- Joined
- Jun 22, 2016
- Location
- Sydney
Mystic Water - Irish Traveller
There are more than a few soaps in the wet-shaving market that attempt to recreate the classic and indeed archetypical Fougère from Creed, the highly popular and premium priced Green Irish Tweed.
As a brief aside this is the scent that was created for Hollywood actor Cary Grant and has enjoyed high popularity ever since being a very accessible, agreeable and intelligently masculine scent that was arguably created by one of the twentieth centuries greatest perfumers, Pierre Bourdon. I say arguably as there is a lot of conjecture in regards to this issue (perfume forums, google) which I will not explore here.
Ingredients: Ingredients : Tallow, Water, Castor Seed Oil, Glycerin, Potassium Hydroxide, Shea Butter, Avocado Oil, Palm Oil, Fragrance, Sodium Hydroxide, Stearic Acid, Aloe Vera Leaf Juice, Bentonite, Silk.
nb: The 'new' formulation of all of Mystic Water soaps has the addition of citric acid for those with hard water who have had issues making a lather with the soap. I have an older puck myself however this is worth noting.
Feel: Like all of the tallow based Mystic Water soaps, this is a semi soft soap. It is by no means a cream or a croap, however as it is sold as a wrapped puck inside the container the user is required to form it into shape in the bottom of the container. A task I actually really enjoy as it allows me to get the nose of the soap itself.
Performance: This is a good to very good performing soap. While requiring slightly more product than comparable soaps it certainly ticks all the boxes in regard to an artisan product. Despite not having lanolin and having sensitive skin I found the post shave feel to be excellent with excellent hydration and smoothness.
Cushion: With around a 45 second pre-load, or a brazil nuts worth of soap loaded from the puck I made plenty of thick, aerated lather that provided a wonderful quilt of lather full of cushion and enough for 3 passes or a really, really generous 2 pass shave. The soap really stands out in this regard however it requires that the user really understand the soap and come to grips and intuit the composition, chemistry and stages of building the lather.
Glide: The glide in the Mystic Water range is the one area that while being acceptable to good, the absence of lanolin and instead I believe the use of palm oil is an area that some may say just crosses the line. I find it more than acceptable myself, however other soaps do outperform it in this regard.
Scent and Lather: I personally consider this to be the paramount 'reconstruction' of the famous scent from creed, aside from the Creed branded shave soap of course which while having the real perfume in it is a very poor shaving soap.
To describe the scent: At the top we have the lemon and vebena, the middle with the mysterious violent and the base is rounded off with a hint of sandalwood and ambergris.
Mystic Waters has skilfully recreated the subtle nuance of the original and most tellingly has avoided the strong, strident notes of some of the other, more popular recreations of the soap that are on the market of which I own and regularly use.
Owners of the Creed EDT will know exactly what I mean by this, it is a very nuanced and carefully constructed scent with the differentiation between top middle and bass notes expertly delineated.
While I would never claim that Mystic Waters has achieved this level of perfumers skill, Irish Traveller comes almost close in complexity and staying power of the scent post shave. For this alone it is to be commended particularly in light of it's approximation of the original scent.
The lather, if mixed correctly and with due care is superb from all the Mystic Waters range of soaps. It is not overly thirsty but I do note it requires a minute or two longer than most soaps to hit the window of perfection.
The first minute or two of lathering often leave a bubble filled lather leading the shaver to think that too much water has been added. Once you have invested the time in learning the character and nature of the chemistry of this soap, you will come to know you have to keep lathering without the addition of any more water for another minute to be rewarded with an excellent lather with which to shave.
Overall: I wear Creed on occasions, it is a long time favourite scent that I personally deeply enjoy and love. I have explored several shave soaps from different artisans over the years looking for a soap that approximates the scent of the original perfume, as mentioned the shave soap from Creed is furiously expensive at $100 a puck... it smells great, but shaves abysmally.
Mystic Waters has created a fantastic, affordable homage to the original creed at a price point that enables daily or weekly use. Cushion with the soap is excellent and the glide, while adequate could be a little better when compared to other artisans however this does not detract in my mind from the superior, enduring scent that the soap imparts.
One that is in my line-up and will be for years to come.
