The Struggle Is Real

[Zany_in_CO]

Pics are off the screen for me. Can someone please re-size? TIA

 

[shunt2011]

I like the green one. We've all had soaps that bomb. It can be frustrating for sure. I've certainly had my share.

 

[BrewerGeorge]

I pulled the first tester last night, at one month exactly. Honey I Washed the Kids is really fantastic. It is such a pleasant, soapy scent, unisex and sweetish without being at-all "foody". Leaves a subtle scent behind on skin, even with our soft water rinsing clean. I can't imagine anyone being unhappy with this fragrance, and I think it would be especially good for kids (natch) who might want to avoid assertive fragrances. This one is going to become a permanent fixture at our house.

The soap itself could use a bit more time. At four weeks it's nice and mild, but the lather isn't where I want it yet. Still a bit too "fluffy." Although I'm comparing it to the 10-month old soap I've been showering with, which isn't quite fair.

 

[BrewerGeorge]

Tried Sex Appeal in the shower this morning. It is not my favorite scent, by any means. Not-my-favorite as in, I'll keep the tester to see how it ages, but I'm probably going to give all four of the big bars away. Nurture describes it as the floral for people who don't typically like floral scents. I guess that's not too far away because it does smell somewhat floral. But to me it smell like flowers you find pressed in a book at your grandma's house that even she forgot were there. It's old, dusty and muddled with a really strange sharpness. Actually, what it smells most like to me are the flowers from Queen Anne's Lace (wild carrot) that grow like weeds all over the Midwest - not pleasant. The slight scent it leaves behind on skin is a bit better. The sharpness is gone, leaving a barely-there hint of Grandma's powder. Would not recommend for CP.

Hellstone tomorrow.

 

[BrewerGeorge]

Alright, Hellstone this morning. I was all set to give this a solid "Meh" or wonder if I was beginning to catch a cold because there wasn't really anything memorable in the shower with this bar. Not unpleasant, not "nothing" just "not much" and certainly nothing that stood out enough for me to separate. That impression synchs with what I get from the bar itself - and indeed from the bottle before soaping.

But as I now smell the scent left behind on the skin an hour later my interest is definitely piqued. It's complex, so I'm still struggling to define individual descriptors, but it's good... masculine. Smokey but not phenolic, a hint of frankincense, slightly musky but with a cleanness. This is a scent that I would pay $50 for in a bottle and wear as men's cologne. I hesitate to make this comparison because of the negative connotations those of us of a certain age might have, but I just keep thinking of Calvin Klein's Obsession. It's not nearly as sweet or musky - and doesn't evoke 90's flashbacks - but there's some similarity that keeps bringing it back to mind.

So all-in-all I do like this scent quite a lot on the body. However, part of the reason for using these scents in soap for me is to get that sensory kick in the morning to help wake me up. Hellstone, unfortunately doesn't have that kick. And for those of you who sell, I think it would be a major challenge to get a guy to buy just based on the dry bar scent - especially among a display of other, stronger scents.

ETA: I forgot to add that interestingly, this soap is definitely not a well-cured as its mates I made on the same day. I don't know if that has anything to do with the scent or not, but this one did not accelerate and might not have gelled like the others. (There's too much color for me to tell for sure.)

 

[BrewerGeorge]

Butterfly Flower smells like lilac with depth. Even though the official description doesn't mention lilacs, my tester happens to be sharing a soap dish with a bar made with BB's Lilac about a year ago, and they smell very similar. Similar enough that although I can tell them apart with my eyes open, I wonder if I could separate them in a blind test. Butterfly certainly has more base and top notes going on than the straightforward flower of BB's Lilac, but they're subtle. If BB's scent smells like the lilac flower, then Butterfly smells like a lilac perfume. Still, a nice feminine scent overall, but off-putting for a man to use. Not much scent left on the skin after drying. This FO did accelerate as you would expect of something with 'flower' in its name, but by that floral standard it wasn't too bad. It's the least accelerating floral I've used.

 

[littlehands]

However, part of the reason for using these scents in soap for me is to get that sensory kick in the morning to help wake me up. Hellstone, unfortunately doesn't have that kick. And for those of you who sell, I think it would be a major challenge to get a guy to buy just based on the dry bar scent - especially among a display of other, stronger scents.

Have you tried Perfect Man from Nature's Garden? It's a huge favorite with my peeps. I've sold entire loafs several times, and had people buy out every bar in my booth at once. It's usually ladies buying it for their man, but it seems to be quite a visceral favorite when sniffed.

 

[IrishLass]

Have you tried Perfect Man from Nature's Garden? It's a huge favorite with my peeps. I've sold entire loafs several times, and had people buy out every bar in my booth at once. It's usually ladies buying it for their man, but it seems to be quite a visceral favorite when sniffed.

I second Perfect Man! It became my son's "signature scent" at first sniff. lol


IrishLass

 

[shunt2011]

I third Perfect Man. It's my top seller hands down. Plus it's strong so you don't have to use as much

 

[BrewerGeorge]

Alright, alright, alright :mrgreen:

I ordered a sample of Perfect Man, and Pheromones and Deadly Weapon to fill the box.

 

[kchaystack]

I also like Green Tweed. But Perfect Man is pretty good.

 

[BrewerGeorge]

Still working my way through the fragrances. I've been using 1000 Kisses for the last two days.

This is a strong scent which leaves comparatively a lot on the skin after washing. As usual with these Lush dupes, it smells like perfume - complex instead of a strong single note or few notes. It is definitely a feminine scent, but light not sweet. The primary impression I get is orange, but not sweet orange fruit. More bitter like orange pith when you haven't peeled your orange well enough and left a lot of white behind but you're eating it anyway. Combine that with a fresh sort of indeterminate floral that reminds me of tree flowers and serves largely to give a "Spring/Blooming" impression. However, I definitely would not call this a flowery scent, and indeed it did not accelerate at all the way florals typically do. As I said, this is feminine, too feminine for me. I will be sending this upstairs for Daughter #4 to finish off while I move on to the next scent.

 

[WeaversPort]

Combine that with a fresh sort of indeterminate floral that reminds me of tree flowers and serves largely to give a "Spring/Blooming" impression. However, I definitely would not call this a flowery scent, and indeed it did not accelerate at all the way florals typically do. As I said, this is feminine...

I can see something like that being too feminine. I wonder if it would be more appealing balanced with something like Frankincense, Sandalwood, or a Tobacco & Bay blend? You might be able to take the light citrus notes and darken them down to be less feminine.

You could always do some cotton ball mixes, knowing what you know now about how it turns out in soap?

 

[BrewerGeorge]

It's my second day with Breath of God. This one is hard to categorize. In use it's sweet and a little flowery, but what it leaves on the body is less flowery and more like incense. It does leave a strong scent on the skin, too. There's sandalwood and cedar, but also floral and citrus. It's one of those where you can't pick out anything until you read the description, but then get each one as it's read. It's called unisex and that's not unfounded, but I think it's more like 60/40 women/men. I'll use it up, but I wouldn't buy it again.

In CP soap, Nurture says no acceleration, but for me it moved pretty fast. Not a rocket but swirls would have been difficult.

 

[jewels621]

It's my second day with Breath of God. This one is hard to categorize. In use it's sweet and a little flowery, but what it leaves on the body is less flowery and more like incense. It does leave a strong scent on the skin, too. There's sandalwood and cedar, but also floral and citrus. It's one of those where you can't pick out anything until you read the description, but then get each one as it's read. It's called unisex and that's not unfounded, but I think it's more like 60/40 women/men. I'll use it up, but I wouldn't buy it again.

In CP soap, Nurture says no acceleration, but for me it moved pretty fast. Not a rocket but swirls would have been difficult.

I totally agree with your review. I bought this purely to see what someone else's idea of what the "Breath of God" would smell like. Not my idea at all. There's nothing really fresh about it. To me it's a heavy, unidentifiable scent that isn't really pleasing at all. And, same here.....I'll use it up, but won't ever buy it again.

Keep these posts coming, BG! Great information!

