I just recently received my shipment from Mystic Waters and decided to do a test lather today. I ordered a puck of Pumpkin Spice, and a puck of her sensitive skin formula, along with a few other samples. Michelle was also kind enough to throw in an extra sample. I also ordered some facial soaps that looked good for my skin type. What attracted me to Mystic Waters was the ingredients list (super clean, which you find with most artisan soaps), the scent variety that Michelle offers, and the great post shave feel that a lot of people have mentioned about these soaps.
In terms of scent, everything smelt pretty nice. The pumpkin spice smells just like a slice of pumpkin pie, and the sensitive skin formula, which is unscented besides the scent you get from the ingredients, smelt to me like fresh dough. I also get a bit of a honey smell as well, but dough is the dominant scent. The colour of both is exactly what you would think they would be, the pumpkin spice is the colour of a slice of pumpkin pie, and the sensitive skin is the colour of a piece of pizza dough. I don't know how much I exactly enjoy the doughy smell, although it doesn't bother me at all, and the scent slightly dissipates when you lather it up. I have acne-prone skin so anything sensitive skin catches my eye. It is a little hard to get a good read on the scents of the samples I got, I guess because they are just little pieces. The scent strength is not overwhelming at all, a little on the low side actually. When the pucks were wrapped up in plastic I wasn't get much of anything, but once I opened them up I got good strength from both of them. Just to compare, if you've ever smelt Stirling soaps through the plastic, the scent is still very strong.
Let's get to the test lather. I did a bowl lather with my boar hair brush, which I soaked for 10-15 minutes. A few people have mentioned that Mystic Waters soaps don't do well with a lot of heat, so I didn't use hot water on purpose. I left some warm water on top of the puck for about 30 seconds. I probably spent roughly a minute loading the brush, adding a bit of water here and there, because it felt pretty dry most of the time. I did start with a fairly dry brush as well. I proceeded to bowl lather and WOW, about 1-2 minutes later I had a VERY nice lather. It reminded me a lot of Stirling soaps. Very thick, fairly thirsty I found, and some of the thickest lather I've produced. Some people have mentioned that they have a tough time lathering this soap. 2 things I think were key for me was again, not using too much heat, and the other was loading enough soap. I bought the refill puck on purpose so that I could press it down into my own tin. The tin I used was roughly 4 inches in diameter, which is slightly wider than your average container. In my opinion, soaps are so much easier to load when you have more surface area to deal with. It also makes it a lot easier to build the lather on top of the puck. Anybody who has used Synergy soaps in their 8oz tins know what I'm talking about. I'm really looking forwards to shaving with this stuff, if the test lather is any indication, I should be in for a great shave!
In terms of scent, everything smelt pretty nice. The pumpkin spice smells just like a slice of pumpkin pie, and the sensitive skin formula, which is unscented besides the scent you get from the ingredients, smelt to me like fresh dough. I also get a bit of a honey smell as well, but dough is the dominant scent. The colour of both is exactly what you would think they would be, the pumpkin spice is the colour of a slice of pumpkin pie, and the sensitive skin is the colour of a piece of pizza dough. I don't know how much I exactly enjoy the doughy smell, although it doesn't bother me at all, and the scent slightly dissipates when you lather it up. I have acne-prone skin so anything sensitive skin catches my eye. It is a little hard to get a good read on the scents of the samples I got, I guess because they are just little pieces. The scent strength is not overwhelming at all, a little on the low side actually. When the pucks were wrapped up in plastic I wasn't get much of anything, but once I opened them up I got good strength from both of them. Just to compare, if you've ever smelt Stirling soaps through the plastic, the scent is still very strong.
Let's get to the test lather. I did a bowl lather with my boar hair brush, which I soaked for 10-15 minutes. A few people have mentioned that Mystic Waters soaps don't do well with a lot of heat, so I didn't use hot water on purpose. I left some warm water on top of the puck for about 30 seconds. I probably spent roughly a minute loading the brush, adding a bit of water here and there, because it felt pretty dry most of the time. I did start with a fairly dry brush as well. I proceeded to bowl lather and WOW, about 1-2 minutes later I had a VERY nice lather. It reminded me a lot of Stirling soaps. Very thick, fairly thirsty I found, and some of the thickest lather I've produced. Some people have mentioned that they have a tough time lathering this soap. 2 things I think were key for me was again, not using too much heat, and the other was loading enough soap. I bought the refill puck on purpose so that I could press it down into my own tin. The tin I used was roughly 4 inches in diameter, which is slightly wider than your average container. In my opinion, soaps are so much easier to load when you have more surface area to deal with. It also makes it a lot easier to build the lather on top of the puck. Anybody who has used Synergy soaps in their 8oz tins know what I'm talking about. I'm really looking forwards to shaving with this stuff, if the test lather is any indication, I should be in for a great shave!
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