'Reformulated' Santa Maria Novella shave cream

CFSoto · Jun 9, 2015

Recently, I contacted the SMN company and requested a sample of the reformulated SMN cream. I had used the older version many times in the past but was curious re: their 'newer' version of the cream. First of all,its a very small sample and I've always found it more difficult (particularly with the firmer croaps) to get an abundant lather from a small chunk rather than swirling my brush onto a tub of product. After a little effort,I was able to make a good lather.

With respect to the newer scent,which I think they call Toscano Tobacco,its very hard to describe this scent. Maybe its a tobacco scent but I also possibly detect eucalyptus. Overall,its not a bad scent but nothing special. The consistency of the lather was fairly thick and protective. The absolutely outstanding aspect of this cream was its slickness. Honestly,I have never had a slicker/smoother shave(not even with my favorite,XPEC). My razor just glided across by skin and with no nicks or cuts. Overall,it was a great shave! My one caveat is this: if you don't like or are adverse at all to menthol or camphor,then don't buy the new SMN cream. I've read some other comments on B&B that the new SMN is very mild on menthol.I will disagree.I think its quite strong. Personally,I can take or leave menthol,But I know many others who either love it or hate it. Not much middleground.

I will probably spring for t he $70 and buy a tub of this cream,primarily for the superb slickness it provided.

Craig

ask4Edge · Jun 9, 2015

CFSoto said:
The absolutely outstanding aspect of this cream was its slickness. Honestly,I have never had a slicker/smoother shave(not even with my favorite,XPEC). My razor just glided across by skin and with no nicks or cuts. Overall,it was a great shave!

Indeed, lather of current SMN is notably lubricious [second to none IMO], and particularly dessication-resistant [throughout shave], yet rinses off easily.

CFSoto said:
...more difficult to get an abundant lather from a small chunk rather than swirling my brush onto a tub of product. After a little effort,I was able to make a good lather.

By virtue of the flat and firm/stable surface, the direct-load method would probably be the better option for most.

Jerry-built Hustler · Jun 9, 2015

CFSoto said:
With respect to the newer scent,which I think they call Toscano Tobacco,its very hard to describe this scent. Maybe its a tobacco scent but I also possibly detect eucalyptus.

SMN puts out a cologne called Tabacco Toscano. (They spell it "tabacco," since that's the Italian spelling.) It's inspired by the Italian-made Toscano cigars, at least in theory. I've used it, and honestly found it very sweet and cloying - much more feminine and vanilla-laden, rather than like real tobacco leaf. I'm not a smoker, but I find the smell of unburned tobacco to be intoxicating. Tabacco Toscano wasn't it, and it wasn't my cup of tea.

SMN uses the fragrance for the shaving cream, but of course the cream also contains eucalyptol, menthol and camphor, so those will influence the scent. I'm not sure how the fragrance translates in the cream, since I haven't used it. When I smelled a tub in store, I could barely detect a scent, but that may be because I'd been smelling full-strength fragrances prior to trying to smell the cream. However, that suggested to me the cream isn't strongly scented with the cologne, meaning it might not be so overbearing; it might also mean the eucalyptol, menthol and camphor will have a stronger olfactory influence.

sarimento1 · Jun 9, 2015

i fully enjoy SMN TT shave cream. Think of Proraso Green from the tub, plus the tobacco cologne. Same menthol and same eucalyptus, and same great moisturizing. Also, some say same manufacturer.

Jerry-built Hustler · Jun 9, 2015

sarimento1 said:
Also, some say same manufacturer.

I don't think anyone is saying that any more, except those who are thinking of the manufacturing arrangement of the older formulation. The older SMN formulation was pretty well established as being manufactured my Martelli, the makers of Proraso and Omega. Essentially, Martelli took an older Omega formulation that was, at the time, no longer on the market, and passed it on to SMN. However, since the reformulation, SMN has either taken over manufacture completely, or is having another third-party manufacturer make it for them. RazoRock Joe, who I believe posts here simply under the name RazorRock, wrote a post on another shaving forum on the topic. Per B&B rules, I can't link to it, so I'll just quote it here. The post was dated 5/19/2015.

RazoRock_Joe said:
Martelli hasn't made SMN for a while. I was in Italy in March and visited the shop where SMN is made; I can't say the name because they are one of our contractors as well but it's a very well run and organized company. It's a very good product, it's definitely not worth even close to what the retail price is, but it's a good product and makes for a nice shave.

Like any of the high end luxury Italian soaps/creams... XPEC, SMN, ADP, COLLA, BOELLIS you are paying for the brand name, packaging and tradition. I've stood and watched all those products being made and deal with the 3 companies, rest assured you are getting quality but you are paying roughly 10x what it costs to make. Keep in mind, these companies deal in small numbers, for example, SMN produces less than 5,000 jars a year; when you buy a small production product from a big company, you are going to get stroked because there are tons of fixed expenses that need to be spread over those jars.

sarimento1 · Jun 9, 2015

Interesting, thx for update!

xillion · Jun 9, 2015

Here is another interesting tidbit Joe posted a while back regarding the old Proraso Red, wheat germ formula, in the tube.

RazoRock said:
The didn't reformulate. They discontinued the Red and decided to use a similar formula in another product with the initials S.M.N.

It wasn't disco'd because of lack of demand, or so I'm told.

It would be interesting to compare the reformulated SMN to Santa Maria del Fiore.

How about it Murray?

