Petal Pusher Fancies

[dfoulk]

I've been recommending the Strop Shoppe SE w/tallow soaps as well as the RazoRock XXX, P.160 and others that use the new soap formula quite a bit, but I think I found another that broke into my top soaps.

I used Petal Pusher Fancies coconut soap again today and I'm really impressed with it. The more I use it the more I like it. I've tried literally hundreds of soaps and this one stands out as one of my favorites. The scent is by far the best coconut scented soap I've tried, not fake smelling at all and plenty strong. Performance is excellent, great protection and my face feels great after shaving with it. I've been learning straights and this one is doing a great job of protecting me from myself. I've even been throwing in a fourth clean up pass to pick up everything I missed with the straight and still zero irritation. I think I could easily add a couple more passes and still be fine. It has Kokum butter in it which seems to give it a really great after shave feel. In my opinion it's one of the best I've tried. I think this is one that I'll replace when I run out and keep in the rotation for a really long time.

I bought their Black Tea and Sandlewood soaps as well. The Black Tea smells awesome. Kind of like what Tabac should smell like. The sandlewood I haven't tried yet.

I bought some Catie's Bubbles soaps yesterday as well so I'm looking forward to trying those too.

 

[cmh737]

I finally got around to trying Petal Pusher Fancies soap a few weeks ago, and I agree with you that it is top notch!! I have their Cucumber (I don't think it's available anymore, but I could be wrong), and it is slick, has nice cushion, and has an excellent post shave feel. I was surprised that it was such a high caliber performer. I've lost track of how many soaps I've tried, and I gotta say that it's definitely climbed in to the starting lineup for me; a definite "have on hand at all times" soap....Black Tea? I'm intrigued.......Catie's Bubbles? You'll like it as well. I first got the Sandalwood, and unfortunately, the scent was too weak for me (I heard from the owner that it's actually the weakest scent of all of the soaps). Fortunately, I got another one (Jardin d'Or, per the owners recommendation), and it's very nice! Which one did you get?

 

[plywood99]

Petal Pusher Fancies makes great soap.

 

[jay_gord]

PPF is underrated. It has to be the easiest soap to lather and it has all the properties you look for in a lather.

 

[dfoulk]

For the Catie's Bubbles soap I picked up LpV and Sunrise to try. They were mailed out today so I'm thinking I'll likely have them by Monday or Tuesday. I'm looking forward to trying that one too.

 

[Eely_Hovercraft]

Agree 100% on PPF, especially the coconut. If this soap were marketed with just a fraction of the attention that other artisan soaps are -- even if just by forum interactions -- I think it would be regarded as equal to, or better than, any of the most highly regarded brands. Think of it this way: since the beginning of the year, how many new, interesting soaps have been rolled out just by Barrister & Mann, RazoRock, and HTGAM? Probably 20-ish, give or take -- many with limited releases, hype about availability, quick sell-outs, etc. Over that period of time, how many new, interesting soaps have been rolled out by PPF? Seems like zero. Is too bad. I even saw a reasonably well-informed poster on another board state that he thought PPF was HTGAM's female soap line...

I assume that there must be a beneficial long-term plan for PPF after its "merger" w/ HTGAM early last Spring, and that those plans just haven't yet resulted in a marketing presence or new software. If not, at least there's no mad crowd rushing to sweep all the PPF soaps out of stock, which I guess is nice...

 

[Bloozepicker]

For the Catie's Bubbles soap I picked up LpV and Sunrise to try. They were mailed out today so I'm thinking I'll likely have them by Monday or Tuesday. I'm looking forward to trying that one too.

I got my LPV, Sunrise and QCV yesterday. You're in for a treat.

 

[dabrock]

I have the Sandlewood, since most of the other scents at Italian Barber are sold out, but I've only tried it once. It was decent but not great but I know I need to dial it in a bit more before I can really decide how good it is. I imagine it will be a top performer once I get find the sweet spot.

 

[dfoulk]

I have the Sandlewood, since most of the other scents at Italian Barber are sold out, but I've only tried it once. It was decent but not great but I know I need to dial it in a bit more before I can really decide how good it is. I imagine it will be a top performer once I get find the sweet spot.

