savor – Formula N shaving soap

Tags

7/10, floral, Fruit, Glycerin, Mango, mint, papaya, savor, shaving soap, tropical

AKA, wherein Greg reviews a shaving soap that was never intended to be applied on anything above the waist.

Formula N is a nice fruity scented shaving soap. They bill is as “a completely natural blend of essential oils and floral waters. Like a tall glass of fresh-squeezed juice papaya and mango juice with a sprig of sun-warmed mint and a fresh bouquet of flowers nearby.” I’m not going to argue with that, it’s definitely got a strong tropical vibe to it. Anyways, it’s not exactly a “manly” scent, nor was it intended to be, but I really do rather like it.

Strength-wise, it’s not too shabby. It’s not overtly strong when lathered up and applied to the face, but you don’t see much in the way of fading during the shave either.

The lather is pretty much exactly what I expected out of it. Your typical glycerin-based melt-and-pour. Does the trick good enough, as long as you can get the water balance right (to get enough glide while maintaining viscosity). Which you should be able to do easily enough once you’re used to these soaps.

• 9/10 Scent Pleasantness
• 8/10 Scent Strength
• 7/10 Lather Quality (reflects new scoring as outlined here)

I think it’s safe to say this is a good 7/10. Decent enough shave, nice scent, good strength, and not all that expensive? Yeah, why not.

• Cost: The 85g / 3 oz puck shown will set you back $4.50.

Gear used:

• Brush: The Colonel
• Razor: Vintage Bakelite Slant
• Blade: Gillette 7 O’clock Black
  
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

Ok, and here’s a bit of an issue. The ingredient listing on their website is different than the ingredient listing on the package. So, I’ll give you both.

Ingredients according to the website: coconut oil x palm oil x castor oil x safflower oil x glycerin x purified water x sodium hydroxide x sorbitol x sorbitan oleate x soybean protein x wheat protein x natural fragrance x color

Ingredients according to the packaging: Coconut oil, palm oil, safflower oil, sodium hydroxide, sorbitol, goat’s milk, sorbitan oleate, soybean protein, wheat protein, color, natural fragrance.

Not massive differences, just the addition of the goat’s milk, and the switching of the order for the color and the natural fragrance.

Mama Bear Soaps – Polynesian Red Glycerin Shave Soap

Tags

7/10, Fruit, Glycerin, Mama Bear Soaps, shaving soap, tropical

This morning, we’ve got Mama Bear Soap’s Polynesian Red:

Juicy pomegranates are the core of this fragrance. Hints of pineapple, red grapefruit, green apple, mango and subtle moss make this scent unforgettable.

I’d consider that to be an example of perfectly accurate advertising. The scent is nice and fruity. It smells like a delicious tropical cocktail. Pretty much the only thing that I could say bad about it is many guys considering it might think it to be far too “girly” of a scent. I wouldn’t wear a cologne scented like it (because it’d really be a perfume), but I see no problem with using it to shave in the morning. Strength wise, it came on just shy of what I’d consider “perfectly strong enough” during the shave and didn’t linger once I was done.

It lathered up nice and thick very easily. I was actually pleasantly surprised, based upon my previous experiences with some Glycerin-based soaps. It didn’t, however, yield too much volume. And the lather did break down on the sides of the scuttle during each pass, but that was rectified easily enough by a quick re-attack from the brush. It wasn’t quite as slick as I expected, but then again, I was expecting really really slick, so it definitely still did the job. Overall, it gave a good shave.

• 8/10 Scent Pleasantness
• 9/10 Scent Strength
• 7/10 Lather Quality (reflects new scoring as outlined here)

Overall, I give it a 7/10. I recommend it, and frankly, I’m really looking forward to the rest of the samplers I got from Mama Bear. I could definitely see this one being a regular in the rotation.

• Cost: 10.99 for a jar full, or $1.00 for a sample (a bit less if you get a sampler pack that includes this scent), which despite the fact that they advertise you can get “one good shave” out of, I managed to only use about half for the two shaves used in this review, at 3 passes each.

Gear used:

• Brush: The Colonel and The Body Shoppe Synthetic (used for travel)
• Razor: Edwin Jagger DE81BL (Red)
• Blade: Rapira Super Stainless
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4