Crabtree & Evelyn Sienna soap

Purchased this one in the wooden bowl from the Printemps department store here in Paris, on a recommendation from my barber.

Price: Around here everything is a touch more expensive, but judged against what other soaps sell for, the bowl and puck are priced pretty much in the middle of the range.

Quality: The packaging and presentation are both top-notch. In particularl, the bowl is nicely turned and varnished, and will look good on one's bathroom shelf. No complaints with this. The soap puck is a nice, dense, thick piece of work, the typical English triple-milled experience.

Scent: A real winner. The strongest notes are of leather and warm, woody spices, with faint undertones of wood and citrus (possibly bergamot). Overall it's a nice, warm-type fragrance that is particularly good for the colder months.

Lather: A real disappointment. Lather starts to build well enough, but tends to be on the thin, airy side by the time it's ready to shave. Not quite to the degree of dish soap or bubble bath, of course, but not good enough for shaving. The lather also dissipates very, very quickly - if you start shaving on the right side of your face you may have to re-lather the left side by the time you get around to it.

Efficacy: The poor quality of the lather notwithstanding, the efficacity is closer to reasonable. While the lather is still there, the lubrification is serviceable at least. Still suffered more nicks and weepers than normal, though.

Moisturizing/ Pretty good, actually. Not the best I've ever had, but far from the worst.

Summary: I had such high hopes for this soap, and the scent of the thing was and is supremely enjoyable. But the fact of the matter is that this soap just doesn't give a good lather.

I tried it with a wet brush, a dry brush, bowl lathering, face lathering, slow water addition, light brush loading, heavy brush loading; pretty much every permutation thereof in the search of a way to make this soap work. Every single time, I was rewarded with nothing but thin, fast-disappearing lather that gave a harsh, burned shave. The water here is on the hard side of the spectrum, sure, but I found that none of my other soaps - tallow- or vegetable-based, triple-milled or not - have everrequired so much effort or experimentation to achieve so little result.

So it was truly a disappointment when I ended up throwing in the towel and scraped out the puck to use it in the shower, not least because of how marvelous the stuff smells. If, a month or six from now I hear that C&E have reformulated it, I would go out and buy a puck immediately, but for now I cannot recommend this soap.

The C&E Sienna is a very good soap, regarding quality on par with soaps from TOBS, and just a step behind the soaps from the mighty D.R. Harris.
Easy to lather and gives a high quality, slick lather with good cushion. It has a pleasant scent which suits me.
When the puck is finished I'll definitely buy a new one.

I have been using this soap all week in an attempt to "get to know it". My first 2 shaves were quite poor which prompted the week long experiment.

I have found this (late 2010 version) soap really prefers soft water and face lathering. If this describes your water and preferred method you may like the soap more than I did. Scratchier brushes and water on the puck help as well.

Price - 8 dollars for a refill puck. On the low end of the price scale. Weak performance must be factored into the value.

Quality - A hard triple milled soap.

Scent - This soap is strongly scented. If it performed better I might like the scent more.

Lather - Too fussy. I'm willing to work with a soap if it performs better. L'O Cade and Pre de Provence are 2 other soaps I have that require a bit of work but they reward you with slick, cushioned lather. This soaps lather is thin but sort of slick.

Efficacy - Not great. The lather lacks protection and seems to dry my face so after a few days I wanted to skip a day or use something else like MWF, Cella, or a cream.

Moisturizing - I use balms so normally I don't note the soap but I feel my face getting tight with this soap on the 3rd pass.

Based on prior reviews and the 8 dollar price I had high hopes for Sienna. Maybe C&E reformulated this soap but I'm not happy with this version.

I liked the smell of this, and it's cheap and easy to get, even in Australia, so I gave it a try. I passed on the cologne, it was way too strong for comfort, but the scent from the soap is restrained and more subtle.

It's cheap, will last a long time and some may like it. I can take or leave it.

Lathering: quite a hard soap, takes some work, even with a boar. A case of whre hot water on the puck helps. I load up, but find it goes from a bit too thick to a bit too thin a bit too easily.

Moisturising: Not very.

Efficacy. So so. It works, I can get a decent shave. But I'm spoilt by far better products that don't cost much more, such as Tabac or Mr Taylor's cream.

