Pre-Shave : Shower, PAA Cube
Brush : PAA Amber Aerolite
Soap : PAA Al Fin
Razor : PAA Meta4 w/Feather Blade
Post Shave : PAA Al Fin Star Jelly Aftershave and Aftershave Cologne
Others : PAA Al Fin Deodorant, Solid Colonge and EDP

It has been a while and of all my “fresh” scents, Al Fin is still one of, if not my #1 all time favorite.
And yes, its a Full Monty Shave baby!

Rose, Bay Leaf, Lemon Myrtle, Vetiver, White Clover, Cypress, Helichrysum ,  Ambrette, Geranium and Tobacco Absolute

The blend of notes makes for a very unique, fresh and beautiful scent, a blend of contrasts if you will.


“The Quest”

The man woke with a start, awakened that haunting melody he heard in his dreams.
No, he could still hear that wordless song, melodious but sad, yearning.
Without even putting on his shoes, or changing his clothes, he moved towards that sound.

Stepping out of the house, into the Florida night, the usual sounds of insects and night creatures were strangely absent, as if all were silent, listening to that voice, calling out for someone, anyone to come.

Without thought he walked, further into the woods, towards the banks of the river.
And there he saw her.
He rubbed his eyes, for there on the banks, looked to be a naked girl no older than his own daughter, with only her hair covering her ample chest.
She smiled.
And still she sang, and he was yet drawn towards her, towards her voice.

She beckoned wordlessly, still singing, with a wave of her hand, to indicate that he should sit with her.
With his eyes now half closed, his mind lulled by the song, halfway between reality and a dream he sat with her.
Her scent, fresh as the morning dew, sweet as blooming roses filled his nostrils, heady, bright but with an edge.
He could feel her lips next to his ear, humming that song.
Then it stopped and he heard her voice speaking to him for the first time, his mind desperately grasping at her words before he felt a blackness swallow him and felt himself falling, falling, falling.

**********

The next day, in a tiny side story in the Orlando Sentinel, an article with the blurb “Sleepwalking Florida man almost drowns” tells a story of a Florida Man found at the riverbank delirious and only in his underwear repeating words like a mantra “Must find Douglas. Must find Sister Otra”
“We never had a sister, and I don’t know who this Douglas character is.” Said the man’s brother.


*********


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Pre-Shave : Shower, PAA Cube Face Wash
Brush : PAA Peregrino
Soap : Van Yulay Gaia
Razor : Leaf Twig w/Treet Black Beauties
Post Shave : Van Yulay Gaia Aftershave Splash Mentholated

Wanted, maybe needed a shave that’s clean and fresh as Mommy Earth, Gaia.

This soap’s accords is too long and complex, I think Monica mentioned it has a ton of scent notes in its accord. You have earth, greens, florals, ozone, aquatic, the works.
And while label art do inspire the mind’s eye, it is an apt description of the scent.

A gust of wind sweeping down (Mentholate if you want that cold mountain rain filled wind feel and scent of ozone), bringing rain and life, wet earth fills the air, flora bloom and cast their scent out back into the wind and all the while, greens sprout and cast their growing arms wide open, and with it, a freshness you can feel.

I don’t use this soap as often (I should), I am not a fan of anything that has soil / dirt in its notes, but here its just one note in a sea of scents.

It is also one of Van Yulay’s by default Tallow soaps. Brush was loaded from the tub and face lathered.
Lather itself is a thick, butter cream type lather, it is a little thirsty, but has a narrower threshold for water, add a little at a time till you get the glide and cushioning you want.

I prefer it a little thick and this didn’t dissapoint.
More importantly, post shave feel with the soap is excellent.

All in all, I had a great shave. And smelling great, even with a little dirt in it. 😋

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Saw these at Mustafa’s and they were selling these both by the Tuck and stack of 100s.
Each tuck carry 5 blades.
Price is S$0.60 for a tuck or S$10.00 for 100 (20 tucks) which is roughly US$0.45 and US$7.54 respectively
Decided to try a tuck just to see if it’s worth getting a hundred.

