Initially, I thought this fragrance smelled like a “sexy man,” and for once, I didn’t change my mind. It still smelled like a sexy man out of the bottle and in the soap. I liked this one. As you can see, it’s a little yellow out of the bottle.
As I did with the other seven fragrances, I used a recipe of 45% olive oil, 25% coconut oil, 25% sustainable palm oil, and 5% castor oil in this recipe. I soaped with full water (38%) and a 6% lye discount. The oils and lye water were 95 degrees when I combined them. I blended to a light trace. This picture is a little dark.
After I added the fragrance, I stirred a bit with the spatula, but I saw no signs of ricing. I stick blended a bit. No acceleration or immediate discoloration, as you can see in this picture I took after the fragrance was blended.
I actually blended it a bit past light trace—maybe to a medium trace. Then I poured it into the mold and drew curly designs on the top.
I unmolded and cut the soap the next day. As you may be able to see from the photo, this fragrance does discolor slightly. There is a faint brownish frame around the edges of the soap. I expect the rest of the soap to turn the same shade. It is not the deep brown you get from fragrances with a lot of vanillin, but I am wondering if this fragrance has a little bit of vanillin in it, which might explain both the discoloration and the pattern of discoloration—in my experience, fragrances with vanillin take some time to completely change the color of the soap, and what you often have is this “frame.”
This one smells great. After saponification, the fragrance is still strong, and I’m detecting a fruity note (maybe apple). I would totally buy this one. Two thumbs up!
In an upcoming post, I will recap my reviews, ranking the fragrance in order of my own preference along with any recommendations I can think of. In a few weeks’ time, I will update everyone on how these soaps performed after a good cure.
Thanks again to Bramble Berry for the opportunity to be on the S.O.A.P. Panel. It was a lot of fun!
That sounds like a really intriguing fragrance! I love that adorable little silicone mold too, it's the perfect size – does it hold 1 pound?
Cee recently posted..Coconut Cream Soap
Yep, one pound! I have one of Budd Haffner's 1 1/4-inch cutters, too, which yields three bars with a little piece left over. A 1-inch cutter might yield four bars. It's perfect for test batches. In fact, I bought it for the purpose of S.O.A.P. Panel testing, but I am already seeing other uses. When people commission soaps, for instance, they don't often want to buy a full batch of 9 bars from my three-pound mold, but 3 bars from this one is easier for everyone.
This fragrance does smell pretty good. It's a nice masculine fragrance, but not so much with the woods and water notes you find in other masculine fragrances.
@NESoaps So glad you liked this fragrance =)