Price - I got this along with the other scents, sandalwood and Nomad for less than $30 total since they had buy 2 get 1 and 20% off so the price was beyond excellent for 3 soaps in bowls.

Quality - I think it's a very nice quality soap and the bowl it comes in is also well made.

Scent - The scent is hard to describe, sweet yet masculine. You just have to smell it, but I like it and sometimes just smell the soap for the heck of it.

Lather - I let this soap sit with some water in it then mix lather in my scuttle with that water and soap and I get a good amount of lather every time. Pretty easy to lather for me and it doesn't dry off even in the time it takes me to strop my str8.

Efficacy - Lather lasts for a long time in the scuttle and doesn't disappear. Slick and gives me a nice clean shave.

Moisturizing - I don't know that there is that much moisturizing in the soap but I have oily skin naturally and my face still feels soft after using it so it works for me.

All in all, I think this is my favorite scent of the 3 C&E soaps. It's got a nice smell and is a good quality soap with a reasonable price. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it and buy it again.

After reading the review, I just couldn't resist anymore. Drove down to the nearest C&E and bought the Sienna soap AND the aftershave. Had my first shave with it last night...very nice smell and oh-so-smooth and creamy...

Price: 18 for bowl and soap, 8 for refill (100g). Yes, the bowl costs more than the soap, but I'm willing to bypass this since other soaps like Trumper and Harris charge double the price.

Quality: Good, hard triple-milled soap

Scent: This is definitely one of my favorite scents, period. I even have the cologne for it.

Lather: If you're a soap user, it's easy. Like other soaps, you have to get the water to soap ratio correct to make a hydrated lather.

Efficacy: Good slickness and cushion, my razor didn't skip once on any passes.

Moisturizing: This is the only real bad part about the soap. It's not the most moisturizing, so those with dry skin may experience some discomfort. I personally think the moisturizing properties could be better, as even non-tallow soaps like Trumper's can provide more moisturizing lather.

All in all, a great smelling soap worth adding to your den. A-

This was an excellent surprise when I picked up some on sale at a C&E. I've used Nomad before and liked it but wasn't overwhelmed byt he scent. This is a rich and masculine scent. I have oily skin so I don't really notice moisturizing or drying like most. A great lather and has become one of my favorite soaps.

It's definitely in production since I picked up a tub of it today.

The smell is fantastic. Like... almost like an antique strop. Smoke and leather.
Good lather, my straight razor technique remains suspect so I won't fault any of the weepers I got on the soap. But this was the first time I went ATG and didn't knick myself. Again, soap or technique? Who knows?! But it certainly didn't inhibit me.

$18 is a tiny bit steep, but the bowl is a nice touch and refills are only $8. And if you play the refill game, I'd much rather a puck of this than 2 pucks of Van Der Hagen.

Sienna off the market? just went to a store locally here that only carried Nomad, which i love (well not the smell so much but the quality of the soap) i asked the manager if they get the other scents (Sienna, Sandalwood, etc) she pulls out a book the her distributor left with her the day before and proceeded to tell me she getting some on next order for me! As far as i can tell, i don't think its off the market... at least not in Canada.

Dear Fans of this soap,

I asked my wife if she could check the local C&E shop here in Munich for a refill puck of this soap in case the rumours were true that they had stopped producing it. She found out that this was indeed the case but that the general public has protested so ferociously at the removal of this fine product, that they decided to start production again.

To krawlx and dave: I must also confess to going in to the bathroom now and again just to smell it.

I just found a refill for $5 at an outlet store. It fits great once I gave it a little push into my caswell massey wooden bowl.

Price: Great soap for $5
Quality: Not as good as my Tabac but it is high quality.
Scent: Not my favorite scent but smells good and better imho than my nomad.

Anybody know of sources for the refill puck in the UK?
FaPat5 from another thread is kindly checking his local C&E - mine is 100 miles away ....
Thanks in advance

I was so bummed that they took this off the market that I went out and bought 4 refill pucks!

