Tag Archives: pumpkin

How to Grow a Moustache Synergy Shaving Soap – Pumpk’n 3.14 (Scent off entry)

14 Thursday Nov 2013

Posted by in American, Soap

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H2GAM - Pumpkin Pi

Edit: It appears that the line has disappeared off the face of the earth, after a small scandal erupted following a few allegations, including that the fellow who ran HTGAM had been under different names reviewing some soaps that he made (under the Petal Pushers brand), and that the ingredient listing for at least some of the soaps was likely falsified. Here’s a bit of an overview.

Frankly, what I saw put a bad taste into my mouth, and I don’t think I’ll be doing any more business with that company. Anyhow, they’ve since rebranded into “Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements”

Next up for mantic’s Scent Off 2013 is the entry from the fellows over at How to Grow a Moustache. Delicious Pumpk’n 3.14! Pumpkin π? Pumpkin Pie! It’s the first time I’ve had a chance to try one of their products, and I was rather looking forward to it. Here’s what everyone else had to say about it.

So, since it’s the scent off, let’s talk about the scent first. It seriously smells exactly like a pumpkin pie. I’m not too big of a fan of the taste of pumpkin pies, but even I’ll admit they smell quite nice, and it also got the “girlfriend’s seal of approval”. Naturally, I think this is a damned great fit for the theme of the contest (for which it’ll be getting a bonus point). The strength level is just about perfect as well; since it’s not really a scent you want too strong, but it stays at a nice medium-strong level throughout.

The lather is quite nice. I understand that a different formulation was used for the scent-off than their normal one, however the differences appear to be relatively minor. Honestly, thus far it seems like the lather category of the contest is going to be the tightest by far; every one I’ve tried has been quite good, the Synergy being no exception. These artisans certainly aren’t phoning it in! It lathered up easily, a tad on the thirsty side, and gave a good balance of glide and thickness, with a reasonably wide “sweet spot”. And afterwards, the skin was feeling great.

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

My overall assessment is a nice solid 8/10.

Gear used:

Ingredients: Ingredients: Organic Kokum Butter, Organic Mango Butter, Organic Cocoa Butter, Chaulmoogra Oil, Organic Avocado Oil, Organic Pumpkin Oil, Organic Castor Oil, Coconut Oil, Palm Oil, Organic Neem Oil, Safflower Oil, Glycerine, Purified Water, Sodium & Potassium Hydroxcide, Soy Bean Protien, Aloe Extract, Pumpkin Powder Enzymes, Yellow Dock Root, Maca Root & Essential Oils

Mystic Water Soap – Indian Summer (Scent off entrant)

29 Tuesday Oct 2013

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

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QCS - Indian Summer

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:

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.