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AoS Sandalwood v. QCS Mysore Sandalwood

I'm not sure if the Salters and Vulfix are made by the same manufacturer but I did own both of their Sandalwood creams at the same time and could not tell the difference in scent, consistency or performance. The scent was interesting and pleasant but not something I would want to shave with very often and not what I would consider Sandalwood scented at all. The performance was top notch though as are all the Salter and Vulfix creams I have tried.

Yeah I am more a fan of straight sandalwood and I think a lot of places put too much extras in :( . For me I didn't like Cyril's and you guys just saved me a bunch so I won't order that Vulfix sample now ;) .
 
Unless the manufacturer mentions "essential oil" somewhere on the packaging or ingredients list, you can safely assume the sandalwood scent is synthetic. I have tried Geo F. Trumper's and Taylor of Old Bond Street's sandalwoods. I really like the one from GFT, but did not care for the TOBS one. Both are synthetic and actually smell nothing like sandalwood essential oil, Mysore or not.
 
Interesting to hear Mretzloff. I just ordered samples from you so I guess I will find out what sandalwood is supposed to smell like (YAY!). I love TOBS oddly enough. I liked Trumper's as well but it was double the cost of TOBS so I ended up with the TOBS.
 

JCinPA

The Lather Maestro
OK, I have now used both the AOS Sandalwood and the QCS Sandalwood (this morning). In the interest of saving time, I will quote myself from a post on TOBS versus QCS I just finished, then get to the Sandalwood-specific comparison.

Can't wait to hear... Waiting for a full report.


Well, OK, here it is!

My scuttle was getting to be a PITA lately, so I face-lathered today with QCS Sandalwood. I heated the scuttle and filled it, and after face lathering, I worked the remaining lather in the brush in the scuttle a bit to keep it warm. I think that will be my routine from now on. I like face lathering, but that second pass with cold lather is no fun. I like preparing the lather directly on my face, it’s quicker, and the scuttle worked well keeping the lather warm for pass 2-3. Highly recommended procedure!

About the shave: I used a NOS Schick Plus Platinum with my EJ/Muhle DE89 head and my brand new Bob’s Razor Works handle. King1976 (member here in vendor corner) custom made brush with 24mm TGN silvertip knot, straight razor designs scuttle and the aforementioned QCS Sandalwood cream.

Note: I don’t stack-rank products I cannot tell a difference between, and I cannot tell a difference between the shave I get from Tabac, TOBS, AOS cream, or Provence Sante. So I consider them equals, and I don’t bother trying to tease out minor (or imagined) differences. They are in the same class for me.

The QCS is a step above all those, IMO. Not a HYOOGE step, mind you, but I can notice enough difference to put it in the next higher category of products I have tried. It is thick, dense, slick, and stays in great lather shape throughout the shave. This is my second shave with a QCS cream product and I had the same feeling both times, I get a better shave with the same effort/technique. Today is a Saturday, so I took it a little easy and got a great DFS with less effort than my normal weekday shave. The first time out was on a work day and using the same technique I use every day (and I do not rotate razors) I got a surprise BBS! I was not aiming for one, but it happened.

Mind you, the products in the group I listed are all EXCELLENT and I will continue using them. IMO the QCS cream is just a slight bit better, but noticeable enough for me to put it in another category. So far the only other product in that category for me is RazoRock, Mughetto di Bologna soap flavor.

I give this five thumbs up!

:thumbup1: :thumbup1: :thumbup1: :thumbup1: :thumbup1:

So, there you have it. The AOS Sandalwood is an EXCELLENT cream. I won't be buying it again because it is twice the price of TOBS and I cannot tease out any performance difference from it. Doesn't make it bad, but I am just as happy with TOBS at half the price.

The QCS, on the other hand is definitely a better cream for me. Noticeably better. Here's where it gets interesting, though. I prefer the scent of the AOS. Now I realize the QCS uses the more expensive 'real' stuff and the scent in the AOS is probably synthetic, but who cares? Scent is scent and you either like it or you don't like it, it is a binary outcome. I have been sitting here for a half hour sticking my nose alternately in the QCS tub and the AOS tub, and I am either indifferent between the scents, or I slightly prefer the AOS. This is the ultimate YMMV thing, though, scent is.

But, since that is the case, I won't pay an extra $10 for the 'real' sandalwood next time because I don't care. That is between QCS products, not QCS and AOS, by the way. The QCS creams are all about $15 except for the Sandalwood which is $25.

What makes that really interesting to me is that the rest of the QCS line of creams are priced in line with TOBS! I think the next logical thing for me to do is get a QCS scent sampler. But I really have to lay off the buying for a while. I have a ridiculous amount of stuff I like I need to plow through.

Bottom line -- for me -- QCS represents the highest value/dollar out there. I love the TOBS creams and scents I have tried, and I will still stock them. But at roughly the same price point, the QCS creams perform better for me. The AOS, while as good as the TOBS, is no better for me and twice the price, so I won’t restock that.

