Shaving Product Review - Mickey Lee Soapworks "Lu'au"

Value (Cost, Packaging and Performance)

Lather (Density, Glide and Feel)

Post-shave (Healing, Moisture and Feel)

Scent (Quality, Strength and Longevity)

Aloha! Enjoy a fine summer day on the big island with Mickey Lee Soapworks Lu'au #soap and #aftershave!

Bring on the fruity drinks with little umbrellas, flowered leis, and summer! This fragrance is an homage to a getaway on the islands. Fruity, floral, tropical... Everything that makes for a good time.

I've no shortage of #mickeyleesoaps reviews here on the site, certainly. So performance wise I won't add anything new here today. Let's talk about the providence and scent of this offering instead. First, it's a limited edition (130 produced) for the Reddit sub-reddit of /r/Wetshaving - announced there on July 3, and sold through the Mickey Lee Soapworks site exclusively. The pre-order ran for two weeks, until July 17 and finally shipped at the beginning of August, 2017. The soap and aftershave were $16 USD each, or $30 for both.

Lu'au is definitely fruity and floral. Officially, it has notes of passion fruit, coconut, ginger, rose, and lime with a touch of sandalwood and patchouli. This is actually my third passion fruit piece of software... The first being Barrister and Mann Passiflora and the second being Barrister's Reserve Soapmakers of Awesometown and I have to tell you, it never gets old.

This take on passion fruit is unique enough unto itself. There's no missing this pungent note, but it's supported by more subtle hints of coconut and lime. While these are clearly at the top, lurking below is the more floral rose, adding additional sweetness... And it's definitely sweet, riding the fine line of being cloying. What pulls it back is the twang of ginger. On dry down, the sandalwood and patchouli take root and become more defined, but the top notes linger for quite a while with them. More so the sandalwood, but you can definitely sniff out the patchouli. It's bright and sweet, fruity and floral. Make no bones about it. It's slightly reminiscent of the Sex Wax soap.

The scent strength is a stronger medium in both the soap and aftershave. The pungent nature of the notes ensure that you don't miss the show. Longevity of the aftershave is quite nice at four hours or so. I was pleasantly surprised at the latter. Longevity can be a little hit or miss with some releases, but this one hangs on with a lovely finish. There's no menthol in the aftershave. If you want something fruity, but not so sweet - and with a kick of menthol, I suggest Paradise Frost (which is seasonal, and currently available to all).

A brief note on the inspiration for these scents. As you may or may not be aware, Mickey Lee Soapworks is the team of Eric and Sam - Eric is in the Navy and as a result, gets deployed in some far off places. Some of these have inspired releases, such as Souq inspired by Bahrain. Another example is Sex Wax inspired by Hawaii as this release clearly is, as well. They're currently in San Diego, CA so keep this in mind in the future...

As I mentioned, I've done a lot of reviews of Mickey Lee Soapworks here, so I won't repeat all that. Simply that it performs very well indeed, across the board. It's not quite top tier, but not far off, either. In any event, the value equation is very favorable; you're getting great software for the money.

Hardware today was the #TimelessRazor in my custom "mild edition" with a #Stork handle and a #PolSilver blade on shave four. The brush for today naturally had to be the "Daily Lather brush" that was custom made by Wild West Brushworks and featured in yesterday's SOTD post. Today it didn't lose any more dye, and only one "hair" so I'd call it "broken in" (synthetics don't really break in). I'm still going to review it more in-depth, but I added another photo of it today to show off the incredible resin handle. It's richly colored and has great depth, with an impeccably polished finish. Hats off to #WildWestBrushworks on this one! The #GTP scuttle kept this lu'au in check.

A wonderful summer delight, Lu'au is. I'm surprised there's no pineapple in it, but honestly, it's very sweet, fruity and floral as it is. It might have been the straw that broke the camel's back. This scent might not be for everyone... It's male and female friendly (unisex) but the tough guys out there need not apply. That said, the finish is quite nice and woodsy, but it takes a good while to lose the top notes, even though they mellow out quite a bit. Nevertheless, this is a solid release from the gang and quite pleasant for the gourmand, fruity, floral fans.