About the artisan from the website: Moon was created out of a life-long love of bath and body products. I wanted to explore the possibilities of creating a line that embodies all the things I love in a product. I want my creations to be nurturing, luxurious, and to smell divine. So with a little experimentation and a lot of hard work, Moon was born. Moon products are handmade from scratch using exotic butters, premium fragrance and essential oils, and the finest botanicals. We never use parabens or phthalates. Whenever possible we source local, sustainable, and organic ingredients.
What was once a one-woman soap business has become a wife and husband partnership. After over ten years making cold process soap and body products alone, Zachary decided to join me and try making a shave soap. He had recently gotten into wet shaving and felt that adding a tallow-based shave soap to the product catalogue would expand our audience greatly. With an incredible amount of research and some guidance from me, Zachary perfected Old School, our first shave soap.
From creating and formulating the products, to designing the labels and packaging, keeping every aspect of the business “in house” has always been my goal. We even go so far as to render our own beef tallow from Zachary’s trimmings at work, making our shaving soaps and creams truly one of a kind. (“From the Butcher to the Barber” couldn’t be more true!) All Moon products are made from scratch in our home-based apothecary studio located in beautiful Corralitos, California. We draw our inspiration from living on the coast of California, surrounded by the beautiful Monterey Bay beaches and the majestic giant redwoods. With our two young children as little helpers and our wild Jack Russell, our lives are always busy...
Packaging: The soap (or in the case of Amaretto Speciale, the cream) comes in an 8oz container, but with a generous 6oz pour. The lip of the container harrows at the top (like the Catie’s Bubbles containers). The top label is clean and has a classic vibe to it. The ingredients are on the outside circle of the label with the creams name prominently displayed in the center. The label also contains the company’s website, logo, and their signature phrase of “From the butcher to the barber”. The side label has the has the web site, the products name, and states that it is a tallow-based cream with the phrase “Rendered in house tallow formula”.
Scent: The artisan describes the scent as “a nutty almond liqueur with ribbons of syrupy dark cherry and a hint of buttery, toasted almond biscotti. This cream is deep and complex, both light and dark, and will definitely work as your everyday shave cream.” Off the puck I get the almond and cherry scent and it reminds me of marzipan. The scent strength on this cream is fairly strong at about a 6 or 7. For those who are worried that such a strong scent may cause irritation, or fragrance burn, I have never experienced any irritation from any Moon soaps.
Performance: Moon Soaps is a top-quality soap with outstanding ingredients. This particular product is a cream and is thus really soft. I scooped out enough to fill the inner circle of my copper Captain’s Choice bowl. If you load from the tub, do so with a slightly damp brush only.
I worked the lather with a 24mm tuxedo knot synthetic brush to build the lather pictured above. I then worked the brush on my face and was rewarded with an even thicker, creamier lather that was dense, and extremely slick. I had enough for a three-pass shave and then some. After working the lather on my face after working it in the bowl, I didn’t have to return to the bowl at all for more lather.
Post Shave: For this shave I finished up with witch hazel and the Moon Soaps unscented balm for additional moisture. The soap alone has great post shave feel, but the balm just adds a nice bit of luxury to the shave.
Price: Moon Soaps products are offered for $20 for a 6oz tub. That equals out to be about $3.34 an ounce, which is a reasonable price.
Final thoughts: Moon Soaps products are all exceptionally well made and this one is no exception. The scent is like Cella on steroids (which is a good thing, especially if you like the scent of Cella), the price is wonderful for how much products is in the container, and the performance is right up there with other high-end artisan products. For a cream, it can take a decent amount of water and when properly hydrated, can build a thick, dense Santa Clause beard type lather. Even slightly under-hydrated, the lather just performs. Moon Soaps seemed to be the darling artisan of 2020, and with good reason. If you have not tried any of Moon Soaps’ products, this one is an easy recommendation from me. If you have used Moon Soaps before, what is your favorite scent? Let us know in the comments below.
JBT
2 comments
Amarretto is an amazing soap. I own seven moon soaps and all their scents are excellent.
I really appreciate the amazing combination between the performance, the smell and the look! Moon soaps have it all! It will be a nice looking addition to my shelf with products!