Thread: Xpec "Original" shaving soap

Welcome to yet another instalment in our SRP soap Robin's fight against boring old English scents. Soap sample as always courtesy of the great people at The Different Scent in Berlin.

If you like Penhaligon and Czech & Speake Aromatics, you might like this soap, because it was designed by Shirley Brody as well. Do not get alarmed by the advertisement ("the new, classic English fragrance, especially aimed at the discerning, cosmopolitan man"), this scent is a manly man scent.

Packaging: Very Web 2.0, including round corners. I am not overly fond of that, as you may have noticed. The jar (or, rather, the "attractive screw-top tub with an air tight lid") is uneventful, and even tackier than Castle Forbes'. But then again, we are talking about a shaving soap jar here, not a piece of art. It does its job, and will fit nicely into the bathroom of a discerning, cosmopolitan man. Real men can hide it behind something more visually appealing.

Texture: Despite the fact that we are looking at a triple milled soap, its texture is more akin to that of a very thick cream. I prefer creams over soaps for efficiency reasons, so this came as a pleasant surprise.

Scent: The scent is composed of 100% essential oils. It contains citrus notes, tuberose, wild thyme, fennel, ginger, pepper, cedarwood and oakmoss. It really is quite powerful, earthy and spicy, with pepper being the predominant note. There are hints of citrus, but not enough to make it effervescent. It is one of the most masculine scents I have ever come across, and it plays most nicely with the rest of Xpec's "Original" line.

Latherability: After yesterday's struggle with Lorenzo Villoresi Firenze "Uomo" shaving soap, Xpec put back the joy into lather building for me. Dipped the tip of the brush into the jar, swirled a number of times, took the brush to the lathering bowl, and started getting wide eyed. Lather. Lots and lots of lather. Then added more water. More lather. This soap soaks up water like there is no tomorrow. Lesson learnt, start from scratch. Brush to jar, a few swirls, back to bowl. Less water. Behold, the Überlather. Thick, creamy meringue that simply refuses to get dry, and stays slick throughout the shave. Perfect.

Cushion: Absolutely top notch, not least courtesy of the thick texture of the lather.

Moisturising: What can one expect from a soap that contains Jojoba oil, rosehip and sweet almond oils? Correct, enough moisturising to make an aftershave superfluous. Stunning performance, and even better than CF's, which should tell you how good this soap really is.

Price: A breathtaking EUR 49 for 150g. But this jar will go a very long way, which has to be factored in. Still, it is an expensive soap. If you are merely looking for a good shaving soap, there are more affordable alternatives, but you will be hard pressed to find one that performs as well as Xpec "Original".

Overall impression: This soap is a keeper, despite its price. The quality of the product, and the amount of work that goes into it, more than justify the price, and Xpec "Original"'s performance puts it into the same league as Castle Forbes (my personal benchmark). The scent may not be for everybody, but then again, I was trying to present unique scents. Try to get a sample if you can, I can guarantee that you will be impressed.

Excellent review Robin.

You identified all the strengths and weaknesses and attacked with the force of a blitzkrieg.

Robin was kind enough to send me a sample of this stuff and I agree with Robin's review out-right. This stuff lathers very well and provides great cushion and is excellently moisturizing. I held off on making any comment on packaging or price as I experienced neither really.

On the scent, I will say that to me the overwhelming top note is real rose but that gives away quickly to an array of other scents. It is not my favorite scent but scent is extremely personal and it was not unpleasant and didn't last past my aftershave Splash.

-Rob

Solid 10s in ALL areas, except we would all like it a little cheaper. This is the best cream I have used and the scent has grown on me so much that I just purchased the EDT.

Mind you, it is not alot better than Pehnaligon's or CF, but what I will say is that it fills in any gaps that the latter 2 have making it perfect in every way and faultless. Every other cream or soap can be improved. Not this.

And you can add any amount of water to this soap (literally) and it will not become Suds, rather it will keep thickening the lather. I dipped the whole brush into the sink for my third pass just to see what would happen to the remaining lather, and then began to face lather. Surely enough, the meringue-like lather reappeared, bold as ever. Most if not all products I have tried would completely dissolve upon attempting this.

I can't believe I've had Xpec this long and haven't reviewed it.
Robin's reviews are always right on target, and I for one, miss them.

Packaging: Plain and Simple, Plastic tub, screw top lid, Plain blue label with the product name, no ingridient list.

Texture: As previously mentioned, Xpec is sold as a Soap, but it's clearly a cream. It's less dense than Castle Forbes, Has a consistency like Caraceni.
I tried swirling my brush around to pick up the cream, and picked up half the tub.

Latherability: Extremely user friendly cream. Not much work requiered. This stuff is nearly impossible to kill with water. I always start with a minimal amount and add as needed. This stuff just seems to eat up water, and keep lathering...

Cushion: Perfect, Awesome, This is probably my favorite cream. A keeper.

Moisturising: Great. Very Moisturising, It also holds up well on your face.

Price: It's on the expensive side, like most high end shave creams, but once you use it, you'll know where the money went. I think this is probably one the most expensive shave creams out there gram for gram or oz for oz....

Comments: This is probably my personal favorite Shave Cream. It has a very masculine fragrance about it, It's almost addictive, The type of cream that you want to keep opening the tub up to smell it, and the type you can't wait to use. It's just an overall joy. I find that personal experiences vary from user to user, especially with fragrances. I like the smell of Xpec, I also like Tabac, TOBS Avacado and Bulgarian Rose Otto. I mention those because I know some folks have mentioned they don't like those fragrances...