Mail Call, one more Dragon and A Tribute to the fallen and a number of samples (not pictured) that I am sure I will pick a few to add to my ever growing pile of soaps that I can’t hope to finish.
The real surprise was Khaleesi.
I was expecting a sniffy or something similar, not a sample to use, thank you Monica Gillam for the privilege!
Of course, I had to use it for my evening shave, and as you can see, no pre-shave, just the soap and razor as to not have any foreign scents interfere with the soap’s.
I did choose to use the scuttle, as I wanted hot lather and lathering on a hot surface do boost the scent of a soap and this was one I wanted to breathe all the notes in.
Right off the puck the soap smells very similar to Monica’s other new soap, Gaia. Cilantro forming the base for the ozone note, though this is a little more darker, more animalistic.
Lathering the soap up, you get a strong whiff of smoke, a hint of vanilla, light blood orange, and a little amber.
Smoke is not birch-like, more acrid, almost gunpowder but slightly tempered by something else that I can’t put a finger on. Best I can describe is gunpowder and light citrus florals with the gunpowder note very predominant.
Going onto your face the scent of the lather transforms a little. You now get hints of leather, amber and jasmine popping out, with the gunpowder and ozone notes being dominant.
The wash off though, surprised me. After the first pass, and going for the rinse, the scent evolved yet again. This time with the gunpowder and ozone quickly dissipating but still present hovering lightly in the background.
However, you now have leather, amber, jasmine and rose notes and something else, spice maybe, popping up during and after the rinse. The spice note came and went, like it was almost never there or it might have been my nose playing tricks but the sudden rose note popping up along with the other notes changed the scent imagery.
All in all it was a rather enjoyable shave, but I will have to say that this is not a cologne scent and one that may not be appealing to everyone.
It is not a feminine scent, slanting more towards unisex, so I am sure both the ladies and men can enjoy this one.
It does however tell a story, and I am not sure how or why the soap’s scent transformed the way it did but I found myself thinking of the Character that inspired the soap and several of her key scenes.
Wife of the Stallion.
Rebirth by fire.
Mother of Dragons.
Woman.
Recommend sampling before buying.
As I don’t have the aftershave for this, I can’t say what the final closing experience will be like. I hope it follows and is more in line with the “wash off” scent, bringing the leather, florals and amber to the fore and not so much gun-smoke / ozone.
- Bowl : PAA’s Travel Scuttle
- Soap : Van Yulay’s Khaleesi
- Razor : PAA’s Copper Ascension DOC w/Feather Blade (4)
- No AS, allowing the soap’s scent to linger. Will use an undecided balm later.
Steve's Wet Shaving in Singapore 