Crema da Barba Santa Maria Novella

[Marco]

La "Crema da Barba di Santa Maria Novella" is one of the very best shaving creams available on the market.
It is produced by the "Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella", in Florence, Italy.
This pharmacy, founded by Dominican Friars in 1612, is considered the oldest in Europe and one of the oldest in the World.
With almost four hundred years of history, wisdom and experience the Officina di Santa Maria Novella is renowned for offering top quality products, which include soaps, colognes, bath and shaving preparations, skin care and aromatherapy oils.
The majority of these products are still made by traditional methods, using proven techniques and selected ingredients.
The Crema da Barba, as already stated above, is one of these top-shelf products.
It comes in a nice cardboard box with, attached, two parchments called "Nota", which describe the history of the pharmacy and list the entire range of products offered by the Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella.
These parchments alone are, without any doubt, a touch of class.
As about the cream, it comes in a 220 ml plastic bowl and costs € 25, with NO shipping charge, since here in Rome we have our authorized SMN shop.
It is essentially the same price I pay for other top-notch creams, like my beloved Castle Forbes, that costs £ 20, plus S&H.
The scent of the Crema da Barba, as its appearance and density, is very close to Proraso soap.
Anyhow the fragrance is not as strong as Proraso, although contains menthol and Eucalyptus oil.
I love this scent: it's fresh, clean and pleasant, not overpowering at all.
The latherability of this product is amazing.
Truly.
With a peanut size of cream I get enough lather for more than three passes.
And what a lather!!!
It's beautifully rich, slick, cooling, moisturizing and very, very protective.
Finally a question that most of you, who do not know the Crema da Barba, would probably ask: "How to compare SMN with Proraso?"
Here is my opinion: Proraso is an excellent, classical cream for having great, close and comfortable shaves.
The Crema da Barba, maybe for the added presence of lanolin, is simply an "upgraded version" of Proraso: better lather, more slickness, higher level of moisturzing and higher degree of protection.
The Crema da Barba di Santa Maria Novella is, with Castle Forbes Lime Oil and Castle Forbes Lavender Oil, in my top three shaving creams.
And it's also the very best our Italian barbershop tradition can offer.
I suppose no further commentary is needed.

 

[Son]

How do you find it compared to Acqua di Parma shaving cream?

 

[oversaturn]

Here in Lisboa, Portugal we have an authorized Santa Maria Novella shop.

I'll have to go there in the near future. SMN shaving cream seems fantastic, and the aftershave line seems very, very interesting.

Thanks for the photos and the "mini-review". Very elucidating. Grazie!

 

[Son]

SMN is opening shops around Europe like mushrooms after rain. Just hope they won't end up being a L'Occitane clone.

Btw, their customer support is top notch - I e-mailed them to ask for availability in Trieste and couple of hours later I got e-mail from Florence in perfect English and detailed list of places where SMN products are available.

On the other hand, Castle Forbes strike me as ultimately arrogant bunch with zero customer support. A bunch I am starting to be hesitant to leave any of my money with, no matter how good their product may be. Same goes for Acqua di Parma.

On the positive side, Muehle, Penhaligon's, Trumpers and even Truefitt and Hill (despite the discriminating coupon codes which is a huge minus in my book) are exemplary in good communication with customers.

 

[Cambyses]

Just bought my tub at the Rome store last month. I couldn't be happier! It's very moisturizing and got a great scent. I agree that it is like Proraso but very appreciably better than Proraso—at least to my face. And at 25euro it's a worth every cent compared to the 50+ dollar price to order it in the States.

Marco: I know it is impossible to know everything in a city as large as Roma, but have you ever seen a certain Barbiere Sasso on Via dei Coronari? The window display contained all sorts of razors, brushes, soaps and creams. There were two rather nicely-dressed gentlemen inside getting a haircut and a shave when I went by, but I was window shopping the antique stores with my family and I couldn't go in.

 

[Cuttingboard]

How do you find it compared to Acqua di Parma shaving cream?

