I've been on somewhat of a tear of soap acquisition recently and purchased some Mike's Natural Orange, Cedarwood & Black Pepper soap. I have some Terre D'Hermes Parfum and was hoping that the pepper of this soap would marry well with the earthy spice of the cologne. I opened the tin of soap and took a big whiff. The scent does not jump out and slap you in the face. It is more subtle than that. The overwhelming scent is orange. Not orange like I can detect a hint of orange, but orange like you cut one open and left it sitting near you on the counter. Then the pepper and cedar come around for a slightly darker more earthy scent. I found it very appealing. I began loading my trusty Parker finest badger brush (which is what I use first on any soap as I am most familiar with it). The soap is not as thirsty as some other artisan brands and very easily loaded into the brush. When I was done loading the brush, it looked like the soap was almost untouched. This tin will probably last 75 shaves. I moved the brush over to my lather bowl and added just a touch of water to the brush to form a dense lather. The lather is not straight creamy as it did have some peaks and was very easy to whip up. I used my Gillette Sheraton as it is one of my most aggressive DEs for my first go 'round with this soap. THe soap went on nice and thick, but because it is not too dense it would not clog up a razor. It is nice and slick with very good cushion. I could see this being a good soap to use with my straights. After a solid DFS 2 pass shave, and rinse, I could still smell the orange citrus from the soap, so I ended up grabbing my got to citrus combo of Fine Italian Citrus and Aqua di Parma. I am a sucker for that combo when I smell orange. Next time I'll try some Fine L'Orange Noir and Terre D'Hermes when I use this soap. Below is a pic from Mike's website so you can see the lather consistency of the soap.
I love that scent. It reminds me of a orange tootsie pop. Mikes is one of my all time favorites. Thanks for the review
