Hey everyone, just finished off a tub of this soap and thought I'd share my thoughts and a review on it. This isn't going to be as detailed as my usual reviews as I've already gone a bit into depth on NO Two Kings. Also I find that nowadays, as long as reviews let me know that performance is good, I only really care about the scent. Reading scent notes and descriptions gives me a slight idea but not a complete one. So I hope to help people in that regard, because it can be super hard to understand whether I'd like a product based off its description.
Performance:
Overall, as always, Noble Otter is a great performing soap. Its a typical US artisan croap that allows you to make a mild indentation with your finger if you press into it but not really cream in the sense you could squirt it out of anything. Think Candle consistency. Its a mid brown colour, I assume this is from the inclusion of clay in the ingredients but it hasn't discoloured any brushes and it lathers up mostly white. It is an easy to load soap, not requiring much swirling off the tub to load the brush. Works well with either synthetic or natural brushes in my experience. 10 seconds of swirling is more than enough. As for lathering, it works up into a dense, slick lather almost instantly. There isn't really a 'foamy' stage like there is with some other products. It takes a good bit of water but is not a finnicky product. It will be pasty but usable if there isn't enough water and just gets wetter and sloppier if you add a little too much. Slickness is excellent. There is almost 0 chance that anybody would find this product not slick enough. Effortless razor gliding with this soap. Residual slickness is also excellent. I can take many swipes of the razor after the inital stroke very comfortably. At most, I'll wet my hand and add the water to the area where I'm touching up to 'reactivate' the slickness. Post-shave is great too. I find the soap leaves my skin soft and smooth. It cleans off very well too, not leaving any residue on my face, skin or brush after a simple rinsing. Overall, its great. I find it hard to believe anyone would have an issue with it in any area. Is it the best? I don't know. But its certainly a good product, made with great natural ingredients (the only synthetic chemical in the product being the synthetic cooling agent or synthetic menthol).
Packaging:
Probably the best packaging around. The otter on the label is placed into different outfits to suit the theme of the soap. In this case he is wearing an astronaut suit. The packaging also has the ingredients and main scent notes on it, so you don't need to go looking them up if you have a large soap collection. It is a plastic tub and the labels are clearly waterproof and well applied. It is well presented and the soap inside is safe. This is not going to be the tub that shatters.
Scent:
I would say that this is a 5/10 in strength and one of the strongest NO scents I've used.
The scents of Noble otter in my opinion are a little misleading and hard to decipher. Many of the scent notes in the description are difficult to pick up and the scents themselves are well blended and quite sophisticated. I would describe it as a vetiver and eucalyptus forward scent with the vetiver providing a 'fresh-green' scent that is not particularly 'dirty' if you know what I mean. Thats to say its not a pungent haitian vetiver type scent that has large earthy tones but is still very much clearly vetiver. Perhaps the best way to describe it is as the vetiver top note. The eucalyptus joins this as the next most easily detected scent note being a very sweet, minty eucalyptus that provides the top end of the scent. Its more like the eucalyptus in DRH than proraso. Finally the mid notes are made of the cedarwood, sandalwood and rose. There is no ashyness or smokyness to the scent. Rather a soft woody aroma from the cedar, a general floral vibe from the rose (I don't really pick up specific rose notes as much as a generic floral scent) and a mild creaminess from the sandalwood. Its mostly cedarwood, though its not a very sharp cedarwood. Apparently, there is bergamot in the scent notes as well....I'd never know if it didnt say, I don't pick it up at all.
Overall, much like the name implies, 'orbit' invokes scent notes of a high altitude. Much like walking around on a crisp early summer day in the blue mountains here in Australia. The vetiver is a lighter, brighter scent that is not an earthy vetiver but somehow more atmospheric. I would even argue that the notes come together to make something 'ozonic'. Its fresh, bright (but subdued). You're just in between Earth and space...in Orbit.
The synthetic coolant is also very nice. Cold but not too cold that it causes discomfort. There's no vapor, so no watery eyes or runny nose. Just a nice, pleasant cooling sensation. It also lasts for a good 30min to an hour post shave. I would also add, that in all the NO scents that I pick up traces of clay scent. I don't know if this is from the vetiver or the cedar...but there is an ever so mild clay like scent. I actually don't mind it and I think it adds to the overall scent but something to keep in mind.
