Elegant Rose artisan shaving soap – Woodland Spice

Tags

9/10, cedar, cinnamon, cloves, Elegant Rose, fir, Orange, shaving soap, spice, wood

So, when Melissa over at the Elegant Rose boutique contacted me about reviewing her soaps, I was initially reluctant, after having a look at the ingredient listing on her page. Well, turns out I was at least a bit mistaken, she had completely reformulated her soap, this time not falling into the whole “slight alterations to a hand soap” trap that so many artisan soap makers do when they want to branch out into shaving soap. She just didn’t have it up on her website for sale at that point; now she does.

And the product that she did provide to me is pretty darned good.

Latherwise, it’s a reasonably thirsty soap. Not quite as much needed as, say, Mike’s Naturals or Barrister and Mann, but you’re definitely going to want to add a small splash when lathering to help develop it. It’s too finnicky, so absolute precision isn’t a worry here. It develops into a nice thick lather with pretty good glide, although perhaps not quite what I’d say is great glide. After the shave, it leaves the face feeling nice and moisturized, smooth, etc. I’d imagine that’s in no small part due to the kokum and shea butter?

Anyways, it’s good stuff; she obviously actually did her research and tested thoroughly. And, as a bonus, it smells nicely too!

The woodland spice is, well, pretty much exactly like what it sounds like, a woodsy scent combined with spicy notes, most notably the cloves and the cinnamon. With some sweetness too, from orange and probably at least some influence just from the kokum and shea butter in the soap itself. A very deep invigorating scent, great for the winter months. As far as soaps go, it’s not too shabby in the strength department; once lathered up and applied to the face it presents itself rather noticeably, with only some fading during the course of a pass.

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

I think it’s reasonable to give this one a 9/10. I’m really glad that she managed to reformulate her soap with this much success!

• Cost: As mentioned, I was provided this soap sample for the purposes of this review. Pucks of the soap can be obtained from the Elegant Rose website, for 14.95 per 4 oz. Just keep in mind that this review is valid only for their artisan shaving soap. As well, Melissa provided a coupon code “Shave” which could get you 10% off your order until April 24th.

Gear used:

• Brush: Mühle HJM Black Fibre
• Razor: Vintage Bakelite Slant
• Blade: Personna DE
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

Ingredients: Saponified Oils of vegetable stearic acid, organic shea butter, kokum butter, organic palm oil, avocado oil, coconut oil, castor oil, apricot kernel oil, organic jojoba oil and essential oils.

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eShave Mandarin shave soap

Tags

7/10, citrus, eshave, Fruit, Orange, shaving cream

Ok, so I’ve been lazy lately. Sorry about that. During this time, I’ve been using almost exclusively this soap, which I’ve had forever and just hadn’t gotten around to reviewing. So, suffice it to say at least, I’ve got a pretty good idea of how much I like this soap, having tested it for about 4 months straight.

Which isn’t to say that I’m necessarily going to have all that much more to say about it mind you.

The scent is supposed to be mandarin, and for that, I suppose that it fits reasonably well enough. It’s a sweet vaguely orange-y scent. I think I also catch a bit of the Shea butter as well, one of those ingredients in the actual soap that you can still sometimes actually get a whiff of.

It’s a somewhat weak scent. Just strong enough that you can notice it during the shave, if you’re paying attention. Not strong enough to command your attention if you’re not.

As for the shave itself, it’s rather good. It has a very wide range for the amount of water that you can use and still get a good shave. Using just a bit more than a moist brush will do a passable job, add more and you get a good balance of glide and thickness, keep adding water and it thins out only gradually. It never does get to quite what I’d consider to be an ideal balance of the two, mind you, but still overall, I’d say it’s a really good soap. The moisturization is about average for a typical commercial product.

• 8/10 Scent Pleasantness
• 6/10 Scent Strength
• 9/10 Lather Quality

I probably rounded up on the lather quality above, but I’m going to have to round down for the overall due to the weakness of the scent. 7/10.

• Cost: I had purchased this from Fendrihan, where a refill goes for $26.50, or you can purchase it with the bowl for $39.

Gear used:

• Brush: Mühle HJM Black Fibre
• Razor: Feather AS-D2
• Blade: Astra Superior Platinum

Ingredients: Potassium Palmate, Sodium Palmate, Potassium Stearate, Potassium Palm Kernelate, Glycerin, Water, Sodium Stearate, Sodium Palm Kernelate, Fragrance, Palm Kernel Acid, Shea Butter, Cocamide DEA, Pentasodium Pentetate, Tetrasodium Etidronate, FD&C Yellow 5 Al Lake (CL 19140), D&C Red 7 (CL 15850), D&C Yellow 10 Al Lake (CL 47005), Limonene, Citral, Hydroxycintronellal, Citronellol, Geraniol.

