Mystic Water Scents - so many to try, so little time

So far I have Cuppa Joe, Brown Windsor, Marrakesh, Lemongrass & Blue Gum Menthol, and Egyptian Dragon on my test list. Putting all the detailed descriptions in one place was a great idea.

This is a wonderful scent legend that I will use before I make my next Mystic Waters purchase.

Just in case someone does not know what a Mystic Water sample looks like, here is a close up, macro view, of Brown Windsor, followed by a darker color, Pumpkin Spice.

Excellent posts grim! I have tried many samples of MW and found Michelle's floral scents to be outstanding. Lily of the Valley and Lilac in particular. I also love Sweet Briar, but alas, it burns my face a bit. I have Egyptian Dragon and Viola di Bosco on deck to try so we'll see how those are. They smell great from the sample chunks. One area I think needs improvement with MW as you mentioned is scent strength. Some of the scents are weak and I would like to see if Michelle could remedy that.

Excellent posts grim! I have tried many samples of MW and found Michelle's floral scents to be outstanding. Lily of the Valley and Lilac in particular. I also love Sweet Briar, but alas, it burns my face a bit. I have Egyptian Dragon and Viola di Bosco on deck to try so we'll see how those are. They smell great from the sample chunks. One area I think needs improvement with MW as you mentioned is scent strength. Some of the scents are weak and I would like to see if Michelle could remedy that.

Agreed. If she could crank up the volume on the florals, they would blow away everything else. I would include the Jasmine in there. In general, across the line, I find the scent strength to be a bit too low for me. Lavender, in particular, was barely anything. If she could crank up the scents, I believe that would elevate these soaps up further in the elite tier, but I am also sure some people would object, which makes it a fine line to balance.

Believe it or not, they are all scented with the exact same amount of fragrance, with the exception of two that I've adjusted upwards in response to comments I've read. My primary concern is safety: too much fragrance increases the possibility of skin irritation, but for example, I've already increased the amount of lavender essential oil in the Jeff's Lavender in the last two or three batches and it hasn't caused any problems. The ones with menthol have likewise been changed. I need feedback in the form of emails from customers regarding their impressions of scent strength, preferably with notes on when it was bought so I can keep track of which ones might need adjusting. On the forum, I have no way of knowing if an opinion was formed of a soap bought years ago or more recently. I'd like to arrive at the ideal scent strength that will be pleasantly strong but not be overwhelming, and won't cause irritation. I appreciate the discussion, it helps to see what needs improvement.

Thanks for your reply Mystic Water! I'm happy to see that you are so careful about sensitive skin issues. I'm happy to report that I've not yet had a single problem with any of your scents, and I've tried a few so far. My skin is extremely sensitive and prone to fragrance oil irritation, so clearly you are doing something right.

So why is scent so important? Scent triggers memories of times past. You can Google and find the technical reason but the bottom line is that when you smell something, it triggers a memory. Scent goes directly to the brain. But all roses do not smell the same to every person. According to a 2013 research study, partially funded by the National Institutes of Health, 30% of the olfactory receptors are different between individuals. So what smells like a Rose to one can smell like sewage to another.

http://www.monell.org/news/news_releases..._receptors
Dec 8, 2013

“Humans have about 400 different types of specialized sensors, known as olfactory receptor proteins, that somehow work together to detect a large variety of odors. … the olfactory receptors of any two individuals differ by about 30 percent. This means that for any two randomly chosen individuals, approximately 140 of their 400 olfactory receptors will differ in how they respond to odor molecules.”

I view shaving as a journey and am not totally hung up on the final result. If some days I just get a socially acceptable shave, that’s good enough as long as the journey to get there was pleasant. Totally antiseptic shaves with no scent, regardless of the final result, OTH are poor to me.  

The journey is a very important part of the process, and that is where scent comes into play.

For the scent space of all creams/soaps I have tried, I have found some scents sublime, some scents faint, some last the entire shave, some fade after a few seconds, and some actually get stronger! They are all over the place. I’ve found some scents better in other brands of soaps, and some poorer. I have found I do not like the perfume/cologne/artificial scents. My wife is an ardent gardener growing hundreds of varieties of flowers. I can walk outside and smell Lavender, Rose, Lily of the Valley, Lilac, Peppermint, etc. growing in their natural states. Mystic Waters does an excellent job in their preparations.

I know what many of the scents are supposed to smell like. But, some things, like petigrain? I haven’t got a clue.   However, some scents that are combinations of common scents, Mystic just NAILS the scent. For example Cuppa Joe smells just like a cup of coffee, at least to me.   I just wish it were a stronger scent of coffee.

I will try to describe scents by comparison to common, everyday things. Whether it’s a Persian Lime, commonly found in supermarkets, or Key Lime/West Indies lime used in many soap preparation – basically, you still know what a lime is supposed to smell like.

Now here is where that 2013 study comes into play.  Many, many people like the scent of Sandalwood. It is commonly found in many soaps. I found I dislike the popular sandalwood/cologne type scent, for example found in TOBS.  Those perfume type scents smell “fake” to me. Yet many people swear by it. Mysore Sandalwood smells to me like a rotting stump or possibly a dark, unrefined peanut butter  However, it might smell like a Rose to someone else. And that is why scent is a personal thing. As they say – YMMV.

One thing I found surprising was that I had a pre-conceived notion of those scents I expected to like or not like, a pre-conceived bias. Sometimes, I was totally wrong.

On a technical note, one thing I have discovered is that the hotter the lather, the less the scent. In other words, lather created and kept in a hot scuttle is not as strong as a cold lather. Virtually all these scents were testing using a warm, but NOT hot, scuttle. A warm lather is a good lather to me. So on to my discussion on scent.  This is my opinion only. There is no “ranking” here because we are all different … I did miss a few but I’m done trying samples …

This is excellent.


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On a technical note, one thing I have discovered is that the hotter the lather, the less the scent. In other words, lather created and kept in a hot scuttle is not as strong as a cold lather. Virtually all these scents were testing using a warm, but NOT hot, scuttle.

Great analysis on the importance of scent!
And regarding heat, indeed, it can destroy scent compounds (part of the reason why the best olive oils are cold-pressed).
Yeah, I don't think lukewarm water is too bad - at least this way the scent molecules will become more dispersed.

grim Thank you for taking the time to write down your thoughts. It will be a big help as I expand my MW inventory.