Yeah, I'd spend some time figuring it out because once you do it's really excellent stuff. I like the Sandlewood scent quite a bit and it's definitely worth owning, but the Black Tea and Coconut are smell a lot nicer in my opinion. I want to pick up the Neroli and Cucumber ones soon. I ordered direct from PPF and picked up the 4 oz tubs for $9.99 to try out the scents. Shipping was cheap too. I'll buy an 8 oz. tub of the Black Tea and Coconut ones once these run out. I'm not sure if you can get the 4 oz. tubs from any of the resellers or if you're limited to 8 oz. only.

I really don't know why they aren't more popular on this forum. It's really a top notch soap and it went right into my tops 5 of the hundreds I've tried. It's up there with the best I've tried. Once you get it right I'm sure you'll be impressed.

 

[dfoulk]

I got my LPV, Sunrise and QCV yesterday. You're in for a treat.

Yeah, I've seen you posting on that thread too. It seems you are going for one of each. I was holding out for the samples coming out soon but once the LpV went back in stock and reading all of your comments in the thread pushed me over the edge so I went ahead and placed an order. If i like the soap, which I'm sure I will, I'll likely order some samples of the other scents that interest me.

 

[dfoulk]

Agree 100% on PPF, especially the coconut. If this soap were marketed with just a fraction of the attention that other artisan soaps are -- even if just by forum interactions -- I think it would be regarded as equal to, or better than, any of the most highly regarded brands. Think of it this way: since the beginning of the year, how many new, interesting soaps have been rolled out just by Barrister & Mann, RazoRock, and HTGAM? Probably 20-ish, give or take -- many with limited releases, hype about availability, quick sell-outs, etc. Over that period of time, how many new, interesting soaps have been rolled out by PPF? Seems like zero. Is too bad. I even saw a reasonably well-informed poster on another board state that he thought PPF was HTGAM's female soap line...

I assume that there must be a beneficial long-term plan for PPF after its "merger" w/ HTGAM early last Spring, and that those plans just haven't yet resulted in a marketing presence or new software. If not, at least there's no mad crowd rushing to sweep all the PPF soaps out of stock, which I guess is nice...

On one hand I want to let everyone know that this is a really great soap so that they'll try it but on the other hand I do like being able to order whatever I want without everything being out of stock. I gave the Strop Shoppe SE w/tallow soaps a lot of praise and before long I was waiting weeks for a scent to come back in stock or checking the site every day.

I don't believe that there is a PPF HGTAM merger. I believe that the owner of HGTAM and the owner of PPF are both independent soap makers that have their own separate companies. They are good friends but not business partners. The owner of HGTAM has a deal worked out where PPF handles his internet orders and mails out his products so that he can concentrate on making soap in addition to whatever other daily responsibilities he has, like maybe a full time day job? It's a really smart thing on both their parts as they both can benefit from helping each other out. This is why you see the cross marketing and can buy both soaps from either site as they are all shipped from the same location. They are both independent companies with very different soaps. So no merger, just a smart business arrangement.

I think the PPF soaps are far superior to the HGTAM ones. HGTAM makes a nice above average soap but for me it's not nearly as good of a product.

As far as scents go I really do enjoy the strong scents of the PPF soaps and like you I'd definitely like to see more. With a lot of the soap makers coming out with so many I think it keeps people buying their soaps all the time.

 

[jay_gord]

I think the PPF soaps are far superior to the HGTAM ones. HGTAM makes a nice above average soap but for me it's not nearly as good of a product.

I agree with you for the most part. However, I recently used Barberpole (Synergy 2.0). The new formula is a lot like PPF's formula. Its a very soft white puck as opposed to the almost translucent puck of the original formula. It lathers much like PPF and the post-shave feel is awesome too. This will probably only add to the confusion around the two brands.

 

[mglindo]

My first Shaving soap was a gift and it was PPF Briar. I like it very much and it is very easy to get a good lather for multiple passes. I am in the process of trying out other shaving soaps but, so far, PPF is still far in front of the crowd. I will probably get the Coconut very soon!

 

[dabrock]

I really don't know why they aren't more popular on this forum. It's really a top notch soap and it went right into my tops 5 of the hundreds I've tried. It's up there with the best I've tried. Once you get it right I'm sure you'll be impressed.

There are a lot of great soaps that just don't get a lot of mention such as L'Occitaine, Petal Pushers, Pre de Province etc. It just seems to be flavour of the month sometimes. I've noticed that looking back over old posts you used to see more of certain soaps like Queen Charolette and Mama Bear that were very popular, and are great soaps, that just don't get the same attention anymore. Guess we just have collective ADD.

