When Soapy Science announced they were going to be release a couple of new scents back in early June, I got a little giddy. The soaps, which I have two of, performed much better than I had honestly anticipated, on par with Fine Accoutrements and Barrister & Mann’s Glissant base. Now, I also understood that I had only used it two times and the scores were likely to increase with continued use. Out of the two scents that were released, only the Rosa Pura interested me. When I got it in, and was finally able to give it a whiff, to say I was impressed would be an understatement. They have a pretty good description on the website that captures how I feel about it. But suffice to say, each shade of rose has its own scent. In my experience, red and white tend to be the sweetest of the bunch. This really does smell like a white rose. It’s distinctively rose, but there is that sweetness that you only get with certain shades of roses. Awesome. Strength of scent is about a 2.5-3/5, so pretty strong for this type of scent.
Ingredient wise, there is a ton of skin food in this soap. Numerous butters and oils, as well as Lanolin and Aloe Vera pretty much assure you that your skin will be thanking you after the shave. It’s a harder soap as well, very similar in consistency to Barrister & Mann’s Glissant base.
Ingredients: Tallow, stearic acid, water, castor oil, potassium hydroxide, sodium hydroxide, mango butter, shea butter (refined), kokum butter, avocado oil, glycerin, sweet almond oil, apricot kernel oil, coconut oil, lanolin, sodium lactate, aloe vera juice, allantoin, essential oils for fragrance
I bloom all but the softest of my soaps. This was no different, and a 20-25 second load was all it took to get plenty of soap loaded into the brush. The scent when I was loading grew stronger as I went, filling the room in an awesome rose haze. It’s a somewhat thirsty soap, taking about 3-4 tsp of water throughout the lathering process. The consistency of the lather is that of yogurt. I did push the hydration levels this morning, so it was a little looser in the bowl than normal, but with a little bit of face lathering, the cushion was brought out quite nicely. The soap protected my face against the blade of the razor quite well, much better than I remembered. Residual slickness is very nice as well, leaving a decent amount of soap behind and making water only clean-up very possible. From a moisturizing standpoint, the soap is excellent, but not elite. Soaps such as Mystic Water, Declaration, Wholly Kaw (donkey milk), and Noble Otter are more moisturizing. But it’s no slouch either, about on par with Stirling. The soap is extremely stable as well, so there should be no worries about the lather breaking down or disappearing during your shave.
After using this soap base a number of times, here is a more refined scoring of the soap base’s performance (as always, strength of scent and preference aren’t included since they’re so subjective):
Lathering: 8/10 --> 9/10
Cushion: 8/10 --> 9.5/10
Slickness: 9.5/10
Moisturizing: 9/10
Residual Slickness: 9.5/10
Stability: 5/5
Total: 49/55 --> 51.5/55
Comparable soap bases from a performance standpoint:
Noble Otter (52.5/55)
Wholly Kaw (donkey milk) (52/55)
WSP Formula T (51/50)
Saponificio Varesino beta 4.3 (50/55)
Fine Accoutrements (49/55)
Wholly Kaw (regular Tallow) (49/55)
Barrister & Mann Glissant (49/55)
Conclusion: This is better than I remember it. The more water you add, and the more you work the soap, the better it gets. Patience really is a virtue with this soap, so don’t rush it when you pull it out. The scent is out of this world good…by far my favorite rose scented soap. (sorry Rose Chypre Concerto by Wholly Kaw, this is better). The sweetness that’s conveyed is absolutely perfectly in balance, to my nose, with the rest of the floral rose note and really gives the sense that you’re sticking your nose into a freshly cut white rose sitting on the kitchen table, or still on the stem out in the garden. Price point on these soaps is a little higher than usual, at $22.99 for 4oz of soap. Now, I don’t count all $23 towards the cost of the soap, as a total of 10% of that cost goes towards charity. So in reality, you’re only paying about $20.69 for a 4oz tub. That comes out to about $5.17 per oz, a little on the high side. However, you are helping charities, (The Justice Run as well as Zion Family Ministries), as well as supporting a wonderful up and coming artisan who happens to still be in middle school! What you do get for your $5 oz? A soap that performs just short of Wholly Kaw’s donkey milk and Noble Otter…both of those being elite level soaps. The packaging, especially on this soap is very nice, with the only issues I have being there is no side label and the labels themselves are glossy instead of matte. All in all, if you’re looking for a soap to support some great charities, a newer artisan still in grade school, and a soap that is as close to being an elite level soap as it can get, this would be worth the investment. Soapy Science is currently (as of 12 July, 2018) sold out of Rosa Pura, but hopefully they’ll be restocking soon!
