Crabtree & Evelyn Sandalwood Shaving Cream

***I wish there was an N/A selection***

I got a sample from the C&E in my local mall, they included a sample of the AS as well. Immediately upon opening the tiny tub, the smell of "Night Club in the Morning" assaulted me - a bit of stale ashtray and something acrid from the carpet (really not trying to be harsh, that's what I got). I'm not sure I want this on my face & scalp, but that's why I got this - so here goes.

About 2X almonds in the lather bowl, and a very wet brush yielded a thick, creamy foam. Smell has thankfully turned more herbal, but the cig smell is still very apparent. About midway through the shave, I noticed two things:

1. The scent turned almost pleasant - herbal, a bit woody, something acrid (but not bad) - the cigs were almost out of it. - Definitely not Sandalwood....

2. The lather dried quickly, moistened fingers leading the razor brought it back nicely.

Overall:
Not a take on a Sandalwood scent that I recognize.

Nice shave, though it dried quickly.

***I noticed that the most recent review was '09, and someone mentioned it being discontinued - could the product I received be THAT old?

The AS had a similar scent, though it turned more woodsy after application.

This cream just sort of disappeared while shaving and felt like I had to use more than other brands. C&E scents are just not for me. Either they are too overpowering or to "woman perfume" like. I don't think this cream is anything special and would take Geo Trumper any day over this overpriced cream.

I love the stuff!

Price I paid $25 for my jar which is up there as far as creams but it has turned out to be a good cream for me. I'd pay it again.

Quality The C&E creams are not low-end. I would rate it as up there with some of the English creams.

Scent It seems to be a kind of love it or hate it scent. I certainly don't hate it. To me it is a dry, earthy, woody, warm, luxurious scent. It seems to stick with me for a while too. I can kind of see how people can get ashtray from it but that only before it's lathered. In the bowl, it smells great. Many say it does not smell like sandalwood but I can't comment on that because this is the only sandalwood scent I have experienced.

Latherability It makes plenty of lather with minimal effort.

Moisturizing It could be a little better. I just need some balm after using the stuff but it's not too bad.

Packaging Awesome! Nice glass jar with a plastic coating. I could not smell the plastic as some have said.

This stuff has been discontinued and I hate to see it go. I might have to stock up!

Well, I wanted to like this cream. The packaging, like most C&E products, was gorgeous. Very nice touch with the tube key as well. But after that it started to go downhill.

The price is not really the greatest. TOBS can be had cheaper, and its sandalwood is a lot truer to the actual smell. Which brings me to my next and biggest qualm.

This is NOT Sandalwood. I am sorry but anyone who thinks so has had a whiff of pure Mysore Sandalwood. I have been fortunate to go to mysore and I have some great Sandalwood handicrafts that I purchased from the Karnataka State Emporium (and the scent from those is heaven-scent (sic)). Of course I don't expect any beauty product to match that, but at least I expect them to be in the ballpark.

C&E Sandalwood is more like some sweet cinnamon based powdery smell with ever so faint traces of Sandalwood. If they created a proprietary name for it (like Sienna or Nomad) I wouldn't have any beef with it. It is afterall not unpleasant to use. But its not the Sandalwood that I was expecting.

Latherability is nothing great. TOBS is miles better than this. Its tricky to get right, I always seem to need more cream than I would with another product. And the final lather kind of leaves me underwhelmed.

It is moisturizing enough and it works well. But in all honesty, I will not be buying it again. Considering that C&E may be discontinuing it, it may be a moot point (albeit they are also taking down my much beloved Sienna, which I cannot get enough of).

I really like sandalwood. I really like Crabtree & Evelyn. Seemed like a slam dunk huh? Not really. My two big qualms are the scent and the slickness of the cream. This is by far the least favorite of all the sandalwood creams I've tried. It smells like sandalwood rolled in baby powder. Not the most masculine sandalwood out there. Then there's the actual shave. This stuff builds mounds of lather but it wasn't very slick lather no matter how much I played with the water ratio. It was pretty lather but didn't give me the cushion or shave I expect. I'll pass on this one.

surprisingly;121882 said:

I thought he had rolled the little tub around in some cigarette ashes. Then, when I unscrewed the cap, BLAM, disgusting sickening sweet herbal stench. It smelled like a Vegas hooker, a mixture of strong perfume and cigarette smoke.

