Cade by L'Occitane

I obtained a sample of this stuff from the L'Occitane store locally. (Just walk in and ask.)
As I was reading over the forums tonight, I figured I would try this stuff out, otherwise I would likely forget all about it.

The type of cream is labelled "Juniper Oxycedrus". The sample I was able to squeeze out was just a bit bigger than the size of a quarter. There was no scent that I picked up initially.

Well, I bowl lathered this stuff with a Vulfix Pure Grey Badger. A little water and this stuff actually lathered quite well. I painted my face and it reminded me of the canned goo days, in the sense that it actually spread out quite well on my face. The scent took a while to kick in. At first it kind of smelled musty. As I lathered away, the smell became more and more familiar....it finally dawned on me. This stuff smells like plain old soap. Closest description I can offer is Ivory plain white bar soap. It's not over bearing, but I was never one for the scent of that bar soap to begin with. But for those of you with sensitive skin or noses, this would probably be something to your liking.

Anyhow, just thought I would toss a quick review up for you fine chaps. I would likely never buy it myself. It's a little pricey as well for about $29 a tube here in Canada. (150 ml- same size as Proraso/ C.O. Bigelow). Lather's nice...smell like nothing special.

From what i've heard from MANY people, the cream just SUCKS, but the soap is very good.

rearviewmirror said:

From what i've heard from MANY people, the cream just SUCKS, but the soap is very good.

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Ditto.

I just opened a puck of the soap. I am going to try it tomorrow. I will let post a review.

Has the cream been reformulated recently? I bought a tube 2 years ago and latherwise it was an absolute disaster, it stubbornly refused to create any lather whatsoever.

I think it might have been judging by some of the more recent commentary. The tube I received for xmas a couple of years ago made my face burn, stank like detergent and lathered like crap. Terrible stuff, not worth 30c let alone $30

I wouldn't recommend it, but it's not as bad as it's made out to be in my opinion. I've been using it in combination with the soap and get a very nice shave (I realize a cream should be able to do so on its' own, don't get me wrong).

I like the soap very much. I have not yet tried the SC, so I am looking forward to review.

The stuff lathers up great, however I'm surprised you didn't get a nice strong scent from the shave cream.

I'm having to guess that the stuff has been reformulated, because a little bit produces a lot of lather for me. In comparison to Proraso/Bigelow, it takes about half as much product to produce enough lather for 3-4 passes.

The cream burns before I put a blade to my face and I have to use twice as much product to produce a usable lather.
I like their soap but hate the cream.
Reformulation or not I would pass on the this product.

Their soap is great stuff. Wish it came in the Eau de Baux scent though...

The cream must have been reformulated. The one I used about 2 years ago took about 4x's as much product as usual to create ANY lather from the stuff. Just awful. The scent was good though. Looking forward to hearing more reviews as they come in

GreekGuy said:

Their soap is great stuff. Wish it came in the Eau de Baux scent though...

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+1

If they made a shave soap that smelled like their Eau De Baux bath soap did I would buy it in a second.

Both Eau de Baux and Vetiver bath soap have been out of stock forever at my local store and online.

I wrote a email not long ago asking if they had been discontinued and was told that they haven't been discontinued but that they were having supply issues.

I hope they both come back but I'm not holding my breath.

xillion said:

+1

If they made a shave soap that smelled like their Eau De Baux bath soap did I would buy it in a second.

Both Eau de Baux and Vetiver bath soap have been out of stock forever at my local store and online.

I wrote a email not long ago asking if they had been discontinued and was told that they haven't been discontinued but that they were having supply issues.

I hope they both come back but I'm not holding my breath.

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I actually use the Eau de Baux AS balm, phenomenal for those dry winter days. Don't tell me they discontinued it... Its such a shame they don't have more wetshaving products. I imagine it is rather popular in france. I wonder if they do indeed make them, just not for the US market. Such as the alcohol AS, for example

GreekGuy said:

I actually use the Eau de Baux AS balm, phenomenal for those dry winter days. Don't tell me they discontinued it...

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The balm is still available. The product I was referring to was their Savon Baux bath soap seen in the photo below.
It smelled so good and was very easy to lather. It had that wonderful woodsy spicy scent just like the balm and cologne. I too use the balm in the winter, it is great stuff.

Have you ever tried shaving with the bath soap? The scent is much better than cade IMO. Cade is good, but it's much better

I once lathered a bar of the Baux soap with my brush. It felt very slick to the touch and the lather didn't disintegrate as some bath soaps do.
The soap was veggie based but I don't recall the exact ingredients. Sadly, I did not shave with it. I was planning on milling a bar of Savon Baux with
a Valobra stick but when I went back to buy more they were out of stock. I may try melting some unscented Kells Original and mixing in a few squirts of Baux edt.

Here was the response I received from L'Occitane back in February:

Although the Eau de Baux Soap has not been phased out, it is not currently available from our French manufacturer. We are uncertain when they will resume shipment of this popular item, but will have the product in our boutiques and online as soon as it becomes available. The Cade Shaving Splash had been phased out and we are forwarding the interest we have received in the US market for the return of this product. We appreciate your feedback on this product and will forward your remarks to the appropriate parties. Thank you for your interest in L’OCCITANE.

Regards,

Customer Service | L’OCCITANE USA

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WOW, February and still no soap.... Its a shame that they still haven't brought back the splash. To be honest, I'm kind of surprised so many people asked to bring it back. I don't think it really got that much praise here, mostly complaints about the price. Hopefully the soap will be back soon. If its strongly scented, it might make sense to mill it with some valobra as you mentioned, or some sufficiently aerated arko

From what I've heard the Baux soap bar (as well as their fantastic Vetiver soap bar) have been phased out and shouldn't be expected to return.

Regarding the (reformulated) Cade cream - I don't think it's half as bad as people claim it to be. YMMV, but I've used up quite a few tubes and at the end of the day it's a decent performer with a delicate, rich scent.

I wonder if maybe the cade cream maybe really sucks in hard water, or maybe the tube they took your sample from was maybe years old.. there probably aren't a lot of people who stop in and ask for a sample to take home. I could see a tube of that lasting for years with people only squeezing out a tiny dab to sniff.

+1..........i did not care for it.