First things first.
Thank you Doug for sending the Replacement Labels and for that other thing EVEN AFTER I TOLD YOU NOT TO.
You are one infuriating man you know that?
Appreciate the gesture and thank you.

Part 8 of “A Series of Scents”

You guys may not believe this but, It really took me a while to find something to pair with PAA’s Supreme Sandalwood Science.
For one thing, its all base notes.
Sandalwood, Sandalwood and more Sandalwood.

But the funny thing is that it doesn’t just smell only of Sandalwood. (Had one bicep with PAA’s SSS Aftershave Cologne rubbed in and been sniffing it for a few hours now) but I will swear that there’s more than just sandalwood notes in there but its driving me nuts not being able to pin point it. Like it has that something floral but not quite, that almost amber note but not quite, something herbal but not quite…
Hawaiian Sandalwood giving off that floral note meshing with Indian Sandalwood’s resinous, amber-ish notes? A touch of Lavender? Creamy, woody, almost sweet balsamic … 😅
Smells seriously good but again, can’t believe its just sandalwood.

And the closest I have to Supreme Sandalwood Science is my Guerlain Heritage.
Heritage was the last of the great scents that the old master still with the name “Guerlain” created and he did it as a “Here’s how you do it!” last hurrah!
Yeah, I love this stuff.

I know the old scent notes list does not list Sandalwood in there but its there… or at least this new EDT has that massive sandalwood base while missing much of the, if it has any at all, oak moss.
Lemon, Bergamot, Lavender, Sandalwood, cedar, peppers and spice, jasmine, a touch of rose and many, many other notes that I catch glimpses of but can’t pinpoint.

Wearing Guerlain’s Heritage with Supreme Sandalwood Science though, just seems right.
Like a putting that Jacket over your shirt and tie. And both scents play so well with the other.
At this point if someone asked what does Heritage smells like, its Supreme Sandalwood Science for Base and Heart more SSS + lemon, lavender, bergamot at dry-down.

They Smell godamn awesome together.

• Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
• Brush : Friendship Shaving’s Macy Dual Band Manchurian Badger by Frank Shaving
• Pre-Shave : Bluebeard’s Revenge Shave oil that I am using to use them up
• Soap : PAA’s CK-6 Supreme Sandalwood Science
• Razor : PAA’s Copper DOC w/Bic Platinum Blade (1)
• Post Shave : PAA’s Supreme Science Star Jelly Aftershave Balm and Aftershave Cologne
• Others : Guerlain’s Heritage EDT

Still on the Vetiver trail, this time, it’s the “other vetiver”.
If Tom Ford’s Vetiver was the roguish young master, Guerlain’s Vetiver would have been the grand head of the household.
Born in 1959, today, as we move towards 2020, he’s the old master, left alone and mostly forgotten, and while his influence is still seen in many of his progeny, his days are almost done.
And that’s a sad thing.

I love this scent.
Love that old school more robust, natural, less flighty scent.
Simple and straightforward.
Strong old Indian vetiver, good dark tobacco, nutmeg, citrus, cedar and spices, amber (pretty sure I am missing a few notes) made this one of the goto scents for a long time.
When you smell of it, you think of men like J. F. Kenedy, maybe Sean Connery, Men of strength, of character, but of an age gone by.

Fine’s take on the old Guerlain scent is a good effort. Not 100% of course, no soap will ever be, and Fine’s Green Vetiver is no different, missing a number of notes, most notably of spice, a little weak on the tobacco and I can’t detect any amber but its definitely good enough setting the table up for a great shave.
Layering on with Guerlain’s EDT will complete it.

Glass BBS shave, feeling great and an awesome start to the day.

• Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
• Brush : Friendship Shaving’s Macy Dual Band Manchurian by Frank Shaving
• Soap : Fine’s Green Vetiver
• Razor : Rockwell 6S-R4 w/Bic Platinum Blade (3)
• Post Shave : Fines’ Green Vetiver Aftershave, Prep
• Others : Guerlain Vetiver EDT

Scent imagery is a weird thing, what do you associate with when you smell something? When you see a name tied to scent?
Some would say Dorian Grey, a fresh young vibrant man hiding an old dark soul.
Or maybe James Bond, a playful, flamboyant playboy hiding a man who can and would kill.
Citrus and spice and all things nice, hiding the old oak moss, amber, woods and dark vetiver soul.