This soap is excellent. I face lather, and it worked great. Very slick. I like the smell more than ANY of my other soaps & creams - that's gotta be saying something. I've got the wooden bowl which is of excellent quality. All around a great soap with amazing value.

its a shame they took this soap off the market. the scent is the best thing about this soap. to me its right up there with the awesome smelling truefitt and hill 1805 shaving cream. i just love it and find myself taking the top off the wooden bowl just for a sniff.

i use a col conk badger brush and after a couple of swirls on the soap i move over to the mug and get a good amount of lather. it doesn't turn into cool whip as easy as a cream but once you get the hang of what you're doing you'll get a great lather.

the only real knock against the soap is that by the third pass it tends to dry out my skin. so for me i have to add a little extra water and then i'm fine.

the price used to be decent $8 for a refill seems about right. less then have the price of fancy stuff like art of shaving or any of its british friends. $20 for the bowl seemed a bit steep but after dropping the bowl repeated on my bathroom and kitchen floor i guess it isn't a bad investment.

overall this is a great next step soap. so for people who are new and moving on from say col conk and don't want to spend the money on trumpers or truefitt and hill this would be good.

I travel a lot and was getting tired of trying to squeeze cream into little containers and fitting all that into my 1qt TSA regulation bag . Several trips ago I stumbled onto and into a C&E store at the local mall. I wandered towards the back of the store to be presented with a shelf lined with only mens products. Oh the joy.

I smelled the creams and colognes to get a good taste of the scents and I settled on a round of the Sienna soap for about $8. This is a full round so the price is good as long as you have a store in your neighborhood. I think the quality is very nice, a nice hard soap and I hardly see any wear after 2 weeks of use.

I sprayed the cologne on my shirt and the scent really grew on me (I kept smelling my shirt all day) I really like it. I was pleased by how easy it was to load my Vulfix badger in no time I moved on to lathering my wet face. I had a great shave and this soap is a slick and solid performer IMO. I did not feel dry after my shave so much so that on my very next trip I purposly left my soap at home to have an excuse to stop at the C&E shop again. This time I picked a round of Nomad to try I think I paid about $8. Now I mainly travel with C&E soaps.

I love this stuff

I have tried only a couple of soaps (the others being Mama Bears). I purchased this when C&E was having a sale and got it for a great price. I really enjoy the scent and find that it is pleasant - but I wouldn't want it every day. I was able to get a real good lather with my EJ BBB, but I don't think that it was as slick as my creams. I rotate this in about once a week. I rated a 10 for price because I purchased on sale, at the reg. price of $18, I would have given it a 6.

I absolutely agree with Dave about this one. The smell is great but there are much better out there. I am a. Actually trying to wean myself off Nancy Boy right now b/c my gf thinks it....kinda sissyish. But this stuff does do the job and especially for the price. $8 a puck compared to $18-28 a puck. You really get what you pay for. This stuff blows Williams away by far also as it should. I also was a former bud light drinker in college and have moved on to bigger and better things...unless it is free

This is probably the best-smelling soap I own. Seriously, when I first got this soap I would open the lid and smell it a few times per day. It was also my first shaving soap, and for a while I was very happy with its performance.

And then I tried Pre de Provence. And then I tried Provence Sante. And then some Saint Charles Shave soaps. And Mama Bear soaps. And even Mitchell WoolFat soaps (see my review of THAT item to understand how it pains me to praise it). And I very quickly realized that while I thought my Sienna was moisturizing, and lubricating, and slick, and everything else one could wish for in a soap, it was only because I hadn't yet used some truly terrific shaving soaps. Much in the same way that Bud Lite used to be my favorite beer before I actually drank good beer and discovered what I had been missing.

Still, I would be lying if I said I still didn't sneak a sniff of my Sienna soap from time to time...it smells THAT good. My advice: if you love the scent as much as I do, lather up your brush with it and then stick a healthy gob of your favorite cream on your brush to get the moisturizing benefits that the soap alone lacks.

Also, stay away from Bud Lite.

I got this shaving soap as a gift from my wife. At first I was not too impressed, however, it certainly has grown on me since using it. It lathers very well especially if you use a larger bowl rather than a small cup. I found it very easy to shave with and the smell was just fantastic. Lingers on for quite a bit. What I especially love about this shaving soap is that it must contain some ingredient that really opens up the pores and the hair just sticks right out since I found I got an especially closer shave than other shaving soaps. No doubt this is a top-notch, high-quality product.