Moon Soaps

I've had my eye on Moon for a while, TBH in large part because their label art, which speaks to me of impeccable craftsmanship, elegance, and times gone by.  Label art aside, I ran across Moon Soap reviews of Amaretto Speciale and Old School, both very well written by 120inna55.  Stubble Daddy's journal post about Union yesterday also informed me.  It tipped me over the edge too (thank you SD), and I went and bought Union and Sorrento.  

My choices were close between those two and the Amaretto.  I thought two jars was brave enough (or foolish enough, or expensive enough, depending on your viewpoint).  In any case, there were two deciding factors for me, scent and firmness/composition.  The scent descriptions of Union and Sorrento intrigued me the most, although, if you read 120's review, Moon's take on amaretto sounds like what I would call distinctive and tasteful (no pun intended).  As for firmness and composition, the Sorrento has the same formula as Old School, that being the formula with the most tallow.  (There are apparently four formulas; FWIW I have not yet found them all.) In any case, time will tell if the extra tallow yields an extra burst of slickness, a tallow scent, or both.  OTOH the Amaretto - if I gathered correctly - is the softest, and I already have a number of Castle Forbes creams and soft ETHOS soaps that I like very well.  I just didn't feel like another soft soap at the moment.

I have no insights to offer about Moon splashes and balms.  FWIW I've recently decided to concentrate on brand-level post shave products and avoid soap-specific offerings, especially special editions.  The specific offerings can perform well, and they may look very nice in SOTD pictures, but the expense adds up, the den drawers fill up, and I generally use a fragrance when I want a scent anyway.  I will make a few exceptions to this rule, most notably ETHOS products, which work exceptionally well for me, but also a handful of others.  (Spieck, La Toja, Lucky Tiger, and Nivea come to mind.)

To each his own I guess.  Let's hope we're all happy campers at the end of the day.

 

I’ll be watching this thread. I emailed the soap maker twice to ask if I could purchase samples to try to avoid skin irritation but received no replies, not even to tell me go pee up a tree. I’d like to try it but I’m not making full puck purchase because the reviews are just too mixed.

What concerns me about this brand is hearing people are smelling tallow. This is a huge issue for me because for some reason if there is animal to smell in something I’m sensitive to it.

Again I’ll keep my eye on the thread.

Mike - Wow, thank you for the informative post. I had no idea there were different bases.

I can vouch 100% for Union. The scent and performance impressed the heck outta me.

Recently, I’ve had the pleasure of using the latest and greatest bases from GD, DG, Ethos, etc... they were all excellent, elite level soaps... But my early impression is Moon hangs tight with them (and for less $$).

One of the ways I measure a soaps lather quality, is how the lather holds together after 3 or 4 full razor passes (with rinses in-between). By the 4th pass, if it’s a foamy mess, I’m probably not going to keep using it. Yesterday, on the 4th pass with Union, the lather looked just like the first... thick... no air bubbles.. still slick and plenty of cushion. I was happy.

Union is soft, but not as soft as Ethos, GD or DG. I do not smell tallow at all (I definitely do with DG).

Also worth mentioning, I read many old forum posts about how Union had no scent strength... My tub is just fine in regards to scent strength! I’d call it 5/10, and such a nice balance of notes. A wonderful take on “Barbershop”.

I’m going to use it again tomorrow and will post some lather pics in my journal thread.

I've tried the Amaretto (sample from a friend) and the Tobacco Flower. The scents were nice and the lather was good, but the consistency didn't jive with my lathering style. It's basically a cream and impossible to load from the tub, which is what I prefer. So I think Moon Soaps are a quality product that give a great shave, just way too soft for my preference. I didn't notice any base funk FWIW. The Tobacco Flower balm was actually really good and I kind of regret letting it go sometimes. I wouldn't mind having one of the balms again in the future.

Mike - Wow, thank you for the informative post. I had no idea there were different bases.

I can vouch 100% for Union. The scent and performance impressed the heck outta me.

Recently, I’ve had the pleasure of using the latest and greatest bases from GD, DG, Ethos, etc... they were all excellent, elite level soaps... But my early impression is Moon hangs tight with them (and for less $$).

One of the ways I measure a soaps lather quality, is how the lather holds together after 3 or 4 full razor passes (with rinses in-between). By the 4th pass, if it’s a foamy mess, I’m probably not going to keep using it. Yesterday, on the 4th pass with Union, the lather looked just like the first... thick... no air bubbles.. still slick and plenty of cushion. I was happy.

Union is soft, but not as soft as Ethos, GD or DG. I do not smell tallow at all (I definitely do with DG).

Also worth mentioning, I read many old forum posts about how Union had no scent strength... My tub is just fine in regards to scent strength! I’d call it 5/10, and such a nice balance of notes. A wonderful take on “Barbershop”.

I’m going to use it again tomorrow and will post some lather pics in my journal thread.

Thanks very much for the kind words Paul (Stubble Daddy).  TBH I was taken aback or I would have replied sooner.  I certainly feel like I learn much more from others - which includes you of course - than they learn from me. But upon reflection, I suppose most people should feel that way in a well functioning forum like this one.

