50+ soaps reviewed by a new DE shaver.
- Thread starter rockclimber
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Please describe the sandalwood and myrrh scent for us.
- Thread starter
- #663
The opposite of a cheap sandalwood scent. Most that I have come across are very synthetic but this sandalwood has a creamy (if this makes sense) earthy damp smell, almost like fresh cut wood but not quite. The soap itself has some large particulate matter in it which I assume is from the Myrrh ingredients which can sometimes become sandy like little grains of sand which is what I believe I am seeing here.... either way it is rich and thick but not particularly sweet. The Myrrh has an earthy scent but is dry instead of creamy like the sandalwood. Some people say Myrrh smells like fungus or mushrooms but I detect none of that in this soap. I really enjoy the scent.
Last edited:
- Thread starter
- #664
Wow, Box 3 of the pass around box was incredible! I was a little sad to get my last shave in with it but its time to send it on to the next person. That means that I am back in this thread to finish up my sample testing. I will be copying and pasting my reviews from box 3 but if you want the full reviews and pictures you will have to go to the thread.
Fullreviews with pictures Here:
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/492482-Soap-Sample-Passaround-Box-Round-2/page30
FinePlatinum
I was really looking forward to this soap because I heard it was like Tabac butsmelled like Creed Aventus. A little bit of this soap goes a loooooong way,just fyi.
Slickness 9/10
Cushion 8/10
Moisturizing 7.5/10
Scent 10/10
Overall 8/10
This soap I think would benefit from some Butters that help moisturize afterthe shave. It is very slick like Tabac and I absolutely love the smell but I needsomething with a little more cushion and post-shave feel. This might be becauseI'm now shaving twice a day again for work so don't take my cushion andmoisturizing scores to the bank. Overall I really enjoyed it but felt sort oflet down. I'll probably buy a puck and 3017 it at some point in my shavingcareer just for the scent alone.
1. I can't remember, haveyou tried WSP Rustic Fougere Noire?
Loved the scent, hated the performance. Nowthat I am a little more proficient with a DE I may go back and try it out oncebox 3 is out of my possession and these 50 other soaps I have yet to try areknocked down. I honestly think my veggie 2.0 is better than the WSP rustic butI do LOVE their +T formula.
Speaking of box 3, I know that Silver Fox is not a part of it but I had a veryquick 2 pass 3 minute shave with Silver Fox this A.M. and thought I would givea review with a very wet lather:
Slickness 9.5/10
Cushion 4/10 (very very wet fast face lather)
Moisturizing 8/10 better than I expected for such a thin quick lather. I can'twait to really lather this up in a scuttle and rate it for real next time.
Scent 9/10 I love the sandalwood scent that I have, it is very cologne like. Iwould buy this scent again in bulk and perhaps mix it with other essentialoils.
Overall 8/10 but if you consider this was a 3 minute shave I would rate thisclose to a 10. Perfect early A.M. shave and I encourage everyone in this threadto try it when it comes around. I know there are a tremendous amount of soapsto choose from but the Silver Fox is a fantastic addition to your repertoire.
LA ShaveSoap Topanga Fougère
I was excited to try this soap because I've heard quite a bit about it and knowthat they evolved from Badger and Blade just a few years ago. I thought theywere tallow-based but upon lathering it was immediately clear this was juststearic acid and very little butter if any butter at all. This lathered up andshaved like an MdC clone, not that that is a bad thing just not what I wasexpecting. The scent was a mixture of Fougère and something I can't quite putmy finger on. It was sweet but not cologne and not Citrus. A very nice scentbut I really like Fougère scents.
Slickness 8/10
Cushion 8.5/10
Moisturizing 8/10
Scent 9/10
Overall 8.5/10
In a world with PannaCrema Nuavia and MdC it is really hard to compete in theveggie soap space. I understand price is a factor for most people andunfortunately my reviews don't consider price.
The shave is close and tight but reminds me of 10 other veggie soaps and doesnot stand out in a WOW fashion. In an ideal world if I was to do this all overagain I would try all three of these boxes first before trying Nuavia as all ofmy veggie reviews are now going to be 8/10 aka "better than average".
I had tolook this one up for my own reference since I thought it would be tallow and itwas not. I must say that I am very impressed with all the essential oils theyhave Blended here. The scent was amazing and the craftsmanship this soaper hasin blending this many essential oils is impressive!
