MdC Fougere relegated, hello Le Pere Lucien Rose de Pushkar

[BrianP]

I keep a single Plisson bowl on the bathroom counter with a single shave soap, the rest of stuff stays in drawers. Until now, it was filled with MdC Fougere. I've been looking for a rose soap for a while and pulled the trigger on the LPL Rose de Pushkar. Wow. It doesn't load as easily as MdC, but after a number of shaves, I think it's a better soap for me. Better slickness, cushion same or better and scent ...love it (even if it's an apples to oranges comparison). So much so, that the MdC went back into the jar and into the drawer. The bowl is now the permanent home of Rose de Pushkar.

At some point, i'd like to compare the MdC rose to the LPL. I've had a sample a while ago, but the memory has faded. From what I recall, the MdC had a little more geranium sharpness to it. The LPL is more straight up rose, probably the closed to my fond memories of the QED Wild Rose...but a little softer.

I see an LPL Vetiver in my future when I finish something else first.

 

[never-stop-learning]

I keep a single Plisson bowl on the bathroom counter with a single shave soap, the rest of stuff stays in drawers. Until now, it was filled with MdC Fougere. I've been looking for a rose soap for a while and pulled the trigger on the LPL Rose de Pushkar. Wow. It doesn't load as easily as MdC, but after a number of shaves, I think it's a better soap for me. Better slickness, cushion same or better and scent ...love it (even if it's an apples to oranges comparison). So much so, that the MdC went back into the jar and into the drawer. The bowl is now the permanent home of Rose de Pushkar.

At some point, i'd like to compare the MdC rose to the LPL. I've had a sample a while ago, but the memory has faded. From what I recall, the MdC had a little more geranium sharpness to it. The LPL is more straight up rose, probably the closed to my fond memories of the QED Wild Rose...but a little softer.

I see an LPL Vetiver in my future when I finish something else first.

Le Père Lucien is very good soap. Definitely "Top Shelf".

 

[Ad Astra]

LpL Fougere came home with me from Pasteur's in Manhattan... Which says something about how nice that one smells. They're good soaps.


AA

 

[BigJ]

I keep a single Plisson bowl on the bathroom counter with a single shave soap, the rest of stuff stays in drawers. Until now, it was filled with MdC Fougere. I've been looking for a rose soap for a while and pulled the trigger on the LPL Rose de Pushkar. Wow. It doesn't load as easily as MdC, but after a number of shaves, I think it's a better soap for me. Better slickness, cushion same or better and scent ...love it (even if it's an apples to oranges comparison). So much so, that the MdC went back into the jar and into the drawer. The bowl is now the permanent home of Rose de Pushkar.

At some point, i'd like to compare the MdC rose to the LPL. I've had a sample a while ago, but the memory has faded. From what I recall, the MdC had a little more geranium sharpness to it. The LPL is more straight up rose, probably the closed to my fond memories of the QED Wild Rose...but a little softer.

I see an LPL Vetiver in my future when I finish something else first.

YIKES!! Another soap on my ‘to try list!’

(I don’t need more soaps! I don’t need more soaps! )

 

[Vespasian]

An interesting comparison is between MdC Rose and LPL Rose de Pushkar. The MDC is a true rose, the most pleasantly authentic of all the rose scents I own. Rose de Pushkar has a rose base, with interesting overtones of potpourri, sort of midnight-in-the-casbah. Very good performance as well.

 

[Bouki]

I used to love Le Père Lucien's soaps. I had nearly all of them. Fougère-Cologne and Cèdre-Patchouli were my favorites. The scents were very nice, and the lathers, at least at first, gave me a splendid shave. But then something happened. After about six months, each of the soaps went wonky. I couldn't get a good load from any of them. The lather became thin and airy, and it stopped protecting my skin from the blade. What's more, small crystals appeared in the soap. They wouldn't dissolve no matter how hard I worked them with my brush. So, I reluctantly pitched the lot.

Here's the lesson I learned: Le Père Lucien's soaps have a short shelf life. If you intend to use one of them, use it exclusively, and use it quick. That sounds like what you have in mind, BrianP, and if that's the case, I think you're in for some really nice shaves.

