West Coast Shaving Epic Shaving Cream Sample Pack Review

[NateB98]

I received this incredible sample pack as a Christmas present. 42 different samples from 20 companies. Over the upcoming weeks, I will be reviewing each and every sample. My grading criteria will be a 5 point system evaluating the following performance areas: scent, lather, slickness and post-shave.

Everyone is different in their preferences and tastes. If you'd like an idea about my shaving preferences, take a look at my profile page.

The following is a list of all the samples:

Luxury Shaving Cream Sample Pack
-Triumph & Disaster Old Fashioned Shave Cream
-Castle Forbes Lavender
-Penhaligon's Endymion
-Alvarez Gomez BARBERIA
-Jack Black Supreme Cream
-Pre de Provence No. 63

Deux Artisan Sample Pack
-L.A. Shaving Soap Co. Vanilla / Eucalyptus / Mint
-Through the Fire Shaving Soap, Ember
-Barrister & Mann Latha Shaving Soap, Oceana
-Chiseled Face Shaving Soap, Summer Storm
-Captain's Choice Shaving Soap, Bay Rum
-Stirling Soap Company Shave Soap
-Margaritas in the Arctic
-Catie's Bubbles Shaving Soap, Celtic Knot
-WhollyKaw Vegan Shaving Soap, Fougere Bouquet

Outdoorsman Shaving Cream Sample Pack
-Stirling Soap Company Shave Soap, Mountain Man
-Castle Forbes Cedarwood & Sandalwood Essential Oil Shaving Cream
-L.A. Shaving Soap Woody Lavender Shaving Soap
-Catie's Bubbles Shaving Soap, La Terre Verte
-Mickey Lee Soapworks Shaving Soap, Reunion
-Through the Fire Shaving Soap, Forged

Artisan Shaving Cream Sample Pack
-Stirling Soap Company Shave Soap, Barbershop
-Mickey Lee Soapworks Shaving Soap, The Drunken Goat
-Chiseled Face Shaving Soap, Cryogen
-Catie's Bubbles Shaving Soap, Le Piment de la Vie
-Barrister & Mann Tallow Shaving Soap, Seville
-Dr. Jon's Shaving Soap, Savannah Sunrise
-Reef Point Shaving Soap, Admiralty
-Soap Smooth Shaving Soap, Montpellier

Taylor of Old Bond Street Shaving Cream Sample Pack
Sandalwood
Jermyn
Grapefruit
Lavender
Avocado
Coconut
Lemon & Lime
Almond
Rose
St. James
Cedarwood
Eton College
Mr. Taylor

 

[NateB98]

Here is a link to the West Coast Shaving page:

www.westcoastshaving.com/shaving-cream/epic-shave-cream-sample-pack.html

 

[NateB98]

My first review will be about the sample pack in general. Overall, pretty nice. There is a decent amount of soap per sample. The number of shaves per sample will vary depending on a number of factors, including hardness if the cream, amount needed to properly load the brush, etc.

Each sample was clearly labeled in a small, clear tub with a white lid. Very professionally done, but nowhere near the quality or quantity of some other company's samples. I've included photos of a WCS sample and a Barrister & Mann sample to show the differences in presentation and quantity.

Despite not being super-top-of-the-line, I'm still very impressed and happy with the WCS samples. I'm looking forward to trying all of them.

 

[NateB98]

Triumph & Disaster Shaving Cream

This is my first sample to review. I had been looking forward to trying this cream for a long time based on other reviews and its stirling reputation. This was a moderately soft cream with a bit of a gritty feel. A lot softer than a croap, but harder than a soft cream such as Prorasso. Here are my thoughts...

