The Artisan Line from LNHC is replacing her old Premium Line. I have now used LNHC Artisan Line for 5 shaves (4 different scents). So here is my overall review of the soap line in general.
Shipping
Shipping was very fast, and I received my order quickly. During check out, I was given the option to select between a padded envelope or a box. I selected box, but the order was still shipped via a padded envelope. Not a huge deal, just not sure if that part of checkout is being updated.
Packaging
I had previously used the old Premium Line from LNHC and did not care for the narrow mouth of the old tubs. The tubs for the new Artisan Line are nice and wide and allow ample room for your brush in order to load directly off the surface. The tubs are clear, which I do like. The labels are waterproof, which is a huge plus. The one thing I did not care for about the packaging, was that there were some tamper seals on the tubs that went underneath the labels. After cutting the seals, part of the seal is still under the label, and kind of detracts from the overall aesthetics of it. (I’m pretty OCD about the way my tubs look.) I do not feel that tamper seals are really necessary. If they were used, I’d just run them around the seam of the cap, instead up running down the side and under the label. I also don’t like air bubbles under the labels, and there were a couple on each tub. Yeah, that’s small stuff, but it still bothers me.
Soap
At first glance and feel, you’d think the soap was a hard puck. It has a very smooth even surface, and if you press down it barely budges. But if you scrape some of the soap out, it gives way pretty easily and becomes a very soft cream-like consistency, very similar to (but slightly harder) the old Premium line. This makes it spread very easily into a lather bowl, but also makes it load a lot of soap, and the loading amount harder to control. After loading these soaps a few times, I really think that these tubs will not last very long as you are going to burn through them pretty quickly, if you load them like other soaps.
Water & Latherability
The soap is pretty thirsty, initially. If you shake your brush out completely before loading, you’re going to quickly find that you need more water, so start with a little bit of a wetter brush. Despite being thirsty, I found that the water band was fairly narrow. Now I face lather, so that may factor into it, but I found that it went from being very thick and cushiony, to being kind of runny with just a little bit of water added before it “broke”. Possibly if you were bowl lathering and worked the soap longer, incorporating more air, it would take more water.
Face feel & Cushion
The soap has a really good face feel. Most soaps just feel like, well, soap. A lot of lathers all feel the same as they sit on your face. Some soaps feel extra soft, or just extra nice to your face, and this is one of those soaps. You can tell as soon as you start applying it to your face that your face is going to like the feel of it. There’s a lot of good stuff in there!
The soap has a lot of cushion, and shaves very well. However, as I said about the water band being narrow, if you have too much water in there, the cushion goes away really fast.
Slickness
This is where I mark down the performance the most. The slickness during the shave is adequate, but not the slickness level that I desire in my soaps. Slickness is my most important attribute when I am grading a soap. And this just misses the mark for me. And the residual slickness dies off really quick after the shave. Adding a little bit of water to the face will bring it back, but add too much water and it also goes away really quick. Other reviewers have not experienced the lack of slickness that I noted. Initially, I would say that water quality could be a factor there. I do have hard water.
Post Shave Feel
This is the absolute strongest attribute of this soap. Post shave feel is probably the best I’ve ever felt, and even surpasses my beloved Mystic Water in that regard. This will moisturize your face all day long. On one shave I completely forgot to apply witch hazel and aftershave, and mid-day I noticed that my skin still felt great. Still soft and moisturized. I honestly cannot speak more highly of the post shave feel of this soap. It’s just amazing.
Scent.
Scent is highly subjective, and YMMV, but my comments on the individual scents that I tried are below:
Doc Holiday:
Scent Notes: Lime, tangerine, patchouli, vetiver, spiced mahogany, oud wood, cedarwood, benzoin.
What I get from this are the woody notes and the vetiver primarily. I get maybe a hint of florals, but I smell absolutely no citrus. Overall the scent was weak, and came off as flat. I wish it had something more to it to brighten it up a bit. I had really high hopes for this scent, it just wasn’t what I was expecting it to be.
I smelled a slight intermittent funky note. It didn’t last long and only popped up a couple times during the shave, but it was off-putting. I need to use this a few more times to see if I can pin it down or see if it’s still there. It was very odd.
Strength of scent 1/5
Smoked Black Tea:
Scent Notes: Bergamot, Sicilian lemon, orange, black tea leaves, star jasmine, white cedarwood, amber, black musk, ambrette seeds, dark olibanum, patchouli, benzoin, oud wood, cade.
