Just Took the Mike's Natural/QCS Shave Soap Plunge

[mistercitizen]

I've been reading all of the comments and reviews and have finally decided to take the plunge and try these very highly regarded vendors. From Mike's, I got a shave soap stick of Barbershop and then samples of everything else (except coconut.... yuck). From Queen Charolette Soaps I got full size pucks of Green Irish Tweed Type and Esquire in the wooden bowls, GIT preshave lotion, and a 5 slice sampler of the following soaps: Basilica, Fougere, Vetiver, Queen Charlotte, and Celestial Woods. It's payday.... I couldn't resist. I really don't need any other soaps.... but I'm curious. I do obsolutely love wearing Creed Green Irish Tweed cologne, so it will be good to have a soap with the same fragrance vibe to it. Besides, I got all of what I listed above for just under $90, which is less than the cost of one puck and bowl of shave soap from Creed.... so I feel like quite the frugal shopper. Can't wait to try all of these!

Ben

 

[celestino]

Congratulations and i think you are going to enjoy Mike's.
i have not tried QCS, but i have also heard great things.

 

[SmoovD]

Almost impossible to go wrong with products from Mike and Matt. Actually, it might be impossible.

 

[PMT]

Nice, I now use Mike's exclusively, no need to improve on a soap I love, I alternate between orange and coconut

 

[STJ529]

I use these 2 brands 80% of the time. They are that good.

 

[Teddyboy]

I use Mike's and QCS although far from exclusively because there are so many truly excellent products out there. These two soaps are definitely two of them. ENjoy.

 

[mistercitizen]

I use Mike's and QCS although far from exclusively because there are so many truly excellent products out there. These two soaps are definitely two of them. ENjoy.

+1 I have enough other awesome soaps to last me for a long time. I really don't need to find a superior product to anything else.... this is mostly out of curiosity.

Ben

 

[mistercitizen]

Just got my QCS order:

- 1 puck of Green Irish Tweed Scent soap in wood bowl
- 1 puck of Esquire soap in wood bowl
- Sample soap wedges of Basilica, Fougere, Vetiver, Queen Charolette and Celestial Woods
- 1 oz. of Green Irish Tweed Scent AS balm

Sniffing them dry, I get a Dr. Pepper kind of scent from Esquire.... which I kind of like. Green Irish Tweed Scented soap is faint, but I believe it to be similar to the cologne (wearing it today). Of the samples, Basilica and Celestial Woods smell kind of like mulch, Vetiver smells earthy (like dirt), and Queen Charolette and Fougere are pleasant powdery scents. The real scent test will be when they are hydrated and lathered. I think I'll go with the Green Irish Tweed soap this evening and use the AS balm as well. I like all of them.... but I will reserve judgment until I have tested them all by shaving with them. Still waiting on the Mike's order and I'm thinking about an order to Mystic Waters now to get some samples from them. I think I'll be working on using up soap samples until next year.

Ben

 

[alabamalawyer]

Enjoy. Please update your post on the scent comparison between QCS Green Irish Tweed-type soap and the cologne you have. I also have GIT and wonder how the two scents compare.

 

[mistercitizen]

Used the QCS Green Irish Tweed Scented Soap this evening and I am very impressed. First, the scent is very nice. While a high end fragrance such as Creed Green Irish Tweed is more or less very difficult to match in something like a soap due to the evolution of the scent throughout the course of its wearing, this soap is a very good match IMO. Of course the scent of the soap is not going to have the complexity of the fragrance.... but what are you going to do? You don't need it to.... it's gone when you're done shaving. The soap lathers fairly easily. For me, not as easily as Tabac or Irisch Moos, but not as much work as MWF. I got a very slick, thin lather with a few very tiny bubbles.... but it was creamy overall.... not bubbly. My lathering technique is still improving mind you. The shave was very good. A four pass, near BBS shave. No irritation whatsoever. I used the QCS Green Irish Tweed AS balm afterward..... and this is where things really got good. The rest of the evening, my face felt great.... and still does. Moisturized and smooth. I can't wait to use the QCS products more. So far, I'm very impressed with the product.

Ben

 

[Predict]

I now use only mikes and QCS. The two best soaps on the market IMO.

 

[Predict]

Oh and QCS makes the best balm on earth. The only balm that's performs as well for me is L'Occitane Cade and at $30 a tube plus not smelling very good I will go with QCS from now on.