Scent: 5/5 - Amazing. Mint, citrus, spice. All very well balanced. Masculine. I thought I picked up a hint of lavender and crushed granite, too. My one complaint was that the scent faded very quickly.
Lather: 2/5 - This was very disappointing. I've attempted to get a thick, cushioning lather four times now, and I'm almost out of cream. Each time resulted in a thin, bubbly, unsatisfying lather. I expected a lot more from T&D.
Slickness: 4/5 - Despite the weak lather, this cream performed really well. Very good slickness. Almost slick enough to be able to wet my face after the first pass and go for a second.
Post-shave: 3/5 - This cream left my face feeling only moderately moisturized. Not bad, but definitely not up to par with the best on the market.

Overall, I was divided I'm my opinion on this well respected cream. On one hand, the scent and performance were top notch. But the lack of cushioning lather and moisturizing post-shave didn't live up to my expectations. I would definitely buy a tub if the price point were low enough to compete with some of its ridiculously good competition (I'm looking at you Barrister & Mann).

 

[-blake-]

Cool. I look forward to more reviews.

 

[DrewMc]

Thanks for reviewing all these! I’ll be following.

 

[NateB98]

Alvarez Gomez BARBERIA

I had never heard of this shaving cream before, so I was very interested. You don't often hear about Spanish shaving products. The texture was similar to the Triumph & Disaster - much softer than a croap, but harder than a soft cream. Also a little gritty. Not a bad gritty, just not perfectly smooth like some brands.

Scent: 2.5/5 - This is a really nice smelling cream, but it's super light. So light as to be a little difficult to describe, but definitely barber shop in nature and very high end. About all I could really pick out were citrus and possibly lavender. I would give it a 5 for scent if it was stronger. The scent disappeared almost immediately.
Lather: 4/5 - This cream produced a great lather. Thick, creamy and very easy.
Slickness: 4/5 - Really slick. Almost slick enough to wet my face and take another pass...almost.
Post shave: 4/5 - Left my face feeling pretty moisturized. Might have been able to go without an aftershave.

Overall this was a pretty good cream. Great performance, but the scent could be a lot stronger.

 

[GearNoir]

Subscribing.

What fun to be able to try all those. Enjoy! Hopefully you find some keepers.

I think the jars don’t look too bad. I kinda understand the difference between sampling up products that aren’t your own vs products that are exclusively yours. Still, they must make a killing on sample packs. Certainly pay a pretty penny for what you get.

 

[NateB98]

Penhaligon's Endymion

I had seen this brand before on WCS and I had tried their cologne in stores. I was always left with the question of what drives the price point so high. The scents I had smelled all seemed somewhat odd to me. And the prices were ridiculously high. So I started this review more than a little biased.

This cream is super soft and very smooth. Right off the bat, it felt high-end. Very polished.

Scent: 3/5 - This cream smells like a cologne to me. Warm, musky, floral. Very masculine. Maybe a little on the light side, but refined and well balanced. Faded after a few minutes.
Lather: 4/5 - I needed a bit more of this cream to work up a lather, but once I got the brush loaded correctly, it produced a very nice, tight, cushioning foam.
Slickness: 4/5 - Performance was very good. Slick, smooth, effortless.
Post shave: 4/5 - This cream left my skin feeling super soft. I was tempted to skip an aftershave, but that's probably asking a bit too much.

Overall, this was a very high performing cream. The scent wasn't my favorite, but everything else about it was top-notch. Do I believe it justified its price? No. Especially when you compare it to the myriad of reasonably priced, incredibly high performing soaps out there.

 

[NateB98]

Jack Black Supreme Cream

I really had no desire to try this shaving cream because (without trying it) I had lumped it in with all the other department store creams that are all marketing and zero performance. Let me go on the record as saying I absolutely love it when one of my preconceived ideas is proven wrong. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case with Jack Black.

This cream was super soft and had a whipped consistency that immediately deflated upon attempting to lather.

