Martin de Candre

Fido

Fido

Messages
6,286
Location
New Forest, England.
I have now used this only three times, so bear that in mind in interpreting these comments.

For more opinions, here is a thread in another place:

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This was a Christmas gift - a bit of spoiling most welcome. First, this is what it looks like:

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Sorry about the missing pics. Deleted a lot from the host webite by mistake!

This soap simply looks different. It has a luxury feel out of the box. The large glass jar is quite heavy so shipping costs are higher. The soap weight is 170g. A lot of product. It comes also in an open wooden bowl. A lot more expensive. As far as I am aware they don't do refills.

The scent is delightful - a mixture of lavender and mint. I am happy to confirm that this lives up to claims made for it. Plentiful stable lather quickly produced so far with a Duke 3 and Semogue LE. Used without any pre shave or alum it leaves my skin feeling soft and moist.

This is a truly luxurious product beautifully packaged and presented. Nearly all the reviews I have read have been fulsome in praise. The only downside is the price and the cost of shipping from France.

Lets look at that.

In euros, the price is 35.50. Shipping is 19.02 for one 170g jar. An "export reduction" of 4.5 is applied making a total of 47.02 euros. About £43.

To get a typical DR Harris soap and bowl. it would cost around £19 including shipping in the UK for 100g. Art of Shaving will set you back around £35 including shipping for 95g.
In terms of cost, MdC is between the two. In terms of performance and pleasure of use, M de C comfortably tops both. Within a rotation of several soaps and creams you won't need another for a few years.

So if you want a treat, swallow hard, and order it. Or get some else to. It truly is the tops of the twenty plus I have tried so far.
 
Thanks for posting this, ever since you mentioned that you were getting this soap I have been looking forward to your review. You say the AOS is £35 but that is in a wooden bowl, the wooden bowl of this €52.50. Admittedly the AOS is not available in a glass tub but you can get a refill for £19. I am not nit picking but I see what you are saying, regardless of tub or bowl this is a premium price product, but not the most expensive out there.

It is good to hear it is a premium performer. I had decided I was getting some Fitjar cream on my next splurge but after reading your review of this it makes me want to get some. Thanks for taking a decent amount of photos I like to see the whole package and I think reviewer’s photos of the product represent what you get more accurately.

It is cost effective? Meaning a normal sized blob is enough or will this pot last longer than comparable products.

Hmmmm I am really tempted by this, I had read about it before on B&B and was interested then, your review makes me even more curious. Unfortunately it is ages to my birthday or any other reason to splurge so might just need to go for it. But Fitjar or Martin De Candre :?: :?:
 
Thanks for the review Fido, I too was looking forward to this after you said you were going to get some, I'm glad you found it to be a top performer. It's a lot of product for a lot of money that's for sure, give us an update after a bit more use.

Frag X now stock AoS at a much more reasonable rate, see Shopping Links.
 
Audiolab, your use of the term blob implies that this is a cream. It is of course a soap - it seems neither hard nor soft, but certainly firm. My early forays have made little impression on it so I suspect it will last a long time. I only hope I'm still around when it is used up!
I should add that both the glass jar and wooden bowl contain the same amount i.e. 170g. Maybe the bowl would be more convenient to use but at 52 euros it's quite a jump from 35.5 for the jar.
Without question this is not value for money compared with soaps from DR Harris or the 3Ts. But personally, I find the scent, performance and experience of handling it, gives me the feeling that I am using something special. And that means a premium price.
I cannot think of many things costing about £40 that will give me much more pleasure than this.
 
I must say I am tempted by this after hearing your review Fido. Particularly the statement on scent, performance and the feeling that the product is something special to use.I can imagine it being a long lasting product used as a treat every so often.
 
This is what they list:

Stearic Acid, Aqua, Coconut Acid, Potassium Hydroxide, Glycerin, Parfum (Fragrance)

Means nothing to me as usual - perhaps we should have a guide to the most significant ingredients and what they do for the soap/cream.
 
Fido said:
This is what they list:

Stearic Acid, Aqua, Coconut Acid, Potassium Hydroxide, Glycerin, Parfum (Fragrance)

Means nothing to me as usual - perhaps we should have a guide to the most significant ingredients and what they do for the soap/cream.
Click to expand...


Good idea.

Henkster?
 
There is a thread stickied in the soap section which explains what goes into your soaps.Don't know if that is what you meant specifically?
 
Naked Ape said:
Fido said:
This is what they list:

Stearic Acid, Aqua, Coconut Acid, Potassium Hydroxide, Glycerin, Parfum (Fragrance)

Means nothing to me as usual - perhaps we should have a guide to the most significant ingredients and what they do for the soap/cream.
Click to expand...


Good idea.

Henkster?
Click to expand...

This is in line with what they state on their website, in the section on how they make their (shaving) soaps. They seem to claim that it is a potassium-only soap, which would suggest a liquid soap.

If the ingredient order is complete and correct, I cannot find a formulat that would yield a truly firm soap (rather than a cream) with only KOH... I figure the percentages (w/w) would be around 30% stearic acid, and 25% each of water and coconut acid (water has to be the same as, or more than coconut acid, due to the order in which they are listed). I don't think that with such a composition, you'd get anything other than a cream...

I'll try this weekend and see what gives...
 
Henk, it sounds like you have some sort of lab set up somewhere in your house. Any chance of a picture? In my mind I have an image of that classic Dr Jekyll laboratory with test-tubes bubbling and different coloured jars of acids. I suspect it's not nearly so glamorous, but still it would be very interesting to see what it's like! :geek:
 
Pig Cat said:
Henk, it sounds like you have some sort of lab set up somewhere in your house. Any chance of a picture? In my mind I have an image of that classic Dr Jekyll laboratory with test-tubes bubbling and different coloured jars of acids. I suspect it's not nearly so glamorous, but still it would be very interesting to see what it's like! :geek:
Click to expand...

No lab at all, making soap and cosmetics can easily be done in a standard kitchen. The only thing you need is a stove and a stick blender... I do have some dedicated pots and utensils of coarse, but soapmaking is just like cooking, and making cosmetics is comparable to making, say, mayonnaise ;-)

Henk
 
henkverhaar said:
Pig Cat said:
Henk, it sounds like you have some sort of lab set up somewhere in your house. Any chance of a picture? In my mind I have an image of that classic Dr Jekyll laboratory with test-tubes bubbling and different coloured jars of acids. I suspect it's not nearly so glamorous, but still it would be very interesting to see what it's like! :geek:
Click to expand...

No lab at all, making soap and cosmetics can easily be done in a standard kitchen. The only thing you need is a stove and a stick blender... I do have some dedicated pots and utensils of coarse, but soapmaking is just like cooking, and making cosmetics is comparable to making, say, mayonnaise ;-)

Henk
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They still haven't found Mrs Henk's body and so are unable to charge him with murder. There WAS a large quantity of tallow, though, and some bone-handled brushes.

Fido: at £40 and seemingly very long lasting may I suggest that you scoop a few teaspoons out at £5 a throw, give us all a chance to try the stuff and recoup a bit (maybe all!) of the outlay? Just an idea. I'd be up for one.
 
henkverhaar said:
No lab at all, making soap and cosmetics can easily be done in a standard kitchen. The only thing you need is a stove and a stick blender... I do have some dedicated pots and utensils of coarse, but soapmaking is just like cooking, and making cosmetics is comparable to making, say, mayonnaise ;-)
Click to expand...
I had visions of mass spectrometers, gas chromatographs and a small hadron collider in the cellar.
 
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