red)
• Blade: Astra Superior Platinum
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

Ingredients: Tallow, Water, Castor Seed Oil, Glycerin, Potassium Hydroxide, Shea Butter, Avocado Oil, Palm Oil, Sodium Hydroxide, Patchouli EO, Stearic Acid, Cedarwood EO, Lime EO, Fragrance, Aloe Vera Leaf Juice, Bentonite, Cinnamon Leaf EO, Silk.

Mystic Water Soap – Mysore Sandalwood

Tags

8/10, mystic water, sandalwood, shaving soap

Mystic Water Soap’s Mysore Sandalwood is next up on the roadshow edition of my reviews.

Once again, I managed to wrangle some very very good lather out of this soap;  I did a bit more experimentation with this than I usually do, and while I had previously done rather well with other Mystic Water samples on just a little bit of water, I progressively added water as I went during this review. It seems this one has a very very large “sweet spot”. While you can get a suitable level of slickness without much water, you can also likewise add a significant amount with a minimal impact on the thickness of the lather. All in all, one hell of a shave.

The scent is a sandalwood scent, and as far as I can tell a reasonable interpretation thereof, using a fragrance version of the scent as opposed to the actual essential oil. Being a good rendition of the scent, I’ll give it a couple bonus points, despite the fact I’m not really all that crazy about sandalwood.

Strength-wise, it was quite good. It came on reasonably strong while lathered, without any significant fading throughout the course of the shave.

• 9/10 Scent Pleasantness
• 9/10 Scent Strength
• 8/10 Lather Quality (reflects new scoring as outlined here)

So, if you’re looking for a nice sandalwood scented soap, this is definitely one to be looking at. 8/10.

• Cost: $9.91 for a 4 oz puck or a 2 oz shaving stick; $11.79 for the puck with a tub; 1/2 oz samples are 3 for $3.50. 

Gear used (Roadshow edition!):

• Brush: Wee Scott
• Razor: Bic Comfort Twin
• Scuttle: A empty tub that formerly contained the Body Shop’s Maca Root shaving cream.

Ingredients: 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.

Mystic Water Soap – Orange Vanilla

Tags

7/10, citrus, Fruit, mystic water, Orange, shaving soap, vanilla

Mystic Water for Men’s Orange Vanilla scent is, well, orange (and tangerine) and vanilla. The orange is nicely tempered by the vanilla. Not much else to say about it other than I like it.

Strength-wise, it was middling. Mostly faded away shortly after being applied to the face, although I was still able to catch the occasional whiff of it.

This one seemed to provide better glide than previous samples I’d tried from Mystic Water, or more to the point, it didn’t require as much water (and resultant dilution of the lather) to get enough lubrication. With just the water left on the brush and a few extra drops, I was able to work up quite a rich thick lather. I’m not sure if the variation I saw was due to actual differences in the soaps, or perhaps something minor different in the way I handled it. Either way, this was a top-notch shave.

• 8/10 Scent Pleasantness
• 7/10 Scent Strength
• 8/10 Lather Quality (reflects new scoring as outlined here)

Overall, I’d say it’s a 7/10. I wish it came across a bit stronger, but still worth a go if you figure you might like that combination of scents.

• Cost: $9.91 for a 4 oz puck or a 2 oz shaving stick; $11.79 for the puck with a tub; 1/2 oz samples are 3 for $3.50. 

Gear used:

• Brush: Wee Scott
• Razor: Vintage Bakelite Slant
• Blade: Shark Super Stainless
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

Ingredients: Tallow, Water, Castor Seed Oil, Glycerin, Potassium Hydroxide, Shea Butter, Avocado Oil, Palm Oil, Sodium Hydroxide, Stearic Acid, Fragrance, Citrus Sinensis (Orange) Oil, Citrus Tangerina (Tangerine Peel) Oil, Aloe Vera Leaf Juice, Bentonite, Silk.

Mystic Water Soap – Irish Traveller

Tags

cologne, Green Irish Tweed, mystic water, shaving soap

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.

• 8/10 Scent Pleasantness
• 5/10 Scent Strength
• 8/10 Lather Quality (reflects new scoring as outlined here)

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.

• Cost: $9.91 for a 4 oz puck or a 2 oz shaving stick; $11.79 for the puck with a tub; 1/2 oz samples are 3 for $3.50. 

Gear used:

• Brush: The Colonel
• Razor: Vintage Bakelite Slant
• Blade: Bolzano Superinox
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

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.