I love this scent! Love Al Haramain’s L’Aventure’s clone too as they substituted rose and jasmine over Creed’s original green tea which to me, made it a more enjoyable scent, toning down that to some, slightly harsh green note with more gentle florals. YMMV of course.
Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush : Friendship Shaving’s Macy G4 Synthetic by Frank Shaving
Pre-Shave : Shower, Proraso Green (not pictured)
Soap : Wet Shaving Products’ Matterhorn
Razor : Rockwell 6S-R3 w/Dorco Prime Blade (1)
Post Shave : WSP’s Matterhorn Aftershave Splash and Balm
Others : Al Haramain’s L’Aventure Blanche (Creed Silver Mountain Water clone)
Using up my Proraso pre-shaves, have a ton of it, since its being outperformed by PAA’s Cube by a landslide. And damn does the aftershave smells good. Good stuff.
The Dorco Prime blade behaved on the R3 plate as well and gave a very, very close shave. True glass BBS without too much clean up needed. Alum application had almost no feedback, only the barest hint. Need run on the R3 for a few more days with the Dorco Prime blade but so far, its looking really good that the R3 will give the best performance balance between smoothness and blade gap.
Brush : Friendship Shaving’s Macy Dual Band Manchurian by Frank Shaving (Face Lathered)
Pre-Shave : Shower, Proraso Green Pre-Shave
Soap : Wet The Face’s Grey’s Vetiver Tallow Puck in Frank Shaving Apothecary Mug
Razor : Rockwell 6S-R3 w/Dorco Prime (3)
Post Shave : WTF’s Grey’s Vetiver Aftershave Splash, Prep
Love Future Fiction’s fresh musk scent! Technically, everyday is fragrance day / week / month but its always good to get people to see grooming which includes shaving, as a whole and see beyond Axe (Lynx here in Asia and Europe) deodorants.
Sticking to the R2 plate and Dorco Prime blade pairing, which for me, gives the smoothest shave with the blade. True Glass BBS shave, with no irritation or feedback from Alum application makes it a great start of the day.
Note : I think I can go with the R3 plate (will do so later tonight) in combination with the Dorco Prime blades. R4 is a definite no, as from experience, the combination of sharpness of the blade and gap turns the shave harsh. Will need to test use on Plate R3 for a bit to be sure. Otherwise R2 works perfectly.
Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush : Friendship Shaving’s Macy G4 Synthetic by Frank Shaving
Pre-Shave : Shower, PAA’s Cube
Soap : PAA’s Future Fiction
Razor : Rockwell 6S-R2 w/Dorco Prime blade (2)
Post shave : PAA’s Future Fiction Star Jelly Aftershave, Aftershave Cologne and Mysterium Serum
Others : PAA’s Future Fiction Deodorant and Solid Cologne
Okies, I forgot just how bad William’s mug shaving soap’s lather looks before it goes onto the skin. I Mean look at it. All bubbly, looks thin as tissue and like it would just dissipate at any moment. So I was working the lather for a bit, and to be honest I think I generated enough lather to go 5 face pass, body shave and then some. Lather looks bad, but is actually quite functional. And if it works, it works.
Aqua Velva though scented weaker than I remember them to be, still works well, and the scent did linger for about an hour or so.
Broken Roses Opens with a mix of florals. Rose is definitely in there but there are other floral / fougere notes that is blended in as well as a touch of vetiver and some musk. The fougere note is a little sharp, bringing in the scent imagery of crush leaves and the vetiver though light is enough to make this a “dirty” rose scent.
It does however dry down to a more pleasant floral once the fougere and vetiver notes settle a bit and the rose come more to the fore.
The musk though hovers from the opening and well into the mids fading off only when the other notes also starts to fade. Personally, I find the musk coming off a little strong for my taste and would have preferred the scent of rose and florals to play out more but YMMV.
Brush : Friendship Shaving’s Macy G4 Synthetic by Frank Shaving
Bowl and Soap : Vikings Blade Grand Chairman Bowl w/ Williams Mug Shaving Soap
Artisanal scents even from big houses or famous names like Tom Ford can be hits or misses, (Tom Ford’s Black Orchid for example) and usually finding the right scent that gets compliments can be difficult especially if you want it to be unique as well.