The Strop Shoppe – Russian Tea limited edition

Tags

9/10, cinnamon, citrus, clove, Fruit, Orange, shaving soap, spice, strop shoppe

Despite its name, “Russian Tea” is an American invention, or at least the mix of tea, oranges, cloves, and cinnamon upon which this scent is based is, where it’s most popular as a Christmastime drink in the Southeast.

Strop Shoppe specifies that it’s a combination of orange, clove, and other spices. Those two scents are definitely quite noticeable in the mix, as well as a cinnamon-y note as well. I didn’t really notice much in the way of tea, however. Overall, it’s a sweet spicy concoction, which I found to be rather pleasant.

And the strength level of the scent is pretty much ideal for me. Nice and strong, without any noticeable fading while you shave.

The performance is excellent, as expected from one of the Strop Shoppe’s special edition soaps. It lathers up easily, very thick with a great amount of glide as well. And some great moisturization properties to boot.

I do however have to mention the inconsistency on the labeling. Again. The label listing of ingredients doesn’t list the cocoa butter or shea butter that another part of the label specifies it has in the “double butter formula”. Also, this soap can’t seem to figure out if it’s the special edition or the limited edition, as both are on the label. I seriously hope that I stop having to see labeling inconsistencies when dealing with the Strop Shoppe in the future. It’s irksome. Frankly, they don’t seem to be getting any better at this whatsoever. For example, on their website, the “Limited Edition – Vivace with Tallow & Lanolin” doesn’t have any lanolin at all in the ingredient listing.

Edit: So, apparently the newer style of the labels for the special edition Russian tea had the labelling fixed. And they’ve since fixed the issues with the ingredient listing on their website for the Limited Editions.

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

So, I think I’ll be giving this a 9/10. A very nice soap.

• Cost: I think this was probably actually the Limited edition, as it’s in the 4 oz tub instead of the 6 oz tub that the special editions seem to come in. But the limited edition doesn’t currently seem to be in stock; the special edition version is however, at $18.99 for a 6 oz tub.

Gear used:

• Brush: Wee Scott
• Razor: Vintage Bakelite Slant
• Blade: Big Ben Super Stainless

Ok… as for the ingredient listing, here is what the label says:

Ingredients: Potassium Stearate, Sodium Stearate, Glycerin, Castor Seed oil, Coconut Oil, Fragrance.

As mentioned above, I don’t think that’s accurate.

Wm. Neumann & Co – Old Fashioned Soda Shaving Cream

Tags

9/10, Birch, cinnamon, citrus, clove, Coriander, floral, Fruit, lemon, mint, Neroli, nutmeg, Orange, shaving cream, soda, spice, Star Anise, vanilla, Wintergreen, Wm. Neumann & Co, wood

Now, some of you have probably noticed that I’ve been pretty lazy with getting these reviews out lately. For that, I apologize. It’s had one side effect; rather than trying several soap or cream a couple times, without getting updates out, I’d just been reusing and reusing one of them. So, rather than getting the usual 2 – 3 tries that other soaps and creams get, this upcoming cream has gotten used about ten times that. One of my most thoroughly reviewed products ever!

Wm. (William) Neumann & Co’s schtick is that the descendant of a pharmacist from the turn of the last century found a notebook wherein said gentleman had found the recipes for a bunch of custom scents that the fellow had created.

So I was prompted to purchase this product after seeing Mantic’s review of it. He says that he smelled Cola and Root beer, with a bit of cream soda; his wife got a citrus cream soda vibe. Personally, I’d say it’s cola, root beer, with a bit of Dr. Pepper. It’s a sweet, slightly tangy scent that I think if I were to sniff it blind and be asked what it smelled like, I would probably reply with something similar to “Old Fashioned Soda”. Really suits what they were going for. They describe it as a “secret combination of Orange, Lemon, Nutmeg, Coriander, Neroli, Cinnamon, Wintergreen, Clove, Birch, Star Anise, and Vanilla”, which seems like a reasonable description to me; it comes together quite nicely.

The strength of it was pretty good. It starts off pretty much perfect, although it does experience fairly significant fading as the shave progresses. Still, it was “strong enough” for the time it took to finish off each of my cheeks and the neck, which isn’t too shabby.