 

[dfoulk]

There are a lot of great soaps that just don't get a lot of mention such as L'Occitaine, Petal Pushers, Pre de Province etc. It just seems to be flavour of the month sometimes. I've noticed that looking back over old posts you used to see more of certain soaps like Queen Charolette and Mama Bear that were very popular, and are great soaps, that just don't get the same attention anymore. Guess we just have collective ADD.

There are so many great soaps out now that we have a lot of excellent choices. I have the L'Occitane soap and it smells great but performance for me is average, The Pre de'Province is a nice soap and lasts forever but performance is average as well. Same deal with the QCS soaps. They are worth buying an I do enjoy the Vostok one quite a bit but I'm finding that I prefer others. The Mama Bear and other Glycerin soaps for me just feel like they lack something. It's like the creamy rich lather just isn't as creamy or as rich with the glycerin soaps.

I find myself preferring the following soaps. If I had to live with only one soap it would be one of these:

Petal pusher Fancies - ($10 for 4 oz) excellent and doesn't get enough praise at all. Coconut and Black Tea scents are amazing.
RazoRock (new formula soaps like XXX, P.160, etc) - ($10) these are great and always sold out as a result.
Strop Shoppe SE w/tallow - ($20) truly excellent, but it has to be the SE tallow version. I love their Baker Street and Barbershop scents. More Cologne type scents from them.
Martin de Candre - this one is truly amazing but is hard to get and has a high price tag at $70
Le Pere Lucien - another great french soap at $40
Cella - ($10) Not as good as the new P.160 scent wise but it deserves to be in my top soaps
PannaCrema - ($20) Excellent creamy lather but the scents are just ok for me. Lightly scented.

There are many, many others that I use and certainly enjoy but these ones seem to do everything right. My favorite depends on the day and what I used last. It's amazing to me that some days I find a $10 soap every bit as good as a $70 soap. If you haven't tried my favorite soaps I suggest you do. I can't tell you how many I've tried or how much money I've spent trying everything to find the very best soaps available.

At this point, after trying hundreds, I'm really surprised when a soap breaks into my top 5, which is what PPF did.

 

[dfoulk]

My first Shaving soap was a gift and it was PPF Briar. I like it very much and it is very easy to get a good lather for multiple passes. I am in the process of trying out other shaving soaps but, so far, PPF is still far in front of the crowd. I will probably get the Coconut very soon!

Definitely the Coconut, that one is my favorite scent from them. The Black Tea one really impressed me as well. It's a black tea, tobacco and musk scent which didn't sound really appealing from the description but it all comes together nicely and I'm surprised how great it smells. If I were to throw in a second one that would be my choice.

 

[jay_gord]

There are a lot of great soaps that just don't get a lot of mention such as L'Occitaine, Petal Pushers, Pre de Province etc. It just seems to be flavour of the month sometimes. I've noticed that looking back over old posts you used to see more of certain soaps like Queen Charolette and Mama Bear that were very popular, and are great soaps, that just don't get the same attention anymore. Guess we just have collective ADD.

You nailed it. I was just thinking about that recently. I almost never see posts about QCS anymore.

 

[QBrothers]

I just recently tried Petal Pushers. I have to say, I am super impressed with it as well. Excellent lather and the scents are super unique. I'm also using their deodorant, which I have to say, is the best natural deodorant I have ever used.

 

[dabrock]

There are so many great soaps out now that we have a lot of excellent choices. I have the L'Occitane soap and it smells great but performance for me is average,

I was thinking that for a while but yesterday and today I just nailed it and it's magic when you get it. It was thick and slick as anything else I've tried and didn't even dry my skin a bit as it normally does. I can see why many really do like it now and I'm sure that when I get the PPF dialed in I'll have the same love of it.


Edit: All the other soaps you mentioned, except MdC and LPL I have and love as well. You just have WAY too many choices these days for great soaps and it seems that Cold River is starting to get noticed and will be a hit as well.

 

[PGHChris]

I really enjoy PPF. The only one I currently have is Briar; I had Oakmoss & Sage, but I honestly couldn't smell anything, so I traded it. The Briar, however, has a very nice, complex scent, and that great PPF performance.