QED Violetta

Allow me to first say that I am big fan of the florals. In fact, my entire den is comprised of florals. Trumpers rose and violet, AoS rose, TOBS rose, QED sandalwood rose, etc... Even so, I was extremely disapointed with this soap's scent. The soap can lather up really well, better than most, if not all, glycerin soaps out there. QED however is not only known for its high quality soap and its ability to produce a rich and rewarding lather, but also for its nose blasting, room filling scents. This scent horribly fails in every way, and I say this with such strong words because of the quality I have come to expect from QED based on my experience with sandalwood rose.

Some of the members on here have said in other forums that Trumpers violet is sweeter than QED. No way. IMO QED's violetta scent is WAY WAY WAYYYYY sweeter and thicker than Trumpers. Trumpers violet is a dryer, cleaner scent with a powdery freshness as it comes down. The QED smells like violet flavored candy. The scent might be for some, but its not for me. I really wanted to like this soap.

This soap can lather like a beast and beats nearly every glycerin soap out there. It produces a thick firm lather that is usually uncharateristic of many glycerin soaps. It almost has the firmness and thickness that Irisch Moos has. Almost.

I received my tub from a fellow B&B member and will likely be selling it soon. I only did one test lather and that was enough for me. I'll likely be selling it soon.

The sandalwood rose however is out of this world good Sometimes I stop in the bathroom just to smell that soap I would love to try QED wild rose, and QED sandalwood at some point. Maybe I'll buy the sandalwood soon.

Please note that this review is not to blast the quality of the soap. Minus the scent, this is one fantastic soap and it can stand up to my tallow soaps any day of the week.

I received this soap as a gift from my brother for my birthday last year. I used it up very fast. I found that it produced a wonderful lather faster than any of my other soaps (except for it's sister Wild Rose) and the lather didn't dry out if I took a bit longer completing a pass. I didn't have a problem with the razor skipping accross my face, as I get from my C&E soaps (still trying to tame that beast). The soap just gave me really enjoyable shaves...and the scent wasn't too strong, but just right.

Really I can't say anymore than I LOVED this soap, and I wish the puck was bigger!

What a nice surprise.

I'm using Harris' Arlington this week, and am forcing myself not to return to this tub every morning.

Notes:

The colour changed after a few days. Bad form perhaps, but it has little to do with the shave.

Lathers much better than other soaps, except for the VERY best tallow based products. I think that concerns about moisturizing noted above should be viewed as relative. Not many soaps are as creamy as this stuff.

QED products are EXCEPTIONAL value, as defined by PERFORMANCE/PRICE.

The scent is violet, as promised. I'm soon returning to buy some other classic scents from Charles.

It's a shame Charles is not located in London. He'd be wealthy. (Maybe he is!)