What I smell primarily are the amber, tea, and smokiness from the cade. And maybe a hint of some florals. Again, I detect no citrus. For me, this is a “what you see is what you get” scent, so to speak…. It’s called Smoked Black Tea, and that about what I smell. Not that it smells like an actual cup of tea, per se, but those are the only notes I am smelling. I think the tea note could definitely be a bit stronger as it is slightly beneath the amber and cade. Again, this scent was weak and smelled flat. It is a pleasant scent, I just wish it was stronger and brighter.
Strength of scent 1/5
Haute Leather:
Scent Note: Leather, amber, tobacco leaf, oriental spice, red cedar, patchouli, tonka bean, musk.
I primarily get the amber and spice from this scent. The leather is fairly subdued, which is odd since it should be a leather dominant scent. This does have some brightness to it and is a bit stronger than the previous scents. Needs more leather, but overall a good scent.
Strength of scent 2/5
Irish Green Tweed
Scent Notes: Sicilian bergamot, lavender, cyclamen, lemon, verbena, white eucalyptus, fern, red geranium, iris, violet, cedarwood, labdanum, musk, olibanum, sandalwood, ambergris.
This is a wonderful Fougère, and I have no idea how all of the stuff in that list of scent notes yields this smell. I definitely get the fern, but don’t necessarily smell any of the other notes individually. Not that that’s a bad thing, as it is exactly what you’d expect a Green Irish Tweed copy to smell like. This is very bright, and well scented.
Strength of scent 3/5.
I will add, that as a test, I scooped out an equal portion of Doc Holiday, Smoked Black Tea, and Haute Leather and mixed them together for a shave. I actually enjoyed the mix of the three better than any of them individually. Overall, the scents I tried are fairly weak, and somewhat flat. I wish they were stronger and brighter. This is the second most important attribute to me, and they missed the mark (e
xcept for IGT).
Overall.
For me, this is a Tier 1 soap. Unfortunately it misses the mark in slickness and scent, which for me are the two most important attributes, so I cannot call it elite. The soap, however, really shines in face feel of the lather and especially in post shave face feel. It is among the best of the best in that regard. So much so, that I can almost completely overlook the lack of slickness. Despite not loving the fragrances, none of them are bad, and I will still enjoy using them, especially in the winter when my skin is usually on the drier side.
Shipping
Shipping was very fast, and I received my order quickly. During check out, I was given the option to select between a padded envelope or a box. I selected box, but the order was still shipped via a padded envelope. Not a huge deal, just not sure if that part of checkout is being updated.
Packaging
I had previously used the old Premium Line from LNHC and did not care for the narrow mouth of the old tubs. The tubs for the new Artisan Line are nice and wide and allow ample room for your brush in order to load directly off the surface. The tubs are clear, which I do like. The labels are waterproof, which is a huge plus. The one thing I did not care for about the packaging, was that there were some tamper seals on the tubs that went underneath the labels. After cutting the seals, part of the seal is still under the label, and kind of detracts from the overall aesthetics of it. (I’m pretty OCD about the way my tubs look.) I do not feel that tamper seals are really necessary. If they were used, I’d just run them around the seam of the cap, instead up running down the side and under the label. I also don’t like air bubbles under the labels, and there were a couple on each tub. Yeah, that’s small stuff, but it still bothers me.
Soap
At first glance and feel, you’d think the soap was a hard puck. It has a very smooth even surface, and if you press down it barely budges. But if you scrape some of the soap out, it gives way pretty easily and becomes a very soft cream-like consistency, very similar to (but slightly harder) the old Premium line. This makes it spread very easily into a lather bowl, but also makes it load a lot of soap, and the loading amount harder to control. After loading these soaps a few times, I really think that these tubs will not last very long as you are going to burn through them pretty quickly, if you load them like other soaps.
Water & Latherability
The soap is pretty thirsty, initially. If you shake your brush out completely before loading, you’re going to quickly find that you need more water, so start with a little bit of a wetter brush. Despite being thirsty, I found that the water band was fairly narrow. Now I face lather, so that may factor into it, but I found that it went from being very thick and cushiony, to being kind of runny with just a little bit of water added before it “broke”. Possibly if you were bowl lathering and worked the soap longer, incorporating more air, it would take more water.
Face feel & Cushion
The soap has a really good face feel. Most soaps just feel like, well, soap. A lot of lathers all feel the same as they sit on your face. Some soaps feel extra soft, or just extra nice to your face, and this is one of those soaps. You can tell as soon as you start applying it to your face that your face is going to like the feel of it. There’s a lot of good stuff in there!
