Product Review: Queen Charlotte Rice Flower & Shea Shaving Soap

Some of you may recognise this from my last post, and I was really excited to try it out when it arrived. 

I picked this scent based on one of the scents of the Queen Charlotte bath soaps and really had no idea what it would smell like until it arrived. When I opened the tub a faint and light smell hit me. Not nearly as strong as I would have guessed, like a very delicate fresh floral scent which I guess is the rice flower' though on the website it says it's a mixture of lily and hyacinth which I can definitely see. It's slightly similar to light baby powder. 
The first time I lathered it up I actually smiled as the scent really exploded. People talk about this happening a lot but I had never had it happen to such an extreme before. I could properly smell the notes in it and it was lovely and strong but not overpowering. It's not sweet at all though and not a heavy must either. It lathered easily and thickly and provided good cushion. As with all of my Queen Charlotte soaps, I constantly find these to be top performers. They take literally no effort to get a great lather from and the scents aren't synthetic at all. 
I took a photo of the lather is gives, though I'm not used to bowl lathering as I tend to lather on skin. None the less I call this one the "Jimmy Neutron". See if you can spot the difference!

- BE

Queen Charlotte Custom Soaps Arrived!

Hi everyone! Sorry this entry is so long but I wanted to give credit where it's due. Let me start by saying I get no discount from this vendor nor am I any connection to them at all. This is my independent opinion. This goes for all products I review on my blog and I will always say if I get anything free to review (hasn't happened yet but here's hoping!).
I was in bad need of some retail therapy lately so I figured I would treat myself to something I have always wanted - a nice Strawberry scented shaving soap. Now I LOVE my Key Lime Queen Charlotte shaving soap and, having tried many soaps and creams, I simply can't deny that these soaps are the best for me. I tried for a long time to give others a fair chance and to have several favourites, but you know what? I can't. His products just rock. I've tried Truefitt & Hill, Taylors of Old Bond Street, Cella, Monsavon, Tallow Palmolive, Mama Bears, Gentlemen's Best, Cremo etc. and QC stands above them all in terms of scents and lather for me. I'm not saying the others aren't great soaps though, don't get me wrong, but these tick all the right boxes on my list.


The owner of Queen Charlotte Soaps is an amazing guy called Matthew. He and I sent many e-mails back and forth and I have to give HUGE kudos to him for being so great and patient in helping me create the perfect custom shaving soaps. I decided to get a few as the shipping is quite expensive (yeah... that's it... shipping...) and in the end I settled on an Orange EO soap, a Strawberry FO soap, and a Rice Flower and Shea FO soap. I also picked up three of his bath soaps and he was kind enough to to put in two samples for me too - Rose and Vostok (free of charge with a free soap dish too as I had a large order!). 
They arrived this week (SUPER fast shipping to Ireland) and here's the haul:

And these tubs are HUGE (5 oz.). He really fills them right to the brim:

And the best part is, because he already had the fragrances there was no extra cost! Just the same price as the soaps on his website. So I'd urge any of you out there looking to get a scent you can't find elsewhere to have a chat to Matthew about this as he has tons more than the ones he has advertised on his site!

So of course I had to give it a whirl so I opened up the Orange one yesterday and tried it out. I actually started smiling when the wafts of orange scent rose up as I lathered and it was as easy as ever to get a nice thick, slick lather. I leg-lather in the shower so couldn't take pictures of that (!) but I whipped up a batch in a bowl today to share some pictures with you guys. I haven't bowl lathered in a long time so there are some tiny bubbles there but you get a good idea of the quality of this soap. Here's what we in the shaving world call lather-porn:

I'll be reviewing these soaps on here in due course and will go into more detail about the scents etc. It'll be hard not to just stick with them all the time I'm sure! Now I just have to stop myself thinking of other great scents I'd like. What? Me? A problem? Never!


- BE

Shave Of The Week - 4th Oct '10

It's that time again... (though I'm a day late - sorry guys, I had a guest over for the weekend! ... I say this as if you would even notice!)...
It's my Shave Of The Week just gone - Hurrah!
Here's the set up:

• Badger Brush
• Shark Blades
• Queen Charlotte Key Lime Soap
• Champagne Lady Gillette Razor

You might recognize the blades and the soap from my "80 Shaves" post last week. 

I had tried the blades before and liked them and was keen to try the soap based on some great reviews I had heard, and I have to say the hype is very much justified.

I own quite a few shaving creams and soaps and I can see this one very quickly becoming one of my favourites. The scent is lovely and fresh and not too sickly sweet or overbearing. A perfect lime scent in my opinion. It's packed full of good ingredients like tallow, olive oil, glycerin, kaolin clay so it produces tons of very slick rich lather very easily and the scent just bursts out. Very moisturizing and protecting and gives great slickness and is also paraben free which is always a good thing. I would even say it is probably the easiest thing I have ever lathered (more so than Arko, Cella or LaToja). 

This soap is handmade by a member on B&B and as I like to support independent shops (though I must mention I have zero affiliation to the seller) here is a link to his website: http://www.queencharlottesoaps.com/ - give it a look!

