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Stirling Island Man - Very Faint?

I have three words I don't normally associate with Stirling: subtle, soft, damp.

I used Stirling Island Man and splash for the first time this morning. This must have been a fresh pour because it was a little uneven and when I went to smooth it out it was both very soft and damp. It's the first Stirling soap I was questioning whether I could load from the jar or not. I imagine it will dry out over time.

I lathered it up and really didn't smell much of anything throughout the shave except for an initial citrus fragrance off the puck. Subtle might be an understatement. I also put on a fair amount of splash and was left with a very faint coconut scent.

Is this normal for Island Man? I did a sniffer check and I'm not having any problems with taste or smell. In fact I was experimenting with some slant razors and used some Noxema cooling balm and it easily overpowered the soap and splash.

Since this was my first time using it I wanted to check in with others who have more time with it.
 
Island Man is awesome. It's a summer soap for me and not very strong . I get bergamot initially and then clean sheets. I can still smell it on me a few hours after a shave so maybe your sniffer ain't working great.
 
Island Man is awesome. It's a summer soap for me and not very strong . I get bergamot initially and then clean sheets. I can still smell it on me a few hours after a shave so maybe your sniffer ain't working great.

Thanks for the info. I don't think it's my sniffer - I'm getting everything from B&M Whatsit and that runs the gamut from citrus to sweet. Coconut Lime is fine, Weekend in Malibu check, Satsuma is just fine. In fact, Island Man is the only fragrance I'm not getting much of anything from. Even the splash is very muted with a small amount of citrus and a small residual coconut fragrance.

It's a mystery. If it's not very strong to begin with maybe that's where my sniffer drops off. I would be as surprised as anyone if it's the batch, but I suppose that's what the numbers are for. I put an email into Stirling just in case.
 
I had similar views about Island Man. It seemed very subtle to my liking. though I didn't try the splash and it 'looks' amazing but I wonder how subtle it is. - Maybe that is just the character of this scent - just to have a subtle presence under an ocean breeze or something -

Regardless, I love Stirling lol

Try mixing it with another soap sometime and see what you can come up with. - happy shaves
 
I know when I first got island man it was in transit in probably all sorts of temps and when I first opened the tub I didn't think I would like it. Let it sit in your den temp for a few days maybe you'll come around to it.
 
I had similar views about Island Man. It seemed very subtle to my liking. though I didn't try the splash and it 'looks' amazing but I wonder how subtle it is. - Maybe that is just the character of this scent - just to have a subtle presence under an ocean breeze or something -

Regardless, I love Stirling lol

Try mixing it with another soap sometime and see what you can come up with. - happy shaves

Stirling remains one of my favorites. You can generate a ton of lather without making a dent in the soap and the post shave feel from a Stirling soap/splash combo can't be beat.

Island Man sure does look amazing and I'm kinda bummed that I'm not getting more from it. I usually have to cut my Stirling splashes with Unscented splash. Mixing it with another soap could be fun - it might be time to start thinking about a frankensoap....
 
I find soap samples might vary, did you get a full tub? I've had a sample for quite a while when it was fresh it wasn't exactly weak maybe bordering on strong. I usually don't expect to smell much of the soap during the shave maybe subtle hints of it.
 
I find soap samples might vary, did you get a full tub? I've had a sample for quite a while when it was fresh it wasn't exactly weak maybe bordering on strong. I usually don't expect to smell much of the soap during the shave maybe subtle hints of it.

I jumped in on the soap and splash after getting a shampoo bar sample. The sample was faint as well, but like you said I thought it was because it was a sample. I liked what I could smell so I ordered a set.

I can douse myself in the splash and no one around me (including myself) can tell I'm wearing anything. Normally that is just fine for me, but I'm not getting this trip to a tropical island reviewers speak of. I was left on the tarmac.
 
Yeah not sure about the aftershave, but some of stirlings seem to fade quite quickly not sure if the edt is much better. Bummer about the soap. It seemed really strong off the puck when I got my sample and the lather I could still smell too somewhat although more of tamed down clean smell. I know A&E sells the same scent as st barts, I have not tried it though and more pricey.
 
Yeah not sure about the aftershave, but some of stirlings seem to fade quite quickly not sure if the edt is much better. Bummer about the soap. It seemed really strong off the puck when I got my sample and the lather I could still smell too somewhat although more of tamed down clean smell. I know A&E sells the same scent as st barts, I have not tried it though and more pricey.