Ingredients: Vegetable Stearic Acid, Distilled Water, Coconut Oil, PotassiumHydroxide, Vegetable Glycerin, Lavender Essential Oil, Clary Sage EssentialOil, Ho Wood Essential Oil, Geranium Essential Oil, Balsam Tolu Essential Oil,Vanilla Extract, Vetiver Essential Oil, Bergamot Essential Oil, PatchouliEssential Oil, Opopanax (Sweet Myrrh) Essential Oil, Anise Extract
I wentahead and put them to the side and decided to shave with the old AOS sandalwoodtoday.
A lot of these unavailable soaps get extremely high reviews around here I thinkbecause of nostalgia and not necessarily because they are as good as peopleremember them being. I have been disappointed with quite a few of these soapshowever the AOS Sandalwood was not a disappointment, it was every bit as goodas people here say it is.
Slickness 9.2/10
Cushion 9/10
Moisturizing 8.5/10
Scent 8/10
Overall 9/10
I think the scent scores low because it is an older sample and has aired outover time. It also appears that quite a few people have sampled this andsmelled it so it has likely aired out dozens and dozens of times.
I used a very small amount so others would have the opportunity to try it andthis small amount proved enough for 3 full passes! I really enjoyed shavingwith this soap and wish it was still available. If they truly switched recipesthen that was a disastrous decision on their part. This is a classic soap thatwill stand the test of time.
ColdRiver Soap Works Olivia Colonia Mediterrania
First off I think I put a little too much air in this lather but still ended upwith a Hilariously slick shave! I was expecting a really good soap but wasshocked at how good Cold River Soap Works was able to make an olive oil basedsoap. If you've ever made soap with olive oil you know it is slick so I wasexpecting that but the cushion is incredible as well, something that olive oilsoaps typically lack. I can tell there is a lot of stearic acid in here due tothe ease of lathering and quickness of lathering. I would imagine steric acidis probably the primary ingredient still but I can tell there's enough olive oilin here to take the slickness off-the-charts! I will be looking up theingredients right after this to see how much olive oil they actually used. Idid about three passes with the first round of lather before I realized Ishould probably apply some more lather, it is that slick. As a result of this Ido have a little irritation but I did quite literally three passes with afeather blade and only one round of lather. I will definitely be purchasing twoor three tins of this for my personal collection and will be able to givebetter reviews in the future.
Slickness 9.8/10
Cushion 9/10
Moisturizing ?/10 my face feels like a 7
Scent 9/10
Overall 9.5/10
I love this particular scent, it reminds me of a spicy Citrus cologne and isnot overwhelmingly strong. The other one in the pass around box smells good aswell but this really stood out to me. I will probably end up picking up thisscent for my Personal Collection as I am a huge fan of citrus in the summer.
Wow,olive oil is the primary ingredient! I was not expecting that.
​Ingredients: Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Stearic Acid, Aloe Leaf Juice, PotassiumHydroxide, Kokum Butter, Castor Oil, Glycerine, Jojoba Oil, Shea Butter, SodiumHydroxide, Sodium Lactate and Fragrance
PannaCremaPure 2O
PannaCrema is my favorite soap all around. They sell inexpensive soap andexpensive soap both of which were amazing. This is their new take on theinexpensive variety. I have been looking forward to reviewing this soap soexpectations were high.
About 10 seconds into my Shave I realized that I was having a bad reaction tosomething, an ingredient in the soap? No, it could not be as I have hadexposure to all these before. Could it be the scent? No I am a vetiver fan andthat is unlikely. I thought about it and thought about it some more and by theend of the shave, the very painful shave, I knew what it must be. I just gotback from the pool and had chlorine on my face. I always shower before I shaveand today for some reason I did not, I shaved right after the pool and I thinkthe chlorine irritated my face during the shave. As such I will not be able toreview this soap at all because it was a really miserable shave. Has anyoneelse done this and had irritation? The lather pictures speak for themselves soI know it's a good soap, I wish I had more time to review it but it's on to thenext one tomorrow. I apologize everyone... I'll pick up a tub of this anywayand give my reviews later on in the 50+ thread.
I haven'thad a chance to test for an allergic reaction yet, I hope I don't have one tothe new Pure2O recipe, that would be depressing! The lather I got from it wasso thick and creamy it was spectacular.
There are just so many soaps in here and so little time. I decided to shavewith Saponificio Varesino 70th Anniversary today:
The pucks I have in their plastic containers being around 3 inches wide producea nice thick lather and are very very hard so I knew I would need to use verylittle of this. When I loaded from my scuttle I seemed to get a lot of air inthe soap unlike off the puck, it was a little frustrating. I think I needed touse more product but didn't want to use more so went at it as it was.
Slickness 7/10
Cushion 8/10
Only half my face shaved I was frustrated with the average shave I was gettingand decided to change blades and grab a new feather.
I finished up my first and second pass and tried hard to get a thicker thirdpass but there was just not enough product left. I find on my third pass Ireally just need slickness anyway so it was fine.
Slickness 7.5/10
Cushion 8/10
Moisturizing 10/10
Scent 9/10
Overall 8.5/10
In the end I was unimpressed with the slickness but Blown Away with themoisturizing. This is probably the most moisturizing soap I have ever used, itis just absolutely... unmatched by anything else. I had to look up theingredients to see what was in this and after looking I probably should havelathered differently. In this case I think my black salsa Bowl would have beena better choice with a dryer brush but then I don't know if that would'veimproved slickness as a dryer lather is typically less slick for me.
Ingredients: Sodium Cocoate, Potassium Stearate, Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate,Rapeseedate Sodium, Sodium Sunflower, Aqua / Water / Eau, Shorea stenopteraSeed Butter, Fraxinus Ornus (Manna Ash) Sap Extract, Parfum / Fragrance,Ternifolia Macadamia Seed Oil, Sucrose Cocoate, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea)Butter, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil, Oryza Sativa (Rice) Starch,Xanthan Gum, Glycerin, Stearic Acid, Sodium Chloride, Tocopheryl Acetate, VitisVinifera (Grape) Seed Oil, Citric Acid, Benzyl Salicylate , Limonene, Citral,Alpha Isomethyl Ionone, Linalool.
KlarKabinett
Pretty hard in the sample container, I thought it would be softer. Provides agreat yogurt lather and is no nonsense straight up shave soap.
Slickness 9/10
Cushion 8/10
Moisturizing 9/10 excellent post shave feel, no need for balm or aftershave.
Scent ?/10 this was very faintly scented, I could not distinguish what it wassupposed to be.
Overall 8.5/10
This is probably my last shave before mailing the box out Monday A.M. Box 3 wasa very impressive one with lots of quality variety.
Fullreviews with pictures Here:
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/492482-Soap-Sample-Passaround-Box-Round-2/page30
FinePlatinum
I was really looking forward to this soap because I heard it was like Tabac butsmelled like Creed Aventus. A little bit of this soap goes a loooooong way,just fyi.
Slickness 9/10
Cushion 8/10
Moisturizing 7.5/10
Scent 10/10
Overall 8/10
This soap I think would benefit from some Butters that help moisturize afterthe shave. It is very slick like Tabac and I absolutely love the smell but I needsomething with a little more cushion and post-shave feel. This might be becauseI'm now shaving twice a day again for work so don't take my cushion andmoisturizing scores to the bank. Overall I really enjoyed it but felt sort oflet down. I'll probably buy a puck and 3017 it at some point in my shavingcareer just for the scent alone.
1. I can't remember, haveyou tried WSP Rustic Fougere Noire?
Loved the scent, hated the performance. Nowthat I am a little more proficient with a DE I may go back and try it out oncebox 3 is out of my possession and these 50 other soaps I have yet to try areknocked down. I honestly think my veggie 2.0 is better than the WSP rustic butI do LOVE their +T formula.
Speaking of box 3, I know that Silver Fox is not a part of it but I had a veryquick 2 pass 3 minute shave with Silver Fox this A.M. and thought I would givea review with a very wet lather:
Slickness 9.5/10
Cushion 4/10 (very very wet fast face lather)
Moisturizing 8/10 better than I expected for such a thin quick lather. I can'twait to really lather this up in a scuttle and rate it for real next time.
Scent 9/10 I love the sandalwood scent that I have, it is very cologne like. Iwould buy this scent again in bulk and perhaps mix it with other essentialoils.
Overall 8/10 but if you consider this was a 3 minute shave I would rate thisclose to a 10. Perfect early A.M. shave and I encourage everyone in this threadto try it when it comes around. I know there are a tremendous amount of soapsto choose from but the Silver Fox is a fantastic addition to your repertoire.
LA ShaveSoap Topanga Fougère
I was excited to try this soap because I've heard quite a bit about it and knowthat they evolved from Badger and Blade just a few years ago. I thought theywere tallow-based but upon lathering it was immediately clear this was juststearic acid and very little butter if any butter at all. This lathered up andshaved like an MdC clone, not that that is a bad thing just not what I wasexpecting. The scent was a mixture of Fougère and something I can't quite putmy finger on. It was sweet but not cologne and not Citrus. A very nice scentbut I really like Fougère scents.
Slickness 8/10
Cushion 8.5/10
Moisturizing 8/10
Scent 9/10
Overall 8.5/10
In a world with PannaCrema Nuavia and MdC it is really hard to compete in theveggie soap space. I understand price is a factor for most people andunfortunately my reviews don't consider price.
