Oleo Soapworks, out of Chicago, IL, has quite a few scents in their line-up, covering quite a broad spectrum of scent profiles. This one, in particular, caught my eye, as it’s a combination of fougere, (which I love), and rose, (a scent that I’m growing to love). I have to say, that this is a phenomenally good scent that belies it’s somewhat basic scent description. Off the tub, you get primarily a more floral fougere scent, as the rose is starting to peek its head out to let you know that it’s there. Strength of scent off of the tub is about a 2.5 out of 5, so middle of the road. It’s a harder soap, not quite in the triple-milled class, but harder than most croaps around. Packaging is very nice, with the soap residing in a PET container, with a waterproof label on top and the ingredient list on a bottom label. The only thing that would make this better from a packaging standpoint is a side label. Cost wise, you get 4 oz. of soap for $18, putting the cost of the soap at $4.50 an oz. This is more towards the expensive side of the house where artisan soap makers are concerned, but not prohibitively so depending on your budget, and less expensive than soaps such as Wholly Kaw donkey milk and Declaration Grooming.
This is in their “Canard” base formula, incorporating duck fat into the recipe. There isn’t all that many ingredients in the base, though not minimalistic like MdC or ThB’s soaps. The Kokum Butter and Jojoba Oil that are included in it should give a good face feel to the soap. I was curious to see how the duck fat affected the performance. The ingredients as listed are:
Stearic Acid, Water, Kokum Butter, Potassium Hydroxide, Palm Kernel Oil, Duck Fat, Sodium Hydroxide, Castor Oil, Glycerin, Jojoba Oil, Fragrance & Sodium Lactate
Loading is fairly straight forward. Using a Paladin badger brush, and after a bloom, a 20-30 second load was enough to generate about 4-5 passes worth of lather. The water band on the soap is fairly wide, allowing you to customize the consistency of the soap from very dense and cushioned to a little more thin and slick. I used about 2 tsp of water while building my lather and still had to add a little to get it as slick as I’d like. Application on the face feels quite nice, it is not quite as heavy as a Declaration Grooming or Wholly Kaw donkey milk formula, but heavier than Stirling. I would describe the consistency as being a little denser than a whipped yogurt.
The lather has above average cushion and residual slickness, and slightly above average slickness. Post shave moisturizing properties is about on par with Stirling, and the lather is extremely stable. However, where this soap shines is the scent once lathered. Out of the tub it’s a fougere with a slight rose note, but once lathered, the two notes really start to stand out, with the voice of the rose really coming to the front along with the fougere. The base notes of the fougere start to come into play as well, and the total experience is similar to standing in a rose garden in the middle of a forest. You get the earthiness of the oakmoss supporting the bright green fougere notes and, of course, the rose playing along. It’s quite unique in the fougere realm, and something that any fougere or rose lover should have in their den.
Incidentally, I did not experience any of the burning sensation from this soap that I did with the Melonade. This tells me that it most likely was the EO/FO’s used in Melonade that didn’t agree with my skin. Something to keep in mind if you have more sensitive skin.
Here are the scores for Rougere, which honestly are the same as Melonade. I don’t rate strength of scent or scent preference as those are wholly subjective.
Lathering: 9/10
Cushion: 9/10
Slickness: 8/10
Moisturizing: 8.5/10
Residual Slickness: 9/10
Stability: 5/5
Total: 48.5/55
Comparable soap bases from a performance standpoint:
Fine Accoutrements (49/55)
Barrister & Mann Glissant (49/55)
Wholly Kaw Tallow (non-donkey milk formula) (49/55)
Stirling Soaps (48/55)
Long Rifle Soaps (48/55)
Lisa’s Natural Herbal Creations (48/55)
PannaCrema Nuavia (48/55)
Conclusion: As with the Melonade, this is a very good soap, just short of elite status as far as performance is concerned. It’s worthwhile to have in the den, and fits into a very unique intersection of fougere and rose scents. Again, it’s rated at a tier 1, box 3 for the time being, with future lathering and use possibly bumping the score once the soap is dialed in. Is it worthy of a purchase? At $4.50 an oz., it's not in the value range for soaps, but still not quite in what I would call the "expensive" realm. If your budget can afford it, it's worth checking out, in my opinion, as it is one of the only soap bases around to use duck fat as their tallow ingredient.
https://youtu.be/HlG9Ir1IU0Q
This is in their “Canard” base formula, incorporating duck fat into the recipe. There isn’t all that many ingredients in the base, though not minimalistic like MdC or ThB’s soaps. The Kokum Butter and Jojoba Oil that are included in it should give a good face feel to the soap. I was curious to see how the duck fat affected the performance. The ingredients as listed are:
Stearic Acid, Water, Kokum Butter, Potassium Hydroxide, Palm Kernel Oil, Duck Fat, Sodium Hydroxide, Castor Oil, Glycerin, Jojoba Oil, Fragrance & Sodium Lactate
Loading is fairly straight forward. Using a Paladin badger brush, and after a bloom, a 20-30 second load was enough to generate about 4-5 passes worth of lather. The water band on the soap is fairly wide, allowing you to customize the consistency of the soap from very dense and cushioned to a little more thin and slick. I used about 2 tsp of water while building my lather and still had to add a little to get it as slick as I’d like. Application on the face feels quite nice, it is not quite as heavy as a Declaration Grooming or Wholly Kaw donkey milk formula, but heavier than Stirling. I would describe the consistency as being a little denser than a whipped yogurt.
The lather has above average cushion and residual slickness, and slightly above average slickness. Post shave moisturizing properties is about on par with Stirling, and the lather is extremely stable. However, where this soap shines is the scent once lathered. Out of the tub it’s a fougere with a slight rose note, but once lathered, the two notes really start to stand out, with the voice of the rose really coming to the front along with the fougere. The base notes of the fougere start to come into play as well, and the total experience is similar to standing in a rose garden in the middle of a forest. You get the earthiness of the oakmoss supporting the bright green fougere notes and, of course, the rose playing along. It’s quite unique in the fougere realm, and something that any fougere or rose lover should have in their den.
Incidentally, I did not experience any of the burning sensation from this soap that I did with the Melonade. This tells me that it most likely was the EO/FO’s used in Melonade that didn’t agree with my skin. Something to keep in mind if you have more sensitive skin.
Here are the scores for Rougere, which honestly are the same as Melonade. I don’t rate strength of scent or scent preference as those are wholly subjective.
Lathering: 9/10
Cushion: 9/10
Slickness: 8/10
Moisturizing: 8.5/10
Residual Slickness: 9/10
Stability: 5/5
Total: 48.5/55
Comparable soap bases from a performance standpoint:
Fine Accoutrements (49/55)
Barrister & Mann Glissant (49/55)
Wholly Kaw Tallow (non-donkey milk formula) (49/55)
Stirling Soaps (48/55)
Long Rifle Soaps (48/55)
Lisa’s Natural Herbal Creations (48/55)
PannaCrema Nuavia (48/55)
Conclusion: As with the Melonade, this is a very good soap, just short of elite status as far as performance is concerned. It’s worthwhile to have in the den, and fits into a very unique intersection of fougere and rose scents. Again, it’s rated at a tier 1, box 3 for the time being, with future lathering and use possibly bumping the score once the soap is dialed in. Is it worthy of a purchase? At $4.50 an oz., it's not in the value range for soaps, but still not quite in what I would call the "expensive" realm. If your budget can afford it, it's worth checking out, in my opinion, as it is one of the only soap bases around to use duck fat as their tallow ingredient.
https://youtu.be/HlG9Ir1IU0Q