Click to expand...

I am glad I am not the only one. I love the sent of sandalwood however with this cream all I smell is old cigarette smoke. I gave it a 1 because fortunately the scent doesn't linger long. I really wanted to like this cream, It was a PIF from Thirdeye hence the 10 for price. However with the finiky lather and horrible smell the only thing keeping me from trashing this is waiting on replacement creams to arrive.

Gave the price rating of 7, as I found a 3.5oz of this cream for $15 at the local C&E. The packaging is always great on C&E products.

I found this cream to be a bit of an odd duck. I bought it because well...I could just drove up the road and pick it up

The scent is something that I can't really place my finger on as it is a fairly unique interpretation of sandalwood. I'm a sandalwood fan, and it doesn't really smell much like sandalwood to me. It is, however, still a pleasant scent that I don't mind enjoying at all.

The latherability is where it starts to get interesting. I know that many C&E products have different product:water ratios than we're accustomed to. The Nomad and Sweet Almond Oil are two of my favorite creams, so didn't think I'd have any problems out of this one. It turns out that the consistency of the lather itself wasn't up to my standards per se (I prefer a rich, creamy lather), but the resulting shave was outstanding. It seems like I had to use a somewhat generous amount of cream to get the amount of lather that I wanted, but the end result is worth it.

There is one thing that I find unique about this cream, and it's the reason that I gave it a 10 for moisturizing properties. I have oily skin, and after my cold water rinse I almost don't reach for the aftershave. It seems to leave the moisture and oil levels on my face perfectly balanced. A very nice touch, I don't know of many other creams or soaps that do this for me.

I definitely think this product is worth a try. I just love the way it leaves my face feeling after the shave.

I have been shaving with C&E Sandlewood for almost a year. I also have the C&E Nomad. As others have discovered , sometimes the Sandlewood can be less moisturizing then then 3 T's. Overall I really like the Sandlewood characteristics. I have Taylor and Body Shop in my rotation but my daily favorite is the C&E Sandlewood. Others may disagree, but the fragrance is my idea of what Sandlewood should be.

I have bought this twice in the gorgeous tubs, and I absolutely LOVE this cream. As a relative newbie to wet shaving, the scent alone of this cream floored me compared to anything in a can. Though a little pricey here in Canada ($35), this is, so far, my favourite cream. Like many have said, a little tricky (not difficult) to lather, but once mastered, your mug will be overflowing with warm goodness that smells absolutely incredible, if you're a sandalwood fan. I have tricky skin (sometimes oily, sometimes dry...) but this doesn't seem to dry me out excessively or provide any extry moisture. I simply feel as though I've shaved, which, since going to a DE, isn't a bad thing at all. If you have a C&E in your area, scoop up.

I almost loved this cream. When I unwrapped the sample I received from Scotto, I thought he had rolled the little tub around in some cigarette ashes. Then, when I unscrewed the cap, BLAM, disgusting sickening sweet herbal stench. It smelled like a Vegas hooker, a mixture of strong perfume and cigarette smoke. I knew that I needed to shave with the cream to test it out, but I couldn't get past the smell. Thankfully, I buckled down and lathered up because the shave was probably the second best shave I've ever had in terms of every other virtue of the cream. As soon as I finished the shave, the rest of the sample went into the garbage... deep... deep into the garbage. If you have been seriously injured in a parasailing accident and have lost your sense of smell, this is the perfect cream for you, otherwise, stay far away. The Nomad cologne is in my collection and I adore it, so I'll probably try that version of the cream next. I'm eager to get the same level of shave that I did from this odorous abomination.

I second all positive remarks above. Slight downside of the packaging: the jar had a strong rubber smell that cloaked the lovely sandalwood aroma upon opening. A great product otherwise. Barely needed an AS afterwards.