Scent: 1/5 - What scent? Seriously. It had only the faintest whiff of nothingness.
Lather: 2.5/5 - Thin with little cushion. In my experience, any time a shaving cream says it can be used "with or without a brush", it underperforms with respect to lather.
Slickness: 2/5 - My face is still recovering from the abuse suffered at the hands of this shaving cream. Every stroke from my razor felt like it was dragging, rough and burning, across my skin.
Post shave: 2.5/5 - My face was left feeling dehydrated and raw. I immediately had to reach for an aftershave loaded with menthol to extinguish the burning sensation.

Overall, this shaving cream underperformed in every respect.

 

[SGWB]

Thanks for the Jack Black review. It's one I had been interested in.

Below is the ingredient list from the Jack Black web site. The second ingredient there, Sodium Lauroyl Sarcosinate, is a surficant and foaming agent. It's not a "soap", but it is supposedly very gentle. That might explain the poor lathering. Looking at the rest of the ingredients, I would have expected it to have better skin care properties.


Water (Aqua), Sodium Lauroyl Sarcosinate, Stearic Acid, Myristic Acid, Palmitic Acid, Potassium Hydroxide, Lauric Acid, Glycerin, Macadamia Ternifolia (Macadeamia) Nut Oil, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Oil, Glycine Soja (Soybean) Oil, Peucedanum Ostruthium Leaf Extract*, Buddleja Davidii Leaf Extract*, Artemisia Umbelliformis Extract*, Leontopodium Alpinum (Edelweiss) Extract*, Calendula Officinalis (Calendula) Flower Extract, Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary) Leaf Oil, Pelargonium Graveolens Flower Oil, Anthemis Nobilis Flower Oil, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil, Cetyl PEG/PPG-10/1 Dimethicone, Perfluorononyl Dimethicone, Phenoxyethanol, Disodium EDTA, Butylene Glycol, Iodopropynyl Butylcarbamate, Xanthan Gum *Certified Organic

 

[NateB98]

Castle Forbes Lavender

I was really looking forward to trying another cream from Castle Forbes. This company doesn't disappoint.

This shaving cream is quite hard. I would categorize it as a croap.

Scent: 5/5 - Yeah, its that good. Reminded me of a trip to San Juan Island where I visited the Pelindaba lavender farm. Pure, unadulterated lavender. Stronger than Taylor of Old Bond Street. Not as medicinal as Art of Shaving.
Lather: 4.5/5 - Produced loads of thick, tight lather. Very cushioning.
Slickness: 4/5 - Hard to beat. Provided a slick, easy glide to the razor.
Post shave: 3.5/5 - I was a little surprised that my face didn't feel better after shaving with this cream. It didn't feel bad, but not quite as moisturized as I would have liked.

Overall, Castle Forbes lives up to its stellar reputation. This is an awesome cream that would make a good addition to anyone's collection. Of course, you're going to pay for the quality.

 

[NateB98]

Thanks for the Jack Black review. It's one I had been interested in.

Below is the ingredient list from the Jack Black web site. The second ingredient there, Sodium Lauroyl Sarcosinate, is a surficant and foaming agent. It's not a "soap", but it is supposedly very gentle. That might explain the poor lathering. Looking at the rest of the ingredients, I would have expected it to have better skin care properties.


Water (Aqua), Sodium Lauroyl Sarcosinate, Stearic Acid, Myristic Acid, Palmitic Acid, Potassium Hydroxide, Lauric Acid, Glycerin, Macadamia Ternifolia (Macadeamia) Nut Oil, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Oil, Glycine Soja (Soybean) Oil, Peucedanum Ostruthium Leaf Extract*, Buddleja Davidii Leaf Extract*, Artemisia Umbelliformis Extract*, Leontopodium Alpinum (Edelweiss) Extract*, Calendula Officinalis (Calendula) Flower Extract, Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary) Leaf Oil, Pelargonium Graveolens Flower Oil, Anthemis Nobilis Flower Oil, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil, Cetyl PEG/PPG-10/1 Dimethicone, Perfluorononyl Dimethicone, Phenoxyethanol, Disodium EDTA, Butylene Glycol, Iodopropynyl Butylcarbamate, Xanthan Gum *Certified Organic

I agree that with quality ingredients, a shaving cream should provide a better experience. Due to its exceptionally bad performance, I would question the QUANTITY of these quality ingredients. As with so many of these types of products on the market, the manufacturer may only use just enough to be able to list it as an ingredient. This marketing technique is ubiquitous in the health food and supplement industries.