As for the performance of the cream itself, it’s very good, although I did find it a bit tricky to get just right. In particular, I found it was fairly easy to over-do it with the amount of water added, leaving a lather that’s too thin. Not too much water is needed at all, and a bit easy to overshoot. That said, when you do get it right, it does result in a very fine lather with some great glide and cushioning, and some good moisturization to boot.

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

All in all, I’d say it’s a pretty damned fine cream. Fine enough that I believe it deserves a spot on the top ten list; I think I’ll be putting it at number 8 for the time being. 9/10.

• Cost: $24 for 8 oz (236 mL) of the shaving cream, in a container with a hand pump. They do also make a shave soap, an aftershave (which they can’t ship outside the US due to its alcohol base), and an aftershave balm in the same scent.

Gear used:

• Brush: Mühle HJM Black Fibre
• Razor: Feather AS-D2
• Blade: Ladas Super Stainless
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

Ingredients: Water, stearic acid, glycerin, myristic acid, potassium hydroxide, cocos nucifera (coconut) oil, olea europaea (olive) oil, aloe barbadensis (aloe vera) leaf juice, hydrolyzed silk, fragrance (contains natural oils), menthol, tocopheryl acetate (vitamin e), butyrospermum parkii (shea) butter, retinyl palmitate (vitamin a), allantoin, camellia sinensis (green tea) extract, aphanizonmenon flos aquae (blue-green algae) extract, urtica dioica (nettle) extract, stellaria media (chickweed) extract, ulmus rubra (slippery elm) extract, silybum marianum (milk thistle extract), althaea officinalis (marshmallow root) extract, hydroxyethylcellulose.

Green Mountain Soaps – Nick’s Red Jacket (shave off entry)

Tags

8/10, cedarwood, clove, Discontinued, Fruit, nutmeg, oakmoss, Orange, peppermint, Scent Off 2013, shaving soap, spice, Spruce, tobacco, wood

Edit: This particular scent is no longer available.

Ho Ho Ho! And now, with a fair bit of delay because I’ve been feeling both lazy and ill lately, we’re up to the final Scent Off 2013 entry. From Green Mountain Soaps – Nick’s Red Jacket. Here’s what the rest of the judges had to say about it. And here’s what the manufacturer had to say about the scent:

Triple milled shaving soap with a special scent developed for the holidays. Essential oils of Spruce, Sweet Orange, Peppermint, Texas Cedarwood, Nutmeg, Clove, Tobacco Absolute, Carrot Seed & Oakmoss evoke the scent of Christmas Eve clinging to St. Nick’s jacket on Christmas Eve on his journey home to the North Pole.

Of all the scents listed in the description, the Peppermint really predominates. To the point that, while you can tell that there’s “something else” there, it’s difficult to really be able to distinguish what that something else might actually be, with probably the orange and the spruce as somewhat distant runners up.

Overall it’s a pleasant scent; I do like peppermint, and it certainly fits the seasonal theme. The scent was at a good strength level; started out fairly strong, with only a bit of fading throughout each pass.

I’d call the lather fairly good. While it wasn’t all that difficult to find the right amount of water for a good balance of lather thickness and glide, it did seem to have some lather stability problems, with noticeable breakdown starting to happen before got from one cheek to the other.

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

All in all, I’m going to be giving this final entry in the scent off a 8/10.

• Cost: A 1 oz sample is available for $5.50, or a 2.5 oz puck for $9. Unfortunately, the last time I checked, they only shipped within the United States, so any of us who live elsewhere might be a bit out of luck.

Gear used:

• Brush: The Colonel
• Razor: Yuma Safety Razor
• Blade: Astra Superior Platinum
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

Ingredients: Tallow, Distilled Water, Stearic/Palmitic Acid, Coconut Oil, Sodium Hydroxide (lye), Castor Oil, Cocoa Butter, Glycerin, Potassium Hydroxide, Olive Oil, Borax, Bentonite, essential oils

Al’s Shaving Products – Scent of the Month: Zenyatta Aranciata Shaving Cream

Tags

8/10, Al's Shaving Products, citrus, floral, Fruit, Orange, petitgrain, shaving cream, SOTM, wood, ylang ylang

Next up we’ve got another Scent of the Month from Al’s Shaving Products.

The sweet citrus blend of the orange orange and the petitgrain are most immediately perceptible in this scent, supported by the base of the woodsy scents; the ylang ylang softening up the scent a bit. I do rather like it; I was pondering between a 8 or a 9, but as the girlfriend also appears to have quite enjoyed it, a 9 it is.

The strength could have been a bit better, although I know that’s sometimes hard to do with citrus aromas. It came on at what I’d say is about medium/strong strength, and only faded a bit from there.