FWIW (off the topic of this thread), the RazoRock is also at a very reasonable price point. Together the QCS creams and the RazoRock are at the peak of my lather product performance mountain AND the performance/price ratio. It just proves my theory that price has absolutely nothing to do with value in this shaving business. There is not a negative correlation, but frankly, from Frazer’s to Castle Forbes, across the entire range of shave lather products I think price has a zero correlation with performance. You find gold and dross at both ends of the price spectrum.

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it! :wink2:
 
"Mysore" is the name of the location in India where, traditionally, the best sandalwood has come from. The latin name is Santalum Album. Endangered species that it is, it's also farmed in Sri Lanka, Australia, Fiji, and probably a bunch of other places that I don't know about.

There are also many different species of sandalwood. All of them have different scent profiles. So "sandalwood" is a somewhat of a generic term (kind of like "wine"). But again, some of the best Santalum Album comes from Mysore. I don't know for a fact that the sandalwood QCS uses in its cream is, in fact, actual sandalwood EO distilled from trees grown in Mysore or even if he uses actual Santalum Album to scent his cream. He might use a blend of different sandalwood EOs. Only Matt (the owner) can tell you that, and I'm sure he's keeping mum.

My opinion? His cream smells great. 'Nuff said. :thumbup1:

Nice answer, thanks. Learned something here.
His cream scents are some of the best, I agree.
 
Hate to bump a somewhat old thread but since this one dealt with QCS Mysore sandalwood I thought it seemed appropriate. I truly love the TOBS sandalwood scent, and have seen LOTS of people praising the QCS sandalwood recently... I've ordered from QCS before and found the scents a little bit earthy, likely due to the clay among the ingredients, but I quickly got over that and I love the way they perform. So, I decided to pick up the mysore sandalwood, which showed up yesterday along with another set of samples, and I anxiously checked it out.

I can honestly say that I smell NOTHING from the sandalwood cream outside of the faintest earthiness that I detect in most of the QCS scents, again what I presume to be from the clay.

What the heck? Is it supposed to be that faint and delicate? I've seen stuff that "most sandalwood soaps and creams use synthetic scents that don't smell like the real thing, and QCS uses the real thing", and I'm fine with that, but this is the most lightly scented cream I've encountered (and for a premium price over the other scents because of the cost of the EO).

I'm not knocking QCS, and I know Matthew posted in this thread and I'll probably email him directly with these questions, I just wanted to get some opinions as to whether maybe I got a "bad batch" that hadn't been scented or was underscented, or if it's supposed to be this light a scent compared to TOBS. I honestly don't know, but I'm baffled. I even stirred it up with my finger in case there was a pocket of EO somewhere that wasn't mixed thoroughly. Nothin'. Some people like light scents but I'm truly surprised that so many people said they love this version of sandalwood above all others, if the one I got really is what it's supposed to be scented like.

Or, I just have a genetic condition where I'm unable to smell REAL sandalwood just like some people can't smell asparagus pee...
 
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Very strange Mysterio, my tub of QCS Mysore has a wonderful spicy woody sandalwood scent. To my nose it is not faint at all.
 
If I hold the tub about 2-3 inches from my nose I can't smell ANYTHING. If I hold my nose like an inch from the tub I can detect the hint of earthiness I attribute to the kaolin clay. Oh well, thanks for the feedback, guess I'll email Matthew now...
 

JCinPA

The Lather Maestro
I sorta had the same experience. I guess it's just a delicate scent. I just got a sampler today and the Rose Otto smells awesome! I just used my TOBS Rose this morning, but the QCS Rose might be up tomorrow! :)
 
I did a quick search for "can't smell sandalwood" and found this interesting statement...

I want to take in all the lushness of Sandalwood, but no matter how I try, I just can't smell it. When I put the blotter to my nose, I start thinking that maybe the raw material didn't make it to the blotter or possibly someone is testing my ability and I was given a placebo, but none of this is true. Faced with my lack of impressions I try to conjure up something, "I find it soft, smooth, and fleeting, very strange for a base note, No?" I couldn't seem to get the "creaminess" everyone was talking about. This creaminess that has more to do with a sappy quality than a milky lactonic quality. It's flat and uniformed, I was told. All I could smell was wet blotter paper. I found this anosmic spell a little odd because I know what Sandalwood smells like. I can easily spot its sultry power inside a perfume, for example, L'Artisan's Safran Troublant. In the haunting Troublant, lying next to Vanilla, the Sandalwood becomes instantly alive, but once again, alone on the blotter I felt, abandoned. Turns out, that I am not alone. While reading the very thorough article, The Invisible Scent in New York Magazine last week, (the link is below) apparently lots of people can't detect it, and there have even been studies done about it.

I made a joke about it earlier, but some people can't smell the characteristic smell that eating asparagus imparts upon your urine... It's apparently a genetic trait... My brother can't smell it at all but I can. Apparently some people can't smell real sandalwood either, and it looks like maybe I'm one of them. Disappointing, since I really love the TOBS "synthetic" sandalwood soap and cream...
 

JCinPA

The Lather Maestro
Meh. Saves me money on QCS. I can't smell it either, but I just got a sampler, and I'm like the mule that starved to death between two bales of hay because he didn't know which one to take a bite out of first! :lol:

I think it will be the Queen Charlotte, because of the accolades it gets.

Off to shave!
 
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