This review is for one of the entrants for our good pal mantic’s 2013 Scent Off! I was lucky enough to be selected as one of the judges. The first one to be judged in the contest will be from Mystic Water Soap for Men, a soap they call Indian Summer. I’m sure many of you will have seen the overview from all the judges already, but here’s my impressions.

The soap is a newer formulation than ones that I’ve tried from them before (the main difference appearing to be the addition of lanolin), and I think I do like it better. Previously I’d had issues with getting a good balance of glide and thickness out of their soaps, they needed fiddling to get the right balance; that really was not an issue with this soap at all; there was some risk of not having enough water to get a good glide, as looks could be a bit deceiving, but that was easily rectified once I figured out that it needs a tiny splash more after it looked good enough, but some experimentation showed that it wasn’t easy to overshoot the sweet spot. But enough water and a bit of elbow grease and I got a great shave out of it; nice thick cream for a good cushion, plenty of glide, good stability and it left the face feeling great to boot.

Of course, since it’s the scent off, I’m sure you also want to hear about the scent! It’s a nice sweet scent that has a bit of spiciness to it. They were shooting for a scent that brings to mind an Indian summer day in Indiana; here’s what they had to say:

I wanted to combine the scent of freshly cut pumpkin with ginger root, cream and spices that, to me, evokes comfort and warmth as we go into the cooler season. I added Italian saffron for color and subtle fragrance.

I thought it to be quite pleasant, although I’m not entirely sure I get all that much pumpkin from it. The strength was also quite good, starting off with what I’d say is just below a “strong”, with very little fading at all. I also feel it fit well with the theme of the contest.

9/10 Scent Pleasantness

9/10 Scent Strength

9/10 Lather Quality

So, overall, yeah, I’m happy rounding up to a 9/10. That having been said, some of the other judges did have a reaction to the soap, myself being blessed with skin of steel not being amongst them, so if you’re got sensitive skin you might want to stay away from this one.

Cost: Nil, since I’m judging it for mantic’s contest. And it doesn’t look like they’re selling it to the general public. Sorry.

Gear used:

Ingredients: Tallow, Water, Ricinus Communis (Castor) Seed Oil, Glycerin, Potassium Hydroxide, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Fruit, Persea Gratissima (Avocado) Oil, Elaeis Guineensis (Palm) Oil, Sodium Hydroxide, Fragrance, Stearic Acid, Lanolin, Aloe Barbadensis (Aloe Vera) Leaf Juice, Bentonite, Allantoin, Silk, Saffron (Crocus Sativa) Flower Extract.