The shave is close and tight but reminds me of 10 other veggie soaps and doesnot stand out in a WOW fashion. In an ideal world if I was to do this all overagain I would try all three of these boxes first before trying Nuavia as all ofmy veggie reviews are now going to be 8/10 aka "better than average".
I had tolook this one up for my own reference since I thought it would be tallow and itwas not. I must say that I am very impressed with all the essential oils theyhave Blended here. The scent was amazing and the craftsmanship this soaper hasin blending this many essential oils is impressive!
Ingredients: Vegetable Stearic Acid, Distilled Water, Coconut Oil, PotassiumHydroxide, Vegetable Glycerin, Lavender Essential Oil, Clary Sage EssentialOil, Ho Wood Essential Oil, Geranium Essential Oil, Balsam Tolu Essential Oil,Vanilla Extract, Vetiver Essential Oil, Bergamot Essential Oil, PatchouliEssential Oil, Opopanax (Sweet Myrrh) Essential Oil, Anise Extract
I wentahead and put them to the side and decided to shave with the old AOS sandalwoodtoday.
A lot of these unavailable soaps get extremely high reviews around here I thinkbecause of nostalgia and not necessarily because they are as good as peopleremember them being. I have been disappointed with quite a few of these soapshowever the AOS Sandalwood was not a disappointment, it was every bit as goodas people here say it is.
Slickness 9.2/10
Cushion 9/10
Moisturizing 8.5/10
Scent 8/10
Overall 9/10
I think the scent scores low because it is an older sample and has aired outover time. It also appears that quite a few people have sampled this andsmelled it so it has likely aired out dozens and dozens of times.
I used a very small amount so others would have the opportunity to try it andthis small amount proved enough for 3 full passes! I really enjoyed shavingwith this soap and wish it was still available. If they truly switched recipesthen that was a disastrous decision on their part. This is a classic soap thatwill stand the test of time.
ColdRiver Soap Works Olivia Colonia Mediterrania
First off I think I put a little too much air in this lather but still ended upwith a Hilariously slick shave! I was expecting a really good soap but wasshocked at how good Cold River Soap Works was able to make an olive oil basedsoap. If you've ever made soap with olive oil you know it is slick so I wasexpecting that but the cushion is incredible as well, something that olive oilsoaps typically lack. I can tell there is a lot of stearic acid in here due tothe ease of lathering and quickness of lathering. I would imagine steric acidis probably the primary ingredient still but I can tell there's enough olive oilin here to take the slickness off-the-charts! I will be looking up theingredients right after this to see how much olive oil they actually used. Idid about three passes with the first round of lather before I realized Ishould probably apply some more lather, it is that slick. As a result of this Ido have a little irritation but I did quite literally three passes with afeather blade and only one round of lather. I will definitely be purchasing twoor three tins of this for my personal collection and will be able to givebetter reviews in the future.
Slickness 9.8/10
Cushion 9/10
Moisturizing ?/10 my face feels like a 7
Scent 9/10
Overall 9.5/10
I love this particular scent, it reminds me of a spicy Citrus cologne and isnot overwhelmingly strong. The other one in the pass around box smells good aswell but this really stood out to me. I will probably end up picking up thisscent for my Personal Collection as I am a huge fan of citrus in the summer.
Wow,olive oil is the primary ingredient! I was not expecting that.
​Ingredients: Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Stearic Acid, Aloe Leaf Juice, PotassiumHydroxide, Kokum Butter, Castor Oil, Glycerine, Jojoba Oil, Shea Butter, SodiumHydroxide, Sodium Lactate and Fragrance
PannaCremaPure 2O
PannaCrema is my favorite soap all around. They sell inexpensive soap andexpensive soap both of which were amazing. This is their new take on theinexpensive variety. I have been looking forward to reviewing this soap soexpectations were high.
About 10 seconds into my Shave I realized that I was having a bad reaction tosomething, an ingredient in the soap? No, it could not be as I have hadexposure to all these before. Could it be the scent? No I am a vetiver fan andthat is unlikely. I thought about it and thought about it some more and by theend of the shave, the very painful shave, I knew what it must be. I just gotback from the pool and had chlorine on my face. I always shower before I shaveand today for some reason I did not, I shaved right after the pool and I thinkthe chlorine irritated my face during the shave. As such I will not be able toreview this soap at all because it was a really miserable shave. Has anyoneelse done this and had irritation? The lather pictures speak for themselves soI know it's a good soap, I wish I had more time to review it but it's on to thenext one tomorrow. I apologize everyone... I'll pick up a tub of this anywayand give my reviews later on in the 50+ thread.
