Starting in late May 2018, many people in the wet-shaving community began chatting about Noble Otter’s new releases and formulation. As usual, I’m a little late to the party, but a few reviews by members here on TSC as well as other places online pushed me over the line to make a purchase. Noble Otter is an artisan out of Houston, TX. Their initial offerings in 2016 were given a luke-warm reception, but after taking a year off, reformulating and recreating the brand, this latest release has really put the wet-shaving community on notice. First impressions upon receiving the soap were extremely favorable. The tubs were a great size, with waterproof labeling on both the top and sides of the tub. Artwork is a little beyond simple, but gives the soap a very refined and clean look. The soap has a tan color and is of a similar consistency to soaps such as Stirling and just a tad more firm than Declaration.
Strength of scent out of the tub is a solid 2.5-3/5. The scent itself was one that pre-purchase I was somewhat leery about. People had drawn comparisons to B&M’s Night Music, which I had extremely high hopes for that were summarily dashed when I got it. Night Music’s incorporation of Iris and Musk and heavy Vanilla top just made the scent extremely muddy, and that might be kind. Not in my wheelhouse, whatsoever. However, The Noir et Vanille, while it does share some similarities with NM, does what B&M could not and pulls off the Strawberry notes beautifully. The black tea gives the scent a great center while the other notes of Bergamot, Jasmine, Strawberry and Vanilla give some wonderful depth. I will admit that it can come off a bit on the sweet side, but is not gourmand by any stretch of the imagination, and is not cloying in any way, at least to my nose.
The notes, as listed are: Bergamot, Loose Black tea, Jasmine, Strawberry, Vanilla
The scent might not be everyone’s cup of tea, (see what I did there?), but there is no arguing that the soap base itself is full of great skin food, to include coconut milk, aloe vera, lanolin, bentonite clay and tussah silk. Here’s the full list below:
Stearic Acid, Beef Tallow, Coconut milk, Aloe Vera, Glycerine, Potassium Hydroxide, Castor Oil, Coconut Oil, Avocado Oil, Lanolin, Tucuma Seed Butter, Kokum Butter, Sodium Hydroxide, Fragrance, Bentonite Clay, Tocopheral Acetate, Citric Acid, Watermelon Extract, White Willow Bark Extract, Tussah Silk
Great scents and a great looking soap base are all well and good, but the proof is in the pudding; how does this soap perform? In a word: Excellent. With just one lather and use of this soap, I will very easily say that this is an elite level soap, outpacing a well-known soap base in Wholly Kaw’s Donkey Milk. It’s not quite to Ariana & Evans or Declaration Grooming, but then again, this is the first use, and scores could very well go up from here. Lathering is easy, and it’s a thirsty soap. The water band is quite wide. I continued to add water through the shave, actually losing track of how much water was added. If pressed to give an amount, I would say close to 4 tsp off of a 30 second load. Just know that with this soap, patience is key, keep slowly adding water and you’ll be rewarded. The lather has a great creamy sheen to it, reminiscent of a thin sour cream. After a three pass shave with a straight that I normally end with a bit of irritation from, this soap provided enough cushion and slickness to minimalize any negative results. The residual slickness is among the best, just missing a perfect score. Moisturizing was also excellent, just missing a perfect score as well. All in all, this was a most excellent shave.
Here are the scores for the soap, just after one use. As usual, I don't include strength of scent or scent preference since those are subjective.
Lathering: 10/10
Cushion: 9.5/10
Slickness: 9.5/10
Moisturizing: 9.5/10
Residual Slickness: 9/10
Stability: 5/5
Total: 52.5/55
Comparable soap bases from a performance standpoint:
Declaration Grooming Bison Tallow (54.5/55)
Ariana & Evans Goat Milk (54/55)
Wholly Kaw Donkey Milk (52/55)
WSP Formulat T (51/55)
Martin de Candre (51/55)
Eufros Tallow (51/55)
Conclusion: The positive accolades that have been given to this soap were well deserved. After one use, I’m very comfortable giving this a designation of being an elite soap. As it stands, it just pips out Wholly Kaw’s Donkey Milk formula, and could go even higher with additional use. At this point in time, there are only six soaps available from Noble Otter, so while there is some variety, hopefully they continue to expand their choices; I’ll be one of the first to get in the queue for more of this wonderful soap!