The soap has a lot of cushion, and shaves very well. However, as I said about the water band being narrow, if you have too much water in there, the cushion goes away really fast.
Slickness
This is where I mark down the performance the most. The slickness during the shave is adequate, but not the slickness level that I desire in my soaps. Slickness is my most important attribute when I am grading a soap. And this just misses the mark for me. And the residual slickness dies off really quick after the shave. Adding a little bit of water to the face will bring it back, but add too much water and it also goes away really quick. Other reviewers have not experienced the lack of slickness that I noted. Initially, I would say that water quality could be a factor there. I do have hard water.
Post Shave Feel
This is the absolute strongest attribute of this soap. Post shave feel is probably the best I’ve ever felt, and even surpasses my beloved Mystic Water in that regard. This will moisturize your face all day long. On one shave I completely forgot to apply witch hazel and aftershave, and mid-day I noticed that my skin still felt great. Still soft and moisturized. I honestly cannot speak more highly of the post shave feel of this soap. It’s just amazing.
Scent.
Scent is highly subjective, and YMMV, but my comments on the individual scents that I tried are below:
Doc Holiday:
Scent Notes: Lime, tangerine, patchouli, vetiver, spiced mahogany, oud wood, cedarwood, benzoin.
What I get from this are the woody notes and the vetiver primarily. I get maybe a hint of florals, but I smell absolutely no citrus. Overall the scent was weak, and came off as flat. I wish it had something more to it to brighten it up a bit. I had really high hopes for this scent, it just wasn’t what I was expecting it to be.
I smelled a slight intermittent funky note. It didn’t last long and only popped up a couple times during the shave, but it was off-putting. I need to use this a few more times to see if I can pin it down or see if it’s still there. It was very odd.
Strength of scent 1/5
Smoked Black Tea:
Scent Notes: Bergamot, Sicilian lemon, orange, black tea leaves, star jasmine, white cedarwood, amber, black musk, ambrette seeds, dark olibanum, patchouli, benzoin, oud wood, cade.
What I smell primarily are the amber, tea, and smokiness from the cade. And maybe a hint of some florals. Again, I detect no citrus. For me, this is a “what you see is what you get” scent, so to speak…. It’s called Smoked Black Tea, and that about what I smell. Not that it smells like an actual cup of tea, per se, but those are the only notes I am smelling. I think the tea note could definitely be a bit stronger as it is slightly beneath the amber and cade. Again, this scent was weak and smelled flat. It is a pleasant scent, I just wish it was stronger and brighter.
Strength of scent 1/5
Haute Leather:
Scent Note: Leather, amber, tobacco leaf, oriental spice, red cedar, patchouli, tonka bean, musk.
I primarily get the amber and spice from this scent. The leather is fairly subdued, which is odd since it should be a leather dominant scent. This does have some brightness to it and is a bit stronger than the previous scents. Needs more leather, but overall a good scent.
Strength of scent 2/5
Irish Green Tweed
Scent Notes: Sicilian bergamot, lavender, cyclamen, lemon, verbena, white eucalyptus, fern, red geranium, iris, violet, cedarwood, labdanum, musk, olibanum, sandalwood, ambergris.
This is a wonderful Fougère, and I have no idea how all of the stuff in that list of scent notes yields this smell. I definitely get the fern, but don’t necessarily smell any of the other notes individually. Not that that’s a bad thing, as it is exactly what you’d expect a Green Irish Tweed copy to smell like. This is very bright, and well scented.
Strength of scent 3/5.
I will add, that as a test, I scooped out an equal portion of Doc Holiday, Smoked Black Tea, and Haute Leather and mixed them together for a shave. I actually enjoyed the mix of the three better than any of them individually. Overall, the scents I tried are fairly weak, and somewhat flat. I wish they were stronger and brighter. This is the second most important attribute to me, and they missed the mark (e
xcept for IGT).
Overall.
For me, this is a Tier 1 soap. Unfortunately it misses the mark in slickness and scent, which for me are the two most important attributes, so I cannot call it elite. The soap, however, really shines in face feel of the lather and especially in post shave face feel. It is among the best of the best in that regard. So much so, that I can almost completely overlook the lack of slickness. Despite not loving the fragrances, none of them are bad, and I will still enjoy using them, especially in the winter when my skin is usually on the drier side.