One of the most unique and best smelling scent on a soap or for the body you can use, even comparing to my “regular” scents from perfume and designer houses, is Enigma from Ginger’s garden.
Scent profile : Pine, Cedar, Amber, Sandalwood, Patchouli and Vanilla, Marshmallow, Musk, Brown Sugar and Coconut
The aromatic earthy woods and musk contrasting with sweet gourmand notes hits that right balance making this one of my favourites to wear.
Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush : Friendship Shaving’s Macy G4 Synthetic by Frank Shaving
Pre-Shave : Shower, PAA’s The Cube
Soap : Ginger’s Garden Enigma
Razor : Rockwell 6S-R2 w/Dorco Prime Blade (2)
Post Shave : Ginger’s Garden Enigma Aftershave Lotion and Balm
This is essentially a low cost shave setup, DE blades are cheap, some really good blades go for less then $10.00 for a box of 100 blades. That’s about 10¢ per blade. Aqua Velva cost $5.00, William’s soap is $2.00 and Prep cost about $8.00+/- (shop around).
The soap isn’t the best smelling of soap, scent is a fresh lemony citrus and lime, and you might think “Laudry detergent!” when using it. However it does lather well, does gave decent slickness and residual slickness but zero and I mean zero post shave feel. Your skin will feel a little tight and dehydrated. Which is why post shave is important.
Aqua Velva is a classic (though I don’t rember it smelling like this, it used to be more “minty-eucalyptus” I think) old aftershave that does the job of toning and disinfecting your face after the shave.
And Prep. Cheap and one of the best damn balms you can buy. And boy, did I need it. Freaking razor burn went away in a hurry. Anyone who has used it can and will attest to how good this thing is.
If you are on a budget and want the best bang for buck, for brush I’d suggest buying Phoenix Artisan Accouterment’s Star Craft Brush. At $14.95 that is very very hard to beat.
My own favorite brush for the moment (shown in picture, though may soon be replaced) that I sometimes favor even over my excellant silvertip badger brushes is a 24mm G4 Synthetic that is a lathering (most of my crazy lather porn is made with this brush) monster and feels great going onto the face is by Frank Shaving costing $25 before discount if you have the code (I still have the discount code but don’t know if its still valid)
You can just use an old mug or buy an oversized soup mug for $1-2 off a discount store in place of the bowl.
For the razor though, I will always recomend that anyone starting to wetshave or returning to it to pickup a Rockwell 6C. It’ll be a one time purchase of $50.00 that will outlast, out perform and is much more versatile then any other razor you can buy at a cheaper price. And here’s why.
Sometimes you need a razor system that can handle most situations. Rockwell initially marketed the 6C/S as “adjustable” razors but it is more accurate to say when you buy a 6C/S, you are really getting 6 Razors. What you get is a Razor system with 3 base plates that you can swap and depending on the setting change the characteristics of a shave.
Case in point : This is a Tatara Masamune. It cost 150€ or about USD$168 and one of the smoothest shaver I have used (just this morning) but that smoothness was challanged when paired with Dorco Prime Blades. Blades were sharp and still felt a little harsh, taking off a little layer of skin that even when using Feather Blades didn’t.
And thus, this evening’s shave with the Rockwell on R2. Rockwell comes with 3 plates, the R1/R3, R2/R4 and the R5/R6. R1 is essentially Safety Razor training wheels and it goes progressively more aggressive up the scale from 2 to 6, with most people using the 2, 3 or 4 plates.
It needs to be said that while its not impossible to cut yourself with the R1 plate setting, you litterally have to be breaking multiple DE shaving rules and or have to be trying to cut yourself to do so.
And yes, on the R2, the Dorco Prime blades behaved. Smooth, clean and no further aggrevation of an already irritated skin.
Brush : Friendship Shaving’s Macy G4 Synthetic by Frank Shaving
Soap and Bowl : William’s Mug Shaving Soap in Vikings Blade Grand Chairman Bowl
Going strictly Tatara Masamune for future shaves while using Dorco Prime Blades, and so far its the only razor other then the Rockwell 6S-R2 Plate that doesn’t feel like the blade is peeling off layers of my skin, Though with a blade gap of 0.53mm it was extremely efficient.