https://youtu.be/5tKzZ0764aE
Strength of scent out of the tub is a solid 2.5-3/5. The scent itself was one that pre-purchase I was somewhat leery about. People had drawn comparisons to B&M’s Night Music, which I had extremely high hopes for that were summarily dashed when I got it. Night Music’s incorporation of Iris and Musk and heavy Vanilla top just made the scent extremely muddy, and that might be kind. Not in my wheelhouse, whatsoever. However, The Noir et Vanille, while it does share some similarities with NM, does what B&M could not and pulls off the Strawberry notes beautifully. The black tea gives the scent a great center while the other notes of Bergamot, Jasmine, Strawberry and Vanilla give some wonderful depth. I will admit that it can come off a bit on the sweet side, but is not gourmand by any stretch of the imagination, and is not cloying in any way, at least to my nose.
The notes, as listed are: Bergamot, Loose Black tea, Jasmine, Strawberry, Vanilla
The scent might not be everyone’s cup of tea, (see what I did there?), but there is no arguing that the soap base itself is full of great skin food, to include coconut milk, aloe vera, lanolin, bentonite clay and tussah silk. Here’s the full list below:
Stearic Acid, Beef Tallow, Coconut milk, Aloe Vera, Glycerine, Potassium Hydroxide, Castor Oil, Coconut Oil, Avocado Oil, Lanolin, Tucuma Seed Butter, Kokum Butter, Sodium Hydroxide, Fragrance, Bentonite Clay, Tocopheral Acetate, Citric Acid, Watermelon Extract, White Willow Bark Extract, Tussah Silk
Great scents and a great looking soap base are all well and good, but the proof is in the pudding; how does this soap perform? In a word: Excellent. With just one lather and use of this soap, I will very easily say that this is an elite level soap, outpacing a well-known soap base in Wholly Kaw’s Donkey Milk. It’s not quite to Ariana & Evans or Declaration Grooming, but then again, this is the first use, and scores could very well go up from here. Lathering is easy, and it’s a thirsty soap. The water band is quite wide. I continued to add water through the shave, actually losing track of how much water was added. If pressed to give an amount, I would say close to 4 tsp off of a 30 second load. Just know that with this soap, patience is key, keep slowly adding water and you’ll be rewarded. The lather has a great creamy sheen to it, reminiscent of a thin sour cream. After a three pass shave with a straight that I normally end with a bit of irritation from, this soap provided enough cushion and slickness to minimalize any negative results. The residual slickness is among the best, just missing a perfect score. Moisturizing was also excellent, just missing a perfect score as well. All in all, this was a most excellent shave.
Here are the scores for the soap, just after one use. As usual, I don't include strength of scent or scent preference since those are subjective.
Lathering: 10/10
Cushion: 9.5/10
Slickness: 9.5/10
Moisturizing: 9.5/10
Residual Slickness: 9/10
Stability: 5/5
Total: 52.5/55
Comparable soap bases from a performance standpoint:
Declaration Grooming Bison Tallow (54.5/55)
Ariana & Evans Goat Milk (54/55)
Wholly Kaw Donkey Milk (52/55)
WSP Formulat T (51/55)
Martin de Candre (51/55)
Eufros Tallow (51/55)
Conclusion: The positive accolades that have been given to this soap were well deserved. After one use, I’m very comfortable giving this a designation of being an elite soap. As it stands, it just pips out Wholly Kaw’s Donkey Milk formula, and could go even higher with additional use. At this point in time, there are only six soaps available from Noble Otter, so while there is some variety, hopefully they continue to expand their choices; I’ll be one of the first to get in the queue for more of this wonderful soap!
https://youtu.be/5tKzZ0764aE
