Phoenix&Beau: My vegan & tallow shaving soaps [testers required]

I've just arrived home and my sample was waiting for me. I took it out of the bag for a look-see and it felt very slick on the fingers.

My next shave will be tomorrow and I'm looking forward to giving this soap a try.

Thanks for the opportunity, I'll keep this thread updated with my progress.
 
Kerry! I'm sitting up and listening! I used the darker sample (vegan), it reminded me of Mystic Waters, which I love. That gooey, chewing gum texture as you add water very slowly till you get a lush, luxuriously slick lather. Smells of plasticine obviously raw ingredients. Which scents are you thinking of introducing? From my 'lather shots' thread you can see the similarity to Mystic Waters.




Great job Kerry!
 
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Well thanks so far, chaps and I'm glad that initial impressions seem positive. The proof will be in the pudding of each and everyone's shaves, though, so fingers crossed you enjoy them as much as I do; particularly the tallow formula :)

To avoid any confusion re what's what, the below images shows the vegan (V8.4) on the left and the tallow / lanolin formula on the right.
IMAG0747_zpstk83yfxw.jpg


@Nishy initial scents would be driven by the V8.3 testers feedback on the six samples that I sent out and that shows three clear leaders:
  1. Citra Royale: Lime | Litsea Cubeba | Cedarwood
  2. Solaris: Lemon | Peppermint | Rosewood
  3. Sanskrit: Sandalwood | Cardamom | Pepper
 
Hi Kerry, I'm guessing your photo post of the samples side by side are in response to Nishy's lather pics ?

My sample is definitely the whiter of the two, no colour at all just a lovely pearly gloss, so is it possible I received the vegan by accident ?,
not that its a problem just need to be sure for your feedback I'm giving it on the correct soap..

Review.

Decided it was best to stick with tried and tested equipment to give a solid benchmark, and another reason I shall come back to.

Hot shower.
Hot towel.
China £2.65 brush. (no idea what else to call it ! Trevor ?)
Ikon 102 Slant, Rowlers SS handle, (still loving both)
Astra SP (1)
Alum, Witch hazel, Boots Cucumber moisturiser.

Finished my prep and filled the brush from a bowl I'd pressed the sample into last night, 30 seconds of loading followed by a dip in hot water and a good 90 sec's of lather building resulted in a very thick full bodied cream, re wet my face and applied loaded brush, I seemed to have got the water to soap ratio spot on, it does not need a lot, I had given my brush a good shake before loading, and had only dipped the loaded tips before going to the bowl, no extra was added.
The soap applied really well and wanted to stay put on my whiskers not on the brush, I'm a swirl then paint man and the paint strokes left a very thick layer, no air bubbles all glossy soap.
Razor to face was a pleasant experience, I was starting to get over the lack of scent (I understand why there isn't one) the blade contact was as I expected with a good amount of cushion and I could hardly feel the blade, I still had the feedback but it was a lower level than I have had with the Ikon, it was easy to give a shaved area a little buff with no ill effects due to the slickness left on the skin after the initial pass.

More than enough lather for passes 2 and 3 XTG and ATG, face did not feel at all dry after a splash to remove the left overs, Alum was applied with Witch hazel to follow, no problems encountered, good shave, very comfortable and happy with the end result.

If you want me to put this against my personal favourite, limited experience taken into consideration obviously.

Geo F Trumpers Coconut 7/10 , would be 8/10 if the scent were better, In a more manly scent a good 8/10.
PandB sample No scent 8/10 , 9/10 if the above rule were applied.

Back to a previous point, I have been trying a couple of Straights and have managed to overdo things a little, last night I was still suffering from a bad (I mean Real Bad) case of razor burn, after a good dose of Boots own Cucumber moisturiser, my neck felt a lot better this morning, so I took a chance, it's now an hour later and I have a perfectly happy neck area with no problems from this shave.

Thanks for the opportunity to try this Kerry, thumbs up from me so far,shave 2 will be Monday.
 
Stacy555 said:
Hi Kerry, I'm guessing your photo post of the samples side by side are in response to Nishy's lather pics ?

My sample is definitely the whiter of the two, no colour at all just a lovely pearly gloss, so is it possible I received the vegan by accident ?,
not that its a problem just need to be sure for your feedback I'm giving it on the correct soap..

Review.

Decided it was best to stick with tried and tested equipment to give a solid benchmark, and another reason I shall come back to.

Hot shower.
Hot towel.
China £2.65 brush. (no idea what else to call it ! Trevor ?)
Ikon 102 Slant, Rowlers SS handle, (still loving both)
Astra SP (1)
Alum, Witch hazel, Boots Cucumber moisturiser.

Finished my prep and filled the brush from a bowl I'd pressed the sample into last night, 30 seconds of loading followed by a dip in hot water and a good 90 sec's of lather building resulted in a very thick full bodied cream, re wet my face and applied loaded brush, I seemed to have got the water to soap ratio spot on, it does not need a lot, I had given my brush a good shake before loading, and had only dipped the loaded tips before going to the bowl, no extra was added.
The soap applied really well and wanted to stay put on my whiskers not on the brush, I'm a swirl then paint man and the paint strokes left a very thick layer, no air bubbles all glossy soap.
Razor to face was a pleasant experience, I was starting to get over the lack of scent (I understand why there isn't one) the blade contact was as I expected with a good amount of cushion and I could hardly feel the blade, I still had the feedback but it was a lower level than I have had with the Ikon, it was easy to give a shaved area a little buff with no ill effects due to the slickness left on the skin after the initial pass.

More than enough lather for passes 2 and 3 XTG and ATG, face did not feel at all dry after a splash to remove the left overs, Alum was applied with Witch hazel to follow, no problems encountered, good shave, very comfortable and happy with the end result.

If you want me to put this against my personal favourite, limited experience taken into consideration obviously.

Geo F Trumpers Coconut 7/10 , would be 8/10 if the scent were better, In a more manly scent a good 8/10.
PandB sample No scent 8/10 , 9/10 if the above rule were applied.

Back to a previous point, I have been trying a couple of Straights and have managed to overdo things a little, last night I was still suffering from a bad (I mean Real Bad) case of razor burn, after a good dose of Boots own Cucumber moisturiser, my neck felt a lot better this morning, so I took a chance, it's now an hour later and I have a perfectly happy neck area with no problems from this shave.

Thanks for the opportunity to try this Kerry, thumbs up from me so far,shave 2 will be Monday.
Click to expand...
Well that's all great to read, many thanks @Stacy555

Could you post an image of the sample, please?
 
Stacy555 said:
No problem, it was early, but I do feel mine looks more like the left one.

View attachment 15807
Hope this helps ?
Click to expand...
Thanks @Stacy555 unless you tested my Vegan V8.3 you should have only received a tallow sample. The quantity and depth of your squashed sample helps me here because there seems to be a good amount in your bowl. My vegan samples are much smaller. Edit: just seen your 6cm comment. That definitely makes it a tallow sample. :)

Thanks for the comprehensive review.

Kerry.
 
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