Initial RR La Famiglia thoughts...

[jpipes3]

The package arrived while I was home for lunch. I cracked that box open right away, obviously. I got the soap and balm of the Don Marco, Zi'Peppino, and Nonno Michelino.


Don Marco - my fiancee was there and immediately said, "Orange creamsicle." Yep, exactly. It's fantastic. Hope it really pops when it's lathered. The balm had a bit of a lotion smell that made the orange scent tougher to pick up. Hopefully that fades when it's applied.

Zi'Peppino - I'm clueless on how to describe it. It's not like Alt-Innsbruck. Not floral at all. It's sorta fresh, sorta musky. Uhhh, yeah. I don't know. Hopefully something will jump out at me more when I can lather it.

Nonno Michelino - I actually did a test hand-lather on this one. Scent in the tub was pretty subtle soapy sandalwood. When I lathered it the scent obviously came out more, which helped. It was kind of an earthy vetiver-type sandalwood to my nose. Not in love with it, but not bad. The lather was GREAT, however. Loaded for 15-20 seconds with my little Omega boar, and kinda just half-a$$ed a quick hand-lather. That was all that was needed to tell me that this stuff is a winner from a performance standpoint. Thick and slick. Can't wait to actually shave with it (probably Don Marco first).

I used the Nonno Michelino balm as a hand lotion after the hand-lather. Feels very nice. Moisturizing but not greasy once it soaked in. The scent... awful. It smells like an old lady lotion. Had the fiancee smell my hand before I left to go back to work, and her immediate reaction was, "Whoa... that's flowery." Not sure what on Earth happened here. I need to give it another try to rule out something strange, but wow. It's borderline "first product I'm ever going to throw away" bad. Maybe I better double-check and see if I grabbed the Zi'Peppino instead. Either way, whichever one it was, it's not for me. Maybe I can give it to my mother.


Needless to say, I think I messed up not getting the Cumba Cheech. I'll correct that error sooner or later.

[BrookR1]

Great write up. I decided against engraved razors (too much $$$) as a baby announcement gift and instead ordered RazoRock soap/balm combinations. I'm not sure I'll be crazy about the scent of creamsicles, but they were so inexpensive, I couldn't pass this up. I'm also including cheap boar brushes with kit. I should receive my order soon. It will either be a hit or a bust. We will see....

[mctmatt]

The Cumba Cheech arrived at the office today along with the Don Marco the consensus here is that the Cumba Cheech smells a great deal like Orange Cream and the Don Marco reminds many of Orange Gatorade. Both scents would be considered light or subtle especially when compared to many other RazoRock such as XXX or King Louis Lavender which I consider to have a strong scent. The texture is very much like XXX and King Louis for some they would call that a croap. If you take just a small pinch and rub that with two fingers you can easily tell and feel the benefits that this soap brings to your skin. For the price I paid I almost feel guilty for getting such a great shave soap....I said ALMOST!

[KarlMaldensNose]

The Cumba Cheech arrived at the office today along with the Don Marco the consensus here is that the Cumba Cheech smells a great deal like Orange Cream and the Don Marco reminds many of Orange Gatorade. Both scents would be considered light or subtle especially when compared to many other RazoRock such as XXX or King Louis Lavender which I consider to have a strong scent. The texture is very much like XXX and King Louis for some they would call that a croap. If you take just a small pinch and rub that with two fingers you can easily tell and feel the benefits that this soap brings to your skin. For the price I paid I almost feel guilty for getting such a great shave soap....I said ALMOST!

Ahhh, I was just going to ask about the differences between Marco and Cheech. Redundant scents? Not for us nuts! But I wonder how the La Fam line differs from the RazoRock and Artisan lines in terms of formula and performance? I find no difference between the performance of the RR and Artisan lines, at least, and I believe they're very different formulations.


Another question I have is the scent difference between the La Fam soaps and balms. I really want to check out the various scents, but I'm hesitant to buy any of tthe soaps as I already have waaay too much shave soap and will likely never use it. And I don't really even use aftershave balms (more of a splash guy), but at least I can use up the balms as moisturizer, either for my face or hands. The OP mentions a lotion-type smell obscuring the orange scent in the Don Marco. Any reports on the other flavours of balms and how well one can get a sense of their scents?

[Gordy2]

I received package one today and used the Mechelino (sandalwaood) soap and M. ASB. The soap/croap was really nice and smooth. It lathered up quickly and yes, the smell was subtle but the lather was excellent. The ASB was a bit stronger and was great on my face. Not greasy and dried pretty fast plus it felt and smelled very good. Excellent product for the price and even at regular price it's well worth it.

[bobfarvour]

Needless to say, I think I messed up not getting the Cumba Cheech. I'll correct that error sooner or later.

It is a little closer to Orange Creamsicle than the Don Marco is. They are pretty similar, but the Cumba is more orangy creamy smelling.

[Gordy2]

It is a little closer to Orange Creamsicle than the Don Marco is. They are pretty similar, but the Cumba is more orangy creamy smelling.

I feel the Don Marco ASB smells a bit peachy and the cream/croap a mixture of slightly peachy and slightly citrus.

Later...I had to put some Don Marco ASB on, I'll stand by the Peach and add orange as the citrus, there is a cooling effect to it also, it's quite nice, yummy, yummy in fact.

