In Praise of Martin de Candre – an Every Day Work Horse

And of yeah, YMMV, etc, I really don't care for the Nuavia scents so much. Rossa is OK, the other two - not so much.

I read an article on CNN about people who don't like the scent of Nuavia.   According to the article, it is estimated that only four men and one woman in the United States do not care for the smell of this soap.    They also mentioned that only one of those men thought that the Rossa was okay.   That must be you.  

An excellent review and consistent with my work horse elite comment https://wetshavingtimes.wordpress.com/20...edium=feed  just get by the political comments ...


If you haven’t used Martin de Candre, then you have no idea why I will say what I am going to say next.  If I had one choice for a soap to use for the rest of my life, I think it would be MdC.  It’s kind of like the girl you know you want to marry.  She’s everything to you and you know you want to be with her the rest of your life.

I know this goes against everything we want to say about the Artisans that are out there.  ...  all I have to do while loading the brush is swirl it a few times and it’s loaded.  Then I look at the jar of soap that’s in my hands and I barely made a dent in it.  ... I ALSO want a soap that will LAST through the months, that I can use constantly.

...  No, it doesn’t have a very powerful scent – it’s actually quite soothing.  There is something about it that I keep going back to, and that’s the same reason why I like the same restaurants or even the same drink, like Sweet Tea.  I just love that it’s consistent and better yet, my SHAVES are consistent when I use it.  I can’t say that about a lot of the products I have tried over the last few years. ... The product speaks for itself in terms of quality and integrity.  I don’t have to promote this product but I do, because it works for me and I just absolutely love the way I  feel after I shave with it

Well written and an elite work horse.

If the edict was handed down that I will shave from this day hence only with MdC...I would be fine. I would, however, choose the Fougère scent, even though the original lavender is excellent too.

Martin de Candre is about to release two new limited edition soaps (vetiver and rose). See the pictures here https://www.facebook.com/savonneriemarti...0156317612

MdC Rose performs exactly the same, to me, as Fougere and Lavender.  The scent is a very pure, sublime rose and I have tested no better rose scent (I have not sampled Klar Kabinett). I consider three attributes to scent: Do I like it? Strength? and Staying Power?

The scent is the best Rose I've tested out of a dozen. The scent strength is initially mediocre but upon lathering reduces to virtually nothing. Something like Simpsons Vanilla and Rose initially hits you in the face like a CF cream. T&H and GFT lets you know its Rose. This rates maybe 1.5 out of 10 with 1 being no scent at all. There is no staying power since the initial scent is absent.

This does not mean the scent reverts to that of soap or unscented but is just very subtle. If you like that, then this is for you. If you want to actually smell rose, its not for me. I consider Fougere the best scent.

One thing of note is the container is plastic and significantly lighter, about 5 oz. This is something you can feel. The older containers felt sturdy and had heft. The newer ones just feel ... cheaper. I don't really care about the containers but this might be important to others. Then again if you drop it, it probably won't break.

I bought MDC on a trip to Paris a couple of years ago and I confess I didn't like it all that much. I got the original scent and absolutely loved it -- a very natural and pleasing scent. The problem for me was that the copious lather it made didn't seem slick or protective, and was very drying. I actually got "bad" shaves with it. So I sold it.

Looking back on it, I am afraid I wasn't hydrating the lather enough. Maybe the problem was that the lather explodes so quickly in the brush that if you're not careful it can be a little dry. There is so much love for this soap that I am more than willing to claim that it was user error on my part.

I have a bunch of soaps I love right now. I guess my equivalent of what MDC is for the OP would be SMN. But maybe someday I'll come back to MDC.

 I guess my equivalent of what MDC is for the OP would be SMN.  But maybe someday I'll come back to MDC.

Oh, SMN, IMO is the best of the elite. It's a cut above MdC. When I said MdC was an Every Day Workhorse I meant it in the sense thats its the more mundane of the elites. SMN is better in every way.

My elite soaps are Nuavia (all three), SMN, ADP, Tabula Rasa, and MdC. I think of Martin de Candre as being sort of the most direct and honest of all of them, since it feels like a high-performing soap made from very simple parts. Whenever I go back to it, I'm satisfied (and I really like that Original scent). I agree it's not as moisturizing as something like Nuavia, but it's easy enough to use a balm after. I'd also agree that it's worth loading your usual amount, despite the fact that MdC will lather with less; it performs quite well with a standard healthy load on the brush.

It's worth saying that right after these comes Barrister & Mann, especially in the Glissant formula. Notably, B&M Glissant is up in this tier at a fraction of the price of the others.

Looking back on it, I am afraid I wasn't hydrating the lather enough. Maybe the problem was that the lather explodes so quickly in the brush that if you're not careful it can be a little dry. There is so much love for this soap that I am more than willing to claim that it was user error on my part.

I suppose I should also give it another shot. I did really enjoy the scents of the Original and the Fougere, and I am open to the possibility of my user error.
There is nothing in the ingredients list that should cause me issues.
I'm just so picky these days that if a soap isn't 101% perfect, I think it's terrible. That's how I roll. Ha

I had an absolutely great shave this morning with B&M Latha Original, and I have to say that B&M could be my version of the Every Day product. Black Label, White Label, Latha, I don't think I've ever had a bad shave with it. Need to get a Glissant to round out the Stable!