Crabtree & Evelyn West Indian Limes

Zot! · Post by **Zot!** » Fri Dec 21, 2012 4:12 pm

I stopped by a C&E store and noticed they have West Indian Limes in shave soap and shave cream now to match their cologne/aftershave. http://www.crabtree-evelyn.com/eng/cate ... ndian-lime

Steve · Post by **Steve** » Fri Dec 21, 2012 4:25 pm

How does it smell?

Steve

Zot! · Post by **Zot!** » Sat Dec 22, 2012 6:21 am

I am not very good with scents. The lime is there and there is a cologne background. The cologne background lasts after the lime fades. Maybe someone else will give their impression. My skin doesn't particularly like lime in shavecreams or aftershaves but I like the scent and so maybe I will try the cologne.

Squire · Post by **Squire** » Sat Dec 22, 2012 7:25 pm

The shaving cream does look interesting, I suppose that key comes with the box?

Zot! · Post by **Zot!** » Sun Dec 23, 2012 8:27 am

The key does come with the C&E creams in a tube. The tubes are metal. I don't always use them, except for the very end of the tube's life. They also are a good tool to scoop out cream from tubs.

GregPQ · Post by **GregPQ** » Sun Dec 23, 2012 8:50 am

I've been trying to use up creams and have the Nomad (tube) in frequent rotation. I had forgotten how thick and creamy it is. I like its metal tubing better than the plastic in some other brands.

C&E is one of the few easy-to-find brick and mortar stores around here. They also sell through other boutiques. It's nice to purchase in person every once in a while.

I may have to try the Limes...

Cheers,
Greg

AxelH · Post by **AxelH** » Fri Jan 11, 2013 9:33 am

Does not lather worth crap. If you like lather avoid this product. It is like Williams mug soap and Cyril L. Salter's cream in that it leaves a slippery film that clings tenaciously to the skin. The only virtue of it being that it is harder to lose too much lubricant during the shave, but still a pain to wash off adequately during the final rinse.

The new West Indian Lime is a different formulation. If you like lather avoid this product.

Crag · Post by **Crag** » Fri Jan 11, 2013 11:13 am

AxelH - I actually have good results with both Salters and C&E Limes...I have great results...my lather lasts and lasts...the turn off for me is the scent on the West Indian Limes...to pungent for me. I can also make a very decent lather with Williams, so perhaps it's my water, even though it is hard as diamonds...

AxelH · Post by **AxelH** » Sun Jan 13, 2013 12:38 pm

I have had the Williams' lather collapse many times, and adjusted the water content and a few times found a sweet spot for an enduring lather. My Salter's cream makes a good lather every time. What I'm saying is the C&E Limes leaves a tenacious layer of slick on the skin which is more of a chore to rinse off at the end of the shave. It's strength is there is less chance of irritation for people who make many swipes on the same patch of skin.

The Limes makes a sucky lather. I've experimented with it quite a bit, not just for a few shaves. I've had better lather from Williams mug soap than with this stuff.

Post by **drmoss_ca** » Sun Feb 03, 2013 9:24 am

Yesterday my wife gave me a puck of C&E West Indian Limes shaving soap which she had noticed in an airport. I placed it in the wooden bowl that had contained the Classic Shaving Wool Fat Nightmare and tried it out.

It made lots of large-bubble lather which disappeared shortly after brushing it onto my face. I rinsed it off and tried again with much less water in the brush but got the same result. I wondered if it was something in the wooden bowl so I washed out the bowl thoroughly and then obviated that possibility by holding the puck in my hand while I lathered it. Same again. Total rubbish. I rinsed my face again and made perfectly good lather with some Harris Lavender.

I don't know what C&E have done with this soap, but you should avoid it unless you enjoy using $20 soaps in the bath. It had no discernible scent, so one can't condemn or praise it on those grounds. As shaving soap it is s**t.

Chris

Nitrox · Post by **Nitrox** » Sun Feb 03, 2013 5:08 pm

drmoss_ca wrote:Yesterday my wife gave me a puck of C&E West Indian Limes shaving soap which she had noticed in an airport. I placed it in the wooden bowl that had contained the Classic Shaving Wool Fat Nightmare and tried it out.

It made lots of large-bubble lather which disappeared shortly after brushing it onto my face. I rinsed it off and tried again with much less water in the brush but got the same result. I wondered if it was something in the wooden bowl so I washed out the bowl thoroughly and then obviated that possibility by holding the puck in my hand while I lathered it. Same again. Total rubbish. I rinsed my face again and made perfectly good lather with some Harris Lavender.

I don't know what C&E have done with this soap, but you should avoid it unless you enjoy using $20 soaps in the bath. It had no discernible scent, so one can't condemn or praise it on those grounds. As shaving soap it is s**t.

Chris

Darn, I hope the other C&E scents haven't been reformulated once again. The Nomad, Sienna and Sandalwood soaps give me outstanding lather and performance and I have no gripes with any of them. I haven't tried this Lime soap but I do have the cologne and like the scent very much.

bernards66 · Post by **bernards66** » Mon Feb 04, 2013 10:20 pm

Chris, Well, that's that I guess. Your post is depressing, not because I personally have used the C&E soaps in ages, but because of it's more general implications. Is this stuff made in the UK? I ask because your description sounds much like some of our experiances with the re-introduced Floris No 89 soap a couple of years back, and what some have said about the current T&H shave soap....the same useless, bubbly, disappearing lather, a totally hopeless shave soap. I'm holding my breath praying that Trumpers and D R Harris's are not mad enough ( or greedy enough ) to employ whatever clueless company is actually making this wretched stuff.
Regards,
Gordon

ThePossum · Post by **ThePossum** » Tue Feb 05, 2013 4:19 am

Couple things here. I have a tube of the Indian Limes cream. Nice cream and it works just as well as my other C&E creams, great lather, scent is a bit strong but I like it.

