Pb Gilleán

[Pbgoose]

This soap was not on the agenda but the idea was suggested by my daughter (and a friend of my daughters), being Irish Whiskey and burnt wood. The request was also for a black soap. The name is a play on my daughters friends name and the brief of the soap. Initially I dismissed the idea but then realised I'd be passing up on a good research opportunity (not having used Irish Whiskey previously).

A trip to Dan Murphy's was in order which procured a bottle of Jameson's Black Barrel which was perfect for the job as it is aged in double charred bourbon barrels. Then to work to blend the essential oils and some Manuka Honey to come up with the profile we were looking for. We were very pleased with the resulting scent profile, but as always, it remained to be seen how it would transfer to a shave soap.

I used a variation on the Pb Mirrors and Smoke base with the addition of Powder Activated Carbon for the colour (plus it's skin cleansing properties) and an increased dose of bentonite. Having used PAC previously in Pb Little Black I was happy to use the same dosage for colour knowing that it doesn't produce a black mess in the bathroom but gives a distinct colour to the soap (and lather).

Ingredients: Stearic Acid, Castor Oil, Tallow (Beef), Avocado Oil, Lanolin, Kokum Butter, Shea Butter, Jojoba Oil, Glycerine, Bentonite Clay, PAC, Tussah Silk, KOH, NaOH, Filtered Water (RO), Fragrance.
Fragrance: Irish Whiskey, Manuka Honey. Essential Oils - Cedarwood, Vanilla, Fir Needle, Sandalwood, Frankincense, White Birch, Gurjun Balsam, Tobacco, Clary Sage, Patchouli, Labdanum.

I will test shave it today but too many times lately the test shave is somewhat irrelevant as the soap needs time to settle, so I'll comment on that later.

 

[RustyBlade]

Look forward to this one

 

[Pbgoose]

Test shave was a cracker! Really happy with the soap - lather and scent.
Scent - think P&B Baskerville, Meissner Tremonia Strong and Scottish, Pb Mirrors and Smoke, though Gilleán is much more polite than Strong and Scottish and Mirrors and Smoke. It's spicy and smokey with some nice sweetness off the vanilla, labdanum and honey. The charred whiskey barrel comes through as well. Maybe slightly leathery with notes that evoke age.

 

[Errol]

Clever Dick

 

[SpeedyPC]

Smartarse Clever Dick

FTFY

 

[Holiday]

It's spicy and smokey with some nice sweetness off the vanilla, labdanum and honey. The charred whiskey barrel comes through as well. Maybe slightly leathery with notes that evoke age.

Sounds amazing with many favourite scents and ingredients!

 

[Pbgoose]

Sounds amazing with many favourite scents and ingredients!

Thanks! Funny thing was I wasn't overly enthused about the project when I initially started on it and when my daughter and I worked on the test scent we thought we were on the right track but it wasn't until the test scent had sat for a day or two that we started to get more excited about it. It seems to have transferred to the soap nicely as well. I enjoyed the test shave today with it.
Also interesting was when I caught up with a mate the other day I showed him and his daughter the test scent and asked his daughter did she think it was masculine or feminine. She thought it may have been feminine which was really interesting as it was designed for a bloke. My daughter really likes it and wants to flog the test scent so I had to make a little extra when I made the batch for the soap.
With some projects it takes a while for the soap/scent to grow on you, so it was nice with this project for it to hit the design straight up.