I was recently the recipient of a PIF from @dmshaver that included a soap, some blades and a brush and this is a review of the soap - Apricot Pie.
The soap is something that was created specifically for Pasteur's Pharmacy in NYC. For those not aware of what / who Pasteur's are, they are a brick and mortar store (they have two of them) with a huge shaving inventory - everything from soap to razors. They are a very popular destination for wet shavers traveling to NYC.
As mentioned, this was created specifically for Pasteur's by Master Soap Creations out of South Africa. The description for Apricot Pie says:
'This Special Collaboration Soap for Pasteur’s Pharmacy is the ring, phenomenal longevity, and post-shave face feel. It is a tallow-based soap that produces plenty of quality protection that stays on the face. The addition of shea butter, glycerine, avocado oil, and bentonite clay rounds out this excellent offering.
The Apricot Pie aroma is a soap that will give you an eye-popping start to your day. This scent is sure to put you in the Christmas spirit.'
When smelling the soap in the tub, it smells like Biscotti or even an anise cookie that was cooked a little longer than needed. I don't really get any apricot, just a bready almond scent. Let's see if that changes as it's lathered up.
This is a very soft soap so I scooped some out of the tub into my lather bowl and started to build the lather. Since this is a tallow based soap, it didn't take long for the lather to build. However, I did have to add more water than I usually do for most soaps, so this is a thirsty soap.
While the lather was building the scent profile changed to a very floral potpourri type smell. Not terrible, but not what I was expecting. After about one or two minutes, I had more than enough soap for a three pass shave.
The lather produced was very thick but not that creamy even after adding additional water in between passes, despite that, it appeared to do its job as the shave was uneventful because I had no nicks, weepers or irritation. However, the post shave feel was very dry for me. This is a little surprising based on the description and the extra stuff put in there (shea butter, avocado oil and castor oil).
Overall the soap was ok, not great but definitely not bad. I am a firm believer in 'One shave does not a soap make' so I will post follow ups this week as I continue to use it.
I followed the shave with a splash that @FarmerTan sent me - Izod Classics. The scent profile is a little spicy / fruity to me and did it's job very well and will go into the rotation.
Again, I really want to thank both dmshaver and FarmerTan for the incredible generosity, I truly appreciate it!
The soap is something that was created specifically for Pasteur's Pharmacy in NYC. For those not aware of what / who Pasteur's are, they are a brick and mortar store (they have two of them) with a huge shaving inventory - everything from soap to razors. They are a very popular destination for wet shavers traveling to NYC.
As mentioned, this was created specifically for Pasteur's by Master Soap Creations out of South Africa. The description for Apricot Pie says:
'This Special Collaboration Soap for Pasteur’s Pharmacy is the ring, phenomenal longevity, and post-shave face feel. It is a tallow-based soap that produces plenty of quality protection that stays on the face. The addition of shea butter, glycerine, avocado oil, and bentonite clay rounds out this excellent offering.
The Apricot Pie aroma is a soap that will give you an eye-popping start to your day. This scent is sure to put you in the Christmas spirit.'
When smelling the soap in the tub, it smells like Biscotti or even an anise cookie that was cooked a little longer than needed. I don't really get any apricot, just a bready almond scent. Let's see if that changes as it's lathered up.
This is a very soft soap so I scooped some out of the tub into my lather bowl and started to build the lather. Since this is a tallow based soap, it didn't take long for the lather to build. However, I did have to add more water than I usually do for most soaps, so this is a thirsty soap.
While the lather was building the scent profile changed to a very floral potpourri type smell. Not terrible, but not what I was expecting. After about one or two minutes, I had more than enough soap for a three pass shave.
The lather produced was very thick but not that creamy even after adding additional water in between passes, despite that, it appeared to do its job as the shave was uneventful because I had no nicks, weepers or irritation. However, the post shave feel was very dry for me. This is a little surprising based on the description and the extra stuff put in there (shea butter, avocado oil and castor oil).
Overall the soap was ok, not great but definitely not bad. I am a firm believer in 'One shave does not a soap make' so I will post follow ups this week as I continue to use it.
I followed the shave with a splash that @FarmerTan sent me - Izod Classics. The scent profile is a little spicy / fruity to me and did it's job very well and will go into the rotation.
Again, I really want to thank both dmshaver and FarmerTan for the incredible generosity, I truly appreciate it!