Continuing on with Ariana & Evans, today brought (little fictions) to the table. This is a collaboration between A&E and Grey Matter Perfumes, so not a Peter Charkalis scent. This scent is on the tropical side of the house, without being sweet. There are notes of coconut, bitter orange and bergamot, so there is a tropical citrus hit on top, but the notes blend together so well that it’s particularly hard to isolate one note on its own. The overall feeling you get from this really does capture sitting on a beach at sunset, which is how the nose behind the scent, Joey Nieves, was shooting for. I put his description of the scent in the video review for those who are interested. Packaging is top notch, though a step behind soaps that Peter scents himself. The side label does not reach around the entire tub, and thusly does not have the ingredient list on there. The labels are glossy, which can lend itself to scratching if that is something you’re concerned with. The artwork is probably the best thing about the labels, however. Very simplistic, but utterly effective.
Strength of scent off of the tub is light middle, I would say around a 2/5. This is not because it’s a lightly scented soap, but because the scent is, itself, very light. There really aren’t any heavy notes in there. Even the woody accords are on the lighter side, with cedar being the heaviest of those. The resulting scent profile is perfectly light and uplifting.
The notes, as listed are: coconut, cedar, bitter orange, bergamot, lavender, clary sage, juniper berries, white rum, white tea, lemon, amyris, musk, honey dew, ocean mist
This is a medium soft soap, as are all the A&E offerings, and loads very easily. Blooming is not really necessary, though I do anyways out of habit. I loaded for 30 seconds this morning and was rewarded with enough lather for about 5 or 6 passes after all the hydration was done. The soap goes on nice and smooth, the butters and oils really ramping up the cushion and slickness. Speaking of which, here is the ingredient list for the A&E goat milk formula…just a ton of good stuff in there for your skin.
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
During the shave, the soap provides excellent slickness, cushion and residual slickness. Post shave, the moisturizing properties of the soap are among the best on the market, making a good MWF lather’s moisturizing properties look poor, which they are far from. When combined with the matching aftershave and some post-shave serum, even people with the driest of skin will walk away feeling ultra-hydrated. Speaking of the aftershave, it’s the exact same scent as the soap, but the citrus elements are a little more pronounced.
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: This is another home run by the A&E team. A phenomenal summer scent combined with the elite status soap base makes this almost a must have soap for those who really enjoy non-sweet tropical scents, or citrus-centric scent profiles. I topped off with some Blenheim Bouquet from Penhaligon’s this morning and it ended up being a perfect match for this fragrance. I know I’m beating a dead horse with some of these reviews on A&E’s soap base after reviews of Asian Plum, Grecian Horse, L’Orange Verte, Club N’ Roses, Summer Fig and now this…but it’s just downright great soap. If you’re so inclined, check them out and try a soap to see what you think and how they stack up against your top soaps.
https://youtu.be/sgRcFwhIWSQ
Strength of scent off of the tub is light middle, I would say around a 2/5. This is not because it’s a lightly scented soap, but because the scent is, itself, very light. There really aren’t any heavy notes in there. Even the woody accords are on the lighter side, with cedar being the heaviest of those. The resulting scent profile is perfectly light and uplifting.
The notes, as listed are: coconut, cedar, bitter orange, bergamot, lavender, clary sage, juniper berries, white rum, white tea, lemon, amyris, musk, honey dew, ocean mist
This is a medium soft soap, as are all the A&E offerings, and loads very easily. Blooming is not really necessary, though I do anyways out of habit. I loaded for 30 seconds this morning and was rewarded with enough lather for about 5 or 6 passes after all the hydration was done. The soap goes on nice and smooth, the butters and oils really ramping up the cushion and slickness. Speaking of which, here is the ingredient list for the A&E goat milk formula…just a ton of good stuff in there for your skin.
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
During the shave, the soap provides excellent slickness, cushion and residual slickness. Post shave, the moisturizing properties of the soap are among the best on the market, making a good MWF lather’s moisturizing properties look poor, which they are far from. When combined with the matching aftershave and some post-shave serum, even people with the driest of skin will walk away feeling ultra-hydrated. Speaking of the aftershave, it’s the exact same scent as the soap, but the citrus elements are a little more pronounced.
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: This is another home run by the A&E team. A phenomenal summer scent combined with the elite status soap base makes this almost a must have soap for those who really enjoy non-sweet tropical scents, or citrus-centric scent profiles. I topped off with some Blenheim Bouquet from Penhaligon’s this morning and it ended up being a perfect match for this fragrance. I know I’m beating a dead horse with some of these reviews on A&E’s soap base after reviews of Asian Plum, Grecian Horse, L’Orange Verte, Club N’ Roses, Summer Fig and now this…but it’s just downright great soap. If you’re so inclined, check them out and try a soap to see what you think and how they stack up against your top soaps.
https://youtu.be/sgRcFwhIWSQ