 

[NateB98]

Pre de Provence No. 63

I've been curious about this brand for a long time, but had never tried any of their products. So I was pretty excited this morning to shave with No. 63.

Whoa, this stuff is thick. Dense. But still soft. Unlike anything I've ever tried before. I should have stopped and read up on it at this point, because - surprise! - its a brushless shaving cream. But no, I went ahead and wasted almost my entire sample in multiple attempts to work up a lather. Why would WCS put a brushless cream in their Luxury Sample Pack? Uggg...

Scent: 3.5/5 - Floral. Hmmmm....yes, Floral. Not overwhelming or feminine, but certainly not masculine either. And that's about all I could pick up. Not my cup of tea.
Lather: 1/5 - Once I quit with my brush and bowl, I put the remaining cream on my hands and worked it into my wet beard. Fail. This produced a thin, sloppy mess.
Slickness: 3.5/5 - Despite the utter failure to produce any protective lather, this cream was pretty slick. But not enough to give a good shave. I gave up after one pass.
Post shave: 4/5 - So my hands felt great after rubbing this stuff all over my face. Makes a pretty nice hand lotion. My face felt better than expected, especially considering the rough one-pass attempt at removing my beard.

Overall I was left disappointed and confused by this cream. Why would WCS put this in a sample pack that is obviously designed for dedicated wet shavers?

 

[DreadNought46]

Pre de Provence No. 63

I've been curious about this brand for a long time, but had never tried any of their products. So I was pretty excited this morning to shave with No. 63.

Whoa, this stuff is thick. Dense. But still soft. Unlike anything I've ever tried before. I should have stopped and read up on it at this point, because - surprise! - its a brushless shaving cream. But no, I went ahead and wasted almost my entire sample in multiple attempts to work up a lather. Why would WCS put a brushless cream in their Luxury Sample Pack? Uggg...

Scent: 3.5/5 - Floral. Hmmmm....yes, Floral. Not overwhelming or feminine, but certainly not masculine either. And that's about all I could pick up. Not my cup of tea.
Lather: 1/5 - Once I quit with my brush and bowl, I put the remaining cream on my hands and worked it into my wet beard. Fail. This produced a thin, sloppy mess.
Slickness: 3.5/5 - Despite the utter failure to produce any protective lather, this cream was pretty slick. But not enough to give a good shave. I gave up after one pass.
Post shave: 4/5 - So my hands felt great after rubbing this stuff all over my face. Makes a pretty nice hand lotion. My face felt better than expected, especially considering the rough one-pass attempt at removing my beard.

Overall I was left disappointed and confused by this cream. Why would WCS put this in a sample pack that is obviously designed for dedicated wet shavers?

Nate, I have read these reviews several times, and I get a kick out of your candor every time. My favorite one was this last one. "Makes a pretty nice hand lotion." Love the honesty. Looking forward to hearing about the rest. Thanks for the postings.

 

[shavefan]

Great reviews, thanks for sharing. And I agree, Castle Forbes is about the truest/strongest lavender shave product I've encountered. Alvarez Gomez is another under the radar cream that is a less expensive version of Acqua di Parma with similar performance and scent, IMO.

 

[86-foxtrot]

I received this incredible sample pack as a Christmas present. 42 different samples from 20 companies.

That's amazing in itself. I don't think I have even tried more than a dozen soaps/creams in my time.

 

[Bhugo]

Nice reviews. Thanks

 

[Bladeforum]

I agree. I had ALVAREZ and just tried acqua colonia...similar scent. Both pleasant citrus barbershop.