Nanny's Sandalwood sample.

KRF1963

KRF1963

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Being the 5th of 4 gannetts, I feel lucky to have received the scrapings from the very bottom of Nannys bowl. It was a small sample, not as much as I would nomally use, but I was very pleasantly surprised.

I have had issues perfecting lathering with Nanny's citrus zinger but could not use my newly foun technique due to sample size.

I moistened my fizzog with a hot flannel, rubbed in some Tea tree hair conditioner and then, using damp hands, rubbed most of the sample on my face. Turning the baggie inside out like a desperate junkie, I used the brush (NF2201) to mop up the remainder and proceded to lather up.

The smell reminded me of being in a woodwork class, quite subtle but distinctly "freshy sawn timber" in aroma. Had no problems whipping up a lather sufficient for 3-4 passes even from such a small sample.

It was "glidy" and provided good protection as usual with Nanny's soaps. My Merkur Futur (set on 1.5, I know, It have only used it once before) and new Gillette Bleu (courtesy of Frenchblade) made a very decent job.

All in all a very pleasent shave and the Sandalwood scent is nicely subtle and manly. Now, where did I put my woodworking tools?
 
Yup, that's about the same for me too.

Couple of thought: sample too small for more than one shave but I found getting the water:cream ratio right a bit tricky - I accidentally over-hyrdated it and then couldn't add more cream.

It left my face feeling slightly drier than some other soaps (made with tallow and/or added moisturiser) but not massively so.

Now the fragrance: sandalwood is 1) expensive 2) subtle. This could have been stretched or augmented with something - vanilla? cedarwood? Australian sandalwood (Santalum spicatum)? West Indian Sandalwood (Amyris balsamifera)? Not sure but Trumpers sandalwood and Cryril Salter both manage to make a "big" sandalwood smell that has the good stuff (Santalum album) at their heart but add to it in a positive way.

Otherwise, lovely stuff. Personally I prefer the Cyril Salter product but at the right price this would be a contender.

If you like the smell of "real" sandalwood, try this. It is and does exactly what it says on the tin.

A very nice thick rich cream (not all air like some!) that would suit oily skin and a sensitive nose.

Thanks Sharon

Ollie
 
Am I gutted so far....YES!!

Gobsmacked, actually. But nought so strange as noses. All honest and critical feed back is very welcome though, as if I am going to 'add this to my range' it'll cost an arm and a leg, and best I don't sacrifice two limbs as well as ending up with a load of soap that no-one wants. :lol:

And I have received a PM from another tester who smells tobacco smoke, and really doesn't like it! And more is probably to come, as after assiduously scraping my bowl for KRF1963...yes, that's how much I love it, I was posting as soon as it was 'potted up'......I received further pleas from a couple of other cheeky gannets, and raided the sample pot which will now be sitting on the front of my stall on a couple of forthcoming fairs looking rather empty.

However, what I am most gutted about is Rev-o saying it left his face feeling dry. :shock: :eek: :shock: This is such a total opposite of all feedback I have ever had about this soap that I am at a loss, and now worrying. So, I have to ask whether anyone else has noticed this. Please tell me if you noticed this.

I have to disagree on the reasons why sandalwood is 'stretched' and 'augmented'......IMHO, there's only one possible reason, and that's the bottom line. ;)
 
Just be quite exceeding suspicious should the Rev drop you a line mentioning that he has a friend with over active sebaceous glands & he's willing to take any remaining stock off your wee handies at a knockdown price as a special favour !

(Doubting Thomas was probs a displaced Scot you ken)

JohnnyO. :lol: /
 
I will put my hand up and admit to being the cigarette smelling tester.

I must admit that I did not find the smell very pleasant.

However, I had no feeling of dryness afterwards. In fact I shaved with your Lavender soft soap this morning and my skin feels virtually the same after having used the same ASB.
 
To be fair the dryness just might be me, not the soap. Alas I only one day's shave with it which is too small a sample (sic) to extrapolate or generalise from.

On the fragrance front, sandalwood is a thick, heavy oil and not very volatile (therefore sillage is naturally low); also single-scent fragrances can be a a bit two dimensional: linear and flat. A well-blended fragrance (esp an edc or edt) is greater than the sum of it parts and does different things along its time-line as the various chemicals warm up or react in combination with one another, the wearer and the environment (esp ambient temperature and humididy).