I bought a set of Havana.  The performance of the soap is good.  Classy tub art. The scent, to my nose, was not up to par, particularly in comparison to other tobacco scents I have in my arsenal.   My reaction was "Meh".  The scent notes:  "Havana is an intoxicatingly fresh and masculine scent mix of Tobacco and Bergamot, with middle notes of Vetiver, Spice, Musk, Warm Vanilla, and Aged Teak wood."  I did not like the Aged Teakwood note.  Nor was the scent strong enough.

The best tobacco scent I have, hands down, is Los Jabones de Joserra Rodrigo de Jerez, fittingly named for the Christopher Columbus crewmember who brought tobacco back to Europe.  Other notable examples of this genre include:  Eufros Tobacco, MacDuffs Trailside Tobacco, WSP Tobacco, and Asylum Old Virginia,

I would place Havana in the category of will not buy again alongside B&M The Full Measure of Man due to its cloying syrup note.

I bought a set of Havana.  The performance of the soap is good.  Classy tub art. The scent, to my nose, was not up to par, particularly in comparison to other tobacco scents I have in my arsenal.   My reaction was "Meh".  The scent notes:  "Havana is an intoxicatingly fresh and masculine scent mix of Tobacco and Bergamot, with middle notes of Vetiver, Spice, Musk, Warm Vanilla, and Aged Teak wood."  I did not like the Aged Teakwood note.  Nor was the scent strong enough.

The best tobacco scent I have, hands down, is Los Jabones de Joserra Rodrigo de Jerez, fittingly named for the Christopher Columbus crewmember who brought tobacco back to Europe.  Other notable examples of this genre include:  Eufros Tobacco, MacDuffs Trailside Tobacco, WSP Tobacco, and Asylum Old Virginia,

I would place [font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Havana in the category of will not buy again alongside B&M The Full Measure of Man, the latter having a cloying syrupy note.[/font]

Nice write up Southsider.  Your preferences and impressions are informative, and I especially enjoyed the historical content about Rodrigo de Jerez.

I bought a set of Havana.  The performance of the soap is good.  Classy tub art. The scent, to my nose, was not up to par, particularly in comparison to other tobacco scents I have in my arsenal.   My reaction was "Meh".  The scent notes:  "Havana is an intoxicatingly fresh and masculine scent mix of Tobacco and Bergamot, with middle notes of Vetiver, Spice, Musk, Warm Vanilla, and Aged Teak wood."  I did not like the Aged Teakwood note.  Nor was the scent strong enough.

The best tobacco scent I have, hands down, is Los Jabones de Joserra Rodrigo de Jerez, fittingly named for the Christopher Columbus crewmember who brought tobacco back to Europe.  Other notable examples of this genre include:  Eufros Tobacco, MacDuffs Trailside Tobacco, WSP Tobacco, and Asylum Old Virginia,

I would place [font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Havana in the category of will not buy again alongside B&M The Full Measure of Man, the latter having a cloying syrupy note.[/font]

I picked up a tub of Havana from Top of the Chain and used it yesterday - my take would echo Southsider above except with less detail on the scent - I got a mild, where have I smelled this before scent off the puck and the lather.  Its not unpleasant just unimpressive.  

I also agree on the B&M - I tried not buying it them read a glowing review so went ahead and bought it - did not like the scent.  I sniffed it every so often for a couple of weeks to see if it would grow on me but no.  Eventually I said, well maybe it smells better in lather so I lathered it up and used it.  It does not smell any better in lather.  Everybody has some misses and Full Measure of Man is a swing and a miss.

Soap makers are in tough these days because of the growth and maturity of the business and the competition.  Its not enough to just make a good soap any more.  It has to be better than other soaps.  If you go back 8 or 10 years there was a handful of top soap makers that were head and shoulders better than what little competition was out there.  If you could get a combination of performance and fragrance that worked for you that was great.  There is still a (bigger) handful of top soap makers but the next tier down is not that far down and for a soap to come out and actually displace one of the top soaps or even just get into a shaver's regular rotation it has to be really good on all fronts.  When I shave with a soap like Moon Havana, I'm sorry but by about the start of the second pass I know that I will not be using that soap ever again.  Its good, but not good enough in my opinion to push out one of my many favourites that are waiting on the shelf. I feel for soap makers today and not just the newcomers but all of them.  B&M for example would quickly sellout virtually everything they made, especially the LEs but I don't think that's happening anymore, even with Hallows.  To be fair, I think production is higher than it was so that's a factor but my point is that soap makers need to compete hard to win the loyalty of shavers.  Its not enough to sell them one soap that gets positive reviews but no repeat sales. The winners will be the innovators that consistently deliver top quality on all fronts at a fair price.  I'm talking about the very small wet shaving enthusiast market here.  If amazon is any indicator there is a large "entry level" market for shaving soap out there and if that's a soap makers target demographic then by all means, go for it.  Those are my thoughts for the day.

I tried Havana soap and balm.  I find the soap to be excellent, it foams right away and is very protective (I have sensitive skin).  the scent is excellent but too dull, light and almost invisible.  Why?  It would have been a perfect soap for me!  Then, the aftershave balm is great and has the addition of menthol so it gives you a fresh feeling and hydrates your skin very well.  The fragrance is a little more persistent but always soft.  In short, a tallow soap that leaves skin supple and hydrated, but with an almost non-existent scent.  I don't know if they wanted to give these light fragrances or in the future they will produce new stronger formulations.  I put it in my favorites anyway.

I love Moon soaps, I only wish they would bring back sorrento, killed my tub last year and it doesnt seem to be coming back.