The past three days I’ve been going through my West Coast Shaving creams, in the jojoba base made by Catie’s Bubbles. The first day was the Fougere, day 2 was Oriental, and today was the scent I was looking forward to the most, Chypre. So the new soaps/creams by West Coast Shaving were released in late August. There were five scents released, the three mentioned above as well as a unique take on the Barbershop scent theme, Pear-brrr Shoppe, and another that I did not pick up, Cologne. All but the barbershop scent are based upon the fragrance wheel, with Colonge covering the aromatic and woody side of the house. Here is a basic fragrance wheel picture:
As you can see, three of the scents are taken directly off of this. Chypre is a fragrance type that is characterized by citrus top notes, cistus labdanum heart notes and an oakmoss base. Perfumers will add other scents to accentuate the three primary notes, but the basic DNA is the same across the board for Chypre’s. It stands for “Cyprus” in French, after the island in the Mediterranean Sea, and that is a very good description of these scents. Very Mediterranean. Strength of scent of this particular one is medium, and grows to a medium strong once lathered. If it were much stronger it would be cloying. Here is how they describe the scent of each of the three scents I tried in the cream base:
Fougere: "Imagine brushing up against a bush as you enter a forest, the bright, herbaceous green hits your nose, but it is quickly replaced by the darker scents of the forest as you move deeper into the trees." This is its own thing, but is very reminiscent of popular fougere scents such as Penhaligon's English Fern, Trumper's Wild Fern, and the original, Houbigant Fougere Royale.
Oriental: "The blending of smooth, warm, rich exotic woods and vanillic benzoin highlight a lightly spiced rose." The rose is present, but this is not a rose forward scent; rather the other woody and resinous notes ride the rose, each being more of a star of the show.
Chypre: "This evokes the citrus-scented breezes just kissing your face as you sit on your tree-shaded, moss-lined balcony overlooking the Mediterranean." Mediterranean would be the perfect way to describe this scent. The citrus plays heavy off of the tub, but the resinous labdanum and earthy oakmoss really come through once lathered. The citrus is present through the shave, riding on the heart and base notes, and is just an overall pleasing experience. My favorite of these three.
Ingredient list for the Jojoba Luxury Cream base by Catie's Bubbles:
Stearic Acid, Water, Coconut Oil, Potassium Hydroxide, Fragrance, Jojoba Oil, Sodium Hydroxide, Sodium Lactate and Glycerin
Performance wise, these soaps absolutely surprised me with how slick they are. I’ve not used a vegan base that displays this much slickness in the past, so to say that I was impressed was an understatement. The appearance of the product in the container is that of a soft soap, but once you press into it, it’s readily apparent that it’s not a soap but a cream. You can load from the tub, if you choose, but the likelihood of overloading your brush is pretty high, so I chose to scoop from the tub all three days. This led to me taking too little product on the second day. The water band is wide enough that you can manipulate the consistency of the lather to your preference, but not as wide as others like Declaration Grooming’s offerings, Wholly Kaw or Ariana & Evans. The water band is close to that of Wickham Soap Co.’s vegan offerings.
The lather has a nice face feel, not as silky smooth as soaps such as Lisa’s, CBL, DG, A&E, or WK’s, but smooth enough to where it doesn’t feel like you’re just putting foam on your face. When enough product is used, the cushion is excellent, and post shave is very nice as well. Again, not quite to the level of CBL soaps, Declaration or Lisa’s, but still very good. Where this soap shines is in the slickness and residual slickness. The only soap/cream that I’ve used that is better is Declaration Grooming’s Icarus Base, it’s that good. It might be as good, I’ll have to go back and do a side by side comparison to make that determination.
I altered my scoring chart again to hopefully make it more representative of where this product sits on a performance and preference scale.
Loading: 9/10
Latherability: 9/10
Water band: 8/10
Cushion / Protection: 9/10
Slickness / Glide: 9.5/10
Residual Slickness: 9.5/10
Stability: 10/10
Face Feel: 6/10
Post-Shave Moisturizing: 8/10
Performance Score: 8.67/10
Enjoyment Factor: .9
Total Score: 7.90
Conclusion: From a performance standpoint, this is one of the best, if the best, creams I’ve used; outpacing other premium offerings such as Castle Forbes, TOBS, and even Proraso Single Edge. The amount of slickness from these soaps is absolutely incredible, competing with some top soaps such as Wholly Kaw’s Donkey Milk, Ariana & Evans Goat Milk, and Declaration Grooming’s Bison Tallow. The scent on these soaps, for me, is absolutely wonderful. The did a very nice job coming up with
some unique, but still classic takes on these fragrances at WCS, and picked out two really top performers in Catie’s Bubbles Luxury Jojoba Cream and Oleo Soapworks Canard Base. I feel comfortable in recommending these for purchase, if you’re in the market for a top performing soap.
