My recent trip to the Big Shave East meet-up in Ft. Lauderdale, FL was full of interesting discoveries. One is a shave soap that, I swear to God, smells just like an apple pie that’s just out of the oven!
Hot Apple Pie Shave Soap
The SMG website describes Hot Apple Pie this way:
“This shaving soap will take you back to your grandmothers window sill!
The scent profile for Hot Apple Pie: Green Apples, freshly shaved cinnamon, nutmeg and warm brown sugar. “
And you know what? Whoever blended the scent nailed it.
It really does smell like a apple pie fresh out of the oven. Even my 87 year old mother-in-law took a sniff and said “yep, smells good!”
And the scent is strong, too (not a bad thing in my book). The jar it comes in is intentionally generously-sized a bit so you can fill it with hot water as you prepare for your shave (AKA “blooming”). Or lather this soap in a shaving scuttle. Do it and your shave den may smell like granny’s kitchen on a fall day.
Maybe you could go on a virtual picnic with this and Catie’s Bubbles “Waterlyptus” shave soap. 🙂
Performance
But an incredible scent isn’t much good if the product does not deliver. But SMG Hot Apple Pie does deliver for me. With ingredients like Kokum Butter and Shea Butter (getting more and more common in shave soaps), this soap lathers well in my hard water and provides me with excellent lubrication and cushion.
Ingredients: Water, Stearic Acid, Coconut Oil,Olive Oil, Kokum Butter, Shea Butter, Castor Oil, Potassium Hydroxide, Sodium Hydroxide, Sodium Lactate, Fragrance Oils
Admittedly, some may see this as something not much more than a novelty product. And some have reported a mild reaction to the strength of the scent ingredients (cinnamon can be irritating to the skin).
But for an experience that may be bring back pleasant memories, and get a great shave to boot, SMG’s Hot Apple Pie shave soap is definitely something I’ll be keeping in my shave rotation, particularly in the Fall.
Thank you for the review – Have to try it.
In today’s email, you asked: “What shave cream or soap scents have gone too far for you, even if they perform well?” For me, there is only one that I’ve come across so far–Stirling’s Texas On Fire. Can’t imagine anyone wanting to smell like an ashtray full of cigarette butts. The soap performs as all Stirling do, but that smell!
And on the other end of the spectrum of “soaps that perform well but nailed it”: B&M Diamond. I just close my eyes and I’m on the Little League field once again!
Hmmmm, I guess YMMV really struck a home run here, I love it. Smells like a campfire back in the 60’s, back when I was a Boy Scout at the end of a long hard day of work with mesquite and horseplay.
But to each his own I suppose.
Great review. I think the SMG soaps are a hidden treasure. I have had nothing but good results.
It was good to meet you at the Big Shave East. The one that got me was “Dirt”. It left me wondering “why?”. The number of scents there was a little overwhelming for me.