• Brush : Friendship Shaving’s Macy Dual Band Manchurian
• Pre-Shave : Shower, bloom water
• Soap : Wet The Face’s Tallow Grey’s Vetiver puck
• Razor : Rockwell 6S-R3 w/Bic Platinum Blade
• Post Shave : WTF’s Grey’s Vetiver Aftershave splash, Prep
• Others : Tom Ford’s Grey Vetiver EDP

Silver Mountain Water oddly enough was my first Creed scent that I purchased back in the day during the 1990s, so it holds a special place in my heart.

But as I got older and realize that spending thousands of dollars on Creed just wasn’t sustainable for me due to my love of scents and wanting to “get them all” I looked for alternatives. Or just stop buying them altogether because they either didn’t smell as good being “inspired by” scents with their own and sometimes very different takes making them a different beast altogether or just smelt cheap.

So imagine my surprise when I first used WSP’s Matterhorn, the moment I opened the can and sniffed the soap, I was immediately reminded of the original SMW.
(WSP’s Matterhorn EDP is a damn fine clone too, but for today, I am show casing a cheaper alternative)
Shaving soap “clones” with the exception of a few are rarely “on the nose” but I will have to say that WSP’s reproduction of WSM is as close to the real thing that I have the pleasure to smell for a long time.

Enter the Middle Eastern scent houses.
They are often looked down on by the West, pegging them as cheap low quality scents but that’s far from the truth. (cheap yes, low quality, no)
I paired today’s shave with Al Haramain’s L’Aventure Blanche EDP which while is tagged by the maker as a female scent because of the rose and jasmine notes, is really a unisex scent.
Using rose and jasmine to play off the blackcurrant notes instead of Creed’s green tea, giving their version a more floral slant, it is in my opinion the better scent.
Really, really love it.
And that it only cost US$35+/-

Quality is at the time of writing (baring reformulation) the same as the others in the L’Aventure line with initial projection and sillage blast for the first two hours or so, personal zone projection and sillage for about 3-4 hours after, and as a skin scent for another 2 or so hours. Total scent longevity is about 8+/- hours depending on environment and your skin.
YMMV. Try to a tester at a store before buying if you aren’t sure.

Oh, and yes, gotta chase that BBS.
Glass “I keep touching myself” BBS shave, feeling great, smelling fantastic and a great start to the day.

• Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
• Brush : Oumo SHD Silvertip Badger
• Pre-shave : Shower, PAA’s The Cube Mentholated
• Soap : WSP’s Rustic Matterhorn
• Post shave : WSP’s Matterhorn’s Aftershave Splash and Balm (mentholated)
• Razor : PAA’s Copper DOC w/Lord Platinum Blade (1)
• Ohers : Salt grinder with menthol crystals, Al Haramain’s L’Aventure Blanche (Silver Water Mountain Water clone)

So I did a thing.
Went to the hardware store, got a few things and modified the bowl to see if I can make a lather generation monster.

• 

• 

Plastic mesh and some expoxy. Unfortunately I didn’t pay attention and didn’t check if the epoxy was the clear type and it wasn’t.
Still, this was more of an experiment to see if the concept would work.

Results :

This took exactly 42.69 secs to get. Yes, I timed it.
I can use this bowl as is, though I am going to go get another bowl and this time, clear epoxy. 🤣

And oh yeah, Glass BBS Shave, Blade started to leave micro stubble behind on passes that needed clean up passes so at least 4 good runs, more if I am willing to put up with a dulling blade.
Not bad, pretty much my standard.

• Bowl : Modified 6.25″ Soup Bowl
• Brush : Oumo SHD Silvertip Badger
• Pre-shave : Shower, TOBS Pre-Shave Oil
• Soap TOBS Platinum Collection
• Post Shave : TOBS Sandalwood Aftershave Lotion
• Razor : Rockwell 6S-R4 w/Lord Platinum (4)

Old spice.
Of one the best of the old school scents. Wife loves it anyways.
Glass BBS shave, smelling great, great off day shave.
Lord Blade is holding up well even on the third use, still taking of growth easily though I suspect it is starting to loose its edge. Pretty good for a made in Egypt blade.
Next shave or two will tell.
Lots of shopping chores to do, groceries, the like.

I am thinking of just sandpapering the insides of the bowl as it is not ceramic but a polycarbonate plastic. (Indestructible and cheap, was $2 I think) That should create a surface with lots of micro ridges to generate Lather-Porn worthy lather faster.
I’ll experiment. These bowls are cheap.