I haven'thad a chance to test for an allergic reaction yet, I hope I don't have one tothe new Pure2O recipe, that would be depressing! The lather I got from it wasso thick and creamy it was spectacular.
There are just so many soaps in here and so little time. I decided to shavewith Saponificio Varesino 70th Anniversary today:
The pucks I have in their plastic containers being around 3 inches wide producea nice thick lather and are very very hard so I knew I would need to use verylittle of this. When I loaded from my scuttle I seemed to get a lot of air inthe soap unlike off the puck, it was a little frustrating. I think I needed touse more product but didn't want to use more so went at it as it was.
Slickness 7/10
Cushion 8/10
Only half my face shaved I was frustrated with the average shave I was gettingand decided to change blades and grab a new feather.
I finished up my first and second pass and tried hard to get a thicker thirdpass but there was just not enough product left. I find on my third pass Ireally just need slickness anyway so it was fine.
Slickness 7.5/10
Cushion 8/10
Moisturizing 10/10
Scent 9/10
Overall 8.5/10
In the end I was unimpressed with the slickness but Blown Away with themoisturizing. This is probably the most moisturizing soap I have ever used, itis just absolutely... unmatched by anything else. I had to look up theingredients to see what was in this and after looking I probably should havelathered differently. In this case I think my black salsa Bowl would have beena better choice with a dryer brush but then I don't know if that would'veimproved slickness as a dryer lather is typically less slick for me.
Ingredients: Sodium Cocoate, Potassium Stearate, Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate,Rapeseedate Sodium, Sodium Sunflower, Aqua / Water / Eau, Shorea stenopteraSeed Butter, Fraxinus Ornus (Manna Ash) Sap Extract, Parfum / Fragrance,Ternifolia Macadamia Seed Oil, Sucrose Cocoate, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea)Butter, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil, Oryza Sativa (Rice) Starch,Xanthan Gum, Glycerin, Stearic Acid, Sodium Chloride, Tocopheryl Acetate, VitisVinifera (Grape) Seed Oil, Citric Acid, Benzyl Salicylate , Limonene, Citral,Alpha Isomethyl Ionone, Linalool.
KlarKabinett
Pretty hard in the sample container, I thought it would be softer. Provides agreat yogurt lather and is no nonsense straight up shave soap.
Slickness 9/10
Cushion 8/10
Moisturizing 9/10 excellent post shave feel, no need for balm or aftershave.
Scent ?/10 this was very faintly scented, I could not distinguish what it wassupposed to be.
Overall 8.5/10
This is probably my last shave before mailing the box out Monday A.M. Box 3 wasa very impressive one with lots of quality variety.
FYI the olive oil and the stearic in Oliva are in almost exactly the same amounts. So much so that Larry originally listed the stearic first, but then recalculated and put the olive oil first.
I continue to recommend country club for men vegan soap as a soap that lather and shaves very much like a tallow soap. It's stearic plus coconut oil plus cocoa butter plus glycerin plus EDTA for chelation. Really stellar stuff.
I continue to recommend country club for men vegan soap as a soap that lather and shaves very much like a tallow soap. It's stearic plus coconut oil plus cocoa butter plus glycerin plus EDTA for chelation. Really stellar stuff.
Interesting that you brought that up. I'm an amateur soap maker, pure hobbyist and have been making bath soap for my family and friends for years. I've made about a dozen or so small batches of shave soap over time but always felt they were lacking in some fashion. Good but not great. I'm a big fan of CRSW and have placed multiple orders and I thought I would reach out to Larry and ask a few questions. My main question was on stearic acid and amounts to use. Also I was darned curious about olive oil because ever since I began all I heard was olive oil makes a bad shave soap. So back to the subject, Larry told me that he has INCREASED the amount of olive oil substantially after the very first batch. Not sure why this should matter but there it is.
Benjamin, I'm not sure if you have ever talked with Larry but given your foray into soap making and obvious interest you might consider it. He is very generous with his knowledge (at least he was with me and the man knows his stuff), plus he is a nice guy. He really took the time to answer my numerous questions and I came away with a much better understanding about a number of 'soapy' things.
So have you tried this soap, Chad? Ingredients look good. I was interested to see that the instructions recommend blooming.
ETA: It looks like we both posted this on Benjamin's page rather than the pass-around page, [MENTION=87630]cvargo[/MENTION].
ETA: It looks like we both posted this on Benjamin's page rather than the pass-around page, [MENTION=87630]cvargo[/MENTION].
I have. But he has had a slight formula change because it used to have avocado oil and too many people were getting allergic reactions. You can see my full write up in the RMS threadSo have you tried this soap, Chad? Ingredients look good. I was interested to see that the instructions recommend blooming.
