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Disclosure Statement

I bought the House of Mammoth Mood Indigo soap and balm with my own money.

Write-up:

In honor of House of Mammoth products arriving at several vendors in the US in the past week, I thought I would write this overdue review of Mood Indigo. Mood Indigo is an old scent by Mammoth that was re-released in the Tusk soap base along with a new aftershave balm back in December. Inspired by Duke Ellington’s “Mood Indigo”, this scent is supposed to inspire the feeling of leaving a music club late at night and looking up at the sky while you hum the melody of the song. Due to my profession, naturally I love the concept behind this scent ☺

Off the dry soap I mostly perceive the darker notes of oud and vetiver. Almost immediately after beginning to load the soap onto the brush the sweeter top notes of blueberry and rum appear. This is the first soap in a while that I can really notice the difference in scent notes before and after loading the brush. Mood Indigo comes together as a well-balanced scent to my nose; don’t be worried about any single note (like the blueberry) overpowering the others.

In terms of the soap performance, this is my second full week run with Tusk after reviewing Restore in December, and I continue to be impressed by it. It is an excellent beef tallow and duck fat-based soap and performs well like other artisan soap offerings these days, but it has a unique “goopy” quality that I have especially enjoyed. To use confusing, silly soap adjectives, it looks high structure while still having good density to it, which some commercial high structure soaps lack. My particular tub of Mood Indigo is quite soft, so I have been scooping out just over ¼ teaspoon for each shave to prevent overloading. You could also, you know, load for less time too if you wanted.

I’d also like to shout-out Chicago Grooming Co. (formerly Oleo Soapworks) for all of their contributions and collaborations with Mammoth as of late. In particular, I have been told that Chicago Grooming Co. helped create the new Mammoth balm, which is inspired by the consistency of Nivea balm but includes some of the same ingredients from Good Oleo skin serum. This week has been my first experience with the new Mammoth balm, and I can definitely see the similarities to Nivea balm, as I used Nivea for several years before finding the wet shaving hobby.

The balm has a viscous texture, and it requires some focus and attention to shake out the right amount out of the bottle. I can’t help but think that a pump or regulator would make it easier to pour out the right amount of balm each time. Per Mammoth’s instructions, use a dime-sized amount and apply to a wet face after your shave. I found this week that any amount larger than that was plain unnecessary. Though it can leave some residue on my skin after initial application, it absorbs quickly and leaves my skin feeling great, which is what balms should really all be about!

Overall, I’m very happy for House of Mammoth and all of their releases so far this year, especially now that products started to arrive at other shaving vendors. As of yesterday Maggard just some listed Mood Indigo soaps for sale, and the matching balms should show up soon too.

Thank you all for reading my reviews and watching my videos - cheers!