Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush : Oumo SHD Silvertip Badger
Soap : Siliski Soaps Appalachian Forest
Post shave : Nivea Men Deep Comfort Aftershave, Siliski Soaps Appalachian Forest Balm
Razor : Rockwell 6S-R4 w/Personna Blade

Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush : Friendship Shaving “Macy” by Frank Shaving
Pre-Shave : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s The Cube – Mentholated (not pictured)
Soap : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s Cold Spice
Post Shave : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s Cold Spice Star Jelly, Aftershave and Cologne
Razor : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s Copper Double Open Comb w/Personna Blade (3)
Others : Original Shulton Old Spice EDT

Old spice day!
Time to smell old school with a scent that probably no one under 30 remembers.

Gotta love the Macy, getting that killer lather porn is easy. To be fair, this is PAA’s soap in a Van Yulay Bowl + the Macy. 😁
About 12 swirls of a wet brush into the soap and made enough lather to finish a 3 pass + BBS chase cleanup for a glass BBS and still have enough to go another 3 passes.

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Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush : Oumo SHD Silvertip Badger
Pre-Shave : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s The Cube
Soap : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s Al Fin
Post Shave : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s Al Fin Star Jelly and Aftershave Cologne
Razor : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s Copper Double Open Comb w/Personna Blade
Others : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s Al Fin EDP

Fresh and bright with an edge. Love Al Fin,
Glass BBS shave.
Feel Great, smell great, 0300hrs but its a great start of the day.

Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush : Friendship Shaving G4 Synthetic “Macy” by Frank Shaving
Pre-Shave : Taylor of Old Bond Street Pre-Shave oil
Soap : Taylor of Old Bond Street Cedarwood
Post Shave : Thayers Witch Hazel Lemon, Taylor of Old Bond Street Sandalwood Aftershave
Razor : Rockwell 6S-R4 w/ Croma Blade (3)

High quality synthetic knots are more or less the same whether its sold by Yaqi, Frank Shaving, Oumo, Muhle or any number of brush companies but there are slight variations and though most are probably made of Taklon from the Japanese company Toray how each strand is made and then assembled into a brush knot can give a knot a very different feel.
Frank Shavings’ best Synthetic knot for the moment is the G4 knot and it is really good.

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• 

The tips looks and behave very much like natural hairs and I’ll bet that if you didn’t know better you’d thought from the pictures alone that they were animal hair.
They also performed like high quality badger.
While the brush I used is from Frank Shavings, Yaqi, Maggarts and many other shaving companies who do sell brushes do also use these knots under different names.

I have taken to using pre-shave oil again but to be honest, after using PAA’s The Cube, I think my pre-shave oil days are done. I’ll use up my (rather plentiful stock of several bottles) existing stock and then stick to the Cube or if someone else comes up with something similar, pre-shave soaps.

TOBS as always smell fantastic.
Croma blade left a few micro stubble around my trouble spots but its acceptable. I’ll clean up tonight and chuck the blade, its 4th use then.
I might just burn through the stock I have by using them as a one time use blade.

Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush : Oumo SHD Badger Silvertips (Holy crap, look at those tips!)
Pre-Shave : PAA’s The Cube
Soap : Van Yulay’s Gentle Sauvage
Post Shave : Van Yulay’s Gentle Sauvage Balm and Aftershave Splash
Razor : PAA’s Copper Double Open Comb w/Croma Blade
Others : Van Yulay’s Gentle Sauvage Deodorant, Christian Dior’s Sauvage EDP

Probably the most used men’s scent this past 5 or so years.
One of my favorites as well, though I actually prefer Eau Sauvage or Dior Homme but that is just me loving the old school scents more then the more recent releases.

Still, Gentle Sauvage as the name implies is a nod toward the more recent Dior scent and sets up your daily routine nicely for the finishing touch of the EDP or if you choose to, let the subtle scent of the shave fade off as you start your day.

Croma blades are a mixed bag. While the edge last a while, its not the sharpest kid on the block. Take a few clean ups before you get your glass BBS.

Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s Atomic Rocket
Pre-Shave : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s The Cube (Mentholated – not pictured)
Soap : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s Copalli
Post Shave : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s Copalli Star Jelly, Copalli Aftershave and Cologne
Razor : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s Copper Double Open Comb w/Croma Blade
Others : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s Copalli deodorant, Copalli Solid Cologne

Full PAA shave baby!
Well Almost.
The Van Yulay bowl is just too awesome not use. Besides, their travel scuttle has been sold out for ages and I don’t feel comfortable shipping ceramics half way around the world.

