Review: London Oatcake soap

[Shaverrific666]

Nice in Depth review there @Mr_Smartepants much appreciated!

 

[Mr Bigmem]

Excellent detailed review. I now know the correct water balance as
first try with the Almond cream did break down quite quickly. There is a new limited edition soap called Abyss with the scent of the deep dark ocean. Same tin size and price point.

I have Abyss and its an aniseed blackjack sweet and aquatic type scent to me. The aniseed is actually the fennel coming hard though out the tin and in the lather. I do get the other notes but if that type of scent offends you, be warned. Its not a normal aquatic scent. At the base under the Fennel / Aniseed I get a Luna Rossa by Prada vibe. I prefer the driftwood but Abyss is not that bad. I could even say its a play on bayrum

 

[Dr Watson]

I have Abyss and its an aniseed blackjack sweet and aquatic type scent to me. The aniseed is actually the fennel coming hard though out the tin and in the lather. I do get the other notes but if that type me price scent offends you be warned. Its not a normal aquatic scent. At the base under the Fennel / Aniseed I get a Luna Rossa by Prada vibe. I prefer the driftwood but Abyss is not that bad. I could even say its a play on bayrum

Sounds remarkably similar to L'Eau Bleue d'Issey!

 

[Mr Bigmem]

Sounds remarkably similar to L'Eau Bleue d'Issey!

Hmmmm not smelt that but on looking at fragrantica it looks more herbal than fennel/aniseed. Trust me you'll get if blackjack reference if you used to eat them as a child. Lol

 

[georgesg]

Well, fortunately or unfortunately I just acquired a couple of the soaps. Thanks for the review and impressions; they will be helpful when I give them a try.

 

[Mr Bigmem]

Well, fortunately or unfortunately I just acquired a couple of the soaps. Thanks for the review and impressions; they will be helpful when I give them a try.

Load like you hate it and test the lather after incrementally adding small amounts of water. Don't rely on sight you'll need to feel this in your hands or face till you get your understanding of this soap.

 

[georgesg]

Load like you hate it and test the lather after incrementally adding small amounts of water. Don't rely on sight you'll need to feel this in your hands or face till you get your understanding of this soap.

Thanks.. I’ll give it a try.

 

[Stonec0ld]

Great review Erik. It’s certainly helped me to make my mind up about this soap. [emoji846]


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You getting some then Andy?

I was going to move on my Overgrowth after Xmas

 

[ajc347]

You getting some then Andy?

I was going to move on my Overgrowth after Xmas

If anything Paul, it's made my mind up not to try the soap. I have far too much soap hanging around already and, as I tend to Uber Lather these days, sticking to basic scent profiles works better for me.

 

[Mr_Smartepants]

FYI, Edward sent me a small sample of his newly-revised formula and I'll be using it exclusively until it's gone and update my review with the new info.
Watch this space...

 

[Mr Bigmem]

FYI, Edward sent me a small sample of his newly-revised formula and I'll be using it exclusively until it's gone and update my review with the new info.
Watch this space...

When will the new formula be released?

 

[Mr_Smartepants]

When will the new formula be released?

I think it may already be in production now. He also mentioned he sourced wider tins.

 

[Mr_Smartepants]

I got about 7 solid shaves from the sample (between testing), enough to form a good opinion of the changes.
Edward told me that this new formula is already in production and available for sale from his Etsy page. He's also taken onboard our comments about the tin size and soap quantity and increased the soap volume to 100g.

The slickness is really improved with this new formula from the last batch. Post-shave is just as great as before which I'm glad.
However, the lather just looks different from other soaps, something that I just can't explain. I'd get the lather to a dense and glossy point, and then during the first pass the lather in the bowl would lose the glossy sheen and turn matte. Maybe it's my East-Anglia hard water.
The only way I could get a relatively stable lather was to load the brush really heavily (far beyond what I would use comfortably) which would widen the water content sweet-spot enough to help stabilize it.
Overall, I got really good shaves from this new formula. It's a bold step in the right direction.

 

[Mr Bigmem]

I got about 7 solid shaves from the sample (between testing), enough to form a good opinion of the changes.
Edward told me that this new formula is already in production and available for sale from his Etsy page. He's also taken onboard our comments about the tin size and soap quantity and increased the soap volume to 100g.

The slickness is really improved with this new formula from the last batch. Post-shave is just as great as before which I'm glad.
However, the lather just looks different from other soaps, something that I just can't explain. I'd get the lather to a dense and glossy point, and then during the first pass the lather in the bowl would lose the glossy sheen and turn matte. Maybe it's my East-Anglia hard water.
The only way I could get a relatively stable lather was to load the brush really heavily (far beyond what I would use comfortably) which would widen the water content sweet-spot enough to help stabilize it.
Overall, I got really good shaves from this new formula. It's a bold step in the right direction.

Its the lack of coconut oil or similar like babassu oil. Those two oils will give you lots of bubbles which would then be stabllised by an oil like carstor.

 

[Mr_Smartepants]

I'm not a soap maker, so I wouldn't speculate on what ingredients do/don't work. I do know that anecdotally my skin likes tallow soaps and soaps that have babassu oil. Soaps that start their ingredients with stearic acid or coconut oil typically don't work for me.