The blades were good and gave a comfortable shave, though I'll have to try them when I have a little more time. My shaves this week were a bit rushed due to having a test to study for, and a guest visiting, but even while rushing I got no irritation and only two tiny nicks due to my own carelessness.

The brush was great as always and stood up well to one bad fall into the bath (did I mention that the soap gives lots of slippy lather as well as me being a butterfingers?!?).

As for the razor... she's my pet. I love her so and she was the first DE (double edge) razor I owned. I love the colour of her and she's the perfect level of aggressiveness for me. I can use her as fast now as I ever could my old cartridge monster of a thing, though I like to take my time and enjoy my shave now.

So there you have it. I have yet to pick my set up for this week but it'll be tough moving away from Queen Charlotte having only just gotten acquainted with her majesty. Maybe using a straight again will ease the separation anxiety!

- BE

Product Review: Truefitt & Hill Almond Shaving Cream

I was doing a bit of a den clean out recently and was hoping to sell off some soaps and creams than I had gotten but wasn't too fond of. In general there was nothing wrong with the performance (in fact some top names like Taylor's Of Old Bond Street, European Palmolive, and the above were in the lot) but the scents just weren't for me. Anyway, the lot never got sold so I figured I would give this cream a shot before I give it away or put it back into storage.

Armed with my trusty Gem GBar SE Razor loaded with a blade from a group buy on Badger And Blade I brought this tub into the bathroom to give it a whirl.

Obviously I'm not keen on the scent. It was my reason for wanting to sell it in the first place. It's sweet and very marzipan-ish and just does nothing for me. So for once it was a plus that the scent neither got stronger (to my nose) when I lathered nor did it stay on my skin. In terms of lather though this stuff is fantastic. I gave my brush a little dab and twist into the tub and lathered on my skin and it produced tons of lather without the "good stuff" getting stuck in the knot as can happen sometimes. Very think, foamy rich lather with plenty of slickness and cushion to it. It lathers very easily too with little work involved, and while it was thick, it wasn't dry as some lathers can be. A good smooth shave and nicely moisturizing and I would be curious to try  their Limes one but am in no rush as my Queen Charlotte Lime Shaving Soap that I reviewed here is still my number one thing to use. Now back into the drawer it goes!

- BE

Around The World In 80 Shaves!

It was my birthday recently and during the week I received a package in the post from my friend John in Ohio.
I could not believe my eyes when I opened it! :

An amazing selection of shaving items with an "around the world" theme and a fantastically sweet card!

Apologies for the poor quality photo, it contains:

Australia & New Zealand - Palmolive cream and shave stick 

France - L'Occtitane CADE soap

Germany - Wilkinson DoubleEdge blades 

Russia - Gillette 7 O'Clock blades (one of my favourites!)

India - Godrey soap

Egypt - Shark blades (another fav!)

America - Queen Charlotte Soaps Key Lime shaving soap.

I'm very excited to try the key lime soap as it's made by a BadgerandBlade member 'mretzloff' ( mretzloff on B&B ) and I've been reading really good reviews about it. Also it smells fantastic and contains tallow which pretty much guarantees I'll love it!

Ah... if only every day could be my birthday!

Champagne & Strawberries Celebratory Shave

WOO-HOO!
I finished up college and I am now a trained and qualified barber! I move back to Dublin at the end of the most and the tough search for a barbering job begins. I really, really hope I can get something very soon. I'll also be taking a short course in hot towel shaving so I'm looking forward to that a lot! I had my final assessment on Thursday and I passed it with a distinction which is GREAT as my tutors and the external City & Guilds examiner were really putting me under the microscope. I thought I would be incredibly nervous, and I was waiting around and setting up, but once I started to wash Michael's hair I relaxed and let my training take over and I have to say I gave him the best haircut I've given him to date - and he has pretty tricky hair (receding hairline, very square neckline with all the hair growing to the left there, double crown, wiry sideburns, side parting with a large wave on top... ). My tutor even said she couldn't have done a better job herself so I was very cuffed. 


I didn't have much time to celebrate as I finished up at about 1pm and was due in work for 5pm that night. I went home and relaxed and yes, I even had a celebratory shave! I had yet to try my custom made Queen Charlotte Strawberry Shaving Cream so I though I'd open it up. Now the whole idea for this custom scent had come from an idea I had had a long time ago when I wanted to have a "Champagne and Strawberry" themed shave combining my Champagne Lady Gillette DE razor and a strawberry soap or cream. So I figured what better time to finally give this combo a whirl?

(the rose is from my boyfriend...nawww)

I used my favourite brush (PenWork's Pine Wood Handle Badger Brush), My Champagne Lady Gillette, My custom Strawberry Soap, and a medical Personna DE blade. It was a really nice shave. I won't go into too much of a review here as I've talked about these products and companies before. The blade I had never used before and found it really great. Nice and mild in my LadyG and seemed to just glide over my skin. Not too sharp and never caught or dulled. The lather was lovely and thick, I would have liked the scent to be a bit stronger but you can't get Strawberry EO so it's a FO scent. Still nice though.

I think I'll have to treat myself to this little taste of luxury more often!

-BE