I haven't heard much noise here about the EO based Honeybee Soaps. I have had a few of her FO soaps and though the performance was wonderful, I'd like a more natural scent. I'm just curious as to how, say, Honeybee EO lime stacks up to QED's or Mama Bear's version when it comes to scent. I'm also interested in TGQ lime margarita.
EO based Honeybee Soaps
- Thread starter joelmole
- Start date
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- #2
I just ordered a few EO Honeybee soaps. I got lavender rosemary peppermint, bergamot, lime, and rosewood & cedar. I'll post my impressions here as I try them out.
Sue was even kind enough to give me a partial refund on shipping because she was able to fit my order in a smaller box. Sue, if you're reading this, you probably know which order is mine. Thanks!!
Sue was even kind enough to give me a partial refund on shipping because she was able to fit my order in a smaller box. Sue, if you're reading this, you probably know which order is mine. Thanks!!
I look forward to your thoughts on these.
If you like floral scents, her Floral Euphoria is a winner. It's very strongly-scented, tho, so be warned.
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- #5
I probably wouldn't like floral euphoria. I have TOBS rose and AOS lavender cream, and like them both a lot, but I don't know that I would want to take a foray into more floral scents than this. These are familiar enough and not so perfumey as to offend. I did have HBS Jasmine (FO) at one time, and though it smelled good, it wasn't for me.
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- #6
Guess what I got in the mail today?
I got some vacuum cleaner bags in the mail today too, but somehow I didn't get too excited about that.
First, about the appearance. These all come in utilitarian white double walled plastic tubs. They're probably a bit nicer than the QED tubs because I don't think those are double walled. If and when I ever polish these off, I can see myself repurposing the containers for other soaps.
The soaps don't appear to have any dye. They range from off white to light yellow in color. They all have that milky look to them rather than being translucent like some glycerin base soaps, probably due to the addition of the white kaolin china clay.
Here's a closeup of the bergamot, which was the most yellow of the lot.
Regarding the scents, they all smell fabulous.
Pure Lime: The lime scent is very sharp and tangy. It kicks my salivary glands into gear. If it was possible for my nose to pucker, this would do it. It will be interesting to see what it smells like lathered. I don't have a frame of reference to QED lime, or for that matter, Castle Forbes lime cream, since that's another lime benchmark, because I've never tried them. Subjectively I can say this one smells great though.
Lavender Rosemary Peppermint: This one is light, crisp, herbaceous and a bit sweet. The mint on this is miles ahead of the mint on the FO rosemary mint. This is what I originally wanted.
Bergamot: Apparently Cremo Cream is bergamot scented, but it's nothing like this. Cremo to me is "orange tang". If I let my mind work its magic to add in the black tea, the scent of Earl Grey immediately comes to mind. It's the real thing.
Rosewood Cedar: Yowza. This one is great. I may be in love, but time will tell. It doesn't smell like rose. It is very aromatic and woodsy, as one would expect. I've never tried a rosewood product, and I think that's the scent captivating me.
My growth is long enough to shave right now, but it's not time to shower yet, so I'm just gonna do a test lather. The guests of honor for this are my 21mm D01 Shavemac, and the Rosewood Cedar soap.
I filled my lather bowl up with "luke-hot" tap water (hot but not unbearably hot) and set my brush in there to soak for a few minutes.
I also poured a thin layer of hot water on top of the puck and let it sit. I poured some of this stuff down the drain (a shame I know), and a bit into the shave bowl.
Sometimes I squeeze the water out of the brush before I load it, but this time I just shook it a few times. It was kind of an experiment to see what the result would look like. After loading for a solid minute, the proto-lather was definitely a bit more liquid in the tub, and didn't look so much like a paste on the brush. You can experiment here to find the sweet spot for yourself. This shot came out a bit blurry, sorry about that.
Aaaaand here's the result after bowl lathering for a few minutes, adding water as necessary.
The result was "slick as snot". I got some nice peaks, and it looked nice and glossy rather than dry, but I'm gonna have to shave with it to really tell if the lather was ideal or not. I'm gonna shave later, and I'm gonna try the same but this time squeeze the brush, and we'll see how that works out. Thanks for watching.
