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Petal Pusher Fancies - Speakeasy soap review

I was given a sample of the new Speakeasy shaving soap from Petal Pusher Fancies a couple weeks back and asked my opinion on the scent. I've had this soap for a couple weeks while it was released for sale only a couple days ago. So I wanted to share my opinion of it with you. I've tried a ton of soaps but haven't done many formal reviews so hopefully this one will be an enjoyable read for everyone.


Equipment
Soap: Petal Pusher Fancies - Speakeasy
Straight Razor: Dorko
DE Razor: ATT Kronos H2
DE blade: Feather
Brush: Rubberset 400 w/24mm TGN High Mountain White knot
Bowl: Plastic Salsa bowl from the 99 cent store
Aftershave balm/splash: none


Cost:
The cost for the soap is $9.95 for a 3.5 ounces on the Petal Pusher Fancies website.


Disclosure:
I must disclose that I did not pay for my sample, it was sent to me for my evaluation during the creation process.
I've gotten free samples of products from other vendors before with product purchases, however this it the very first time I've ever been sent anything from a vendor seeking my feedback.

I can assure you that I'm not shilling. I have over 2000 posts here and have recommended many different products in the past (just look at my posts). The fact that I was gifted the sample in no way alters my impression of the soap.
If is sucks I will definitely tell you as my reputation here is much more important to me than a free sample soap sample.
I've likely tried a few hundred soaps by now and I do enjoy discussing them.
I especially enjoy telling others about the really great ones that I happen to stumble upon.




Initial Impressions:
The soap is a soft soap in a puck form. Consistency is about the same as Tiki however in handling the soap it feels much slicker almost butter like. I attribute this to the Kokum butter that's used in it's creation. I can tell from the feel of the puck that there's a lot of Kokum Butter in there.


I have three other PPF soaps (Coconut, Black Tea, and Sandlewood) so I know that when you first get them they are quite soft however they do harden up a bit after a couple weeks of use.


Scent:
The scent is hard to describe as it's a cologne type scent. Scent Notes are: Rose, Sage, Bergamot, Citrus, Wood, Amber. I do get the Amber scent which is soft and warm. The citrus note is there as well as a bit of the wood. It's a really nice scent and one I'm quite fond of. It's a soft warm comfortable scent nothing like any others I've tried from Petal Pusher Fancies. It reminds me a bit of Polo Safari or something else like it but I can't match it to a particular cologne.

Most of the soap makers buy their scents from websites so there is a possability that this is a match to an existing cologne. If you figure it out please let me know. I ask Francis at PPF but she's not talking.

I think it's my second favorite scent in their line with the first being the coconut scent which is absolutely amazing.
I'm quite fond of the Black Tea one as well but I give the nod to the Speakeasy scent.


Lather:
I took an amount about the size of a nickel and pressed it onto the bottom of a cheap plastic salsa bowl that I got from the 99 cent store. These are excellent for bowl lathering. I always bowl lather any new soap that I try as it's easier to get the right consistency this way.
The brush I'm using is a Rubberset 400 with a 24mm TGN High Mountain White silvertip knot.
I soaked the brush while I showered and then shook the water from it and started circling it over the soap. It didn't take much effort to get the soap going. I'd say about 15 seconds of circling and I got a nice lather started. I could see that I needed more water so I added about a teaspoon full to the bowl and continued working the soap. I start with a fairly dry brush so I added another teaspoon of water, which is about average for me and kept mixing the soap until I got a nice fluffy consistancy.
The time it took to get a creamy perfect lather was very short and about average or a little better for me compared to the other really great soaps that I use. Maybe 30 to 40 seconds at most. The speed in which I can lather a soap is important as I shave in the morning before I go to work. If it takes too long to lather it doesn't work for me.
The lather was a perfect creamy meringue consistancy, not too airy at all and it held up perfectly through all the passes.
I couldn't ask for a better lather. I did 4 passes (I'll explain that later) and then some clean up and still had enough soap left for a couple more passes.


Slickness:
This soap is slick enough that I have no problem using it comfortably with straights. It's slick but in a comfortable way.
I can still get a grip on my skin to stretch it but it still provides an excellent glide allowing the razor to do exactly what it is supposed to do. It's not over the top slick like RazoRock Mudder Focker or MWF but I don't feel like it lacks any slickness either.


Shave:
I've recently been learning to shave with a straight razor. They say it takes about 100 shaves to get to the point that you are good at it. I'm somewhere about two months and sixty shaves in so I don't have it mastered yet. I can get a great shave with a straight and get bbs in all but two spots. My challenge is under my jawline on both sides of my face. I almost have the left side figured out but I'm struggling a bit with the right side. As a result I will sometimes use a DE razor for a complete fourth pass and then do a little clean up if I want an absolutely perfect shave.

Because I'm doing so many passes my soap choice is very important. If I go 5 passes with a poor soap I will certainly pay the price.

This soap is one that meets this challenge. After doing three passes with a Dorko straight razor followed by one pass with the ATT Kronos H2 plate using a Feather blade I followed up with some more clean up on my neck and I felt like I could have kept shaving if I needed to. My face felt great after the shave, no nicks, cuts or razor burn whatsoever.


After Shave face feel:
For me this one is important as well. Sure, you can use an aftershave balm or splash to make up for any deficiencies in a soap however the really great soaps excel in all aspects.
I skipped the aftershave on this shave to get a better feel for how the soap does in this category and it definitely excells here. There is honestly no need for an aftershave after using this soap.
My face felt really great after the shave and later in day I wouldn't have known that I skipped the aftershave at all.
I'll still use an aftershave with it going forward because I enjoy that aspect of the shave as well but do know that this soap is excellent in this category.


Overall Assessment:
I own and have used other PPF soaps on multiple occasions. The base soap formula for this soap is the exact same with just the scent differing.

Petal Pusher Fancies soaps were at the top of my "soaps I want to try" list for months. I'm not sure why but passed them over again and again until about four months ago when I picked up their Coconut soap. After trying their Coconut soap I have recently become a really big fan of Petal Pusher Fancies soaps.

I'd put their coconut soap in my top 5 soaps of the 300 or so soaps I've tried. The other 4 if I were to pick today are RazoRock Mudder Focker, Martin De Candre, Strop Shoppe SE w/tallow Baker Street and RazoRock XXX.

I do really enjoy the scent of this soap. I try a lot of soaps and rarely find one I'd consider to be excellent or that would make it into my soap rotation. I consider this soap to be excellent and definitely worthy of a spot in my rotation.
 
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If anyone else has or purchases this soap please feel free to add your review/opinion here as well.
 
Great review. I appreciate you disclosing your "top 5" which allows other to compare easily with their experience of the 5.

And now Speakeasy is another soap I want but don't need....

Thanks for the review.
 
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