Now about C&E soaps. Bought at puck of C&E Nomad soap last fall. Have only used it a couple times but found it to work just fine as well. Or at least I think it did. Since I prefer creams I have not used a soap in over a month.

Think I will spend the next few days shaving with my soaps to reacquaint myself with them and how the perform. Will get back about the C&E soap perhaps tomorrow or Thursday.

jww · Post by **jww** » Tue Feb 05, 2013 8:58 am

Following this thread, I am glad I still have one C&E soap that is pre-formulation and admit to now thinking I will be wise and not invest in the new formulation products.

Why do these companies that have a good thing going always insist on changing for the sake of change???? If it weren't for Cella and my humble dwindling cake of Tipo Morbido, I'd still be searching for a replacement for the C&E Sweet Almond Oil cream that was my favourite lathering product for quite some time --- but then I found MWF, and you all know my feelings for that product.

ThePossum · Post by **ThePossum** » Wed Feb 06, 2013 3:40 am

jww wrote:Following this thread, I am glad I still have one C&E soap that is pre-formulation and admit to now thinking I will be wise and not invest in the new formulation products.

Why do these companies that have a good thing going always insist on changing for the sake of change???? If it weren't for Cella and my humble dwindling cake of Tipo Morbido, I'd still be searching for a replacement for the C&E Sweet Almond Oil cream that was my favourite lathering product for quite some time --- but then I found MWF, and you all know my feelings for that product.

Wendell,

I bought at puck of the C&E Nomad soap last fall. Only C&E shave soap I have ever tried. Seems to lather and shave well for me. But gonna give it a try in the next few day. To gauge how well it works I am going to get away from my rotation and do a shave with MWF and then the Nomad to see how they compare side by side.

As for the C&E SAO cream. That is my favorite Cream as well. Wish I would have grabbed up a few more tubs of it just before it went out of production. My local store had like 5 of them in stock and all I did was buy one. Fortunately I have been able to grab a couple tubs and a few tubes of the stuff in the last year or so. Of course I had to pay premium prices but at least I have enough to last me quite awhile. Hope you can find some.

jww · Post by **jww** » Wed Feb 06, 2013 7:09 am

Bryce -- as an aside, likin' the new avatar.

Onslow - the classic lay-about-louse. I was saddened when Geoffrey Hughes passed away last year. Oh for the days of Corrie, when life was simple, and Stanley Ogden and Eddie Yeats were cleaning windows.

I hear what you say about heavily scented soaps like Tabac. I really like the results I get with Tabac and C&E Sienna, but I can't shave daily with either of them --- so I tend to save them for days when I have missed a couple of shaves (Saturday evening or Sunday morning tend to be such points in time for me). I have stopped searching for C&E SOA -- I really do find Cella to be an excellent replacement for it.

Never going back again ......

Post by **drmoss_ca** » Wed Feb 06, 2013 3:35 pm

bernards66 wrote:Chris, Well, that's that I guess. Your post is depressing, not because I personally have used the C&E soaps in ages, but because of it's more general implications. Is this stuff made in the UK? I ask because your description sounds much like some of our experiances with the re-introduced Floris No 89 soap a couple of years back, and what some have said about the current T&H shave soap....the same useless, bubbly, disappearing lather, a totally hopeless shave soap. I'm holding my breath praying that Trumpers and D R Harris's are not mad enough ( or greedy enough ) to employ whatever clueless company is actually making this wretched stuff.
Regards,
Gordon

Sorry to depress, but the box plainly states "Made in Great Britain" (which means we blame it all on the inhabitants of Scotland or Wales if so minded, which I am not as it is plainly unlikely - surely no Celt would be so dishonest.* It is total rubbish and I'm ashamed to have been born on the same island as this crap. Quote me in court should you have the chance.

Chris
*I know about the fabled Taffy, but I still hope, as all liberal-minded types should, that he was an exception to his nasty, evil, short, dark, hairy and dishonest race. Mynd ar goll!

owenm · Post by **owenm** » Wed Feb 06, 2013 3:56 pm

drmoss_ca wrote: *I know about the fabled Taffy, but I still hope, as all liberal-minded types should, that he was an exception to his nasty, evil, short, dark, hairy and dishonest race. Mynd ar goll!

Taffy found SMF and is no longer hairy. To the casual observer, at least.

bernards66 · Post by **bernards66** » Wed Feb 06, 2013 10:18 pm

Chris, Okay...wonderful...sigh. So C&E have apparently gone to the same hapless charlatan of a soap maker that Floris employeed to produce that disasterous No 89 soap. It's ridiculous. How do firms like these expect to sell such junk ( and at high prices to boot ) to anyone who has EVER made shave lather with a decent product?
Regards,
Gordon

jww · Post by **jww** » Thu Feb 07, 2013 7:43 am

What disappointment. On the other hand, there's still good quality British soap available from DR Harris and TOBS -- which makes me very happy.