I recently purchased four soaps from Abbate Y La Mantia. The company is based in Tuscany, Italy, and has teamed up with TFS (Tcheon Fung Sing) to make soaps containing saponified saffron extract, coming from the family farm of the owners. At the moment the line contains four soaps: Krokos, Vegano (Vegan, given the fragrance of carrot and lettuce), Crumiro (named and scented after the famous Krumiro italian cookie), Laureato ("The Graduate", a word play with the fragrance, bay laurel).
The soaps are packaged in a paper presentation box, with a wax seal (see http://damnfineshave.com/thread-july-201...5#pid77485). Vegano, Crumiro and Laureato comes in metal tins (they look like the tins used by TFS for Italian Fern and Divino); Krokos, which is the flagship soap, comes in a heavy glass jar.
I decided to try them out by starting with Krokos http://damnfineshave.com/thread-sotd-24-...7#pid77907 . Its ingredients are: stearic acid, aqua (water), cocus nucifera oil, potassium hydroxide, sodium hydroxide, ethyl alcohol, propylene glycol, potassium carbonate, crocus sativus extract.
The fragrance of this soap is a single note of saffron, completely natural, and can be smelled throughout the shave, without being overpowering. The extra quantity of saffron extract with which the soap is scented, gives it also a natural yellow color.
Lathering was quite easy. The soap was a bit thirsty but once I found the good water point, it yielded a great, creamy lather, with very good cushion and slickness. The post-shave feeling was also very good: my skin felt soft and moisturized.
The soaps are packaged in a paper presentation box, with a wax seal (see http://damnfineshave.com/thread-july-201...5#pid77485). Vegano, Crumiro and Laureato comes in metal tins (they look like the tins used by TFS for Italian Fern and Divino); Krokos, which is the flagship soap, comes in a heavy glass jar.
I decided to try them out by starting with Krokos http://damnfineshave.com/thread-sotd-24-...7#pid77907 . Its ingredients are: stearic acid, aqua (water), cocus nucifera oil, potassium hydroxide, sodium hydroxide, ethyl alcohol, propylene glycol, potassium carbonate, crocus sativus extract.
The fragrance of this soap is a single note of saffron, completely natural, and can be smelled throughout the shave, without being overpowering. The extra quantity of saffron extract with which the soap is scented, gives it also a natural yellow color.
Lathering was quite easy. The soap was a bit thirsty but once I found the good water point, it yielded a great, creamy lather, with very good cushion and slickness. The post-shave feeling was also very good: my skin felt soft and moisturized.