Shaving Product Review - Mickey Lee Soapworks "Jūraté"
After unseasonably high temperatures, fall is back - and new in the den is the latest from Mickey Lee Soapworks - Jūraté #soap and #aftershave combo!
As I mentioned back near the begging of October, there were a bunch of Mickey Lee Soapworks releases coming and the headliner was Jūraté - their fall seasonal. I ordered it on October 29th pronto and receive it yesterday, November 3rd... Along with three friends (see second photo) - nicknamed the "one of everything package." Jūraté is described as having notes of amber, cedar, sandalwood, hay, along with hints of rum and cinnamon. Let's see how that pans out.
Jūraté, (pronounced ur-AH-te) is the goddess of the Baltic Sea. She fell in love with a young fisherman, Kastytis. When the goddess and her lover were eventually united in Jūratė’s amber castle at the bottom of the sea, the angry Thunder God struck them, almost killing the fisherman and destroying the castle. It is said that she remains chained to the ruins of her castle and that her tears turn to amber lamenting her lost love. On stormy days, bits of amber still wash up along the shore...
The scent of Jūraté is interesting. Straight out of the tub or bottle, it's quite alcoholic - especially in the latter, obviously - but the rum stands out most. While it mellows out during lathering or dry down, it remains at the forefront. The combination of cedar, sandalwood and hay definitely give it a woodsy accord, but it's not sharp. The amber and cedar are what's interesting though... My first reaction (after the rum) was that Jūraté reminds me a lot of Souq as it has that same sort of vibe going on. The difference is that Souq comes alive with spiciness; Jūraté remains fairly steady, though the amber and cedar comes through a bit more and I think it's the cinnamon that draws parallels for me. I was definitely hoping for a more autumnal accord (like L&L Grooming Darkfall which I think will be the breakaway hit this season) and I hate to say it - but if I had to choose between the two I'd go with Souq. While similar, it just has more depth and both warmth and spice. I do like it, but I'll have to use Jūraté a few more times to get to know it better, so I'm on the fence about this one right now.
I won't talk too much about the performance; it's typical of #mickeyleesoaps and I've reviewed it several times already. Just some quick notes... At $16 for a 4oz. tub it's a rather good value. The soap produces copious amounts of somewhat billowy lather with very good cushion and glide as well as residual slickness. It's not a dense, creamy sort of lather though if you cut back on the water a bit it's less billowy. That also reduces the slickness a bit though. The lather isn't too much unlike that of K Shave Worx soaps, but with an edge on that very slickness. Looking at the ingredients, you can see a few reasons for it, as well as why the face feel is very good as well:
Stearic acid, tallow, coconut milk, aloe vera juice, coconut oil, potassium hydroxide, kokum butter, sodium hydroxide, castor oil, vegetable glycerin, lanolin, shea butter, avocado oil, fragrance and essential oils
The aftershave is a great performer with excellent value at $16 for 100ml. The scent strength is a solid medium and the duration most of the day. The resulting face feel is closer to that of the dry feeling and low tackiness variety - rather than the more intensely moisturizing, balmy types; but not completely. This makes it a great candidate during the hotter, more humid months of the year. At any rate, the face feel is quite supple and nourished feeling as the ingredients are above the price point:
Denatured alcohol tincture(witch hazel, marshmallow root, horsetail grass, calendula, chamomile, lavender, burdock root), distilled water, aloe vera, isopropyl myristate, fragrance, panthenol and sodium lactate
Hardware today consisted of the #Merkur #Futur using the same #PolSilver from earlier in the week on shave four and the razor set to "2" for a nice, close shave. The lathering fell to the #BSB Shaving Brush which did the soap justice in the #GTP scuttle.
The new labels of MLS (which are now professionally printed and waterproof) fit the tubs perfectly and look great on the signature frosted bottles. Packaging and branding is clean and consistent. The software itself is a really good value at $32 for the combo, given the performance. It handily beats similar offerings from PAA coming in at $8 more - and K Shave Worx at $3 less - which is no surprise, given the ingredients. I'd definitely recommend Mickey Lee Soapworks to those curious.