Using a new blade for each day’s shave. (2 shaves a day)

Shave Day 1:

First Shave was with the Rockwell 6S-R4 as it is the standard that I judge other shaves by.
Blade wasn’t as smooth as I liked, and definitely not as sharp as I prefer, having to have to go over my trouble spots several times as the blade didn’t seem to want to give me that close BBS that I am used to.

Even caught myself pressing down a little more than I should.

Shave Day 2 :

Went with the Model-T -R4 / R5
This time I went with something that has just a tad more blade exposure compared to the 6S.

On R4 the shave was better but still didn’t feel as smooth though this time the shaves were cleaner and I had to go over the usual problem areas less to get that skin smooth BBS.
2nd Shave with the Model-T I went R5 and it felt rough and almost nicked myself.

Actually I had a micro-nick where you can see the line where the skin parted where nick would have been but no blood letting as the again, I think I fell to temptation and pressed down more than I should.

Did get that true BBS though but I did not quite enjoy the shaves.

Shave Day 3

Went with the Parker Variant this time. At setting 3.5 / 4 this guy is significantly more aggressively blade forward compared to the Model T with roughly the same gap geometry.

Now we are getting somewhere.
Very close shaves but the shave is still not as smooth as I hoped it to be with at times what seems to me, more tugging then with the previous shaves.

Shave Day 4 :

Bringing out the big guns now, and to date, the best experience so far of the 4 shaves.
The Tatara Nodachi (Std) with its 0.13mm positive exposure along with its 0.90mm gap took no nonsense from the blade.
Shaves were extremely close, but still a little tuggish when you hit problem areas.
Usually with a Bic / Nacet / Feather blade, this razor just cuts growth off like a red hot knife on butter with as little resistance.
With this blade, it wasn’t as smooth.

Shave Day 5 :

And finally, the one razor that this blade performed well enough in. PAA’s Copper Ascension.
Not sure if it is because of how close the blade is to the skin or if the additional buffing layer of lather helped but with the Ascension, the blade performed better than when used in the other razors.

BBS close shave, slight but not uncomfortable tugging.

And yes, one more artisan puck bites the dust.
Final use of WTF’s Grey’s Vetiver Tallow Puck went into the bowl to be lathered and as you can see from the lather porn, it was a glorious last run indeed.
Got to love that firmer, creamy lather you get from Tallow.

Conclusion :
Blades are very YMMV so what I experience might not be the same for you.
Having said that, this blade felt a lot like Derby Extras (Green box) and at times a little less sharp and less smooth at the same time.

But as we see in the above, blades also performs differently in different razors.
Always buy a tuck before you buy 100 if you can, and always try them in different razors.

Also, I think it was mentioned that though this is a US made blade its oddly enough exported to be sold in Singapore of all places.

My take is that its meant for “young man’s peach fuzz” or the thinner “Asian whiskers”.
Unfortunately, my old man’s thick barbed wire and my mixed heritage might have more than this blade was designed to handle.

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Pre-Shave : Shower, PAA Cube Face Wash
Brush : Oumo 24mm ACE SHD Dual Band Badger
Soap : Barrister and Mann Cologne Russe
Razor : Rockwell Model T w/Bic Chrome Platinum -R3.5
Post Shave : Mark and Spencer’s Woodspice : Amber


I have said this before, of all things, the human experience, scents and smells are your best gateway to your past.
To be honest, I have not smelled Guerlain’s Cologne Russe as an adult and I was curious about what I was going to get. That and this is my first Barrister and Mann purchase, thanks to Amazon’s free shipping, it probably won’t be my last.

So imagine my surprise when I opened the tub and took a whiff.

Mom.