https://youtu.be/wBq8k5mE-Sc
As you can see, three of the scents are taken directly off of this. Chypre is a fragrance type that is characterized by citrus top notes, cistus labdanum heart notes and an oakmoss base. Perfumers will add other scents to accentuate the three primary notes, but the basic DNA is the same across the board for Chypre’s. It stands for “Cyprus” in French, after the island in the Mediterranean Sea, and that is a very good description of these scents. Very Mediterranean. Strength of scent of this particular one is medium, and grows to a medium strong once lathered. If it were much stronger it would be cloying. Here is how they describe the scent of each of the three scents I tried in the cream base:
Fougere: "Imagine brushing up against a bush as you enter a forest, the bright, herbaceous green hits your nose, but it is quickly replaced by the darker scents of the forest as you move deeper into the trees." This is its own thing, but is very reminiscent of popular fougere scents such as Penhaligon's English Fern, Trumper's Wild Fern, and the original, Houbigant Fougere Royale.
Oriental: "The blending of smooth, warm, rich exotic woods and vanillic benzoin highlight a lightly spiced rose." The rose is present, but this is not a rose forward scent; rather the other woody and resinous notes ride the rose, each being more of a star of the show.
Chypre: "This evokes the citrus-scented breezes just kissing your face as you sit on your tree-shaded, moss-lined balcony overlooking the Mediterranean." Mediterranean would be the perfect way to describe this scent. The citrus plays heavy off of the tub, but the resinous labdanum and earthy oakmoss really come through once lathered. The citrus is present through the shave, riding on the heart and base notes, and is just an overall pleasing experience. My favorite of these three.
Ingredient list for the Jojoba Luxury Cream base by Catie's Bubbles:
Stearic Acid, Water, Coconut Oil, Potassium Hydroxide, Fragrance, Jojoba Oil, Sodium Hydroxide, Sodium Lactate and Glycerin
Performance wise, these soaps absolutely surprised me with how slick they are. I’ve not used a vegan base that displays this much slickness in the past, so to say that I was impressed was an understatement. The appearance of the product in the container is that of a soft soap, but once you press into it, it’s readily apparent that it’s not a soap but a cream. You can load from the tub, if you choose, but the likelihood of overloading your brush is pretty high, so I chose to scoop from the tub all three days. This led to me taking too little product on the second day. The water band is wide enough that you can manipulate the consistency of the lather to your preference, but not as wide as others like Declaration Grooming’s offerings, Wholly Kaw or Ariana & Evans. The water band is close to that of Wickham Soap Co.’s vegan offerings.
The lather has a nice face feel, not as silky smooth as soaps such as Lisa’s, CBL, DG, A&E, or WK’s, but smooth enough to where it doesn’t feel like you’re just putting foam on your face. When enough product is used, the cushion is excellent, and post shave is very nice as well. Again, not quite to the level of CBL soaps, Declaration or Lisa’s, but still very good. Where this soap shines is in the slickness and residual slickness. The only soap/cream that I’ve used that is better is Declaration Grooming’s Icarus Base, it’s that good. It might be as good, I’ll have to go back and do a side by side comparison to make that determination.
I altered my scoring chart again to hopefully make it more representative of where this product sits on a performance and preference scale.
Loading: 9/10
Latherability: 9/10
Water band: 8/10
Cushion / Protection: 9/10
Slickness / Glide: 9.5/10
Residual Slickness: 9.5/10
Stability: 10/10
Face Feel: 6/10
Post-Shave Moisturizing: 8/10
Performance Score: 8.67/10
Enjoyment Factor: .9
Total Score: 7.90
Conclusion: From a performance standpoint, this is one of the best, if the best, creams I’ve used; outpacing other premium offerings such as Castle Forbes, TOBS, and even Proraso Single Edge. The amount of slickness from these soaps is absolutely incredible, competing with some top soaps such as Wholly Kaw’s Donkey Milk, Ariana & Evans Goat Milk, and Declaration Grooming’s Bison Tallow. The scent on these soaps, for me, is absolutely wonderful. The did a very nice job coming up with
some unique, but still classic takes on these fragrances at WCS, and picked out two really top performers in Catie’s Bubbles Luxury Jojoba Cream and Oleo Soapworks Canard Base. I feel comfortable in recommending these for purchase, if you’re in the market for a top performing soap.
https://youtu.be/wBq8k5mE-Sc