[TallyShave]

Mine arrived today as well. Don Marco, Chumba and the Sandalwood one. I really like the scents, even the sandalwood (which is strange and subject to change because I rarely like sandalwood.) One test lather and I am very excited about tomorrow's shave. The lather ended up super creamy which is what I like. I often see people talk about jiggly lather or mounds of airy lather and that is never what I am looking for. I want gobby, creamy, yogurty type lather...it never mounds up and would certainly never "jiggle". It has a nice and unique feel in the hand and I am thinking it will perform very very well. Can't wait for tomorrow morning!

[jpipes3]

Follow up...

I spent some more time sniffing after work. I think I like the Zi'Peppino more than I originally thought. The closest thing I have in my drawer that helps me described it is Trumper Spanish Leather. It's like a little more subtle, greener Spanish Leather. That's not a great comparison, but that's all I got.

The Nonno Michelino balm just isn't gonna work for me. It's maybe not as totally awful as I originally thought, but it's not good. It does have a sandalwood scent when first applied, but it fades and then still just smells flowery to me. It's strange.

[bkflyfisher]

Got my order today as well! More or less agree with what everyone's posted so far on scents, haven't lathered yet:
-Don Marco soap . Orange Gatorade, Orange Emergen-C, creamsicle, a little peach, maybe even a little St. Josephs baby aspirin
-Don Marco ASB is similar to soap but more 'lotiony'. It fades pretty fast though, which works for me. Would be too sweet walking around with that scent on all day, for me. Will be awesome to chase my QCS tangerine sample with.
-Zi'Peppino Soap much milder than XXX but something still reminds me of that scent...I like it. Do I like it enough to reach for over XXX?
-Nonno Michelino ASB-has a kind of woody scent when you first put it on but fades to a powdery, lotiony somewhat feminine scent which reminds me slightly of Nivea Sensitive ASB. I don't dislike it but, am I man enough to wear this out on a date night?...that is is the question I was hoping this would be more woody for fall/winter use post AOS Sandalwood soap or Proraso red.
In any case the balms aren't greasy and make my face feel nice.

[Bshell]

Also received my order. Initial Thoughts:

Don Marco- smells as described, dreamsicle. However, after it is lathered it changes and somehow the scent is more concentrated citrus.

Zi Peppino- can't say enough about how much I love this smell. It is hard to describe other than spend $4 and find out, it is worth it.

Nonno Michelino- definitely as described by OP. My third favorite.

Cumba Cheech- Last and my least favorite. Smells citrusy in the jar and again before it is lathered is citrusy with a hint of something else. After further investigation it smells like a watered down XXX. When lathered it continued to smell good until I hand lathered. When it hit my skin it smelled bad. YMMV, but it just didn't work for me.

[Bshell]

Can you use this product as a cream? It is very soft. Wasn't sure if you could take a peanut size and use it that way.

[Gordy2]

Can you use this product as a cream? It is very soft. Wasn't sure if you could take a peanut size and use it that way.

That's the way I used it. It is also the way I use the croaps from QCS. The RR is softer than the QCS so it's easy to do.

[jpipes3]

Can you use this product as a cream? It is very soft. Wasn't sure if you could take a peanut size and use it that way.

I loaded in the tub, and thought it worked great. I'm a face latherer, so that's the way I will use it. With some creams I will scoop some out with my finger and throw it in a bowl, then get it worked into the tips of the brush before going to my face. This seemed too stiff to do that.

[jpipes3]

-Nonno Michelino ASB-has a kind of woody scent when you first put it on but fades to a powdery, lotiony somewhat feminine scent which reminds me slightly of Nivea Sensitive ASB. I don't dislike it but, am I man enough to wear this out on a date night?...that is is the question I was hoping this would be more woody for fall/winter use post AOS Sandalwood soap or Proraso red.
In any case the balms aren't greasy and make my face feel nice.

Bingo. Glad I wasn't the only one getting that scent from it.

[petr]

I had a shockingly good shave with the soap. Top tier all the way.

I'm liking the sandalwood fine. It's what I expected - more of a true rendition.

[jpipes3]

I had a shockingly good shave with the soap. Top tier all the way.

I'm liking the sandalwood fine. It's what I expected - more of a true rendition.

The scent of the soap is perfectly fine. I'd agree that it seems to be a true sandalwood. And it is a pretty stellar performer. It's the balm that's the problem.

I used the Don Marco soap this morning. It's awesome stuff. The soaps are keepers for sure.

[SmoovD]

The posts above describe the various scents so I will just chine in on the performance aspect after my first use. Zi Peppino was randomly chosen this morning. I spent less than a minute loading GN Silver Tip custom brush and began to face lather. The soap built a very creamy, very slick lather in short order. Very nice stuff. Post shave was equally impressive. It rinsed quickly. It left my face moisturized and feeling great. I never thought I would find a soap that could match SCS for post shave feel...until now.

[petr]

The scent of the soap is perfectly fine. I'd agree that it seems to be a true sandalwood. And it is a pretty stellar performer. It's the balm that's the problem.

I used the Don Marco soap this morning. It's awesome stuff. The soaps are keepers for sure.

Ah. I still think I want the sandalwood balm though. Powdery you say? I wore the Marco balm today - it's a bit sweet. Real sweet and almost foody. But, I like citrus anything in the summer so I'm happy.

[bkflyfisher]

Zi Peppino-anyone have both the soap and ASB? How does the balm compare to the soap scent? I think I'm regretting not getting the Zi Peppino ASB instead of sandalwood now :(-scent of that soap is growing on me. It's the one I keep opening the jar and taking a sniff of. Seems more like a year rounder to me than the Don Marco-couldn't see using something that fruity in the middle of winter.