But don't let them linger or get lost in a large rotation of soaps. They're not like Martin de Candre, which can sit in its jar for years without loosing its excellent performance.

 

[zanxion]

Traditionnel and Oud-Santal are my favorite soaps. Especially the second not so much for its scent, but for the lather it gives.
A tip for life long shelf life: Take the quantity to use in your lather bowl instead of wetting the jar of the soap. It will last forever.

 

[BrianP]

Some good stuff here, thanks for that gentlemen. Sounds like it's made using a similar process as Santa Maria Novella and Santa Maria del Fiore (the Razorock SMN type offering). That's all based on what I've read, not direct experience, although I'm expecting a jar of SMdF today. Standing water doesn't seem to be a good friend to these soaps.

Had another great shave with it last night, brush seems to be loading faster now with use.

I'll have to get a jar or another sample of MdC Rose to A/B this thing more closely.

 

[Atlantic59]

Some good stuff here, thanks for that gentlemen. Sounds like it's made using a similar process as Santa Maria Novella and Santa Maria del Fiore (the Razorock SMN type offering). That's all based on what I've read, not direct experience, although I'm expecting a jar of SMdF today. Standing water doesn't seem to be a good friend to these soaps.

Had another great shave with it last night, brush seems to be loading faster now with use.

I'll have to get a jar or another sample of MdC Rose to A/B this thing more closely.

I seem to remember reading on another forum a response to this issue from Cyril (the owner of Le Pere Lucien). I'll post it here translated from French via Google Translate.

"Hello Gentlemen​

​

You will excuse me for answering in French, but the answer extends a little technical and my English notoriously insufficient I prefer to answer you in my native language so that there is no ambiguity. Nicolas kindly offered to translate this message into a more correct English. I thank him for that.​

​

This soap does not really have a problem, or more exactly this phenomenon is known and insufficient drying. I do not question your skill in shaving but a night of drying before refilling the soap and notoriously insufficient.​

Let me explain :​

When shaving you bring soap more water which can not evaporate in one night, so if you shave every 2 or 3 days with this soap you gradually bring an increasing amount of water to it 'It will hold to heart.​

The photos show us translucent and soft parts that are characteristic of a soap having retained water.​

​

As potassium cocoate is more soluble than potassium stearate, some parts soften while others remain a little harder. This explains this feeling of crystallization.​

​

I have already had this phenomenon in the past with a member of a Spanish forum that did not leave it at all dry soap and close it immediately, of course the phenomenon was even more important and faster than in this case. He returned the soap, which I replaced. I took the defective soap and I just let it dry a few weeks (the case is extreme), it resumed its normal appearance. I have it tested by different people from various forums. The result was conclusive and the soap was no problem​

​

Like Martin de Candre I advocate to leave the soap open permanently, in this way one is sure that the drying is effective and moreover the soap will harden progressively in order to become more and more economic and even better. When I sold my soap dish without a lid, I never had that kind of problem simply because the soap was constantly drying in the same way that a soap soap shaving soap should not be locked with water, humidity.​

​

If for practical reasons, storage, travel, you want to close your soap, four or five days of drying are necessary before you close your product.​

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It is not necessary to throw soap that has this look. Just let it dry and it will regain all its original properties.​

​

I repeat it did not throw a soap just for that but give it time to dry, one night is not enough whatever you think of it because during a shave the water infiltrates to the heart of the soap Which is very greedy and during the night only a small part of the surface water can evaporate. A softening of the progressive soap is then observed.​

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When you use your product again, you do not just take the solution saturated with soapy water but also smaller pieces of soap harder which gives this feeling of granules.​

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Finally your soap wears prematurely​

For me it is essential to put lids on the boxes if only for shipping and to hold the label of the product but at home I keep but soap constantly open I only close them to travel I have No problems of this kind and perfumes hold very well and very long even see themselves asserted with drying.​

It is the case of the apricot of the rose of Pushkar, the traditional, the laity honey ...​

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I hope that you have answered your questions and therefore suggests letting the problematic soaps dry for about ten days in order to restore them to a normal consistency and then you could try again and tell me if the problem persists. But I think the problem will be solved."​

​

Taking a small portion of soap out of the container and moving it to a separate soap loading bowl is another way of dealing with this issue. Since the main part of the soap stays dry and covered, it should stay pristine and last a long time. The small amount of soap in the loading bowl can stay open to the air between shaves.