Today’s Fragrance is an Artisan Impression of Channel Blue. Van Yulay did a pretty good job and it smells fantastic. Last relatively long too. All in all a very enjoyable shave. Glass BBS, skin though still in recovery mode from yesterday’s shave. Ideally I should not be shaving, but that’s not an option.
Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush : Friendship Shaving’s Macy G4 Synthetic by Frank Shaving
Pre-Shave : Shower
Soap : Van Yulay’s Dress Bleu’s Hard Puck
Razor : Tatara Masamune w/Dorco Prime (1)
Post Shave : Van Yulay’s Dress Bleu’s Aftershave Splash and Balm
Others : Van Yulay’s Dress Bleu’s Deodorant and Cologne (Channel Blue Type), PAA’s Mysterium Serum (not pictured)
One of the few times that I needed to use Proraso White. Morning shave’s Alum application had a little stinging which meant that I had very light razor burn, from the DOC Dorco Prime combo. So for the evening shave, I stepped down to a R3 plate on the Rockwell.
Dorco-Prime Impressions :
Dorco Primes comes in the standard plastic case that holds 10 blades per case as well as the used blade bank in the back.
Each blade is wrapped in paper but with little or no wax to hold the blade in place.
As for the blade itself, Logo and branding is clearly printed on the blade.
So what are they like? Very sharp and a little harsh in razors with mid to mid-high aggressive blade gaps. More so if the blade exposure of your razor is positive. I wouldn’t use this blade in a aggressive razor like the Parkers, or set my Adjustables above 0.69mm gap, even less if it has positive blade exposure values. I tried it on setting 7 on my Viking’s Blade Emperor and not only did I micro nicked myself on the first stroke, that first stroke, I could feel the blade take off a tiny layer of skin off. I wasn’t a pleasant experience.
Going back down to setting 3 or 4 was much more comfortable but my face felt a little raw after the shave. Alum and Aftershave (holy fuck!) stung. So yeah, It was just a little too close a shave.
Both Rockwells and the DOC Ascension performed fairly well if giving very close shaves, almost every shave with the Dorco Blade (Rockwell w/R3-R4, Ascension at default blade gap) had very light Alum Feedback.
Will be going to the Masamune for the next several shaves.
Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush : Friendship Shaving Macy Dual Band Manchurian Badger by Frank Shaving
Fragrance of the day, Green Irish Tweed done by Wet Shaving Products. Their EDP is pretty much the same as Creed’s and unless you have been breathing in Creed’s fragrance day in and out, or have a really good nose, you can’t tell its not “the real thing”, well done WSP!
For those who want an even cheaper alternative, I know some prefer Armaf Tres Nuit (too much citrus and its a little too metallic / artificial) but if anyone wants a good clone of GIT, Al Haramain’s L’Aventure Knight would be my recommendation.
Brush : Friendship Shaving’s Macy G4 Synthetic by Frank Shaving
Pre-shave : Shower
Soap : Wet Shaving Product’s Gaelic Tweed
Razor : PAA’s Copper Ascension DOC w/Dorco Prime (1)
Post Shave : WSP’s Gaelic Tweed Aftershave Splash and Balm
Others : WSP’s Gaelic Tweed EDP (Creed Green Irish Tweed)
Can’t have a Fragrance week without one of the most Iconic of scents. Old Spice. I know Cold Spice is a Side Story to the Agharta Trilogy but like the men who survived and endureed Operation High Jump, this scent stands tall and proud and perhaps will endure the test of time.
Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush : Friendship Shaving’s Macy Dual Band Manchurian Badger by Frank Shaving
Pre-Shave : Shower , PAA’s Cube Mentholated
Soap : PAA’s Cold Spice
Razor : PAA’s Copper Ascension DOC w/ Dorco Prime (1)
Post Shave : PAA’s Cold Spice Star Jelly Aftershave, Aftershave and Colonge, Mysterium Serum
Steve's Wet Shaving in Singapore 