Tried Mystic Waters Maestrale

[Micheal Halliday]

Not sure yet... inconclusive first attempt.

Lather was OK, scent seemed minimal.

Latehr was very light and airy, I think I used too much water and jsut whipped it up to much. Next try I will load teh brush more. I should prb not expect it to lather the same as Proraso, or my TOBs cream.

Skin did feel great after.

I got 6 samples, so stay tuned.

 

[MJB1]

Good luck, the scents are second to none, but I found developing lather with it more work than I was willing to devote to it, especially when I've got tubs of Harris, MWF, and Stirling sitting in the cabinet...

 

[eyebright]

Try smearing the sample over a larger area, like into the bottom of a container. Load your brush until a thick cream forms before you start face lathering or building lather in your bowl. It sounds like you didn't use enough product. Maestrale is a fresh scent but there's a lot of essential oil in there.

 

[Micheal Halliday]

I think you are correct, i am a bit of a cheapskate so did not want to use up my sample too quickly. I will load it up good in the morn.


May try a diff flavor though

Thanks

 

[Burnside]

Michelle's lather is top-of-the-line in my opinion. Just an awesome lather experience

 

[skleice]

I just got a few samples and each one should be good for a large number of shaves. I haven't lathered them yet, but they smell great in the bag. I've had no problem lathering MW in the past, so I don't anticipate performance issues. I'm really curious to see any difference in the sensitive skin variety.

 

[Micheal Halliday]

The lavender Lime seemed to work realy well in a super later today with a little Men-U shaving ceam.

 

[Mbuckwash]

Michelle, the owner of MW, suggests that you "rough up" the top of the soap puck for lathering - thereby enhancing its ability to lather. Since the soap is so soft, I'd suggest pinching it almost to make little points/peaks in it - enhancing your lather resultantly. To echo everyone here, start with a very dry brush, whip on the puck until you think you're getting no where, add some water lightly, whip some more on the puck, and then face/bowl lather as necessary.

 

[RobW]

Load, load, then load some more

 

[bassopotamus]

I have mixed feelings on MW. The single best shave I ever got was with it, but it is also the hardest soap to lather that I have ever used, and getting the hydration right is really hard.

 

[eyebright]

I think that the "dry brush" advice has been said so often that some new users may now using such a dry brush that they're not getting enough soap in their brushes, which leads to carpal tunnel syndrome (just kidding) and insufficient lather. My technique is a little different and sounds quicker. Really not any different than any other soap, but I swirl the brush on the puck until I get a really thick proto-lather. Stopping before that point means that you don't have enough soap loaded, which may be the case of those who say they only get a thin or foamy lather.

 

[brucered]

soak brush, give a firm squeeze at the base of the knot and lather on puck.

this allows a lot of the excess water to be removed, but keep the tips of the bristles wet and works every time for me. I face lather it, but have bowl lathered it in the past.

I never understood how anyone could lather this or any product with a dry brush.

 

[FonGu]

My take on MW? Smells great, great customer service, soap has very narrow window to hit the sweet spot, soap requires more effort to lather than other products at its price point, excellent shave when you hit the sweet spot but disappointing otherwise

 

[VT_Hokie]

Just received my order for 3 pucks yesterday. The scents seem very nice, but I about lost my patience trying to lather it last night.

Soaking wet brush, dry brush and everything in between. All resulted in a feeble foam that wouldn't stand up.

I finally decided to do what I do will all my soaps and just start with a brush that's been shaken a few times and load it like crazy. It almost seems like this soap is counter intuative. It's very soft and malleable, but has this gummy consistency where when you're loading it, instead of caking the bristles of the brush with soap, it just balls up on itself on top of the puck. Some of it gets into the brush but then when you take it to the face, you have to break those down as you keep going. Out of that attempt I got something decent, but far from the best I've ever used.

I'll keep cracking at it, but it doesn't appear that the juice is worth the squeeze on this for me and nice scents aren't enough to keep it in my den.

 

[Mbuckwash]

Just received my order for 3 pucks yesterday. The scents seem very nice, but I about lost my patience trying to lather it last night.

Soaking wet brush, dry brush and everything in between. All resulted in a feeble foam that wouldn't stand up.

I finally decided to do what I do will all my soaps and just start with a brush that's been shaken a few times and load it like crazy. It almost seems like this soap is counter intuative. It's very soft and malleable, but has this gummy consistency where when you're loading it, instead of caking the bristles of the brush with soap, it just balls up on itself on top of the puck. Some of it gets into the brush but then when you take it to the face, you have to break those down as you keep going. Out of that attempt I got something decent, but far from the best I've ever used.

I'll keep cracking at it, but it doesn't appear that the juice is worth the squeeze on this for me and nice scents aren't enough to keep it in my den.

Which scents did you get? If you seriously don't like them after you've done your diligence, I can probably take them off your hands - obviously I'd pay. Or, they do make a superb body soap in the shower...just keep them dry when you're not using them so they last as long as Michelle says they do (months of time, not weeks).

 

[VT_Hokie]

I got the coconut lime verbena, Jeff's lavender, and Sardinian honey.

What drives me up the wall is thati was able to crank out a decent lather when I tried a sample that Ravi sent me, but I was ready to throw that CL verbena out the Window yesterday.

It's a soap, I've been doing this for quite awhile, it shouldn't be this difficult. I'm gonna try it again when I get home