Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush : Frank Shaving Silvertip badger
Soap : Ginger’s Garden Enigma
Post Shave : Ginger’s Garden Enigma Aftershave Balm and Lotion
Razor : Phoenix Shaving’s Double Open Comb Copper Ascension w/Derby Premium Blade
Other : Ginger’s Garden Enigma Solid Cologne

No preshave this time as I wanted to get the soap’s scent without anything in the background affecting it.
And hoooo boy…

Scent as described by the Artisan :
“… a unique blend of pure essential oils of Pine, Cedar, Amber, Sandalwood, Patchouli and Vanilla with skin safe scented notes of Marshmallow, Musk, Brown Sugar and Coconut.”

Heart notes are coconut, brown sugar, vanilla (was there marshmellow? Probably meshed in with vanilla and the brown sugar) and musk sitting on the woods, amber and patchouli base.

Wife came into the bathroom while I was shaving commented that she likes it but can’t tell what it is, and I said “try thinking coconut cookies and ice-cream” and her eyes lit up. 😁

So yeah, this is kind of a gourmand scent.
I can’t help but wonder if this is what Irena imagine Aragon to smell like.
It will be interesting to wear this to work. 😋
Wonder how long her solid cologne last.

The DOC is quickly becoming my favorite shaver.
Its default blade gap of 0.5mm hits that sweet spot for me. Feels like the Rockwell-R4 and add in the fact that it is an open comb, getting very close shaves with it is a given.
The open comb top cap by design traps, and redirects lather towards the blade giving this shaver a very very smooth shave, and like the Razorock SLOC, is a champ when it comes to buffing.
Resulting shaves are very close, very efficient and cleans up stubble easily even from my trouble spots.

Glass smooth BBS shave.
Zero irritation, zero cuts / nicks, and zero weepers.
Smell so good you could eat me.
This is a start of a great day!

Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush : Frank Shaving Silvertip Badger
Preshave : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s The Cube Mentholated
Soap : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s Future Fiction
Post Shave : Future Fiction Star Jelly, Aftershave Cologne
Razor : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments Copper Ascension DOC w/ Derby Premium (3)

Ooooooo … Shiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnyyyyyy.

Future Fiction CK-6 performs like all PAA’s CK-6 soaps, amazingly well and in conjunction with The Cube, slickness during, residual and post shave is pretty much nuts.
The DOC’s default aggression setting is a 0.5mm (mid mild) blade gap so it’ll easily handle light to several days growth. And of course if you need a little more aggression, you can always turn that handle up to a quarter turn to give it a more aggressive blade gap setting.
But as is, it gave a glass BBS shave. So not only does it look good, it performs as good as it looks.

Oh yeah, in case you are wondering, Future fiction is a light fresh Citrus, woods (resin), spice and a balanced musk scent. Its not loud, but is very vibrant and not as harsh or in your face as some musk scents can get.
Love it!
To be fair though, because I have used it first, I think Future Fiction is very similar to Ginger Garden’s British Empire scent which is also a citrus white musk scent. There are slight differences of course, Irena’s scent is heavier on the musk with a citrus burst, while Doug’s scent slightly more muted in comparison with the musk just there in the background.

Both are very good scents and if I have to image them, Irena’s the burly bulldog of a man, Boromir of Lord of the Rings as played by Sean Bean while Doug’s scent is more Ben Kingsley as Bagheera in The Jungle Book.

I loved both but if I wanted to wear a unique scent for the day, Irena’s scent in this case outperformed Doug’s.

His scent fades off even with solid cologne applied, not lasting very long while Irena’s like Boromir refusing to die even with multiple arrows in him, last a while ( 6+hours, if you used her cologne).


The Cube + CK-6 + DOC = Glass BBS, no nicks, no weepers, no irritation.

Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush : Frank Shaving Silvertip Badger
Soap : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s Cold Spice
Post Shave : Pheonix Artisan Accouterments’s Cold Spice, Mysterium Serum
Razor : Rockwell 6S-R3 w/Derby Premium (1)
Others : Vintage Shulton Old Spice EDT

Back to the Derbies, the Personna blade gave up after shave number 3, the 4th shave wasn’t clean, blade left micro stubbles so I’d peg the Personna blade as a 2-4 use blade which seems to be pretty much the standard for me with most blades.

Great shave as expected with PAA’s soap, and Cold Spice always make me wonder if I Doug’s is going to come out with the EDP or at least the solid cologne, its a shame that this isn’t worn as a day scent more.
Just have to remind myself to buy an extra bottle of the Cold Spice Aftershave Cologne on my next PAA purchases.
Come on Copalli!

And oh yeah, glass, “I can’t stop touching myself” BBS shave.
Love that first use of the Derby Premium blade.

Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush : Frank Shaving Silvertip Badger
Soap : Taylor of Old Bond Street Cedarwood
Post shave : Nivea Men Deep Comforting, Prep
Razor : Rockwell 6S-R3 w/Personna Platinum Balde (3)
Others : Guerlain Heritage

Still waiting for my TOB’s package, missing stuff but doing the cream to test something out.
I never realise it since I have always paired my shaves with balms (Prep or matching balms) when possible but TOBs does seem to dry out the skin a little more then the artisan stuff that I have been using recently.

Shaving with the TOBS cream, after the final washup / cleanup if you just let your face dry proper after toweling dry, does leave that slight tightness that indicates the soap took some of the suppleness out of the skin. Aftershave and balm application later, skin is back to normal.

The Personna blade is performing better then memory. 3rd use, glass BBS, zero irritation.

Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s Atomic Rocket
Soap : Ginger’s Garden British Empire (Argan soap base)
Post Shave : Ginger’s Garden British Empire Aftershave lotion and balm
Razor : Rockwell 6S-R4 w/Personna Platinum Blade
Other : Ginger’s Garden British Cologne spray

Been awhile since I used the Personna blade, resetting my memory of it.

Ginger’s Garden’s soap is amazingly good. Given, this is first from her and I have more inbound but holy crap is it really good.

Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush : Frank Shaving Silvertip Badger
Preshave : Proraso Wood and Spice
Soap : Proraso Wood and Spice
Post shave : Proraso Wood and Spice Balm
Razor : Rockwell 6S-R4 w/Derby Premium (1)
Other : Guerlain Heritage EDT

Originally I was going with a slightly different setup, intending to use Razorock’s switch. But man, I’m going to step back a little with it. Going to put some distance with it and the guys who designed it. Love the razor head, not so much the handle and my feedback wasn’t received well.

Anyways, Derby blades.
Everyone has got them at some point or another. Either came free with the razor or you saw it going for $6 for a box of 100s and your impulse to buy won’t let go of that kind of bargain. 😂

This is the 2nd blade, 1st use of Derby Premiums.
A Virgin blade’s first use from these are very good experiences. One of the complaints I had with the Derby Greens is that while its smooth as frack, they aren’t the sharpest blades on the block. They get the job done, but you’ll need to do an extra clean up pass usually. The other issue is how fast the greens looses its edge for me. They are essentially a 2 shave blade, any more and I will have irritation, sometimes minor, often bad like as if a rasp was drawn over my face.

First blade lasted 3 shaves before it started to go. At the end of the 3rd shave, clean-up needed a little more attention, a few more strokes to clear and the skin at the end, definitely felt the blade a little more then usual.
I think I could have pushed it to a 4th or 5th use but I decided not to.

This 2nd blade started great as the first blade did. 1st use took off growth easily, giving the impression that the blade is really sharp, not feathers but definitely similar to Personnas and Astras. I’ll need to use a Personna blade after this current blade to refresh my memory.
Also I understand that Astra’s quality went on a sharp downturn recently I am referring to old stock Astra.

