Jerry I answer to you question yes I have and at the time I wrote a review....(bare in mind this is about 6 months ago).
As many of you know I will shortly be writing a review of some great mentholated soaps. When I originally posted this on some forums to find out what mentholated soaps people wanted me to review it wasn't long before John of LA Shaving emailed me and asked if I would like to test out his new shaving soap which contained menthol. John was very generous and sent me a sample in the post all the way from the USA. As this is my first soap from LA Shaving this is only going to be a small review as I have only tried this one example but I would like to share my findings and talk about this very interesting soap!
When this soap arrived it had been mashed up by the postman, it wasn't a pretty site! I managed to save it and get it into a tub for testing. My initial thoughts were that is was quite a soft soap but after a few days it firmed up quite a bit and ended up being a similar consistency of Dapper Dragon Soaps. I am not going to lie and say I liked the scent straight away, it was quite pungent and to my nose, rough around the edges, this changed when it was lathered and I will speak about it shortly.
Before I go any further I want to discuss the most interesting thing about this soap - which is one of the main ingredients - Cabernet Sauvignon, yes! wine! Very little of you will know that I am a big wine lover so this soap intrigued me massively. Cabernet Sauvignon is an extremely popular wine and usually has black current notes and is a full bodied wine, this comes across in the soap scent when lathered as I would describe it as a full bodied and bold scent. Now if only John can make a soap that matches my favourite grape variety - a Zinfandel, particularly those from California.
As mentioned I wasn't a huge fan of the scent of the soap out of the tub. This all changed when lathered and it lost those rough edges and became a smooth and soft scent with a bunch of characteristics and a long finish. The deeper notes of the wine mixed with the new emerging fruitier notes was pleasant to the nose. It is described as being similar to a Sangria and it's not far off. I think John has captured the scent he set out to create. I have added the description from the website for your own reading:
"Beginning with a full bottle of cabernet, we blend a variety of vegetable oils (stearic acid, coconut oil, cocoa butter, and avocado oil), add a healthy dollop of vegetable glycerin and menthol, and scented it with sea buckthorn, rose, lime, bergamot, clary sage, orange, vanilla, jasmine, petitgrain lemon and geranium, for a wonderful almost menthol sangria scent, that makes for a rich and cooling shave."
You can't ask for much more than a good creamy lather. This whipped up really nicely and felt good on the face, It was stable and dependable and had a great shine to it. I felt it wasn't the slickest soap but still a great performer. As for the menthol levels they are subtle but present, it doesn't seem like the menthol is around to freeze your face off, rather give a slight cooling sensation. A nice touch to quite a dark soap and gives it that much needed lift making it a summer/Spring soap rather than a winter soap.
After the shave my face felt great, I will not go as far to say the best but it was close and I could have gotten away without having to use a balm with a slight tightness in the skin. I will add, my face seems to react very well Tallow based soaps and this is not one of those - It came close to being as good. As a veggie soap it performed well, above my expectations and left me feeling good all day.
As a conclusion I would say this is a really nice soap which should be a must buy for veggie soap users but also a good buy for others. Do not judge the scent straight out of tub, lather it up and then have a whiff. I am going to look forward to testing some more of LA Shaving soaps in the future. I like the look of the Eucalyptus, Mint and Vanilla!
Oh and if any of you Californians out there come the UK feel free to bring me a bottle of Cypher Winery's Anarchy wine it's a bottle I have been wanting to try for some time!
I have since tried a number of LAshaving soaps and I particularly like there Lime, Bergamot and Mint it smells like a Mojito...win win in my book