I once had a tub of this shaving cream, and I always enjoyed the majority of C&E's creams and soaps, because they're pretty well all top-notch, which exude superior quality. The lather on this cream is amazing, the skincare, I'd rate fabulous, in fact everything except the scent. For sandalwood, I still prefer Taylor's version. Everything else about this cream's wonderful.

Jeff

I have just received a C and E sandalwood shaving soap and having used sandal wood body soap all my life (from Mysopre in India), I can vouch that Cand E's soap is fake. This is no sandalwood but Cinnamon and some other spice. I am in the process of sending it back! Is there a true sandal wood shaving soap that would truly satisfy me made by perhaps some other English firm. Please suggest.

Good review. Just a few opinions (yes, like a**holes - as most would refer to me . . . )

C&E creams are definitely not low-end, in price or quality. But the amount of cream needed for a good lather, plus the lessened slickness, lowers the cream in my opinion. It is one of the few creams where I can feel a lessened 'glide', not necessarily a "tug", even with the preferred Feather & Merkur HD.

I have a hard time differentiating the scent of C&E Sandalwood cream from Trumpers sandalwood cream (and I know I'm not the only one). Neither of these creams , to disagree with a few members (no offense meant ), is a "single note sandalwood." They are both, in my opinion, very flowery scented with some sandalwood in the scent. Don't get me wrong, I like, and use, both Trumpers and C&E, but the lather and slickness of trumpers edges out C&E.

Of course, with shaveing gear, you'll get 8 opinions from 5 people on the same topic, so YMMV.

After Scotto telling me more than once to try this cream, I finally did. Excellent recommendation!

Packaging
C&E has a very nice presentation with their creams in the tube. I would second their delivery method to Trumper's. The box has raised glossed lettering along with a nice corrugated inside for additional support. Along with the Cream in the tube, the box has a little corrugated insert tab which contains the tube key to help roll the tube so as to get the most cream out of the tube possible.

The Cream
The cream consistency is firm & soft (if that makes sense), dark brown in color. Since it's in a tube, you really can't get a good judgement as to it's overall consistency, but suffice it to say, in the bowl it looks fine.

The Aroma
Nice- very, very nice. I've played around trying to find a nice sandalwood scent and this is it. The sandalwood aroma is very powerful. The moment you open the cap on the tube, the scent jumps out at you. When you're lathering it up in the bowl with steamy hot water, it just radiates in the bathroom. If you like sandalwood or can't find one that really sits with you appropriately, try this one. It's a very nutty, earthy, musky aroma with top notes of vanilla. I can alse detect some cinnamon in the cream. It screams manly. To me, this is nothing like Trumper's Sandalwood, which I personally did not like at all.

Latherability
This might be one area where C&E gets a little flack and it probably does deserve a little. The cream is a bit tricky to learn to build great lather to start off with. It takes a little more cream quantity than Taylor's or Trumper's to get going and the margin for error is pretty unforgiving. You can turn it from chalky-dry cream into a bowl of soup pretty quick with just a little too much water. What I generally do is allow my brush to act as the means of adding water to the bowl, rather than using water poured from the hotpot into the bowl. But once you learn the water/cream ratio, you're off to the races. This stuff just explodes into gobs of cool-whip like lather. With a little brush work, you should have no problem having mounds of sandalwood infused cream spilling over the sides of your shaving mug/bowl.

Lubricity & Moisturizing Properties
Very good. I rate it behind the Taylor line in terms of it's overall moisturizing ability, but Taylor's is the bar in my opinion for moisturizing qualities, so C&E isn't far behind. Some folks just naturally have a hard time with sandalwood, but for me, it treats my face well. It feels supple and cool after the shave and I have yet to nick myself or get any weepers left behind. It does create a nice slick surface on the face during the shave.

Price
C&E is on par with Trumper's withtheir pricing, but shop around, you can get it cheaper. A tube of this from C&E's website goes for $25, but many ebay places are selling it for ~$11.25 to $15.00 a tube. C&E is certainly proud of their products, but they can be because it is a very good product.

Overall
Every guy should have a tube of this in his toiletry locker (whatever the hell that is ) It's a great product, great scent, great shave and nice packaging. The whole experience wrapped up in one awesome cream. Do yourself a favor and give it a shot. I think C&E has a winner here.