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Castle Forbes Lavender Cream

Item Description

I can't explain it, but I seem to acquire lavender scented items rather quickly. For review today, the Castle Forbes Lavender Cream.

First...the photos...

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This cream glistens and is on the thick side.
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A dollop in the bowl.
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A few swirls.
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Maybe 30 total swirls. And there's plenty left in the bowl.
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One quick swipe on the hand.
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A few additional swipes and you can see how thick and rich the lather is.
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Price: Ouch. CF creams are expensive. If you're looking purely at performance for the price, stay clear.

Quality: A very high quality cream. Right up there with the best of them.

Scent: Wonderful. My favorite lavender anything. It is VERY strong and you're hit with it as soon as you open the container. If you don't like lavender, you won't like this cream. The scent fills the entire bathroom when in use. Even though it's a "floral" smell, it's very masculine. You buy Castle Forbes for the scent.

Latherability: Piece of cake. This cream lathers as good as anything I've tried. It just explodes in my bowl and makes a wonderful think, heavy, slick, luxurious lather. It's also rather forgiving of the water ratio. (FYI - I have very hard water.)

Efficacy: This cream does what cream is supposed to do. It moistens the beard, is slick, and provides a load of cushion.

Moisturizing Properties: Let me preface this by saying I have oily skin. For ME, this cream sits at just the right amount of moisturizing, which is why it gets a 10, not because it's the most moisturizing a cream could be. Someone with dry skin would probably rate this around 8.

Packaging: If this were $15/tub, it would be fine. But the plain plastic tub is rather boring. I don't usually care much about packaging, but at $35, the presentation is not fitting the price. And while the black box is nice, it doesn't make up the difference.

Overall: Great cream with a fantastic scent, but potentially not worth the price. These are luxury items and sometimes we get hit with luxury prices. And in the grand scheme of things, $35 isn't THAT much more than a $25 tub. Yeah, I'm already justifying my next purchase...

TO DISCUSS THIS REVIEW PLEASE GO TO THIS THREAD!

Latest reviews

Pros: Stellar cushion and glide, east of lathering
Cons: Price, may irritate people with very sensitive skin
Price: Expensive, and the product's one big drawback. Do I regret buying it? Absolutely not. Quality: Very high. Makes some other top shelf creams look like drugstore grade products. Scent: Extremely intense, otherworldly, pure lavender. Not the polite flowery "lavender" fragrance of so many lavender scented soaps, but more like a lavender bomb going off in your face. It is very, very strong. If you're allergic to lavender I wouldn't want to be in the same house as someone using this cream. Also, if you're sensitive to strongly fragranced shaving products you have been warned. Latherability: Stellar. The consistency of the cream is more like an Italian soft soap than your average UK cream packaged in a plastic bowl. I find that loading with a slightly damper brush and building lather directly on top of the cream works best for me. When I do this I get incredibly thick lather that is slick and wet enough for excellent blade glide yet cushion-y enough to protect my skin. Efficacy: It gives me great shaves, period. Moisturizing Properties: It doesn't leave my fave excessively dry and tight after the shave, but I could see how the high lavender EO content could be a little drying if I used this product back to back 5+ days in a row. Packaging: Not the fanciest I've ever seen but very functional. I like the wide opening of the PET jar and the fact that I don't have to worry about breaking it if I were to drop it. Overall, highly recommended.
Price
3.00 star(s)
Scent
5.00 star(s)
Quality
4.00 star(s)
Efficacy
4.00 star(s)
Packaging
4.00 star(s)
Latherability
4.00 star(s)
Moisturizing Properties
4.00 star(s)
Pros: The best lavender scent
Cons: Price
I am a soap user but I keep this cream in my rotation because I absolutely love this cream. It is one of the best quality cream out there. IMO, CF lavender is the best lavender scent that I have tried. The scent is rather strong, so make sure you like lavender. Yes, the price is very steep but the product is so thick that it lasts a long time. I take a pea sized cream and face lather, the results is very thick and and slick lather that is more than enough for a 3 pass shave. I personally believe that this cream is best when it is face lathered (due its thickness).

CF lavender cream keeps the skin very moisterized after the shave. Not overly moisterized but enough that you could probably skip aftershave.

If you are a lavender scent fan and would like to try the best cream in a more natural lavender(not those other overly sweet artificial lavender scent), this is the one to get.
Price
4.00 star(s)
Scent
5.00 star(s)
Quality
5.00 star(s)
Efficacy
4.00 star(s)
Packaging
4.00 star(s)
Latherability
5.00 star(s)
Moisturizing Properties
4.00 star(s)
Well, I have a tub of the Lime but have been using a sample of the Lavender - packaging rating above is based on the Lime, which is the same!

The reason you buy CF is for the scents, which are lovely. Probably my favourite amongst all the creams I've tried. This isn't surprising as they use real EO.

However, I'm not sold on the performance. I get denser, more protective lather that does not degrade at all, from Taylors creams.

I don't think the creams are that expensive in terms of price per shave. It's probably not much more that the three Ts, due to this cream's concentration. However, for this price I expect superlative lather, which, like the Limes version, I don't get. It's just ok.....

I doubt I will buy again.

John
Price
3.00 star(s)
Scent
4.00 star(s)
Quality
4.00 star(s)
Efficacy
3.00 star(s)
Packaging
3.00 star(s)
Latherability
4.00 star(s)
Moisturizing Properties
3.00 star(s)

Item information

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letterk
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0.38 star(s) 21 ratings

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