 

[BrianP]

I seem to remember reading on another forum a response to this issue from Cyril (the owner of Le Pere Lucien). I'll post it here translated from French via Google Translate.

<stuff snipped>​

I've read the drying/exposure guidance in the soap description, but the relative solubility explanation is super helpful. The added bonus of keeping it in the bowl is the fragrance

 

[pierrelortie44]

I never tried either, thinking of starting with Le Père Lucien, aftershave too.

 

[pierrelortie44]

MdC is double the price of LPL, hard to see why.

 

[BrianP]

MdC is double the price of LPL, hard to see why.

I'm not sure it's an apples to apples comparison. There's more soap in an MdC jar than the LPL and I suspect that the same volume of MdC will give more shaves than LPL. I think they're comparable in price when you factor that in, so I wouldn't recommend using price as the primary factor to decide between the two.

 

[pierrelortie44]

I'm not sure it's an apples to apples comparison. There's more soap in an MdC jar than the LPL and I suspect that the same volume of MdC will give more shaves than LPL. I think they're comparable in price when you factor that in, so I wouldn't recommend using price as the primary factor to decide between the two.

Their ingredient list looks identical.

Then again triple-milled soaps are more concentrated than creams and hard creams like MdC and LPL, yet are usually much less expensive (per weight and per shave).

 

[pierrelortie44]

But such trivial matters won’t stop me trying both MdC and LPL including the LPL aftershave, shipment is on the way.

 

[BrianP]

But such trivial matters won’t stop me trying both MdC and LPL including the LPL aftershave, shipment is on the way.

Both are outstanding in both performance and quality, and both should be tried

I'm just not reaching for the MdC fougere out of preference for the LPL Rose. Eventually I'll have a jar of MdC Rose. I just find myself using fewer and fewer soaps. I have lots of good stuff which I hang on to, but I've been happiest focusing on a few instead of shave soap FOMO.

 

[pierrelortie44]

I have lots of good stuff which I hang on to, but I've been happiest focusing on a few instead of shave soap FOMO.

Yes of course, but we’ll soon snap you out of it .

 

[pierrelortie44]

Martin de Candre Fougère, my first time. I was skeptical when ordering, but it is very nice in every way. I scooped some out in my lathering bowl, less waste and keeps product pristine, very hard and dense for a cream. Should last a good 3 months, I’m not economical. Better than Proraso green? Well I don’t want to spoil the mood . But still I wouldn’t hesitate to get all the MdC fragrances.

Le Père Lucien Narcisse after-shave/cologne. Comparable to LPL Oud-Santal (and Captain’s Choice sandalwood). A bit more floral and other notes, subtle and complex. Expensive but high alcohol content. Better than Proraso green aftershave? Nothing is, but I plan to try the other LPL aftershaves, the regular ones and the more expensive so-called aftershave-colognes.

Tomorrow Le Père Lucien Rose shaving cream.

 

[pierrelortie44]

Le Père Lucien Rose cream. Softer than Martin de Candre (which is unusually dense), easier to scoop out with finger, probably explains the price difference.

Rose fragrance is strong, natural and raw, very nice.

Overall LPL and MdC creams gave me noticeably smoother shaves and post-shave feel. LPL is priced very moderately I find.

The LPL aftershaves are thicker than most aftershaves, must be more glycerin. This makes them not only more moisturizing, but also easier to use less, it is much less runny in the hands, no spilling. Well worth the higher cost, even the more expensive aftershave cologne.

Very happy to have found a vendor of these two brands here in Canada, they were never on my radar before, I’m usually suspicious of high-priced creams.

 

[phelix]

You guys really are the absolute worst. I knew better than to go to the soap forum today. Like I need another soap, blade, brush or razor but yet after reading this thread I was compelled to pick up the limited edition Le Père Lucien Bay Rum. I have absolutely zero control even though I am set for 3 lifetimes of flawless shaves. I did the same thing on the brush forum a couple of weeks ago and ended up with an APShaveco 26mm G5C in a beautiful handle.
I need to see if my ISP can blacklist B&B since I could never bring myself to not check the site every single day.