I'd rate this as a great soap, with great performance and with a great, fresh summer scent. What do you guys think?
Performance:
Overall, as always, Noble Otter is a great performing soap. Its a typical US artisan croap that allows you to make a mild indentation with your finger if you press into it but not really cream in the sense you could squirt it out of anything. Think Candle consistency. Its a mid brown colour, I assume this is from the inclusion of clay in the ingredients but it hasn't discoloured any brushes and it lathers up mostly white. It is an easy to load soap, not requiring much swirling off the tub to load the brush. Works well with either synthetic or natural brushes in my experience. 10 seconds of swirling is more than enough. As for lathering, it works up into a dense, slick lather almost instantly. There isn't really a 'foamy' stage like there is with some other products. It takes a good bit of water but is not a finnicky product. It will be pasty but usable if there isn't enough water and just gets wetter and sloppier if you add a little too much. Slickness is excellent. There is almost 0 chance that anybody would find this product not slick enough. Effortless razor gliding with this soap. Residual slickness is also excellent. I can take many swipes of the razor after the inital stroke very comfortably. At most, I'll wet my hand and add the water to the area where I'm touching up to 'reactivate' the slickness. Post-shave is great too. I find the soap leaves my skin soft and smooth. It cleans off very well too, not leaving any residue on my face, skin or brush after a simple rinsing. Overall, its great. I find it hard to believe anyone would have an issue with it in any area. Is it the best? I don't know. But its certainly a good product, made with great natural ingredients (the only synthetic chemical in the product being the synthetic cooling agent or synthetic menthol).
Packaging:
Probably the best packaging around. The otter on the label is placed into different outfits to suit the theme of the soap. In this case he is wearing an astronaut suit. The packaging also has the ingredients and main scent notes on it, so you don't need to go looking them up if you have a large soap collection. It is a plastic tub and the labels are clearly waterproof and well applied. It is well presented and the soap inside is safe. This is not going to be the tub that shatters.
Scent:
I would say that this is a 5/10 in strength and one of the strongest NO scents I've used.
The scents of Noble otter in my opinion are a little misleading and hard to decipher. Many of the scent notes in the description are difficult to pick up and the scents themselves are well blended and quite sophisticated. I would describe it as a vetiver and eucalyptus forward scent with the vetiver providing a 'fresh-green' scent that is not particularly 'dirty' if you know what I mean. Thats to say its not a pungent haitian vetiver type scent that has large earthy tones but is still very much clearly vetiver. Perhaps the best way to describe it is as the vetiver top note. The eucalyptus joins this as the next most easily detected scent note being a very sweet, minty eucalyptus that provides the top end of the scent. Its more like the eucalyptus in DRH than proraso. Finally the mid notes are made of the cedarwood, sandalwood and rose. There is no ashyness or smokyness to the scent. Rather a soft woody aroma from the cedar, a general floral vibe from the rose (I don't really pick up specific rose notes as much as a generic floral scent) and a mild creaminess from the sandalwood. Its mostly cedarwood, though its not a very sharp cedarwood. Apparently, there is bergamot in the scent notes as well....I'd never know if it didnt say, I don't pick it up at all.
Overall, much like the name implies, 'orbit' invokes scent notes of a high altitude. Much like walking around on a crisp early summer day in the blue mountains here in Australia. The vetiver is a lighter, brighter scent that is not an earthy vetiver but somehow more atmospheric. I would even argue that the notes come together to make something 'ozonic'. Its fresh, bright (but subdued). You're just in between Earth and space...in Orbit.
The synthetic coolant is also very nice. Cold but not too cold that it causes discomfort. There's no vapor, so no watery eyes or runny nose. Just a nice, pleasant cooling sensation. It also lasts for a good 30min to an hour post shave. I would also add, that in all the NO scents that I pick up traces of clay scent. I don't know if this is from the vetiver or the cedar...but there is an ever so mild clay like scent. I actually don't mind it and I think it adds to the overall scent but something to keep in mind.
I'd rate this as a great soap, with great performance and with a great, fresh summer scent. What do you guys think?