*EDIT 2018/08/05
As was pointed out in the comments below, and is evident by the labeling below, there are 5 oz of soap, which equates to a value of $4.14 per oz, (when the charitable donation is taken out of the cost), and placing it right in league with Noble Otter and much less expensive than Wholly Kaw and Declaration Grooming. Even better!
https://youtu.be/fj2H1U7eJzY
Ingredient wise, there is a ton of skin food in this soap. Numerous butters and oils, as well as Lanolin and Aloe Vera pretty much assure you that your skin will be thanking you after the shave. It’s a harder soap as well, very similar in consistency to Barrister & Mann’s Glissant base.
Ingredients: Tallow, stearic acid, water, castor oil, potassium hydroxide, sodium hydroxide, mango butter, shea butter (refined), kokum butter, avocado oil, glycerin, sweet almond oil, apricot kernel oil, coconut oil, lanolin, sodium lactate, aloe vera juice, allantoin, essential oils for fragrance
I bloom all but the softest of my soaps. This was no different, and a 20-25 second load was all it took to get plenty of soap loaded into the brush. The scent when I was loading grew stronger as I went, filling the room in an awesome rose haze. It’s a somewhat thirsty soap, taking about 3-4 tsp of water throughout the lathering process. The consistency of the lather is that of yogurt. I did push the hydration levels this morning, so it was a little looser in the bowl than normal, but with a little bit of face lathering, the cushion was brought out quite nicely. The soap protected my face against the blade of the razor quite well, much better than I remembered. Residual slickness is very nice as well, leaving a decent amount of soap behind and making water only clean-up very possible. From a moisturizing standpoint, the soap is excellent, but not elite. Soaps such as Mystic Water, Declaration, Wholly Kaw (donkey milk), and Noble Otter are more moisturizing. But it’s no slouch either, about on par with Stirling. The soap is extremely stable as well, so there should be no worries about the lather breaking down or disappearing during your shave.
After using this soap base a number of times, here is a more refined scoring of the soap base’s performance (as always, strength of scent and preference aren’t included since they’re so subjective):
Lathering: 8/10 --> 9/10
Cushion: 8/10 --> 9.5/10
Slickness: 9.5/10
Moisturizing: 9/10
Residual Slickness: 9.5/10
Stability: 5/5
Total: 49/55 --> 51.5/55
Comparable soap bases from a performance standpoint:
Noble Otter (52.5/55)
Wholly Kaw (donkey milk) (52/55)
WSP Formula T (51/50)
Saponificio Varesino beta 4.3 (50/55)
Fine Accoutrements (49/55)
Wholly Kaw (regular Tallow) (49/55)
Barrister & Mann Glissant (49/55)
Conclusion: This is better than I remember it. The more water you add, and the more you work the soap, the better it gets. Patience really is a virtue with this soap, so don’t rush it when you pull it out. The scent is out of this world good…by far my favorite rose scented soap. (sorry Rose Chypre Concerto by Wholly Kaw, this is better). The sweetness that’s conveyed is absolutely perfectly in balance, to my nose, with the rest of the floral rose note and really gives the sense that you’re sticking your nose into a freshly cut white rose sitting on the kitchen table, or still on the stem out in the garden. Price point on these soaps is a little higher than usual, at $22.99 for 4oz of soap. Now, I don’t count all $23 towards the cost of the soap, as a total of 10% of that cost goes towards charity. So in reality, you’re only paying about $20.69 for a 4oz tub. That comes out to about $5.17 per oz, a little on the high side. However, you are helping charities, (The Justice Run as well as Zion Family Ministries), as well as supporting a wonderful up and coming artisan who happens to still be in middle school! What you do get for your $5 oz? A soap that performs just short of Wholly Kaw’s donkey milk and Noble Otter…both of those being elite level soaps. The packaging, especially on this soap is very nice, with the only issues I have being there is no side label and the labels themselves are glossy instead of matte. All in all, if you’re looking for a soap to support some great charities, a newer artisan still in grade school, and a soap that is as close to being an elite level soap as it can get, this would be worth the investment. Soapy Science is currently (as of 12 July, 2018) sold out of Rosa Pura, but hopefully they’ll be restocking soon!
*EDIT 2018/08/05
As was pointed out in the comments below, and is evident by the labeling below, there are 5 oz of soap, which equates to a value of $4.14 per oz, (when the charitable donation is taken out of the cost), and placing it right in league with Noble Otter and much less expensive than Wholly Kaw and Declaration Grooming. Even better!
https://youtu.be/fj2H1U7eJzY