Copalli!

And we are back to the usual scent strength you come to expect from a PAA shave. Etiher that or my nose is just not picking up on Future Fiction as I should.
But we are doing Copalli today and whooooooooaaaaaaaa!
If you like woody scents like Oud, herbalistic scents like Sage, you are going to love this.

From Doug’s description.
” Black Copal Forward, with a kiss of Palo Santo. Ethereal, Aromatic, Resinous, Ambrosial and Balsamic. “

The long and short, Black Copal smells kind of like Oud with smoky blackcurrants, it had a romp with Sage or in this case Palo Santo and they had a kid and that kid is Copalli.

For anyone who loves Solstice, this is kind of like a more woody, oudy, smoky blackcurrant Solstice.
Sort of.
Where oud is darker more spicier, this is more green, still a little dark, a little heavy but smoky fruit undertone.
Where Solstice’s sage is kinda sweet and herbalistic, this is more resinous with amber on top, more raw cut woods, green fruit smell.

Copalli is definitely a very masculine and evokes an scent image of dark green woods.

The Cube and CK-6 formula is just too awesome. Super slick, super great feel post shave.
Getting Glass “I keep touching my face” BBS shaves every day, with zero nicks, zero weepers, zero irritation even when shaving twice a day should be illegal. 🙂

Smelling great!
Feeling great!
Effing epic start to the day!

Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush : Frank Shaving : Friendship Shaving Macy Synthetic
Pre-Shave : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s The Cube
Soap : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s Future Fiction
Post Shave : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s Future Fiction Star Jelly, Aftershave & Cologne
Razor : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s Copper Double Open Comb
Others : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s Future Fiction Solid Cologne

PAA’s Future Fiction, the soap, being a CK-6 formula is awesome.
The scent however, I must say that if you are used to PAA’s other stuff, is a little weak in comparision.
If we were to compare scent strength say with PAA’s Atomic Bayrum, that would be a solid 6/10 whilie Future Fiction is around the low 2-3/10.

Which is a shame as it is a very good scent, nice citrus, good pine resin woods with a little musk. But this meme comes to mind :

That’s Future Fiction right there, amongst the rest of the PAA’s other scents.

Brush : Frank Shaving Silvertip Badger
Preshave : PAA’s The Cube (Mentholated)
Soap : Wet The Face’s Grey’s Vetiver Tallow Puck
Post Shave : Thayers Witch Hazel Lemon, Wet The Face’s Grey’s Vetiver Aftershave, Prep
Razor : Rockwell 6S-R3 w/Zaza Balde
Others : Tom Ford Grey Vetiver EFP

Face still felt clean with just micro stubble from last night’s shave with the PAA’s DOC set at on a higher blade gap setting. Really felt that blade last night and was really close shave.
Had a true glass BBS but had a little burn for the first time since using it.

Morning shave is just to clean up, just two passes, XTG, and ATG so going with the Rockwell with a very mild plate.
Love the Rockwell for that versatility.
WTF’s tallow puck lathered like a champ and with the cube as pre-shave, the lather was so slick, I can’t even feel the blade but audible cues told me the zaza blade was cleaning house.

Glass BBS, felt really good, great start to the day.

Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush : Frank Shaving Silvertip Badger
Pre-Shave : Taylor of Old Bond Street Pre-Shave Oil
Soap : Taylor of Old Bond Street’s Platinum Collection
Post Shave : Thayers Witch Hazel Lemon, Taylor of Old Bond Street Sandalwood Aftershave Lotion
Razor : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s Copper Double Open Comb w/Zaza Blade

TOBS as always, smells great, lathers great and gives a good shave experience.
The DOC is very consistent in giving very close, glass BBS shave and you can tell when a blade is about to go bad since it’ll start leaving the odd micro stubble behind.

Zero nicks, zero weepers, zero irritation.
Glass BBS shave.
Great start to the day.

Brush : Frank Shaving Silvertip badger
Pre-shave : Taylor of Old Bond Street Aromatherapy Pre-shave Oil
Soap : Taylor of Old Bond Street Sandalwood Herbal (hard puck)
Post Shave : Thayers Witch Hazel Lemon, Taylor of hold Bond Street Sandalwood Aftershave Lotion
Razor : Phoenix Shaving Copper DOC w/Derby Premium Blade
Others : Guerlain Heritage EDT

Going old school with an iconic scent, Taylor of Old Bond Street’s Sandalwood Herbal.