Thread: Lorenzo Villoresi Firenze "Uomo" shaving soap

The next instalment in our SRP soap Robin's fight against boring old English scents. Soap sample courtesy of the great people at The Different Scent in Berlin.

As mentioned in my reviews of the Acca Kappa white moss line (cream, foam, aftershave), I am currently looking for scents that are a bit off the beaten track. Now, this Lorenzo Villoresi soap is indeed interesting stuff: "Scented shaving soap, made of pure vegetable paste, pressed by hand. Outcomes of citrus and green. Peppers and Tuscan spices. Woods of sandal of Mysore, oakmoss, patchouli and vetiver Bourbon. Strength in the form of resins, roots, vegetable mousses and Asian balsams." And that's just the beginning...:

• Top Note: Bergamot, Petitgrain, Laurel, Lemon, Orange, Coriander, Lavender, Elemi
• Middle Note: Neroli, Sage, Juniper, Clove, Pepper, Thyme
• Base Note: Vetiver, Sandalwood, Patchouli, Musk, Oakmoss, Cedarwood, Rosemary

Eat this, English Lavender bores...! Speaking of Lavender, upon opening the very nice cardboard box, and the lovingly arranged cellophane cover, I was quite tempted, if only for a moment, to actually taste that soap. Signore Villoresi really knows what he is doing when it comes to scents.

But I digress. Let us see instead what happens when heavenly scent meets Teutonic quality assurance...

Packaging: As mentioned already, it is a cut above. Sleek design; good materials; and I love that silver on blue.

Texture: Very hard soap, but with a silky touch. It somehow feels valuable (even before I looked up the price, but we shall come to that in a moment).

Scent: I am seriously in love. The scent is both classy and classical, not overpowering, but quite distinct. Try obtaining a sample first, though, if you can.

Latherability: Every rose has its thorn. This soap clearly lathers above average, but just not quite as well as it deserves. Mind you, I approached this soap with filtered water, an electric water jug, and three different brushes, as well as my trusted Old Traditional shave mug. The key to success, as I later found out, lies in using next to no water, and many swirls on top of the soap, using a brush that has stiff bristles (best results obtained with my bottom line Mühle) kept in a three finger grip (thanks a bunch to TonyJ for Making basic soap lather - Straight Razor Place Wiki). Long (more than half an hour) story short, it will lather up, and quite well so: thick and creamy, but unfortunately also with a tendency to dry up faster than I personally liked it.

Cushion: Once the lather is there, the cushion is actually good. Not top notch, but more than sufficient.

Moisturising: Excellent. I did a two pass shave (to give my skin a chance of recovering from last night's attempt at shaving with the Villoresi lather from hell), and did not need an aftershave. A nice soigné effect.

Price: A whopping EUR 18-24 for 100g. But the soap seems to deliver well, and the ingredients, and the craftsmanship do justify the price in my opinion. This soap looks and feels like a luxury item. If you are simply looking for a good shaving soap, there are more affordable alternatives.

Overall impression: If the soap lathered as well as it smells, I would be hooked. As it is, I would recommend it as a nice complementary item to the rest of the Villoresi Uomo line.