So, this is somewhat embarrassing. You see, I gave myself two shaves with this soap, as per usual, and then went to go do the review. I headed over to the Queen Charlotte Soaps website, so I could link to the product I’m reviewing, and found that they’d discontinued the scent (along with one other of the soaps I have from them). So, here it goes, a review for a soap you can’t buy anymore.

From the horse’s own mouth (rescued via google cache):

Monaco opens up with an irresistible blast of juicy citrus and precious neroli. As the scent grows, sweet ylang ylang and floral notes emerge. In time, one can also detect earthy and grassy notes. All of this creates a delicate, yet extremely complex scent.

First off, the lather is rather thin. With a fair bit more effort than I’d expect from most other soaps, I was able to conjure up what I’d consider to be a medium thickness lather. It’ll do the trick if you’re not one of those folks who needs a whole lot of cushion to their shave. It gave a reasonably slick shave.

The scent was fairly pleasant, although I can’t say that I agree with the description above. It certainly didn’t open up with a blast of citrus, if anything the “earthy notes” dominated, with the citrus and florals detectable as an undertone. It all came together in something I’d consider a bit spicy. It’s something that I’d probably use on a day that I feel I need a bit of a pick me up.

Strength-wise, it was fairly easily, but not strongly, detectable during the shave, and did not linger.

7/10 Scent Pleasantness

8/10 Scent Strength

6/10 Lather Quality (reflects new scoring as outlined here)

Overall, I give it a 6/10. It is definitely not recommended if you have hard water, as I anticipate a lot more difficulty working up a good lather. It’s a pretty nice scent, probably not one that would make it into my regular rotation, but I will at least use it on occasion. Until it’s gone, at which point I can’t get anymore because they stopped making it.

Gear used: