Even though I’ve used this soap and formula before, it was time to give it a proper review. Ariana & Evans is the soap manufacturer run by Peter Charkalis out of Connecticut. When it started, he was contracting out to have soap makers use scents that he wanted to see in a shaving soap. After a while, he started working on his own soap recipe, settling on the stellar goat milk formula. It’s chalk full of skin food, making it one of the most moisturizing soaps on the market. One other feature of A&E’s soaps are that they almost always go big on the scent. I have four of these soaps so far and they’re all at a 3.5-4/5 out of the tub and grow once lathered. Grecian Horse is Peter’s take on Parfums de Marly Pegasus. I have never smelled that, but to my nose, it comes off very similar to Penhaligon’s Endymion. Packaging is top notch, with PET containers with waterproof labels on top and on the sides of the container. The label design, much like other soaps from this maker, are very stylistic.
The notes, as listed are: Almond, Vanilla, Sandalwood, Lavender, Jasmine, Heliotrope, Amber, Cumin, Bergamot
To my nose, the vanilla and sandlewood are the standouts on top with the lavender immediately providing support. Almost undetectable if you didn’t know to smell for it is the almond. The heliotrope, amber and cumin give it a great spicy note, which led me to match this soap with Endymion. The overall feel is extremely enjoyable; the notes blending together to give a great scent.
On the goat milk formula, Peter did quite a bit of work to get this where he wanted it, and there is just a ton of good stuff in there for your face.
Ingredients: Stearic Acid, Tallow, Goats Milk, Shea Butter, Potassium Hydroxide, Kokum Butter, Glycerin, Sodium Hydroxide, Mango Butter, Cocoa Butter, Coconut Oil, Avocado Oil, Castor Oil, Lanolin, Bentonite Clay, Sodium Lactate, Beeswax, Fragrance & EO's
Lathering this soap is pretty straight forward and simple. It loads quickly, (I used a fairly floppy 30mm 3-band today and only loaded for about 15-20 seconds), and has a fairly large water band. It’s not endless, (you can break this lather), but it is thirsty at the same time. The cushion this soap provides is top, top class, as is the moisturizing properties post shave. The slickness scores aren’t quite as good as some other soaps I’ve used, (mainly talking the Declaration soaps here), but it’s better than 95% of soaps that I’ve used. You can definitely do water only touch-ups with this soap.
Here are the scores for Grecian Horse. I don't include strength of scent or scent preference as those are purely subjective measures.
Lathering: 10/10
Cushion: 10/10
Slickness: 9.5/10
Moisturizing: 10/10
Residual Slickness: 9.5/10
Stability: 5/5
Total: 54/55
Comparable soap bases from a performance standpoint:
Declaration Grooming Project Icarus (55/55)
Declaration Grooming Bison Tallow (54.5/55)
Wholly Kaw Donkey Milk (52/55)
WSP Formula T (51/55)
Eufros (51/55)
Conclusion: I’ve got this rated where it is for a reason…it’s that good a soap, and each subsequent lathering with this soap base confirms my initial impression of it. The scent on this I would class in the oriental spice realm of the scent wheel. It’s a fairly good match to Endymion, for those of you who are fans, but will also match with what it was designed after, Parfums de Marly Pegasus, as well as other orientals such as Davidoff’s Hot Water. The biggest gripe I have with this soap, is how to get it. There are a couple of wholesalers that carry the A&E line of soaps, but they’re generally sold out. The best way to get them is through The Shaving Shop Club. Without a membership, you’ll pay $18 for a 4oz tub, (less expensive than WK and DG soaps), so $4.50 an oz. With the membership, soap prices drop to about $14-15, so under $4 an oz. But you do have to purchase a few items to defray the cost of the membership. (everything is on sale in the VIP lounge for members, so after about 6 items purchased, you’ve almost made your membership back). Again…is it worth it? For me it is, but for others who don’t the disposable income, I struggle to see how it would be. If you can score a tub for the normal price, I think it would be worth your while to get a soap that performs so well.
https://youtu.be/qKqT1tIteRI
The notes, as listed are: Almond, Vanilla, Sandalwood, Lavender, Jasmine, Heliotrope, Amber, Cumin, Bergamot
To my nose, the vanilla and sandlewood are the standouts on top with the lavender immediately providing support. Almost undetectable if you didn’t know to smell for it is the almond. The heliotrope, amber and cumin give it a great spicy note, which led me to match this soap with Endymion. The overall feel is extremely enjoyable; the notes blending together to give a great scent.
On the goat milk formula, Peter did quite a bit of work to get this where he wanted it, and there is just a ton of good stuff in there for your face.
Ingredients: Stearic Acid, Tallow, Goats Milk, Shea Butter, Potassium Hydroxide, Kokum Butter, Glycerin, Sodium Hydroxide, Mango Butter, Cocoa Butter, Coconut Oil, Avocado Oil, Castor Oil, Lanolin, Bentonite Clay, Sodium Lactate, Beeswax, Fragrance & EO's
Lathering this soap is pretty straight forward and simple. It loads quickly, (I used a fairly floppy 30mm 3-band today and only loaded for about 15-20 seconds), and has a fairly large water band. It’s not endless, (you can break this lather), but it is thirsty at the same time. The cushion this soap provides is top, top class, as is the moisturizing properties post shave. The slickness scores aren’t quite as good as some other soaps I’ve used, (mainly talking the Declaration soaps here), but it’s better than 95% of soaps that I’ve used. You can definitely do water only touch-ups with this soap.
Here are the scores for Grecian Horse. I don't include strength of scent or scent preference as those are purely subjective measures.
Lathering: 10/10
Cushion: 10/10
Slickness: 9.5/10
Moisturizing: 10/10
Residual Slickness: 9.5/10
Stability: 5/5
Total: 54/55
Comparable soap bases from a performance standpoint:
Declaration Grooming Project Icarus (55/55)
Declaration Grooming Bison Tallow (54.5/55)
Wholly Kaw Donkey Milk (52/55)
WSP Formula T (51/55)
Eufros (51/55)
Conclusion: I’ve got this rated where it is for a reason…it’s that good a soap, and each subsequent lathering with this soap base confirms my initial impression of it. The scent on this I would class in the oriental spice realm of the scent wheel. It’s a fairly good match to Endymion, for those of you who are fans, but will also match with what it was designed after, Parfums de Marly Pegasus, as well as other orientals such as Davidoff’s Hot Water. The biggest gripe I have with this soap, is how to get it. There are a couple of wholesalers that carry the A&E line of soaps, but they’re generally sold out. The best way to get them is through The Shaving Shop Club. Without a membership, you’ll pay $18 for a 4oz tub, (less expensive than WK and DG soaps), so $4.50 an oz. With the membership, soap prices drop to about $14-15, so under $4 an oz. But you do have to purchase a few items to defray the cost of the membership. (everything is on sale in the VIP lounge for members, so after about 6 items purchased, you’ve almost made your membership back). Again…is it worth it? For me it is, but for others who don’t the disposable income, I struggle to see how it would be. If you can score a tub for the normal price, I think it would be worth your while to get a soap that performs so well.
https://youtu.be/qKqT1tIteRI