Pic is the Peranakan Kabaya (Singapore Airlines uniform was inspired by it) and I had a memory flash of me, mom and aunts going to a wedding dinner.
Mom’s scent was pretty much Cologne Russe or something very much like it, and my aunts smelling equally great with their own personal scents. (I remember First Aunt with her Frangipanni, Sandalwood and Oud scent)

But mom had her scent and while I didn’t at the time knew what it was, I do now.
I definitely want more of this.
And even though the scent may have been “feminine”, if you enjoy it, you enjoy it.
No Effs given.

Lathering up the soap was not as good as expected given all the rave reviews B&M got. But I peg it to my unfamiliarity with it.
I realized after the shave when I was washing off that I should have used a little more water and went with a looser lather as it felt much slicker on the wash off.
The scent though was excellent.

I however made the mistake of using Mark and Spencer’s Woodspice aftershave as while it did paired well with the soap, it drowned out that beautiful scent from the skin.

I’ll need to get some AS from the US and then ship it over via a reshipper.
Buying the AS from amazon isn’t cost effective as it’ll essentially cost me upwards of US$55 to $60-ish per bottle.

The Model T and Bic combo worked fantastically well and I had a great shave.

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Pre-Shave : Shower, PAA Cube
Bowl : Stainless Steel Mixing Bowl
Brush : Oumo 24mm ACE SHD Dual Band Badger
Soap : Van Yulay Royal Oudh
Razor : PAA Meta4 w/Bic Chrome Platinum
Post Shave : Van Yulay Royal Oudh Aftershave Splash and Balm
Others : Van Yulay Royal Oudh Deodorant and Cologne


Off day shave.
Off Day for working slobs like us are really “home chores, grocery, go buy stuff for the kids” day.
So might as well smell fantastic while you are at it.

Van Yulay’s Royal Oudh is a damn good duplication of Creed’s Royal Oud, which is a clean oud, cedar, sandalwood and spice scent. Its very old school, very distinguished. Normally you’d picture yourself in a suit or someone distinguished wearing this … but frack it, going out in my polo tees and black combat BDUs.

Smelling fabulous if not looking like it.
😂

Van Yulay’s croaps lather a little differently, requiring less water and is more cream like than thick yogurt but does the job.
Did I mention they smell fantastic?

The Meta4 is so freaking comfortable and along with the Bic, takes stuff off the face and problem areas without any trouble at all, leaving only smooth irritation free skin in its wake.

Now off to get cat stuff.

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Pre-Shave : Shower, PAA Cube
Brush : Frank Shaving Friendship Shaving Dual Band Badger
Soap : PAA Doppelganger Gold – Creed Royal Mayfair
Razor : PAA Ascension Double Open Comb w/ Bic Chrome Platinum
Post Shave : PAA Doppelganger Gold Cologne Aftershave w/Epic Solid Cologne



Creed’s Royal Mayfair is an odd and polarizing scent to many in the scent community.
It was meant to be a “Celebration of the British Commonwealth” that was commissioned for the Duke of Windsor but only debut 80 years after the fact in 2009 (37 years after his death) as “Windsor”.

Creed essentially went … “Ehhh … Duke of What now?” and gave the man no respect.
😂

It has since been reissued and now renamed as “Royal Mayfair”

Notes are :
Tops : British Gin, Jamaican Lime, Scottish Highland Pine
Mids : Duke of Windsor Roses
Base : Bahamian Orange, Canadian Cedar, Australian Eucalyptus

And the reason why this was a polarizing scent was that the scent accords opens with that gin, lime and pine.
To some it can comes across as boozy gasoline. Seriously, you do get that “petroleum” sort of vibe with the opening that will take some getting used to.
I actually hated it originally but like oud, it became an acquired taste so to speak.

As well as, depending on the your skin, the mix of Eucalyptus, Cedar and Orange as base can come across as a little “off” if your body oils don’t quite agree with that mix.

