#1

Member
Luxembourg
I recently purchased four soaps from Abbate Y La Mantia. The company is based in Tuscany, Italy, and has teamed up with TFS (Tcheon Fung Sing) to make soaps containing saponified saffron extract, coming from the family farm of the owners. At the moment the line contains four soaps: Krokos, Vegano (Vegan, given the fragrance of carrot and lettuce), Crumiro (named and scented after the famous Krumiro italian cookie), Laureato ("The Graduate", a word play with the fragrance, bay laurel).
The soaps are packaged in a paper presentation box, with a wax seal (see http://damnfineshave.com/thread-july-201...5#pid77485). Vegano, Crumiro and Laureato comes in metal tins (they look like the tins used by TFS for Italian Fern and Divino); Krokos, which is the flagship soap, comes in a heavy glass jar.

I decided to try them out by starting with Krokos http://damnfineshave.com/thread-sotd-24-...7#pid77907 . Its ingredients are: stearic acid, aqua (water), cocus nucifera oil, potassium hydroxide, sodium hydroxide, ethyl alcohol, propylene glycol, potassium carbonate, crocus sativus extract.
The fragrance of this soap is a single note of saffron, completely natural, and can be smelled throughout the shave, without being overpowering. The extra quantity of saffron extract with which the soap is scented, gives it also a natural yellow color.
Lathering was quite easy. The soap was a bit thirsty but once I found the good water point, it yielded a great, creamy lather, with very good cushion and slickness. The post-shave feeling was also very good: my skin felt soft and moisturized.

Matsilainen, kwsher, Blade4vor and 1 others like this post
#2

Member
Austin, TX
Thanks very much for your thoughts on this soap. I am very curious about them myself, particularly Krokos. How would you describe the scents in the tins of the other three?
Kevin
#3

Member
Detroit
Curious about the Laureato. What does bay laurel smell like?
- Jeff
#4

Member
Luxembourg
(This post was last modified: 07-29-2016, 06:12 PM by 2e20.)
kwsher wyze0ne

this is what I get out of the tins from the other three:
- Laureato: a very strong, cologne-style fragrance, with citrusy, herbaceous, floral, spicy, and slightly powdery notes
- Vegano: reminds me of MLS Ruby's green, but without the dirt note; I would say a fresh scent, with  green and slightly floral notes
- Crumiro: sweet, vanilla-like scent (btw, the soap is brown, I wonder what color the lather will be... ;-) )

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#5

Member
Detroit
Thanks 2e20! Those sound great. I have the MLS Ruby's Green and I like it a lot. I just used it today as a matter of fact.

2e20 likes this post
- Jeff
#6

Member
Austin, TX
Perfect and thanks! I just placed an order Smile

2e20 likes this post
Kevin
#7

Member
Luxembourg
Today I've used the Crumiro soap. All the comments for the quality of lather and the post-shave that I wrote in the first post are still valid. The scent is very light, sweet but definitely not strong. For those concerned, even if the soap is brown, the lather is basically white

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#8

Member
Austin, TX
(08-02-2016, 03:44 PM)2e20 Wrote: Today I've used the Crumiro soap. All the comments for the quality of lather and the post-shave that I wrote in the first post are still valid. The scent is very light, sweet but definitely not strong. For those concerned, even if the soap is brown, the lather is basically white
That's good to know - I didn't buy this one as I assumed it would be too sweet for my personal taste but sounds as if it is both subtle and not overly sweet.
Kevin
#9

Member
Las Vegas, NV, USA
(07-29-2016, 04:51 PM)2e20 Wrote: I recently purchased four soaps from Abbate Y La Mantia. The company is based in Tuscany, Italy, and has teamed up with TFS (Tcheon Fung Sing) to make soaps containing saponified saffron extract, coming from the family farm of the owners. At the moment the line contains four soaps: Krokos, Vegano (Vegan, given the fragrance of carrot and lettuce), Crumiro (named and scented after the famous Krumiro italian cookie), Laureato ("The Graduate", a word play with the fragrance, bay laurel).

Thanks for this post! I’m a big fan of saffron (in foods, so far), so I’ve been wondering about Abbate Y La Mantia. Krokos sounds like something I will have to add to my collection of soaps at some point. It’s also nice to have a better idea about Abbate Y La Mantia’s other offerings.

As I recall, RazoRock’s new Dead Sea soap also contains saffron, and I believe I also just saw it as an ingredient in some other new soap. Suddenly the saffron offerings to the wet shaving community are increasing exponentially. Happy2

kwsher likes this post
Whenever I go to shave, I assume there’s someone else on the planet shaving, so I say “I’m gonna go shave, too.”
– Mitch Hedberg
#10

Member
Luxembourg
(This post was last modified: 08-02-2016, 09:16 PM by 2e20.)
(08-02-2016, 08:15 PM)Matsilainen Wrote: As I recall, RazoRock’s new Dead Sea soap also contains saffron, and I believe I also just saw it as an ingredient in some other new soap. Suddenly the saffron offerings to the wet shaving community are increasing exponentially. Happy2

AYLM Krokos contains saponified saffron extract AND alcohol-diluted saffron for the fragrance; The Dead Sea soap (which is enriched with aloe, lanolin, dead sea salts) has a fragrance that contains saffron notes...

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