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This is a quick review I posted on another site.
I guess like most of you guys I've tried a lot of the major cream and soap makers products. The English Three "T's", DR Harris, the big three Italian's, the major French players, Castle Forbes, Tabac, MWF, and so on and generally speaking I'm happy with these so called "top shelf" products. Occasionally though, out of curiosity, I end up buying a lesser known cream or soap just to try something different.
My latest purchase - Yardley London Gold lather shaving cream.
How can such a cheap product ( I paid $10.00 for two 70g tubes incl. shipping. ) be so good as to better the finest stuff around in some aspects of performance and do it for such a bargain price.
There are probably some other "el cheapo " products that are similarly amazing but I haven't got around to trying them all yet. ( Arko shave sticks come to mind ).
Yardley of London Gold is manufactured in India under licence and presents in a medium size gold colored 70g tube.
The creams consistency and appearance is similar to that of Proraso but without the old world barbery menthol smell. Instead there is an old world English Yardley fragrance resembling a more flowery Cologne scent, that I find delightfull, but that is bound to polarize opinion.
The usual size dollop in my bowl hit with my Semogue 1305 produces lather like I have'nt seen since I last used Kiss my face cream. Within 50 seconds of whipping I have the most beautiful snow white rich luxuriuos lather that quite frankly very few other creams or soaps in my collection can match.
It feels good rubbing it between the fingers. The lather goes onto the face effortlessly and I guess it is the sheer ease with which it can be applied in such copious quantities of seemingly never ending fluffy white mounds that really impresses - big time.
The slickness of this cream is likewise astounding. I have never experienced my favourite razor ( EJ Chatsworth + super Iridium ) glide so lightly, smoothly and effortlessy. Not just discernable but obvious.
Now the story changes just a little......
Up until this point I was in awe of the performance of this cream at any price but then I noticed that although the slickness and glide was in a class of it's own, the cushioning just wasn't quite as good as the very finest creams / soaps. It just doesn't have the same protection as say Castle Forbes.
So, 1 x black mark.
After my usual 2 passes I rinsed off and became aware of the second negative...... It didn't offer much in the way of skin moisturizing. Was it bad ?- No !.... was it good ?- No ! rather I was aware that I definitely had to apply a moisturizer. A spalsh of Blue Floid followed by some Shea butter moisturizing cream soon fixed things.
So a Second black mark.
Rubbing my fingers over my face revealed that the shave was not quite as close as I'm used to using say Institut Karite. It wasn't bad but it wasn't up there with the best of the best.
A Third black mark.
In conclusion Yarley London Gold is the cream that would be King , and in certain parameters is King.... but in the major areas of protection, closeness of shave and moisturizing it fails to equal the very finest products on the market. In spite these shortcomings I can't imagine ever not having this cream in my "top shelf "rotation as it excells in some areas beyond any other creams and soaps that I own.
Considering that it could be bought for $5.00 US including delivery, it must surely be ranked as one of the greatest bargains in shaving.
So close to being truly great.
Is it worth a try - Absolutely, 100 percent, without question !
( of course YMMV. )
I guess like most of you guys I've tried a lot of the major cream and soap makers products. The English Three "T's", DR Harris, the big three Italian's, the major French players, Castle Forbes, Tabac, MWF, and so on and generally speaking I'm happy with these so called "top shelf" products. Occasionally though, out of curiosity, I end up buying a lesser known cream or soap just to try something different.
My latest purchase - Yardley London Gold lather shaving cream.
How can such a cheap product ( I paid $10.00 for two 70g tubes incl. shipping. ) be so good as to better the finest stuff around in some aspects of performance and do it for such a bargain price.
There are probably some other "el cheapo " products that are similarly amazing but I haven't got around to trying them all yet. ( Arko shave sticks come to mind ).
Yardley of London Gold is manufactured in India under licence and presents in a medium size gold colored 70g tube.
The creams consistency and appearance is similar to that of Proraso but without the old world barbery menthol smell. Instead there is an old world English Yardley fragrance resembling a more flowery Cologne scent, that I find delightfull, but that is bound to polarize opinion.
The usual size dollop in my bowl hit with my Semogue 1305 produces lather like I have'nt seen since I last used Kiss my face cream. Within 50 seconds of whipping I have the most beautiful snow white rich luxuriuos lather that quite frankly very few other creams or soaps in my collection can match.
It feels good rubbing it between the fingers. The lather goes onto the face effortlessly and I guess it is the sheer ease with which it can be applied in such copious quantities of seemingly never ending fluffy white mounds that really impresses - big time.
The slickness of this cream is likewise astounding. I have never experienced my favourite razor ( EJ Chatsworth + super Iridium ) glide so lightly, smoothly and effortlessy. Not just discernable but obvious.
Now the story changes just a little......
Up until this point I was in awe of the performance of this cream at any price but then I noticed that although the slickness and glide was in a class of it's own, the cushioning just wasn't quite as good as the very finest creams / soaps. It just doesn't have the same protection as say Castle Forbes.
So, 1 x black mark.
After my usual 2 passes I rinsed off and became aware of the second negative...... It didn't offer much in the way of skin moisturizing. Was it bad ?- No !.... was it good ?- No ! rather I was aware that I definitely had to apply a moisturizer. A spalsh of Blue Floid followed by some Shea butter moisturizing cream soon fixed things.
So a Second black mark.
Rubbing my fingers over my face revealed that the shave was not quite as close as I'm used to using say Institut Karite. It wasn't bad but it wasn't up there with the best of the best.
A Third black mark.
In conclusion Yarley London Gold is the cream that would be King , and in certain parameters is King.... but in the major areas of protection, closeness of shave and moisturizing it fails to equal the very finest products on the market. In spite these shortcomings I can't imagine ever not having this cream in my "top shelf "rotation as it excells in some areas beyond any other creams and soaps that I own.
Considering that it could be bought for $5.00 US including delivery, it must surely be ranked as one of the greatest bargains in shaving.
So close to being truly great.
Is it worth a try - Absolutely, 100 percent, without question !
( of course YMMV. )