Wood and Spice is still my favorite of all the Proraso flavors.
Glass BBS, zero irritation, face felt great.

Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush : Frank Shaving Silvertip Badger
Soap : WSP Gaelic Tweed
Post Shave : WSP Gaelic Tweed Aftershave (Mentholated), Prep
Razor : Razorock Switch w/ Halo Stainless Steel Handle w/Zaza Blade
Others : WSP Gaelic Tweed EDP

Last day of the work week for me. So going to work with a bang and smelling of Green Irish Tweed is a great way to go.

I had issues with the handle that came with the Switch so I switched it up with my other handles. Using the Stainless Steel Halo handle and have to say it looks awesome and is not slippery in the middle where I sometimes do shift my grip to.
I know Razorock Joe says that I am NOT supposed to shift my grip but I do hold that middle area when I am using the switch as a DE safety razor instead of a shavette.

Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush : Frank Shaving Silvertip Badgers
Soap : G&A Japanese Dream
Post Shave : Thayers Witch Hazel Lavender, Prep
Razor : Rockwell 6S-R4 w/Derby Premium

Just cycling soaps in the rotation.
No Aftershave as the one I received is not useable.

Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush : Frank Shaving Silvertip Badger
Preshave : Proraso Pro Cypress and Vetyver
Soap : Proraso Pro Cypress and Vetyver
Post Shave : Proraso Pro Cypress and Vetyver Balm

First lets get to the obvious and the good because Razorock ALMOST made this the perfect replacement to the Razorine.
That the Switch was made in response to all the complaints against the Razorine is no secret and those of us who have bought the Razorine looked forward eagerly for Razorock’s release of the Switch.

The number 1 complaint for me and I think most who have used the Razorine for a while is with its poorly machined blade locking and blade alignment design.

The cap and the base have such leeway, blade slant and X-axis balance can be very obviously bad. This is not what you expect from something of “quality”. Sure, you can fiddle around, loosen, readjust retighten making sure that the torque you apply to tighten the locking screw doesn’t shift the blade out of alignment, in which case you start from zero again.

Razorock’s switch on the otherhand, is a one time try, perfect balance and alignment without bullshit x-y azis play.
WIN!

And of course if you don’t feel like using the shaver as a shavette, you can always do the Switch, turning it into an “almost” regular DE saftey razor.

I say almost as you do have to bear in mind of the side with the knob and have that face the outside or away from your ears or nose to prevent mistakes with your shaving strokes.
So where did Razorock failed?
The other major complaints that the handle of the Razorine is slippery if your hands are soapy.
Now, I have in the past said “that’s what alum is for.”
But that before you had a choice.
True, I could apply alum to my fingers to give me a better grip.
Or I could DIY and use PlastiDip to give the handle a coat of of non slip layer for a better grip but how hard was it to just give us a handle that already had grip texture?

Luckily, the shaver is designed to be modular and the handle uses a standard thread.
And I’ll give respects to my $2 made in India Gillette Tech knock off for its sacrifice.

Am I annoyed?
Yes.
Razorock could have, SHOULD have gave the entire handle a non slip grip.

And oh yeah, had a perfect, no cuts, no nicks BBS shave.

Love the head design, but the decision to give us a handle that “looks” good but is functionally ill-designed is retarded.

Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush : Frank Shaving Silvertip Badger
Preshave : Proraso Green
Soap : Proraso Green
Post Shave : Proraso Green
Razor : Vikings Blade The Emperor Augustus w/Zaza Blade

Haven’t used the Emperor in a while, and I wanted a menthol shave.
I forgot what the Emperor Augustus is such an awesome shaver, that dual safety bar does give some control over the shave you want besides being able to adjust on the fly how aggressive you want the shave to be.
Went in “reverse” going from low to high, 3-straight bar for WTG, 4-straight bar for XTG, and 4-scalloped bar for ATG.

Really smooth, really close shave. Glass Baby’s butt easy.