I got a tube of this last year for my Birthday and never got to posting a review. Since I'm home for a couple of weeks -maybe months- I finally get the chance, so here goes: The Annemarie Börlind company uses only natural ingredients and they are eco-control-certified. The family business originated in the Schwarzwald (Black Forest) in Germany. Their 'For Men' line consists of: shave cream after shave balm after shave gel revitalizing cream shower gel Their info on the shave cream: Enjoy the naturally refreshing experience of a truly caring shaving cream for an especially gentle wet shave. Carefully selected natural ingredients, such as aloe vera and liquorice root, moisturize and soften the skin, and have soothing and calming effects. PEG-free. Apply to moist face and throat and work to a lather with a shaving brush. Ingredients: aqua (water), potassium stearate, potassium palmitate, potassium cocoate, glycerin, sodium stearate, sodium palmitate, sodium cocoate, cera flava (beeswax), aroma (fragrance), cetyl palmitate, potassium myristate, sodium myristate, limonene, linalool, aloe barbadensis leaf juice, dipotassium glycyrrhizinate, benzyl benzoate, potassium laurate, hexyl cinnamal, sodium silicate, sodium thiosulfate, coumarin, citronellol Price: 10/10 to me (since it was a present! ). Their own (US) webshop states $19.99 for a 75ml/2.53 fl.oz. tube, which seems pretty steep to me. The German website states € 10.50, which equals $ 13.13 today. That is more to my liking! Quality: 9/10. Excellent cream Scent: 9/10. Pleasantly fresh citrus scent Latherability: 9/10. 1 - 2 peas size of cream is plenty for 3-4 passes. It lathers pretty quick and is nice 'n' creamy! Efficacy: 8/10. Slick, not overly cushioning, tends to dry a wee bit Moisturizing properties: 9/10. Aloe vera and liquorice root take care of that Packaging: 9/10 It comes in a tube of quality material. Would I by it? Sure, if it was on offer. There are other creams which are just as great as this one, but for a friendlier price. Plus, for some the fact that it consists of purely natural ingredients may be of importance.
Thanks for the review. But how do I suss up the numbers. What does 9/10 mean? Is there an absolute scale that can be used as a reference or is this a scale based on personal perception?
Thanks for the review - I do have to agree with @rpaduano in that our, mine's a well, review ratings have gotten out of control a bit. Not everything needs to be 8, 9 or 10/10. Maybe we need to either be a bit more critical or always provide a reference rating to a very common soap. As an example; Scent: 9/10. Pleasantly fresh citrus scent Is it really a 9? Is there only one more step to go and then this scent is the ultimate pinnacle of scents? Efficacy: 8/10. Slick, not overly cushioning, tends to dry a wee bit If not overly cushioning and it tends to try is it really only 2 steps from pure, ultimate perfection? NOT harping on you @macaronus - just on our own rating system that I must admit often means nothing to me due to everyone rating everything 8+
These are just personal observations. I could use this soap every day. The scent, lather etc are that good (IMHO). Hence the high rating. If it was so-so, I'd rate it lower. As with most everything concerning shaving it is a YMMV thing. The scent that I like may be a scent you abhor. And vice versa.
I totally agree - it's an YMMV-world I guess what is missing often, and not meaning this review or you in particular!, is a reference point. I think going forward when I review a soap for instance I'll do something like: Scent: [New Soap]: x/xx [Commonly known soap]: x/xx Etc.. So if I was reviewing a new croap called "CIA-Croap" I'd go; CIA-Croap: 6/10 Cella: 8/10 Etc... That way people can think "Oh he really likes Cella..I hate that stuff...so his preferences are way off from my own" - and use that when 'judging' the scores for the new soap. Maybe providing a context to at least a rather large part of the readers can help. I'm not sure
