I’ve done a couple of reviews of Oleo Soapworks soaps here on TSC, and while the performance of the soaps has been good, they haven’t really given me that wow factor. I went into today’s shave hoping to change that. Sandy Cheeks is Oleo’s take on sun tan lotion and a day at the beach. This isn’t your typical “Hawaiian Tropics” sun tan lotion scent, but more of an actual balm smell. There are notes of coconut, maybe a bit of vanilla, some pineapple, and what smells like teakwood, oakmoss, salt spray and some sandalwood lurking in the background. There aren’t any individual scent notes listed anywhere for the soap, but that’s what my amateur nose can pick up. Strength of scent out of the tub is somewhat on the weaker side of the house at about 2/5. This is a harder soap, with a somewhat waxy texture in the tub.
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, and the duck fat give it a very unique feel on the face and from what I could tell aid in the post shave moisturizing properties. 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
Once lathered up, the scent blooms out to about a 2.5-3/5, which is about as strong as you’re going to want this scent. Any more and it would begin to get cloying. It’s not overly sweet, but the scent, at least to me would become obnoxious if stronger. The lather is about what I’ve experienced with previous Oleo soaps, though the residual slickness was a little less than I experienced with previous uses. I chalk this up to user error rather than the soap properties, however. The soap exhibited good cushion, and good slickness and moisturizing properties. Lathering was easy and it was very stable.
Unfortunately, like the Melonade, I experienced what started out as a very mild tingling sensation on the first application. By the end of the third pass, it was a full on burning sensation. I wish that the individual scent notes were listed on this soap so that I could compare to other soaps that I’ve tried recently to see if there is a common denominator. I know it is not the soap base, as Rougere is the exact same, and I had zero reaction to that. With that being said, it’s still a good soap that if not for the reaction to my skin, would be a good addition to the den.
Here are the scores for Sandy Cheeks. 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: It stinks that this soap didn’t agree with my skin, as I did enjoy the scent and performance. While the scent profile was slightly different than I was expecting, it does bring back some memories of sitting at the beach as a lifeguard, so the nostalgic value is there for this scent if you’ve spent any amount of time at the beach. It’s a slightly better soap, IMHO, than Stirling. Value wise, Stirling blows this out of the water, however. You get 2 oz. more soap in a tub of Stirling for ~$4.00 less. That amounts to paying almost $2 more an oz for a soap that is only slightly better. I will say that Oleo has some scents that Stirling does not, however, so if there is one that you read and must have in your den, go for it. It’s not a prohibitively expensive soap like other premium artisans out there, and with the harder texture of the soap, it should last a good while. Performance wise, you probably won’t be disappointed either. With good moisturizing properties and in shave performance, this soap stacks up well against all but the elite level soap makers today.
https://youtu.be/SNhL-2jPR8c
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, and the duck fat give it a very unique feel on the face and from what I could tell aid in the post shave moisturizing properties. 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
Once lathered up, the scent blooms out to about a 2.5-3/5, which is about as strong as you’re going to want this scent. Any more and it would begin to get cloying. It’s not overly sweet, but the scent, at least to me would become obnoxious if stronger. The lather is about what I’ve experienced with previous Oleo soaps, though the residual slickness was a little less than I experienced with previous uses. I chalk this up to user error rather than the soap properties, however. The soap exhibited good cushion, and good slickness and moisturizing properties. Lathering was easy and it was very stable.
Unfortunately, like the Melonade, I experienced what started out as a very mild tingling sensation on the first application. By the end of the third pass, it was a full on burning sensation. I wish that the individual scent notes were listed on this soap so that I could compare to other soaps that I’ve tried recently to see if there is a common denominator. I know it is not the soap base, as Rougere is the exact same, and I had zero reaction to that. With that being said, it’s still a good soap that if not for the reaction to my skin, would be a good addition to the den.
Here are the scores for Sandy Cheeks. 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: It stinks that this soap didn’t agree with my skin, as I did enjoy the scent and performance. While the scent profile was slightly different than I was expecting, it does bring back some memories of sitting at the beach as a lifeguard, so the nostalgic value is there for this scent if you’ve spent any amount of time at the beach. It’s a slightly better soap, IMHO, than Stirling. Value wise, Stirling blows this out of the water, however. You get 2 oz. more soap in a tub of Stirling for ~$4.00 less. That amounts to paying almost $2 more an oz for a soap that is only slightly better. I will say that Oleo has some scents that Stirling does not, however, so if there is one that you read and must have in your den, go for it. It’s not a prohibitively expensive soap like other premium artisans out there, and with the harder texture of the soap, it should last a good while. Performance wise, you probably won’t be disappointed either. With good moisturizing properties and in shave performance, this soap stacks up well against all but the elite level soap makers today.
https://youtu.be/SNhL-2jPR8c