Charlie NJ · Jun 9, 2015

CFSoto said:
Recently, I contacted the SMN company and requested a sample of the reformulated SMN cream. I had used the older version many times in the past but was curious re: their 'newer' version of the cream. First of all,its a very small sample and I've always found it more difficult (particularly with the firmer croaps) to get an abundant lather from a small chunk rather than swirling my brush onto a tub of product. After a little effort,I was able to make a good lather.

With respect to the newer scent,which I think they call Toscano Tobacco,its very hard to describe this scent. Maybe its a tobacco scent but I also possibly detect eucalyptus. Overall,its not a bad scent but nothing special. The consistency of the lather was fairly thick and protective. The absolutely outstanding aspect of this cream was its slickness. Honestly,I have never had a slicker/smoother shave(not even with my favorite,XPEC). My razor just glided across by skin and with no nicks or cuts. Overall,it was a great shave! My one caveat is this: if you don't like or are adverse at all to menthol or camphor,then don't buy the new SMN cream. I've read some other comments on B&B that the new SMN is very mild on menthol.I will disagree.I think its quite strong. Personally,I can take or leave menthol,But I know many others who either love it or hate it. Not much middleground.

I will probably spring for t he $70 and buy a tub of this cream,primarily for the superb slickness it provided.

Craig

wow I just cracked open a sample I got a couple of days ago and I could not agree more on all counts. I'm not a big fan of menthol-eucalyptus thing also but it's not over the top. I can say it makes a better lather than expec but but oh so close. I do like the scent slight tobacco and maybe some kind of musk but not overpowering. Where it shines is protective cushin and very slick. Great shave

sarimento1 · Jun 9, 2015

xillion said:
It would be interesting to compare the reformulated SMN to Santa Maria del Fiore.

good idea, perhaps in a week or two after the SMF arrives.

alaskazimm · Jun 9, 2015

My wife took a trip to Italy and visited the Santa Maria Novella monastery. She bought me a jar of the shave cream and I rather like it. It lathers easily, smells nice but not too strong, slick and protective. It's definitely in my top 5 of shave soaps, but honestly I don't know if I'd pay the $70 to buy it again when this jar runs out.

ask4Edge · Jun 10, 2015

Jerry-built Hustler said:
...RazoRock Joe...wrote a post on another shaving forum...

RazoRock_Joe said:

...XPEC, SMN, ADP, COLLA, BOELLIS…all…made…3 companies...

Click to expand...

Thanks for the post. If indeed the 5 products are made by only 3 companies, it would be interesting to know which match.

ks6c · Jan 1, 2016

Oh, how I wish I had found this thread before buying SMN!

My wife and I were in London shortly before Christmas and one of the stores on the must-visit list was SMN, because of all of the good things I'd read about the cream, so we visited the shop in the Piccadilly Arcade, just a short walk from Taylor of Old Bond St. The shop itself was very small, with room for the clerk on one side of the counter, and my wife and I on the other, but it was jam-packed full of product from floor to ceiling - and smelling like all of them, too.

Well, my wife couldn't stay in the store because of the overpowering mix of scents but I stayed strong and asked to sample the cream. I really couldn't pick out the scent in the room full of scents, but I was in London, the cream was only £35 after VAT rebate, and so many rave about the performance, so I bought it.

Next morning, I pulled out the cased 1941 English NEW RFB with the thin Tech handle that I'd picked up at the Jubilee Antique Market over at Covent Garden and opened up the SMN. WTH - somebody replaced a good smelling expensive cream with Noxzema! Quickly, to the box to read the ingredient statement (shoulda done that earlier, too) and - EGADS!!! - camphor, menthol AND eucalyptus. Three of the most disgusting aromas in the wet shaving universe, IMnsHO, and all three of them in the same jar! :mad3:

But it's supposed to be such a great performer, right, so I lathered it up and gutted it out. Meh.... Next day, I opened a tube of GFT Violet that I just had to sample, and it ran circles around the SMN. The GFT was my cream for the rest of the week.

OK, so thinking maybe it was the water in London that didn't agree with SMN, or that I hadn't dialed it in, I've been using it at home for the last week. Nope, still meh...

Yep, this sport is definitely YMMV, and I felt like I'd brought home a YUGO. :crying:

wscottb7862 · Jan 1, 2016

Where can one order SMN v3 online??

Harvey1 · Aug 12, 2016

Jerry-built Hustler said:
It's inspired by the Italian-made Toscano cigars, at least in theory.

Don't know who told/wrote that; indeed it's pure theory.

Jerry-built Hustler said:
I've used it, and honestly found it very sweet and cloying - much more feminine and vanilla-laden, rather than like real tobacco leaf.

Yes, that's right, SMN Tobacco Toscano is vanilla with three pinches of something to spice it. The female version is SMN "Vaniglia", with only one pinch of something to spice it. So Vaniglia is sweeter than Tobacco Toscano but these fragrances are very close.

By the the way, I decided to use the croap v.3 on this morning. It was the first time and... it smells like v.1 (Pot-Pourri)!
Tomorrow I'll use v.1 to be sure. However they don't have the same colour, this is the only difference I am able to observe.

Phil

Harvey1 · Aug 16, 2016

Tried SMN v.1 again on Sunday. Yes the old and new school frangrances of SMN croap are the same. However the new school one is stronger.

Enjoy your shave.

Phil

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'Reformulated' Santa Maria Novella shave cream

CFSoto

ask4Edge

Jerry-built Hustler

sarimento1

Jerry-built Hustler

sarimento1

xillion

Charlie NJ

sarimento1

alaskazimm

ask4Edge

ks6c

wscottb7862

Harvey1

Harvey1

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