However for those for whom Royal Mayfair played nice with your body oils, this is a beautiful, heady fresh scent.
And Doug outdid himself with the accuracy, at least to my memory.
Make no mistake, this is definitely one of Creed’s more unique fragrances and in today’s terms, its not Aventus. 🙂

For myself, once the opening accords fades into the background, they never really quite go away after that initial blast but kind of hangs around for much of the scent life, once the rose, orange and eucalyptus come to the fore sitting on that bright, almost spicy cedar, is when the scent really shines.
The Opening accords actually become a lot more pleasant for me once it fades into the background, harmonizing well with the mids and base.

Speaking of which, its been about 7+ hours since I applied the Epic Solid Cologne / Cologne AS and while the AS scent has more or less faded off (I can no longer smell the scent off the face when I cup my hands over the nose, mouth and chin), the Epic Solid Cologne is still going though fading, is still creating a personal scent bubble that only you, or someone that gets really close into your personal space will detect (maybe).

At 7hours+ I can still make out tiny hints of gin and lime, though its mostly rose, orange and eucalyptus at this point.
And it still smells as good on application.

If I have to describe it in terms of PAA’s product similarity, I’d say imagine like Dapper Doc + Saint Martin’s Land (without the ginger and add gin) had a baby.

So far, I think only Doug has the Doppelganger of Creed’s Royal Mayfair as even the usual Clone houses aren’t really picking this one up.
So getting a sample of Doppelganger Gold is a good way to go if you want to give the scent a try.

(Next Creed’s Doppelganger -Spice and Wood Doug! Spice and Wood!)


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Pre-Shave : Shower, PAA Cube Face Wash
Bowl : Stainless Steel $2 Mixing Bowl (micro-textured – sandpapered)
Brush : Oumo 26mm SHD Silvertips
Razor : Frankenstiened Tatara Zero-Zero Masamune w/RR SS UFO Handle (Nodachi Cap + Masamune Base -0.00mm blade exposure) w/Derby USTA Blade
Soap : Wet The Face Sakura
Post Shave : Wet The Face Sakura

It took a while for the package to get here but I got a notification from DHL that my package was ready for collection, so I held off my usual “coming home” shave till I got my package.
And it was well worth the wait!

So lets get down to what I think about the soap and aftershave.
Scentwise, I think for most, they will find the soap’s scent to be apples and peach being the most forward with that slight hint of the Cherry Blossoms and Tamarind being more in the background. The soap scent strength while strong is not as punchy as Don’s other offerings but is still very present and depending on how you lathered up, can still fill your bathroom with its scent.

The Aftershave though, is as always, the follow up right hook that knocks your socks off.
Here, the floral Cherry Blossom note is a little more stronger and more balanced with the apple and peach. The touch of Tamarind lends that slightly sweet and sour note to balance off the sweetness of the florals and fruit to a perfect T.

This is a Floral-Fruity scent, but still slanted towards the masculine (think Dapper Doc, with Cherry Blossoms instead of Lilac), though if you do not think you’d like this kind of scent, I’d suggest getting a sample to try first, you might be surprised to find you do.

Yeah. Definitely a winner here.
Also, I think Don improved a little on his base, as I seem to be getting a firmer, slightly more full bodied lather than compared to my older WTF soaps.
That and the lather not loosing any of its slickness and post shave qualities made for a fantastic shave.

The Tatara Zero Zero Masamune did its magic giving that perfect zero irritation faceturbation shave, and as I am typing this an hour after the shave, I am still cupping my hands to breath in that Sakura goodness.

Bliss!

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Pre-Shave : Shower, PAA Cube Facewash
Brush : PAA Peregrino
Soap : Zingari Man Seafarer
Razor : Blackland Vector w/Feather Professional (STD) Blade
Post Shave : Custom – 30% Osage Rub / 70% Brut Sport (Oceanic Aqua)

After a week or so with the Leaf Twig, I wanted to go back to my Gold Standard for SE Razors, the Vector.
That solid feel of the blade, where is there absolutely no give, is I think, still tops where you want absolute control of your shave.
While I did enjoyed the Twig, I think there is a very minute amount of flex in the blade that, if one is not careful, can nick you if you put just a little too much pressure because you think “it’s safe”.
Thankfully I had nothing but perfect shaves with the Twig.