As is, with Doug’s soaps, beautiful slick lather is still relatively easy to get but it does require a little more time turning suds into cream.

• Bowl : 6.25″ Soup Bowl
• Pre-Shave : PAA’s The Cube Mentholated
• Brush : Oumo SHD Silvertip Badgers
• Soap : PAA’s Cold Spice
• Post Shave : PAA’s Cold Spice Aftershave Cologne and Star Jelly Balm
• Razor : Vikings Blade The Emperor Augustus w/Lord Platinum Blade (3)
• Others : PAA’s Cold Spice Deodorant and EDP

And yes, still on the theme of smelling good after your shave.

Today’s shave is the quintessential of all fougere scents, Creed’s Green Irish Tweed, and yes I am using another Al Haramain juice that does not cost an arm and a leg (US$35-ish – 100ml, Creed GIT is about US$250-$300+/- for 100ml) it freaking performs without smelling “cheap”, 1-1.5 hours of initial projection and sillage burst, 3-4 hours of personal space bubble projection and sillage, 2-3 more hours as a skin scent.

As for WSP, its shave performance is already god tier, adding to that, the scent is bang on and a very accurate reproduction of the GIT scent, layering this on just builds that foundation for a great smelling day.

Glass “I keep touching myself” BBS shave.
Feel great, smell great, rock the world!

• Bowl : 6.25″ soup bowl
• Brush : Oumo SHD Silver Tip Badgers
• Pre-Shave : Hot Shower, PAA’s The Cube
• Soap : WSP Gaelic Tweed (Green Irish Tweed)
• Post Shave : WSP Gaelic Tweed Aftershave and Balm
• Razor : Rockwell 6S-R4 w/Lord Platinum Blade
• Others : Al Haramain L’Aventure Knight (Green Irish Tweed Clone. FYI, I do have WSP’s Gaelic Tweed EDP which is also a damn good GIT clone)

Everyone loves Aventus.
But not everyone wants to spend US$350+/- a pop for a pop for a bottle of smell nice juice.
One of these days, I’ll pick up PAA’s Doppelganger EDP to try but for the moment, I’ll stick with Al Haramain’s (yes, I have tried Armaf’s, prefer this one) very respectable clone. (still want to smack the guy to designed the bottle though) that for the fraction of the price is pretty close to the real thing and performs beyond expectations.

• Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
• Brush : Friendship Shaving’s Macy G4 Synthetic by Frank Shaving
• Pre-Shave, Hot Shower, PAA’s The Cube Mentholated
• Soap : PAA’s Doppelganger Grey (Aventus)
• Post Shave : PAA’s Doppelganger Grey (Aventus) Aftershave Cologne and Star Jelly Aftershave Balm
• Razor : PAA’s Copper DOC w/Derby Extra Blade (1)
• Others : PAA’s Doppelganger Grey (Aventus) Deodorant, Al Haramain L’Aventure (Aventus clone) EDP

Start of a new work week.
Time to look good, smell good and try not to be a zombie at work.

Also I remembered that someone asked me before, is this soap a clone of Dior Sauvage.
No.
Close enough but no.
The notes of Nutmeg, Amber and especially the Sichuan Peppers aren’t quite right.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s still good enough to set the table, and smells pretty good, just not an exact clone.

• Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
• Pre-Shave : Hot Shower, PAA’s Cube Mentholated
• Brush : Friendship Shaving’s Macy G4 Synthetic by Frank Shaving
• Soap : Van Yulay’s Gentle Sauvage
• Post Shave : Cold Shower, Van Yulay’s Gentle Sauvage Aftershave and Balm
• Razor : PAA’s Copper DOC w/Derby Extra Blade (1)
• Ohers : Van Yulay Gentle Sauvage Deodorant, Dior’s Sauvage

MEAD!
Wait, do pirates drink mead? Viking Pirates?
Whatever … Bay Rum!
Evening shave before having dinner with the wife and kids.

Brush : Oumo SHD Silvertip Badger (Face Lathered)
Pre-shave : PAA’s The Cube Mentholated
Soap : PAA’s Atomic Age Bay Rum
Post Shave : PAA’s Atomic Age Bay Rum and Star Jelly Aftershave Balm
Razor : PAA’s Copper Double Open Comb w/Derby Extra Blade (2)
Others : Spiced Mead (no, not during the shave…drinking this as I am typing this)