It's funny that you mention that because I ordered a set of St. Bart's last night. Trythatsoap has it as a 100% match for Island Man. I've had some variation in Stirling batches before, but it's rare for me to come across it. I remember a puck of Lime that was very faint. I bought another one two years later and it filled the shave den with fragrance when I lathered it.

I'm heading down to the water today. No Island Man for me, but I wouldn't call an early spring New England beach tropical anyway :). I went with Oceana instead.
 
I used St. Bart's this morning from A&E. It's a 100% match up with Island Man on Trythatsoap FWIW. the soap had a definite scent presence and the splash was as strong as Island Man was faint. The splash was way too strong for me. I put a tiny bit on my wrist yesterday and it was detectable for hours.

I noticed the bottle had a stopper so I tried to get a dash out and was going to cut the rest with Stirling Unscented. I didn't notice the stopper had large holes in it and ended up with 25% of the splash in my hand. I just can't fathom why A&E would use that stopper design.

St. Barts somehow had a perfumey tinge to my nose and that may be true to VIW. My goldilocks VIW clone would be a combo of the Stirling and A&E clones.

Like many of us I have had too many Stirling soaps and splashes to count. I have to follow up with Stirling again because I can't see how the lack of fragrance I got in this Island Man batch was by design. Of course, it would not be the first time I was wrong.
 
I have to admit St. Bart's is growing on me. I think what I'm referring to as perfumey might actually be a little powdery. As for the splash, I switched the A&E stopper with the Stirling Island Man stopper so problem solved there. I'm really liking the lime note in St. Bart's when it peeks through.
 
I have three words I don't normally associate with Stirling: subtle, soft, damp.

I used Stirling Island Man and splash for the first time this morning. This must have been a fresh pour because it was a little uneven and when I went to smooth it out it was both very soft and damp. It's the first Stirling soap I was questioning whether I could load from the jar or not. I imagine it will dry out over time.

I lathered it up and really didn't smell much of anything throughout the shave except for an initial citrus fragrance off the puck. Subtle might be an understatement. I also put on a fair amount of splash and was left with a very faint coconut scent.

Is this normal for Island Man? I did a sniffer check and I'm not having any problems with taste or smell. In fact I was experimenting with some slant razors and used some Noxema cooling balm and it easily overpowered the soap and splash.

Since this was my first time using it I wanted to check in with others who have more time with it.
What a coincidence you brought that up because I bought Stirling Island Man used some time ago and there wasn’t much soap left in there and it was very faint so I assumed that the soap was years old so I literally just bought another set a couple hours ago hoping that the scent would be stronger….
 
Aquatics aren’t supposed to be overly strong, they’re supposed to be light and clean, but still I know what you mean you want to be able to smell it. I’m glad I just ordered the splash to go along with it. Almost looks good enough to drink haha 🍹 🏝 🏖 ☀️ 🌊 🏄🏼‍♂️
 
I have a sample of the soap. I had super high hopes for it, along w/ boat drinks and weekends in malibu. not a single were as expected, BUT that does not mean I am not a fan. without de-railing your thread, I have tried island man once so far. yes, indeed subtle in the jar, and same during a shave. I was a bit rushed the day I used it, so I will revist it here shortly and report back with a better idea. I got 9 samples at once, so bear with me as I work through them. I did not try the AS splash. a few of the website reviews actually state this very issue: soap and AS, rather faint.

I really do want to like it, but as of right now it is one of the 3 I was underwhelmed with, along w/ coconut and campania. all nice, but did not knock my socks off. I also got Varen and ain't no telling what to make of that quite yet :lol1:
 
Just taken delivery of Island Man today - The Soap is great albeit yes the scent's subtle. Also have the aftershave so put on, plus used a little bit for deodorant too. All in I quite like the initial scent of bergamot, as it settles we'll see
 
I like the scent quite a bit oleo soapworks bonaire smells almost exactly the same to me as island man. Not sure about strength and longevity I can definitely tell for a few minutes when I put it on and it's really light or I go scent blind to it after that.
 
I like the scent quite a bit oleo soapworks bonaire smells almost exactly the same to me as island man. Not sure about strength and longevity I can definitely tell for a few minutes when I put it on and it's really light or I go scent blind to it after that.
Don’t worry about scent blind - Put more on … im toiling getting the edt … her indoors massive fan too
 
And I bought more Island man again … love smashing my face into a bergamot face bath after shaving … it’s better than menthol for sure 👌
 

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