ETA: It looks like we both posted this on Benjamin's page rather than the pass-around page, [MENTION=87630]cvargo[/MENTION].
Oops I posted in the wrong thread. I'm moving to the appropriate thread now
- Thread starter
- #670
All this talk about CRSW has me wanting to revisit their soap now that I have had the privilege of trying their Olivia line. I'm a huge fan of CRSW!
Today I shaved with PannaCrema Nuavia Red
There seems to be some confusion on how much water to put into this lather so I went ahead and made my first pass like I normally do and then added water to my subsequent passes for illustration purposes.
First pass, normal water amount:
Second pass with 10 large drops of water added. This is a little wetter than I like to shave with but this soap has a very wide band of Tolerance and shaves nearly equally as well with this wet lather:
3rd pass I added an additional 20 large drops of water. I know 20 drops is on the extreme side since I was running low on soap in the brush but I did so as an illustration on how lather breaks down eventually. As you can see it incorporates a lot of air bubbles and becomes fluffy rather than thick yogurt like consistency.
PannaCrema Nuavia has a very wide band of tolerance as far as water is concerned so shoot for the less-is-more method at first and add drops of water 4 at a time while building your lather. Once you hit that sweet spot you will know you are there.
Slickness 9/10
Cushion 9.5/10
Moisturizing 10/10
Scent 10/10
Overall 9.8/10
This is my favorite soap so I'm a little biased on this. The post-shave feel is divine and the scent is a very complex multi-dimensional scent. It is also long-lasting which is nice. The red scent is much better than other reviews had me believe. I really enjoyed this and I'm going to have to shave with the blue again to decide which scent I like the most.
Today I shaved with PannaCrema Nuavia Red
There seems to be some confusion on how much water to put into this lather so I went ahead and made my first pass like I normally do and then added water to my subsequent passes for illustration purposes.
First pass, normal water amount:
Second pass with 10 large drops of water added. This is a little wetter than I like to shave with but this soap has a very wide band of Tolerance and shaves nearly equally as well with this wet lather:
3rd pass I added an additional 20 large drops of water. I know 20 drops is on the extreme side since I was running low on soap in the brush but I did so as an illustration on how lather breaks down eventually. As you can see it incorporates a lot of air bubbles and becomes fluffy rather than thick yogurt like consistency.
PannaCrema Nuavia has a very wide band of tolerance as far as water is concerned so shoot for the less-is-more method at first and add drops of water 4 at a time while building your lather. Once you hit that sweet spot you will know you are there.
Slickness 9/10
Cushion 9.5/10
Moisturizing 10/10
Scent 10/10
Overall 9.8/10
This is my favorite soap so I'm a little biased on this. The post-shave feel is divine and the scent is a very complex multi-dimensional scent. It is also long-lasting which is nice. The red scent is much better than other reviews had me believe. I really enjoyed this and I'm going to have to shave with the blue again to decide which scent I like the most.
Last edited:
- Thread starter
- #671
Mickey Lee soapworks
I feel bad for any soap that has to follow up after PannaCrema Nuavia. Mickey Lee soapworks has made some really great soap in my opinion so I thought it would be a decent follow-up. Boy was I shocked at the difference between these two soaps! With Mickey Lee my face feels raw compared to Nuavia.
Slickness 8.5/10
Cushion 7.5/10
Moisturizing 7.5/10
Scent 8/10
Overall 8/10
I'm not sure if the new feather blade was the culprit or me getting sloppy because I'm used to Superior soap but I got around 5 weepers today and a medium-sized nick which is very very unusual. I will have to come back to this soap after I have taken a break from Nuavia for a while.
Edit for ingredients. Looking at these ingredients I'm pretty shocked that the moisturizing feels low today. I will definitely revisit this and a few days.
Ingredients: Stearic Acid, Tallow, Coconut Milk, Aloe Vera Juice, Coconut Oil, Potassium Hydroxide, Kokum Butter, Sodium Hydroxide, Castor Oil, Vegetable Glycerin, Lanolin, Shea Butter, Avocado Oil, Fragrance and Essential Oils
I feel bad for any soap that has to follow up after PannaCrema Nuavia. Mickey Lee soapworks has made some really great soap in my opinion so I thought it would be a decent follow-up. Boy was I shocked at the difference between these two soaps! With Mickey Lee my face feels raw compared to Nuavia.
Slickness 8.5/10
Cushion 7.5/10
Moisturizing 7.5/10
Scent 8/10
Overall 8/10
I'm not sure if the new feather blade was the culprit or me getting sloppy because I'm used to Superior soap but I got around 5 weepers today and a medium-sized nick which is very very unusual. I will have to come back to this soap after I have taken a break from Nuavia for a while.
