Into the valley of death rode.....Soapalchemist!

Boab said:
I seem to remember someone being all poetic on that daft basenotes site saying that Fern smelled like Green :roll: .So there you have it.Get some green essential oil, instant fern.
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What? You're telling me you've never smelled Green before? It smells a bit like Yellow, and slightly less strong than Blue. In fact, I'd put it somewhere in the middle of the two. As for Red, don't get me started on Red... ;)
 
My sample of Eucalyptus and Tea Tree arrived yesterday, thank you Sharon, so I tried it out straight away with a really well hydrated face and a razor and blade combination which I can rely upon to give good results.

Well, that was the strangest shaving experience I can ever remember. The soap felt oddly sticky under the brush, the lather was thin in appearance but not in texture and showed every sign of deteriorating - I wasn't feeling particularly optimistic at this stage, but in for a penny ... Four passes later without reloading the brush I had a smoother than usual face and no irritation whatsoever :eek: The proof of the soap is in the shaving, so I call that a resounding success.

I found the scent very pleasant, a little like Olbas oil but less medicinal, and the appearance is fine by me. The soap scores highly in terms of slipperiness and protection, in other words the most important factors for double edge shaving; but not so well for quantity and cushioning which is more of a consideration for users of straight razors I should think. For my purposes it trounces the majority of vegetarian soaps comprehensively and I shall definitely continue to use it. Well done Sharon.
 
Naked Ape said:
soapalchemist said:
What does a fern smell like anyway.
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Yes, I asked that question when I first came across Penhaligon's English Fern EDT. Apparently, fern on its own doesn't really have an identifiable scent, per say, other than the expected vegetal smell. I think 'Fern' is a 'Fougere'-type fragrance (if memory serves me right, Fougere is the French for fern)...errr...I think I'll bring the lecture to a halt right...here.

Out of interest, are you a full-time soapmaker, and do you have some sort of catalogue/website etc?

P.S. Did you find anything of interest at Hollingsworths in Brum?
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Yes, it's a strange thing, but for instance there is a perfume called Eau D'Issy which I believe was the inventer of the smell of water (without the chlorine tang of tap water), and it does indeed smell watery......which is very odd when you consider that water doesn't have a smell!!

I'm just part-time; I need the day job to fund my soapmaking obsession. I do have a little catalogue of sorts in the making that I could email to you when I have it finished.
 
Arrowhead,
Thank you for your positive review of my latest efforts. You have indeed warmed the cockles of my soapmaking heart. I'm not sure why the soap would feel sticky under the brush; maybe because it is a little soft, so not as hard as most ordinary shop bought shaving soaps.
I believe the Lavender soap should have been the better one (I'm presuming you got the Eucalyptus and Teatree oil one), in terms of lather stability. I have also just made another batch last night which I've just cut up, and it should be better again....I'm hoping this latest will be an improvement on both the Lavender and E & T ones, so hopefully it may be up to scratch (ouch!). I've done it in a vaguely Sandalwood type scent using Amyris (similar to and a lot cheaper than Sandalwood), and a little Cedarwood and Ylang Ylang.
So I'm looking forward to using this one (vicariously).
Antdad and Sweeney Todd and Fatmanicwop all got two samples, so I'm hoping they will give us reviews comparing the Lavender and E & T; this will help me determine whether the changes I made are going in the right direction. In fact I'm looking forward to a full length feature film of my soapy lather deteriorating on Antdad's tiles. :lol:
 
soapalchemist said:
Yes, it's a strange thing, but for instance there is a perfume called Eau D'Issy which I believe was the inventer of the smell of water (without the chlorine tang of tap water), and it does indeed smell watery......which is very odd when you consider that water doesn't have a smell!!
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As far as I know this perfume is L'eau D'Issey by Issey Miyake:

Wikipedia - Like many fashion designers, Issey Miyake also has a line of perfumes. His first fragrance, the light aquatic-floral L'eau d'Issey for women, was launched in 1992. The name L'eau d'Issey (engl.: Issey's water) is a pun. In French, it sounds identical to "l'odyssée" (engl. odyssey).
 
hunnymonster said:
soapalchemist said:
Not at all, Pigcat. I thought pedantic ribbing Englishness was the theme here. It is a bit cheeky calling a perfume, in effect, 'my wee'; n'est pas??
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Wasn't that a song sung by Frank Sinatra during his incontinent years :?: :lol:
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:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

In *your* incontinent years you'll be called Runnymonster

:mrgreen:
 
oh the images Ollie is conjuring up this morning :lol:

I love the Issey Miyake A/S, someone pif'd me the honeybee soap recently too, doesn't work out very well as a rip off scent in a soap.
 
Pig Cat said:
As far as I know this perfume is L'eau D'Issey by Issey Miyake:

Wikipedia - Like many fashion designers, Issey Miyake also has a line of perfumes. His first fragrance, the light aquatic-floral L'eau d'Issey for women, was launched in 1992. The name L'eau d'Issey (engl.: Issey's water) is a pun. In French, it sounds identical to "l'odyssée" (engl. odyssey).
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Strange, I always thought of it as a citrus-marine with a whisper of amber. ;)
 
Hi soapalchemist.

Here is a review of your soap that you sent me I got the lavender soap. Sorry about the delay I have been off work with pig flu.

First off I liked the smell but not as much as the spice soap however SWMBO preferred this new soap. I started off by dropping a few drops of hot water on the soap to softener it up then had a shower when I got out I loaded the brush and made lather in my scuttle then applied it to my face I then stropped my razor. This soap lasts longer than the previous soap however it was still starting to disappear before I finished getting all my stuff out of the cupboard and finished stropping the razor. So I started again this time face lathering I can say that it is a lot easier to do it this way and the lather seemed to be of more volume (it was still thin compared to other soaps). So onto the shave I did three passes WTG XTG and ATG (sorry about the abbreviations). The shave went well no nicks cuts or weepers and also no irritation I would have liked the soap to have more volume to help cushion the razor however I can say that the shave was OK.
Well done soapalchemist get the volume up a bit and do it in the spice colour and smell and I will buy some of you.

Graham
 
Hi Exile,
I hope you've recovered now. Thank you for taking the time to review the soap, and glad you managed to get a decent shave. I've tweeked the recipe a bit and made another batch which has a vaguely sandalwood scent (as close as I can get without using sandalwood). I think it does have more lather and is more stable, but whether it's enough for you stroppers, time will tell. I will be making it in the Warm Spice in the future, so watch out for it on the Buy and Sell thread. I'm sending a couple of samples of it to two people in Spain soon, and will report back on what they think. I can't give any more of it away right now, or I'll go bankrupt. :)
 
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