As for the lather; despite the fact that the fragrance changes can apparently have a slight difference in performance, overall it’s the same great product. Great balance of glide and thickness, being a bit on the thirsty side to get there. Good moisturization, and good lather stability.

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

Anyhow, I’ll be giving this a 8/10 overall.

• Cost: This sample was provided gratis for the purposes of this review. A 4 oz tub will set you back $20.

Gear used:

• Brush: The Colonel
• Razor: Travel Tech head on an Ikon wave handle
• Blade: Asco Super Stainless
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

Ingredients: “The forumula of Al’s Shaving Cream is Triethanolamine and preservative (parabens) free and only contains sodium and potassium salts of fatty acids (stearic, oleic, linoleic, palmitic, myristic and lauric) in addition to water, glycerin and botanicals.”

Mike’s Natural Soap – Orange, Cedarwood, and Black Pepper

Tags

8/10, black pepper, cedarwood, Fruit, Mike's Natural Soaps, Orange, shaving soap, spice, wood

Next up, from a line of soap I haven’t touched since December; Mike’s Natural Soaps’ Orange, Cedarwood, and Black Pepper.

The lather is exactly what I expect out of Mike’s Natural: absolutely wonderful. It’s quite a thirsty cream, so use plenty of water and enough elbow grease, and you’ll work up a lather with great cushion, very good glide, which leaves your face feeling nice and moisturized to boot. As per usual, top marks for lather.

The predominate scent is most definitely the orange, with the black pepper coming up a close second bringing some kick to it, with the cedarwood serving to balance things out a bit between the other two. I find it fairly pleasant, if not something to write home about, but I’ll give it a bonus point because the girlfriend really likes it.

The strength is damned good as well; comes on good and stays without noticeable fading.

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

So, all in all, I’d say it’s a very solid 8/10.

• Cost: $8.50 for a 4 ounce bar, $1.25 for a half ounce sample.

Gear used:

• Brush: Mühle HJM Black Fibre
• Razor: Feather AS-D2
• Blade: Ladas Super Stainless
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

Ingredients: Distilled water; saponified tallow and stearic acid; vegetable glycerin; saponified kokum butter, avocado oil, and shea butter; lanolin, fragrance and/or essential oil(s); saponified coconut oil;  kaolin clay, vitamin E.

Al’s Shaving Products – Scent of the Month: Casablanca Shaving Cream

Tags

9/10, Al's Shaving Products, cedar, citrus, Fruit, Orange, shaving cream, SOTM, spice, wood

The 2nd of the two Scents Of The Month from Al for April is Casablanca. It’s cedar scent with orange, conifers (well, other conifers, since cedar itself is a conifer too!), and spices. It is an absolutely lovely masculine scent. While the cedar is most noticeable at first, the orange caught up within a few sniffs; together the two make quite a pairing, and the spiciness gives just a little bit of kick to back it all up.

I would have liked just a tiny bit more oomph to it. It’s not strongly scented, but not weak either. Once applied, it does manages to last the shave without much in the way of fading.

As for the shave itself, it’s the great shave I’ve come to accept from Al’s. Thirsty cream, so use a fair bit of water. It’s not easy to screw up, having a nice and wide sweet spot for acceptable water content, giving you a good balance of the amount of lubrication you get and the thickness of the cream for your cushioning. Good moisturizing properties as well, giving a nice soft feeling to the face.

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

Needless to say, I’m giving this one a 9/10. It could possibly use a bit more scent to it, but all in all I’d say that it could still easily be “the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”

• Cost: This sample was provided gratis for the purposes of this review. The SOTMs are available for $18 for a 4 oz tub.

Gear used:

• Brush: Wee Scott
• Razor: Gillette Old Style with WWI US Service Set
• Blade: Shark Super Stainless
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

Ingredients: “The forumula of Al’s Shaving Cream is Triethanolamine and preservative (parabens) free and only contains sodium and potassium salts of fatty acids (stearic, oleic, linoleic, palmitic, myristic and lauric) in addition to water, glycerin and botanicals.”

Kell’s Original Hemp Blend Shaving Soap – Black Tea

Tags

8/10, amber, bermagot, black tea, cedarwood, citrus, floral, Fruit, Glycerin, Jasmine, kell's original, lemon, musk, Orange, shaving soap, 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.

• Cost: The sample puck used was $2 for 1 oz, also available are 2.7 oz cakes for $5.25, 4oz in a tin for $8, or a 2.5 oz shave stick for $9.

Gear used:

• Brush: Ecotools Kabuki Finishing Brush
• Razor: Vintage Bakelite Slant
• Blade: Bolzano Superinox
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

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)

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.