Cyril and George (Salter and Trumper respectively) make amazing sandalwood scents that are more than just large amounts of e.o. - in fact when I tried making a sandalwood cologne that was basically lots of e.o. + alcohol it was an expensive flop (no sillage, no depth, nothing but a very faint whiff of pure santalum album).

Be of good cheer: I also shaved with your lavender cream last night and had a wonderfully smooth face (wasted on my pillow, and now stubbly again)

Keep up the good work!
 
You are of course right Rev-o that blending different oils or scents can produce a scent that is better than any of the individual constituents; that is what perfumery is all about after all. Each to their own, there is nothing so individual as peoples taste in scents. To me, this smell is a real classic manly smell. I like the 'lowness' of it; I would say a perfect warm winter smell. Funny too how people smell different things. We all seem to see pretty much the same.....I mean, you wouldn't get one person saying 'look at that piece of sawn wood' and another saying 'don't be silly, that's cigarette smoke'. :lol:
However, to me it's misleading to call a soap 'Sandalwood' if there's only a fraction of a drop of Sandalwood in each bar/tub - or none at all. I've only smelt C & E's and AOS' sandalwood soap, and I didn't like either of them. Precisely because they didn't have that low warm comforting smell of sandalwood, and both smelt harsh and synthetic to me. Neither had ingredients on so I don't know what was actually in them. If you'ld like to send me a sidgeon of Cyril or George, I'ld love to have a sniff.
And no, you cannot have several tins for your greasy friend. :lol: :lol:
 
Excerpted from my SotD post for Tuesday (05-10-2010):

Sharon's true sandalwood was truly fantastic. I've stayed away from the soap/soap review thread to keep my mental palate clean until I used this - I might have enough for another shave though that isn't assured. That though, is the only thing that I can think of that I could term 'even a little bit iffy' about this potential product. I know alot of folks here (and the other shaving forums) love the BIG, "in your face, and up your nose, mush" types of scents. I don't. I get a snootful of someone's chemically-inflated, crappy, marinade, and I'm thinking "even if I can get the window open, will I be able to puke out of it in such a way that only they get some barf on them?"

I have smelled the good-stuff before, and this is it!

This is the real sandalwood shit. And I mean that in the probably dated "shit" = "really rather quite incredibly good" usage of the word. Subtle, yes, but lingering like lover's whisper all day. Seriously - I could keep getting a whiff of this fantastic, multi-faceted diamond of a scent, throughout
  • the
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        Just grand.

        Other than the scent, it was the usual fine performer that Sharon creates in her extra-virgin-yoghurt sculpting studio: excellent slip and after-slip; inexplicably near-friction-free force-field of foam and froth that lets the sharpness of the blade do its job without letting the blade edge get near enough to potentially cause any damage at all. All the usual hyperbole that is not literal but is indeed brought into existence during the experience of the shave.
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Here´s my thoughts from my SOTD:
Wednesday morning
Pre: Hot shower
Razor: C V Heljestrand MK 42
Brush: Scheerzeep 21 mm silvertip
Soap: Nanny w pure Sandalwood
AS: Ogallala Lime and pepper
Strop: Neil Miller
Result: W O W, what a blade
I really like this soap, not as strong in scent as my other sandalwood soaps, but very, very nice indeed. This AS is now, easy, one of my top 3 AS:s, very nice. Razor is really nice aswell! Hmm, al ot of nice stuff today. The soap: First sniff yesterday I really liked it, but didn´t get that wood feeling (ok, ok joke away...), today however I really got it. It lathered up very nicely and I have enough for another go (very soft water) and when I aplied it I got a sniff from the wood work shop. I´m with Urban H on this one and I love the stuff. I also like my other sandalwood soaps, but this one is da tits, I tell you

Thank you Sharon, it was a true plesure to try this one out and if you produce anymore I´m in for a large tub for sure!
 
soapalchemist said:
O.K. UH, I'll retract that statement. I'm with Mikael now........it's da tits. :lol: :lol:
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Maybe not the most gentlemanly expression, but it gets the point through ... :lol: I really like this soap and it delivered very good this morning aswell (I scraped the bag out with a tea spoon, I prob. looked like a meth junky scraping the last goodies out of the bag :lol:). I´ll buy if you make any more Sharon, if it´s not very, very expensive ...
 
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