I use both Acqua di Parma and Santa Maria Novella in my rotation and they are both exceptional. I like AdP just a touch better because of scent, lubicity and moisturizing properties.

BTW, you only need about half of what is on your finger to produce gobs of rich cushy lather.

Is you would like to know how SMN and Proraso compare, do a search, there's several heated discussions on the topic.

 

[MaxJ]

If only it weren't 52 bucks plus shipping...

 

[tweedcab]

I really liked this cream when I had it. I eventually sold it off because I was in the rotation of trying out many creams and some worked better for me, but I will say that there is definitely something in this cream that provided me with perhaps an even easier shave than I get with Proraso. I may have to revisit this cream. Considering how long it lasts it's really not the abysmal value that many report.

 

[buyandhold2018]

Excellent review Marco

 

[azmark]

SMN is great. Not as Eucalyptus as Proraso (blah) but a great product that IMO compares to Proraso in performance. Price is very good because I've had mine over a year and my wife even uses it and there is still about a third left.

I'll definitely be buying again.

 

[Marco]

How do you find it compared to Acqua di Parma shaving cream?

Both are truly top-notch shaving creams.
But they are also very different, since each one has its own ingredients list, formulation and scent.
Between the two my preference goes to the Crema da Barba SMN: more traditional, more protective and more "Proraso like".

 

[Marco]

Here in Lisboa, Portugal we have an authorized Santa Maria Novella shop.

I'll have to go there in the near future. SMN shaving cream seems fantastic, and the aftershave line seems very, very interesting.

Thanks for the photos and the "mini-review". Very elucidating. Grazie!

Hello mate,

If you have an authorized SMN shop in your city, get a bowl of this Italian gem now!
And yes, I agree with you, the SMN aftershave line seems very interesting, but I have not actually tested any of them yet.
Thank you for your kind words, they are truly appreciated.

 

[Marco]

Just bought my tub at the Rome store last month. I couldn't be happier! It's very moisturizing and got a great scent. I agree that it is like Proraso but very appreciably better than Proraso—at least to my face. And at 25euro it's a worth every cent compared to the 50+ dollar price to order it in the States.

Marco: I know it is impossible to know everything in a city as large as Roma, but have you ever seen a certain Barbiere Sasso on Via dei Coronari? The window display contained all sorts of razors, brushes, soaps and creams. There were two rather nicely-dressed gentlemen inside getting a haircut and a shave when I went by, but I was window shopping the antique stores with my family and I couldn't go in.

Hello mate,

Sorry I do not know this Barbiere Sasso on Via dei Coronari.
But I know that in the center of my city it's not difficult to find "Old School" Master Barbers.
If this Barbiere Sasso actually displays all sorts of razors, brushes and creams on the window of his shop, he is certainly a Master Barber.
If you can get there again, just jump in for a hot towel shave and enjoy!

 

[Marco]

Excellent review Marco

Thanks, Joe!

 

[Marco]

Just another pic with the ingredients list.

 

[Whitmore]

That's exactly what I wanted to ask you for - thanks for the review and the ingredients list, I'll make sure to try this out!

 

[Lusitano]

Seems fantastic, but the price is not that fantastic

 

[MaxJ]

Just another pic with the ingredients list.

What's the leeway on that 12-month shelf life sticker? I imagine there's no way the average user would plow through that stuff in a year.

 

[OldSaw]

SMN is one of my all time favorites. I see you also posted in the review section. Thanks for adding.

I also wish I could afford to use SMN lavender aftershave every day as it is my favorite.

 

[winky]

On the other hand, Castle Forbes strike me as ultimately arrogant bunch with zero customer support. A bunch I am starting to be hesitant to leave any of my money with, no matter how good their product may be. Same goes for Acqua di Parma.

That's unfortunate. Before a recent trip to London I emailed the email address I found via Google and got a response within a day from a member of the Forbes family who redirected me to the director of their Perfumery who took a bit longer to respond but was very helpful and cordial.

What problems did you have?