I got some vacuum cleaner bags in the mail today too, but somehow I didn't get too excited about that.
First, about the appearance. These all come in utilitarian white double walled plastic tubs. They're probably a bit nicer than the QED tubs because I don't think those are double walled. If and when I ever polish these off, I can see myself repurposing the containers for other soaps.
The soaps don't appear to have any dye. They range from off white to light yellow in color. They all have that milky look to them rather than being translucent like some glycerin base soaps, probably due to the addition of the white kaolin china clay.
Here's a closeup of the bergamot, which was the most yellow of the lot.
Regarding the scents, they all smell fabulous.
Pure Lime: The lime scent is very sharp and tangy. It kicks my salivary glands into gear. If it was possible for my nose to pucker, this would do it. It will be interesting to see what it smells like lathered. I don't have a frame of reference to QED lime, or for that matter, Castle Forbes lime cream, since that's another lime benchmark, because I've never tried them. Subjectively I can say this one smells great though.
Lavender Rosemary Peppermint: This one is light, crisp, herbaceous and a bit sweet. The mint on this is miles ahead of the mint on the FO rosemary mint. This is what I originally wanted.
Bergamot: Apparently Cremo Cream is bergamot scented, but it's nothing like this. Cremo to me is "orange tang". If I let my mind work its magic to add in the black tea, the scent of Earl Grey immediately comes to mind. It's the real thing.
Rosewood Cedar: Yowza. This one is great. I may be in love, but time will tell. It doesn't smell like rose. It is very aromatic and woodsy, as one would expect. I've never tried a rosewood product, and I think that's the scent captivating me.
My growth is long enough to shave right now, but it's not time to shower yet, so I'm just gonna do a test lather. The guests of honor for this are my 21mm D01 Shavemac, and the Rosewood Cedar soap.
I filled my lather bowl up with "luke-hot" tap water (hot but not unbearably hot) and set my brush in there to soak for a few minutes.
I also poured a thin layer of hot water on top of the puck and let it sit. I poured some of this stuff down the drain (a shame I know), and a bit into the shave bowl.
Sometimes I squeeze the water out of the brush before I load it, but this time I just shook it a few times. It was kind of an experiment to see what the result would look like. After loading for a solid minute, the proto-lather was definitely a bit more liquid in the tub, and didn't look so much like a paste on the brush. You can experiment here to find the sweet spot for yourself. This shot came out a bit blurry, sorry about that.
Aaaaand here's the result after bowl lathering for a few minutes, adding water as necessary.
The result was "slick as snot". I got some nice peaks, and it looked nice and glossy rather than dry, but I'm gonna have to shave with it to really tell if the lather was ideal or not. I'm gonna shave later, and I'm gonna try the same but this time squeeze the brush, and we'll see how that works out. Thanks for watching.
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- Thread starter
- #7
Take 2 with Lavender Rosemary Peppermint. This was a better lather, felt denser this time around. The soap and the brush soaked longer since I showered, and I squeezed the brush before loading. You can't really tell from the picture, but I probably had enough lather for 8 passes. It was ridiculous.
Nice pics! I have been a big fan of HBS Tea Tree EO shave soap for some time now. It hasn't been getting much time in the rotation, but it is always a good performer.
Lather porn ... groan ... 
Wow, great pics! Makes me want to give those Honeybee shoaps a try...
Lather porn ... groan ...
Awww, yeah!
Thanks for the review and pics, joelmole! Nice job. (And I thought I was done with soaps . . .)
- Thread starter
- #13
I appreciate the responses. My shave this morning was Omega 31064 boar, Fatboy on 3 with gillette yellow 7 o'clock, HBS lime, Proraso splash and balm. The lime lather was indeed a bit milder than the scent straight out of the tub. I'm happy to say there doesn't appear to be any lime EO sensitivity. This is my first lime EO product.
Take care!
Take care!
- Thread starter
- #14
Anyone know how the scent compares to the Nancy Boy original SC?
The scent EOs are the same, just not sure of the percentages.
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