 

[WeaversPort]

Out of curiosity, BrewerGeorge, is there a particular fragrance profile you're looking for? Or are you enjoying the process of discovering what you like?

I know I'm addicted to all of the different scents and profiles, but since I'm so new, I'm also on the hunt for my "best in class" in a few different categories. (eg. masculine, woody, clean, floral, unisex, delicious, comforting, natural)

 

[BrewerGeorge]

Out of curiosity, BrewerGeorge, is there a particular fragrance profile you're looking for? Or are you enjoying the process of discovering what you like?

I know I'm addicted to all of the different scents and profiles, but since I'm so new, I'm also on the hunt for my "best in class" in a few different categories. (eg. masculine, woody, clean, floral, unisex, delicious, comforting, natural)

I am enjoying trying new scents, mostly. I was originally trying to find a scent that my wife would like to use, but this process has caused me to resign myself to the fact that she just doesn't want to use bar soap. Several of these have elicited "okay" reviews from her - which is a positive from her picky nose - but she'd still rather use her Caress body wash. (Yes, I've made liquid soap, but I don't enjoy the process enough; I'm not drawn to make it like I am with bar soaps. Since I don't love it, and it's more expensive to boot, she can keep buying her Caress.)

As I'm not selling and with no intentions to, I may never use the same scent twice again*. :mrgreen: With three adult girls w/ boyfriends and a large extended family, I've not yet had a problem unloading scents I don't care for. Somebody always likes them.

As of now, my biggest problem is making the test bars visually different enough that I can remember which is which, and that's a good problem to have.


*Does not include Honey I Washed the Kids. That one is definitely worthy of repetition.

 

[WeaversPort]

... As of now, my biggest problem is making the test bars visually different enough that I can remember which is which, and that's a good problem to have.

That sounds like the best problem ever! I'm glad you have an extended family that can help you with all that soap!

Maybe the next step is getting into soap stamps! You could have a different stamp for each production month..

It's a blue bar with a fleur-de-lis stamp, must be Salty Mariner!

 

[BrewerGeorge]

I've used Potion three times now and the overarching impression is "nothing." The only thing I can get from it - in spite of lots of trying - is a hint of lard from the oils. It's not unduly old and I used the recommended amount, but there is NO scent. I don't know if it failed to survive CP or what, but I would not recommend it.

 

[BrewerGeorge]

Hyacinth is hyacinth. This is not a perfume smell; this is the flower. This scent is the grocery store in reeaallyy early Spring when they've brought in the hothouse hyacinth to entice winter-weary shoppers, leading you by the nose through half the store to the little floral alcove with its pots of pink and purple and white. This scent smells good, Folks! It is very strong in the shower and leaves quite a lot of its sweet scent behind on skin. As such a strong floral, I think most people would consider it quite feminine. However, I think that because it smells so much like the flower itself rather than a floral perfume, it somewhat transcends the masculine/feminine dichotomy. I know that I plan to use it all, and I'm slightly upset that I gave away the two bars that I did.

Now for the bad news... This FO was almost impossible for CP. It instantly riced, and getting into the mold was tough. Back on page 6 of this thread you can see the pic of how bad it was. Have your kids ever played with Moon Sand? It's in the top two of most accelerating FO's I've ever used.

Additionally, lather seems to be affected by this scent. I don't know if the seizing/ricing during production somehow changed the crystalline structure of the soap, or if the FO itself is affecting lather, or something else entirely, but the quality of lather is definitely changed. Remember that I didn't just use the same recipe for these soaps, but the same actual batch was split into four parts with four scents, and this one (and Hearthstone a bit) are different from the other two and from what I expect from this recipe in general. This is a hybrid recipe with a good mix of lather depending on what you do to make it, but with the Hyacinth FO the lather feels suppressed. I have to work harder to get it and the bigger, fluffier bubbles are much less possible. This soap is 8 weeks old at this point, and I would expect it to be better than it is - as indeed its mates from the same batch are.

I gorgeous as this smells, I can't recommend it for CP. I would be very interested in seeing what it did for HP, to see if the lather issues carried over.