Edit for ingredients. Looking at these ingredients I'm pretty shocked that the moisturizing feels low today. I will definitely revisit this and a few days.
Ingredients: Stearic Acid, Tallow, Coconut Milk, Aloe Vera Juice, Coconut Oil, Potassium Hydroxide, Kokum Butter, Sodium Hydroxide, Castor Oil, Vegetable Glycerin, Lanolin, Shea Butter, Avocado Oil, Fragrance and Essential Oils
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In about 4 months, you have managed to sample what most people don't even get to in about 5-6 years. The fact that you have managed to single out a favorite is even more impressive and makes the whole journey even more worthwhile. Well done
The next step is prolonged use. Try it for a month solid, sort of like a mini-3017 attempt. That will help you determine if this soap can be an everyday driver or a soap for special occasions.
The next step is prolonged use. Try it for a month solid, sort of like a mini-3017 attempt. That will help you determine if this soap can be an everyday driver or a soap for special occasions.
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- #673
In about 4 months, you have managed to sample what most people don't even get to in about 5-6 years. The fact that you have managed to single out a favorite is even more impressive and makes the whole journey even more worthwhile. Well done
The next step is prolonged use. Try it for a month solid, sort of like a mini-3017 attempt. That will help you determine if this soap can be an everyday driver or a soap for special occasions.
I definitely agree with your mini 3017 suggestion, I've been looking at the last forty or so soaps under my cabinet that I haven't tried thinking about which one I'm going to test for 10 days straight. I was thinking about starting with Tabac for 10 days to set a good Baseline and then moving on to some of my favorites for 10 days at a time. I'm only about a month or two away from getting there assuming I don't buy any more samples between now and then, wish me luck!
One thing I was thinking about and that's when you shave twice a day you could actually do a 3017 at night and a rotation in the morning and have the best of both worlds!
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- #675
That's a good idea, 3017 my morning soap that I fly through to get out the door and then try a different soap each night. I have actually thought about just using The Silver Fox for my morning soap but I poured 7.57 ounces into my Williams-Sonoma bowl so that would be a really really long 3017!
Tonights soap was The Sudsy Soapery lavender and peppermint. I knew this would be fairly strong like all of them so I went really light on the lather since it has peppermint and that can sometimes be very strong.
It turns out that the peppermint was very strong in this, I loved it! I forgot how thirsty this soap was, I will remember next time to continue adding water, I had a ton of lather left after 3 passes.
Slickness 9/10
Cushion 9/10
Moisturizing 9/10
Scent 9/10
Overall 9/10
This really held up well in score after the three-box pass around. I might actually 3017 one of their scents instead of Tabac or The Silver Fox
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- #676
Bain Amour Southern Gentleman
I love Tallow and Shea Butter! I like going back to Veggie soaps and trying different things but in the end the slickness and cushion of tallow is just so easy. I sliced off a small sliver and lathered it in my black salsa Bowl. Last time I rated this highly when it was lathered in my scuttle but sometimes it makes things too easy so I like to face and bowl lather as well.
Slickness 9.5/10
Cushion 9/10
Moisturizing 8.5/10
Scent 8.5/10
Overall 9/10
Slickness and cushion all for $8. If tabac wasn't so cheap on Amazon right now this would be king of the tallowsoap.
I love Tallow and Shea Butter! I like going back to Veggie soaps and trying different things but in the end the slickness and cushion of tallow is just so easy. I sliced off a small sliver and lathered it in my black salsa Bowl. Last time I rated this highly when it was lathered in my scuttle but sometimes it makes things too easy so I like to face and bowl lather as well.
Slickness 9.5/10
Cushion 9/10
Moisturizing 8.5/10
Scent 8.5/10
Overall 9/10
Slickness and cushion all for $8. If tabac wasn't so cheap on Amazon right now this would be king of the tallowsoap.
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- #677
Barrister & Mann Latha Sandalwood
B&M Latha does not get a lot of love around here except for the first few times that I tested it and give it spectacular reviews. I have tried many more soaps since then and have come back full circle to try out one of my favorite scents, Sandalwood.
Slickness 8.5/10
Cushion 8.5/10
Moisturizing 8/10
Scent 9/10
Overall 8.5/10
B&M would in my humble opinion be better off dropping this line entirely. Their standard white label is top of the line Mercedes like quality. This is similar to Mercedes putting out a $30,000 car with a four-cylinder engine. Why dilute the brand name with cheaper products? I know the cost is cheap at $11 but competitors like the sudsy soapery and bain amour put up much higher scores on my face for less money.
