I purchased Sudsy Soapery Lavender & Peppermint a couple months ago and I've used it about 20 times. Enough to make a good judgement about it's performance. After using it many times I can say that for me the performance is very impressive.
Lathering - Lathering this soap is about average time wise as I'm able to produce a thick rich lather in about the time it takes to lather most of my other soaps. Not as quick as the "wave your brush over it and it lathers" Martin de Candre and not nearly as long as it takes me to lather the excellent performing but stubborn to lather (for me) Mystic Waters.
Slickness - Slickness is outstanding as you can feel the slickness of the Bentonite and Russian Blue clay in this soap causing the razor to effortlessly glide over your skin. Some of their other soaps use different but equally high quality clays in their formulas. The soap is a triple butter soap that is absolutely loaded with butters for an outstanding after shave feel. I believe it's the butters combined with the high quality clay that give it an exceptional slickness. I feel like I can shave using way too much pressure or a slightly off angle and not face the penalty for doing so. This is a soap I feel confident about reaching for when I need to shave and be out the door in ten minutes. It's incredibly forgiving for me.
After shave face feel - After shave face feel is outstanding as well as all of the butters in this soap definitely soften your face and leave it feeling very moisturized. Definitely very high marks here. I know that's what aftershave is for but there appears to be a trend with soap makers placing a higher importance in this category and this soap maker does it as well as anyone. I'd say in this category it's more moisturizing than the Strop Shoppe SE w/tallow soaps and closer to what I get from PannaCrema Nuavia in this regard.
Scent - The scent is rather nice with a soft lavender and peppermint. Totally different from but in the same wheelhouse as Martin de Candre Original scent and Nancy Boy Signature. It's a clean scent and I like it a lot. The strength of scent is definitely there. You'll smell it during your shave but not too long after. There's a little menthol in it for a nice slight cooling effect as well. Neither scent overpowers the other and they blend well together.
Cost - The cost on this soap is $10.95 which to me is very reasonable, especially for a product of this quality. It's a soft soap but I suspect a tin would last quite a while. These soaps do use high quality ingredients and essential oils which are a bit more expensive but it's not really reflected in the price. Other big name all essential oil soaps are usually a bit more expensive. The sandlewood and Myrrh soap does run $2 more because of the difference in price of the sandlewood oil used. In looking at their web site I do see a new Almond & Vanilla scent that I'd love to try as well.
Tins - The tins contain 3.5 ounces of soap and are simple metal tins. Nothing special here as I'm told they were chosen to keep the product cost down. They contain a simple waterproof label listing the necessary information.
This soap company is relatively unknown and pretty much completely undiscovered within this forum. I've seen some very favorable reviews in some of the other shaving forums but really nothing at all about it here. I do comment in the soap passarounds threads more frequently but this is the first time in a long time I've posted a review of a soap in the open forum. I wanted to share some information about this soap as this soap and PannaCrema Nuavia are my two favorite soap finds this year.
Please feel free to share your thoughts if you've tried it. I'd be interested to know if you guys rate this one as high as I do.
Lathering - Lathering this soap is about average time wise as I'm able to produce a thick rich lather in about the time it takes to lather most of my other soaps. Not as quick as the "wave your brush over it and it lathers" Martin de Candre and not nearly as long as it takes me to lather the excellent performing but stubborn to lather (for me) Mystic Waters.
Slickness - Slickness is outstanding as you can feel the slickness of the Bentonite and Russian Blue clay in this soap causing the razor to effortlessly glide over your skin. Some of their other soaps use different but equally high quality clays in their formulas. The soap is a triple butter soap that is absolutely loaded with butters for an outstanding after shave feel. I believe it's the butters combined with the high quality clay that give it an exceptional slickness. I feel like I can shave using way too much pressure or a slightly off angle and not face the penalty for doing so. This is a soap I feel confident about reaching for when I need to shave and be out the door in ten minutes. It's incredibly forgiving for me.
After shave face feel - After shave face feel is outstanding as well as all of the butters in this soap definitely soften your face and leave it feeling very moisturized. Definitely very high marks here. I know that's what aftershave is for but there appears to be a trend with soap makers placing a higher importance in this category and this soap maker does it as well as anyone. I'd say in this category it's more moisturizing than the Strop Shoppe SE w/tallow soaps and closer to what I get from PannaCrema Nuavia in this regard.
Scent - The scent is rather nice with a soft lavender and peppermint. Totally different from but in the same wheelhouse as Martin de Candre Original scent and Nancy Boy Signature. It's a clean scent and I like it a lot. The strength of scent is definitely there. You'll smell it during your shave but not too long after. There's a little menthol in it for a nice slight cooling effect as well. Neither scent overpowers the other and they blend well together.
Cost - The cost on this soap is $10.95 which to me is very reasonable, especially for a product of this quality. It's a soft soap but I suspect a tin would last quite a while. These soaps do use high quality ingredients and essential oils which are a bit more expensive but it's not really reflected in the price. Other big name all essential oil soaps are usually a bit more expensive. The sandlewood and Myrrh soap does run $2 more because of the difference in price of the sandlewood oil used. In looking at their web site I do see a new Almond & Vanilla scent that I'd love to try as well.
Tins - The tins contain 3.5 ounces of soap and are simple metal tins. Nothing special here as I'm told they were chosen to keep the product cost down. They contain a simple waterproof label listing the necessary information.
This soap company is relatively unknown and pretty much completely undiscovered within this forum. I've seen some very favorable reviews in some of the other shaving forums but really nothing at all about it here. I do comment in the soap passarounds threads more frequently but this is the first time in a long time I've posted a review of a soap in the open forum. I wanted to share some information about this soap as this soap and PannaCrema Nuavia are my two favorite soap finds this year.
Please feel free to share your thoughts if you've tried it. I'd be interested to know if you guys rate this one as high as I do.
so comments can follow on all five, though it will take a while: the Lavender and Peppermint isn't going to budge from daily use for a while.