Zingari Man’s Seafarer’s oceanic and musk scent is a good light blue scent for those who that aquamarine stink, but for the aftershave I wanted a fresher take, something with more zing.
Decided to do a Franken-AS, mixing Osage Rub (mint and more mint!) and Brut Sport Style (Aqua Blue).
And the results were quite good.
Very fresh minty sea spray type of scent.
I might add a tiny drop of Lavender Essential Oil to the mix to give it a little herbal slant.

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Pre-Shave : Shower, PAA Cube
Brush : PAA Amber Aerolite
Soap : PAA Atomic Age Bay Rum
Razor : Leaf Twig w/Bic Chrome Platinum (half blade)
Post Shave : PAA Atomic Age Bay Rum Cologne Aftershave and Star Jelly Aftershave
Ohers : PAA Atomic Age Bay Rum Deodorant and Solid Cologne


PAA’s CK-6 Atomic Age Bay Rum needs no intro, being one of the best smelling, full bodied and slickest lather Bay Rum shaving soap anyone can use, chose to go with it as I got a new toy to play with!

Yeah, still have the RADS, and got me the Leaf Twig.

Luckily it’s actually locally available and at a 1/1 price (USD$59) even after USD-SGD exchange so that is a huge plus. Unfortunately they only had the Chrome version, I would have preferred Mercury or Black but it’s still good.
Loaded it, of course, with a snapped off Bic Chrome Platinum half blade and its ready to go!

Lots of videos of this razor out there now, and I have to agree with most reviews.

While I am not 100% pleased with the build quality of the razor, (Top cap sometimes doesn’t sit true aligned, but doesn’t affect the shave in any way) and the twist mechanism has me a little concerned if I’d twist / torque a little too hard and strip the threads, this razor is built fairly well and what is important is the quality of the shave.

Shave itself was fantastic.

Very smooth, with just a hint of blade feel.

The closest thing I can think of, is it has just a tiny tad more feel than PAA’s Meta4 or If you have an Occam OREN, that’s how this razor feels with a Standard Feather Artist Club Pro Blade on a 2 Dot Setting, except that it is far more nimble, with its smaller and thinner head.

The fact that it uses half a regular DE blade (snapping a regular DE blade into two) is just a plus as you don’t have to buy additional proprietary blades.

This doubles the value / use of your DE Blade since for every 100 blades you buy, you now essentially have 200 blades to use.

But value aside.
This is a very, very smooth shaver.
Not sure how it’ll handle those with heavy beard growth, but for someone like me, a daily / twice a day shaver, this razor not only does the job, but does it really well.

As always, going to use this new toy for a while more to see if there’s any issues after the honeymoon period.
But for now, got a faceturbation worthy BBS shave and quite happy with it.

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Pre-Shave : Shower, PAA Cube Face Wash
Brush : PAA Peregrino
Soap : WTF Grey’s Vetiver Tallow Puck
Razor : Rockwell 6S w/Derby USTA Blade
Post Shave : WTF Grey’s Vetiver Aftershave Splash, Prep Balm
Others : Tom Ford’s Grey Vetiver

And the end is neigh! The Ring of Death finally appears for one of my artisan soaps. It would have been sooner, but I have way too many options and I love the variety.
Need to clear up more soaps though. Need the space before I can order in more.

It’s been a long time since I used a balm, but been working out in the sun a little today, came home and both felt and had a visual indicator that I really should put some moisture and skinfood onto areas where it felt that it had a little too much a touch of the sun than it liked.

And if it’s any indicator that the coming heat wave is going to be a doozy, trust me, even here in the tropics, it is a little way too early for the sun to be this strong this time of year given the sky at the time was kind of overcast (expecting thunderstorms / rains).

Vive le Soleil!
At least here in the Tropics.

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