The scent is out of this world again and that is one of the redeeming qualities versus their competitor. B&M know how to make you smile upon first sniff. At first I was taken aback by the sweetness of the sandalwood scent. I thought perhaps it was synthetic and not true to form however I find it to be a richly organic experience with deep complex notes similar to what PannaCrema produces. I was very impressed.
B&M Latha does not get a lot of love around here except for the first few times that I tested it and give it spectacular reviews. I have tried many more soaps since then and have come back full circle to try out one of my favorite scents, Sandalwood.
Slickness 8.5/10
Cushion 8.5/10
Moisturizing 8/10
Scent 9/10
Overall 8.5/10
B&M would in my humble opinion be better off dropping this line entirely. Their standard white label is top of the line Mercedes like quality. This is similar to Mercedes putting out a $30,000 car with a four-cylinder engine. Why dilute the brand name with cheaper products? I know the cost is cheap at $11 but competitors like the sudsy soapery and bain amour put up much higher scores on my face for less money.
The scent is out of this world again and that is one of the redeeming qualities versus their competitor. B&M know how to make you smile upon first sniff. At first I was taken aback by the sweetness of the sandalwood scent. I thought perhaps it was synthetic and not true to form however I find it to be a richly organic experience with deep complex notes similar to what PannaCrema produces. I was very impressed.
- Thread starter
- #678
LASS Bespoke #1
I was a little afraid to try Los Angeles shave soap again because last time I think I gave it poor reviews for some reason. I don't remember why or how long ago it was but this sat in the back of my shave cabinet until I smelled it today and thought wow, this smells amazing so for tonights shave it is bespoke #1
Slickness 8.5/10
Cushion 8/10
Moisturizing 7/10
Scent 9.5/10
Overall 8/10
I really enjoyed shaving with this soap tonight however most of that enjoyment was the wonderful scent. This is about as slick as a simple veggie soap can get and the cushion and moisturizing are about average as such. You can tell there are no Butters or moisturizing agents at all, this is a simple MdC clone with an incredible scent. Reminds me of Nag Champa and other Indian incense I burn in my home. Very pleasing.
The water content is critical for the soap. The first pass was plenty slick but the second and third passes were dry and I had to add water in both passes. You could call it very thirsty But the Water band is smaller than it's competition MdC and Nuavia. Overall a good soap but not one I would purchase a full tub of.
I was a little afraid to try Los Angeles shave soap again because last time I think I gave it poor reviews for some reason. I don't remember why or how long ago it was but this sat in the back of my shave cabinet until I smelled it today and thought wow, this smells amazing so for tonights shave it is bespoke #1
Slickness 8.5/10
Cushion 8/10
Moisturizing 7/10
Scent 9.5/10
Overall 8/10
I really enjoyed shaving with this soap tonight however most of that enjoyment was the wonderful scent. This is about as slick as a simple veggie soap can get and the cushion and moisturizing are about average as such. You can tell there are no Butters or moisturizing agents at all, this is a simple MdC clone with an incredible scent. Reminds me of Nag Champa and other Indian incense I burn in my home. Very pleasing.
The water content is critical for the soap. The first pass was plenty slick but the second and third passes were dry and I had to add water in both passes. You could call it very thirsty But the Water band is smaller than it's competition MdC and Nuavia. Overall a good soap but not one I would purchase a full tub of.
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Nice to see how you've changed as you've become more experienced. You'll be surprised at how you'll change again next time I'm sure.
- Thread starter
- #680
One of the things I have come to appreciate in time is vegan soap. At first I could not handle the single pass with no touch up aspects where as tallow leaves a residual slickness enabling new Shavers to correct bad passes. This residual slickness affects the post-shave feel however and I Now understand why vegan soap is so popular.
One new vegan soap I was graciously gifted by [MENTION=17266]kingfisher[/MENTION] was Country Club for Men orange blossom.
Slickness 8.5/10
Cushion 9/10
Moisturizing 9/10
Scent 9/10
Overall 8.8/10
This stuff is thick and I mean thick! I kept adding water and more water and more water and my first pass I still had chunks of soap in the brush I'm quite sure. It was really difficult to whip up into an airy lather like most vegan soap. It just kept loading off that same pea-sized amount of soap and getting thicker and thicker. I finally shaved with it but might be able to increase slickness with even more water. This one will take some testing to dial in. Overall I would say it was similar to Los Angeles shave soap but had better moisturizing properties at the end. The scent was amazing but very one sided unlike Nuavia. I really enjoyed this soap, I would purchase a tub depending on the price. I have not looked it up yet so can't say one way or the other.
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