Item Description
Importing a product from overseas often lends it a cachet that makes it more desireable than our home-grown products. In the US we treat creams like Proraso as being more exotic than they're considered in their homeland. (I guess it works in the reverse direction too, based on some Europeans' stated wishes to get their hands on Aqua Velva.) It's not surprising then that we sometimes don't accord a domestic product the same respect. I have to say, while it's easy enough to ignore a domestic product, it's even easier to ignore Kiss My Face products. They don't look like men's shaving products, they look like women's hand moisturizers or hair product. Bright colors, fruity graphics, and that name: Kiss My Face. Subconciously it's easy not to even notice it on the shelf. I have to believe that if they called their men's line KMF, clothed it in darker, more somber packaging, and maybe added some earthier fragrances to the line, we'd be whooping it up a lot more than we are about this great product. Looks can be deceiving--take Caswell-Massey, for instance. It looks like it should be a great shave cream, but read the reviews. At least for me, I get a preconceived notion sometimes of what a product should look like, and won't even see something that doesn't fit that description. I know Kiss My Face has gotten some great reviews here, but it still seems to be slipping under the radar to some extent.
At $3.99 for a tube, this is a bargain. Maybe I'm a cheapskate, but I love finding something that does a job well for cheap. Quality is high; take a look at their website; these guys are serious about making good quality, ethical, natural products. The scent, however, is a bit too dim. It smells good (my five-year-old son says "it smells like a cupcake") but unlike, say, Col. Conk Almond (which smells like I'm shaving with marzipan, and I love it) it's not strong enough. I might not want it to linger, but I want to enjoy it while I'm shaving. I'd love to see them up the octane on the smell, and add some scents like almond and sandalwood to the line. This stuff is almost not a cream in consistency, but closer to a liquid coming out of the tube; it's not as thick as Musgo or Proraso. Bring a brush within sight of it, though, and it lathers like nobody's business. And thick. It's not often I see merengue-like peaks not only in my mug but on my face. For efficacy I knocked it down a couple of points because, in comparison to something that includes lanolin like Musgo Real, it's not as slick. If you avoid animal products, though, you'll love this. And unlike most other products, the ingredient list makes it seem almost safe enough to put on your ice cream. As for moisturizing properties, I have to take others' word that it's great. I have oily skin and have never had a problem with dryness, so I'm not a good judge. Packaging I knocked a few point off for because I don't really care for plastic squeeze tubes. But that's just me.
Bottom line is, this is great stuff at a great price, and it's likely that there will always now be a KMF shave cream in my closet. If they kept the product the same and only changed the packaging to something more masculine, it would be better noticed by the demographic that will use it. If on top of that it was made in Florence and called Baccia la Mia Faccia, we'd be paying ten bucks a tube for it.
At $3.99 for a tube, this is a bargain. Maybe I'm a cheapskate, but I love finding something that does a job well for cheap. Quality is high; take a look at their website; these guys are serious about making good quality, ethical, natural products. The scent, however, is a bit too dim. It smells good (my five-year-old son says "it smells like a cupcake") but unlike, say, Col. Conk Almond (which smells like I'm shaving with marzipan, and I love it) it's not strong enough. I might not want it to linger, but I want to enjoy it while I'm shaving. I'd love to see them up the octane on the smell, and add some scents like almond and sandalwood to the line. This stuff is almost not a cream in consistency, but closer to a liquid coming out of the tube; it's not as thick as Musgo or Proraso. Bring a brush within sight of it, though, and it lathers like nobody's business. And thick. It's not often I see merengue-like peaks not only in my mug but on my face. For efficacy I knocked it down a couple of points because, in comparison to something that includes lanolin like Musgo Real, it's not as slick. If you avoid animal products, though, you'll love this. And unlike most other products, the ingredient list makes it seem almost safe enough to put on your ice cream. As for moisturizing properties, I have to take others' word that it's great. I have oily skin and have never had a problem with dryness, so I'm not a good judge. Packaging I knocked a few point off for because I don't really care for plastic squeeze tubes. But that's just me.
Bottom line is, this is great stuff at a great price, and it's likely that there will always now be a KMF shave cream in my closet. If they kept the product the same and only changed the packaging to something more masculine, it would be better noticed by the demographic that will use it. If on top of that it was made in Florence and called Baccia la Mia Faccia, we'd be paying ten bucks a tube for it.