Thread: Taylor of Old Bond Street Royal Forest Shaving Cream

I haven't used a TOBS cream in several years as I felt their performance was mediocre compared to many other creams. Obie placed them in Tier two, where I thought they belonged. However, recently I was attracted to the scent profile their new luxury cream, "a fresh and mildly sweet scent, featuring notes of bergamot, apple, jasmine, amber and vanilla." I am very happy with this nice, light, clean, fresh scent and I'm also pleased with it's performance. The lather is rich and very slick, and has decent post shave properties. I am very impressed with their Royal Forest Luxury Aftershave, an alcohol free product that does an excellent job of soothing and invigorating the skin, and allows this wonderful scent t linger just a little longer. For those of you who like creams and a clean, fresh, classic scent, I highly recommend Royal Forest.

I will give that a go

Thanks for the review, the newer flavours seem to be better performers.

Obie's list, while good, is a little outdated. It does not include many of the fine artisan soapmakers who have come into the marketplace in the last few years with some exceptional products. Some of those new products are so good that I now consider many of Obie's Tier 1 soaps to be Tier 2 in today's market place. Tier 2 soaps are now Tier 3. In my shave den, TOBS has been a Tier 3 product. Thus, I hope the recent releases have seen an improvement in performance.

Not to derail the thread but Obie updates his Tiers regularly. Soaps and creams are very much a personal opinion.

Originally Posted by RayClem

Obie's list, while good, is a little outdated. It does not include many of the fine artisan soapmakers who have come into the marketplace in the last few years with some exceptional products. Some of those new products are so good that I now consider many of Obie's Tier 1 soaps to be Tier 2 in today's market place. Tier 2 soaps are now Tier 3. In my shave den, TOBS has been a Tier 3 product. Thus, I hope the recent releases have seen an improvement in performance.

I must have over a hundred artisan soaps, and many are outstanding performers (Grooming Dept, CRSW Glide). However, often the scents are weird (Barrister & Mann), boring, or sometimes I'll like a scent for a short while, then tire of it. I'm finding that I'm now more attracted the classic scents. I doubt that i'll ever tire of D.R. Harris Arlington or Windsor, Penhaligon's scents, Floris No. 89, and many others. Royal Forest is more of a classic scent and is currently one of my favorite cream scents. I find it's performance at least equal to Truefitt & Hill and Penhalgon's, but perhaps not as good as Castle Forbes or XPEC.

I maybe biased but theres nothing finer than a classic English scent.

I've gotten to the point where for me performance is THE most important quality in a soap. I have a drawer or two or three full of Italian soaps that smell like heaven but are either lacking in one quality or another.

I think the performance English Soaps are a step above most of the Italian save the Panacream which is top notch and of course the original xpec.

I still think the Meisner soaps are top notch with their more "adult" style of scents and the Sebum Gold (green variety) is also a top notch performer with a unique scent to it akin to a herbal tea.

Right you are, Spendur, a good number of English soaps and creams are exceptional in performance. The French don’t do badly either.

There is an unpretentious little French soap called Provence Sante that I have always kept on hand. The Germans do well with Klar Seifen — and I’ll always keep Tabac on hand for the fragrance.

Meisner Tremonia works well. Unfortunately every fragrance that I have tried, including the scent free, gives me a burn. As for the Italian soaps and creams, for the most part I’m with you.