Taylor Of Old Bond Street Reviews 

Excellent - quick shipping (not the most elegant) but the products are good

I go in this shop to stock up whenever I’m in London. The product is generally great. I went in today and the product I needed was on display in the window with some on Stands and some loose in a box underneath. I took one out the box only to have it snatched out of my hand by a very rude man who snarled “that’s the window display” there was no sign to show this. I just assumed the loose ones in the box were for customers. I normally buy all my products in there but now sure to the attitude and rudeness of this man I will be looking at alternatives from their products now.

Great knowledge and expertise from the staff about the various projects in the store.

Im a regular customer and I am always impressed with product range and the friendliness of the staff amd just a sort walk from Green Park Station as well...

Same product and barcode, materially different formula — and the fragrance is almost gone

I have bought Taylor of Old Bond Street Tobacco Leaf Bath & Shower Gel before and still have an older bottle, so I can compare the old and new products directly.

My older bottle (batch NJ23055A) and the new bottles I have just received (batch NJ25192A) are sold as the same 500 ml Tobacco Leaf product and carry the same EAN, 696770081129. But the ingredient lists are materially different.

In the older formula, Sodium Methyl Cocoyl Taurate is the second main surfactant. In the new formula it has moved below Cetyl Betaine and Sodium Lauroyl Oat Amino Acids, while Acrylates/Palmeth-25 Acrylate Copolymer — a polymeric rheology/viscosity modifier — has been added together with a substantially revised supporting formulation. This is not simply an old bottle changing colour or one faulty new bottle: the formula itself has changed.

I cannot know Taylor's manufacturing costs, so I cannot state as fact that this was done to make the product cheaper. However, this type of reformulation is compatible with cost-optimised cleansing formulations: polymeric rheology modifiers can allow manufacturers to achieve the desired viscosity while changing the amount and balance of surfactants. Cost reduction is therefore a possible explanation, but only Taylor can confirm the motive.

What I can state without qualification is that the product experience has changed dramatically. My older bottle has the strong, distinctive Tobacco Leaf fragrance that made me buy it. The new bottles have very little of it. This is not a comparison from memory: I have both versions here and can compare them side by side, and several new bottles give the same result. I have also found other customers independently reporting that the current Tobacco Leaf fragrance is extremely weak.

Taylor may say that regulations required a reformulation. That could explain why some ingredients or declarations changed, but it does not explain why the finished product should lose so much of the fragrance that previously defined it.

They may say the new ingredients are newer, safer, more environmentally preferable or technically superior. That may be true, but a technically modern formula is not automatically a better product if one of the main reasons customers bought it — the Tobacco Leaf fragrance — has largely disappeared.

They may even say the new formulation costs more to manufacture. If so, that would answer the cost-cutting question, but not the customer problem. Likewise, even if the nominal perfume percentage has not fallen, a different surfactant base, solubilisation system or fragrance composition can still change how strongly the scent is perceived.

So my criticism does not depend on proving Taylor's internal motive. Perhaps this was cost optimisation. Perhaps it was regulation, a supplier change, or a new manufacturing base. Whatever the reason, the observable result is the same: a materially reformulated product is being sold under the same Tobacco Leaf identity and barcode while the characteristic fragrance has been dramatically weakened.

Reformulating a cosmetic product is legitimate. But when the sensory character changes this much, returning customers should be told.

I would like Taylor to answer three things: why was the product reformulated; was reducing manufacturing cost one of the objectives; and does Taylor consider the large reduction in perceived Tobacco Leaf fragrance intentional — and if not, will it be corrected?

Until then, I can only judge the product I received. Compared directly with the older Tobacco Leaf Bath & Shower Gel, the current version is a very significant disappointment.

It’s a great product, and the really speedy delivery was brilliant.

Shipping was fast and excellent quality

You represent an old tradition.
Your products are perfect

Excellent service

Very happy overall, fast delivery, great website and item delivered on time. Thank you for great service

Prompt delivery and as ever excellent products

The only issue I Have:
Fed X is charging me a tariff of $23.96.

This is not right. I have been a customer for a long time.
Thomas L Royce Jr

Arrived on time - present for a relative so I can't rate the product - easy to use website.

Delivery as ordered, good product

Outstanding service and product as always!

Good quality products, although the prices are quite high.

I wouldn't have gone back time and again over the last 30 years if I didn't like and approve of the products.

Visited the West End store, bought some gorgeous Sandalwood Aftershave and Balm, great customer care and have continued to use the home delivery service. Love it.