 

[mistercitizen]

Oh and QCS makes the best balm on earth. The only balm that's performs as well for me is L'Occitane Cade and at $30 a tube plus not smelling very good I will go with QCS from now on.

I used the QCS balm this morning as a face lotion after taking my shower and giving myself a good splash of Hattric. They are correct in saying that a little goes a long way.... so you do get your money's worth out of it... but the thing that impresses me the most is that it just seems to absorb right into my skin and no greasy feeling whatsoever. On top of that, my skin is soft and smooth and the scent is great. It's a little early for me to say.... but I'm pretty impressed so far.

Ben

 

[mistercitizen]

I've been using the QCS Green Irish Tweed Type soap for the last few days. Two days ago, I didn't have very much luck producing a good lather but I think I know why. I was getting ready to shave by soaking my brush in my scuttle with hot water like I normally do when I bowl lather in my scuttle when I found out I had to go pick my son up from basketball practice. I normally only let the brush soak for a few minutes but since I left to go pick my son up it ended up soaking for more like a half and hour before I got back to shave. I couldn't get it to bowl lather worth a darn, but I think my brush was so saturated that it made it nearly impossible to load the soap. I probably should've known better and just used a cream for that shave, but since I'm experimenting and trying out these QCS scents I tried it. Still, it's got that MWF kind of thing where you can still get a pretty decent shave even with poor lather from it. Last night, I face lathered it with my Rooney Heritage 1XL brush and it was just incredible. Very nice, slick, creamy lather.... and was very easy to lather. I just wetted my brush for about a minute, squeezed most of the water out, and loaded on the soap for about 45 seconds. Then I went right to my face and built a great lather, wetting the tips of my brush a couple of times as I did it. The scent of this soap seems pretty subtle for me. The GIT scent is not a loud and obnoxious scent anyway IMO, but I don't pick up too much of the scent from the soap while I'm shaving. But, with the performance, it's really okay. The light scent is very pleasant. I still have yet to try any of the other scents from my QCS sample wedges. Looking forward to it.

I should be getting my Mike's Natural Soaps samples today.

Ben

 

[mistercitizen]

Just got my Mike's Natural Soaps samples. Also got a puck of Mystic Waters Irish Traveller today (wasn't expecting that so soon.... very fast shipping). I would say that the Mike's samples are a little more fragrant that the QCS soaps I got. Some of the scents are very interesting. I will be trying them in the coming days.... and I'll post my opinions of the scents after I shave with them.

Ben

 

[mistercitizen]

I just did a test lather with my sample wedge of QCS Fougere soap. I used my Rooney Heritage Stubby 1XL brush and lathered it up in the palm of my hand. First of all.... the scent is amazing. This soap is just asking for me to followup a shave with Azzaro PH or maybe Esencia by Loewe cologne. I absolutely love this kind of scent.... especially in a shave cream or soap. It's clean and green. Next, the lather was quite good. Very creamy.... and felt very stable. I let it sit for a good 5 minutes while I examined the texture and consistency of the lather. Plenty of cushion. I check this by squeezing a dollap of the lather between by index finger and thumb. Give it a little pinch. It offered what I perceived to be enough resistance to provide the proper amount of cushion for a nice comfortable shave. It did not have that glossy, slick shine that I get so easily from soaps like Tabac and I Coloniali.... but I've also lathered those soaps a bit more so I know them a little better. While I already have pucks of QCS Green Irish Tweed Type and Esquire.... I could definitely see ordering a full size puck of the Fougere scent. With the current QCS sale going on right now.... it will be difficult to resist placing an order.

Ben

 

[JHP]

With the current QCS sale going on right now.... it will be difficult to resist placing an order.

Ben. I don't see any sale announced on the QCS website. What sale are you referring to, and how do I find out about it? Thanks.

Josh

 

[eyesofgrey]

Looking forward to hearing more detail about the scent and performance of these small soap companies.
I am waiting for a bunch of Mike's samples to arrive.

 

[cdrross]

We will wait on your feedback contributions.
Congrats on a great purchase and you should have fun with all those samples.

 

[ODJ]

Ben. I don't see any sale announced on the QCS website. What sale are you referring to, and how do I find out about it? Thanks.

Josh

Basically everything on the site appears to be 15% off. You won't see it announced on the homepage, but if you click on any of the products it will show you the discount. I just ordered a bunch of bath soaps and shampoo bars. I already have enough QCS shaving cream for the next year or two.