Brush : Oumo 24mm ACE SHD Dual Band Manchurian Badger
Soap : Siliski Soaps Appalachian Forest
Razor : Tatara Nodachi Base + Masamune Cap w/Bic Chrome Platinum (TSOA)
Post Shave : Clubman Pinaud Gent’s Gin
The good thing about having a huge soap collection is sometimes, coming back to soaps you haven’t used in your rotation in a while will be like its the first time, surprises you and you wonder why I haven’t been using this soap in a while?!
I don’t see Siliski Soaps in many SOTDs and I was just recently at Andrew’s site and it looks like he’s discontinuing most of his shaving stuff. (I only saw one offering, “Internal Calamity”) and even places like Maggards and West Coast Shaving aren’t carrying many of his stuff anymore which is a real shame.
If you can still find Appalachian Forest and if you like soap with Woods fragrances, get it. Don’t think, don’t even blink, just get it.
The scent in this soap is just amazing. To date, it’s still the the best smelling of all my Woods Fragrance soaps. Performance wise, its a very thick, very slick with amazing residual and post. Better than many, and while YMMV and I haven’t used ALL Artisan soaps, it’s performance trumps many other artisan soaps I have used.
Its a damn shame its going to be unobtainium.
Went with my Gentler Nodachi and with TSOA and riding on that Siliski lather, just made the entire shave kinda surreal. Not feeling anything except for that barest tiny bit of resistance from growth as its cut off along with audio feedback as my only cue that the razor is doing anything. But the resulting zero irritation, true glass “I keep touching myself” BBS shave is something else. Finished with Pinaud’s Gent’s Gin which really complimented if not matched the soap’s scent quite well. Shavegasm!
It’s been 2 hours since I shaved and I am still touching the under chin man. Yeah. Shavegasm indeed.
Post Shave : Soap Commander Floral Fougere Aftershave Splash
More Fougere than Floral, Soap Commander’s Floral Fougere scent is “ok” (YMMV!) to me. While today’s shave did not see me adding menthol or eucalyptus to the lather, since I wanted the “naked” experience, personally, I prefer just that little tad of freshness which for me, would have made this soap so much better.
Took out the old Warhammer and she reminded me just how good a razor she is. While top heavy, she’s definitely not clumsy, armed with TSOA, she was as smooth as melted butter taking off growth.
I still maintain that the Rockwell 6S/6C is the best razor you can buy especially if you are new to DE shaving and while you may leave her to play with another girl, she’ll still amaze you when you eventually get back together with her again.
Easy, perfect, zero irritation, true glass BBS shave.
Brush : Oumo 24mm ACE SHD Dual Band Manchurian Badger
Soap : Oaken Lab Far Afield
Razor : Blackland Vector w/Feather Pro Blade
Post Shave : Oaken Lab Far Afield Aftershave Splash
In the mood for “Into the Woods” shaves and first up in the rotation is Oaken Lab Far Afield. Made by an expat now living in Indonesia, you’d think its easier for me to get his stuff here in Singapore since we are practically neighbors. Unfortunately due to liquid shipping restrictions I can’t buy directly from him.
A local Barber (The Panic Room if you are Singapore) do fortunately stock some of his stuff but stocks are on / off / low so check with them first if its available before heading down to buy. (or do it online)
For example I know Oaken Lab has a new scent out, Plein Air which notes are : Peppermint, Anise, Fennel, White Musk, Ozone, Citrus, that’s right down my alley of scents that I like! But for some reason its not available here, but they do have the shampoo and other stuff.
As for the soap and lather itself, it’s good, definitely upper mid artisan range. Be a little more generous with the soap if you are bowl lathering, or if you want to load direct from the tub to face lather, load just a little heavier.
Scent for Far Afield is : Aqua, Ceder and Citrus, think walking into a forest just after a monsoon downpour has passed and you get that wet woods vibe with a hint of citrus. It’s light-mid strength so its not overpowering but very present and pleasant.
This scent actually brings memories of a 6 year old me, playing in my school’s massive field after a rain. The field was joined to a rain forest of sorts (pythons coming into the field was not a rare occurrence) and that smell of wet earth and woods is now one of the few things lost to modern Singapore.
Went with the Vector again for that precision shaves it gives. One thing about using these Feather SE blades, they last a long, long time for me. I’ve stop using counters to keep track of how many shaves a blade gives me and just go by feel now. If it doesn’t give me a BBS shave in one pass (WTG, XTG, ATG one pass) with a pick up pass, its edge is starting to go dull. Which usually can give me another 10 shaves if I do two passes plus pickups. That’s nuts.
The Aftershave is another non-alcohol skin food splash, mostly witch hazel, scent and skin food. Finishing with it feels great.
Work day shave and went with Soap Commander’s Unity. With scent notes of Apple, Fig and Cranberry, this soap smells so good. Unless of course you don’t like apples, figs or cranberry. 😋
Went with the Vector today, wanted that “straight razor” with safety razor feel along with the precision that this razor gives. It feels almost mild but that is deceptive, you are aware of the blade at all times and it will give you one of the closest shaves you’ll ever get.
I need to stop being stingy and use more soap for my lather porn shots, it’s not like I lack for soaps after all. Still, yeah, I am pretty sure I have dialed in on Pinnacle’s lather preferences.
Again went with the Tatara Nodachi, though, this time I used Razorock’s SS UFO handle as I really prefer the knurling for a better grip and slight added weight. Easy one pass WTG, XTG and ATG plus pick up pass for a clean BBS face.
Paired the shave with John Varvatos’ Oud and they compliment each other well. Smelling fantastic, going to do stuff, then its off to bed and back to work again later.
Brush : Oumo 24mm ACE SHD Dual Band Manchurian Badger
Soap : Soap Commander Vision
Razor : Tatara Nodachi w/Bic Chrome Platinum
Post Shave : Soap Commander Vision
Just an easy simple work day shave going with one of my favorite fresh aquatic scented shave soaps, Vision. Along with the Nodachi + TSOA combo, its an easy no fuss, no irritation true glass BBS shave.
Post Shave : Pinnacle Grooming The One Aftershave Splash
Scent notes from the website : Birch. Leather. Musk. Nutmeg. Oak moss. Precious Woods. Sandalwood. Tonka Bean. Vanilla. Bergamot. Lemon. Jasmine. Rose. Ylang-Ylang. Agarwood. (Oud). Ambrette
Again the soap itself has a mid-light scent strength so while you do get the scent, its not going to fill your bathroom. Lather itself is again upper mid tier, good but just not quite like from my top favorites Artisans.
Scent itself while noting florals and vanilla is slanted a little more towards Agarwood (Oud), Woods, a touch of spice and oakmoss. Not sweet, nor animalic and is a good blended Oud scent,
Of the three I bought from Pinnacle, I’d rank this as my least favorite. That is not to say that I don’t like it, just that the other two gelled more with me, and scents are very YMMV.
Went with the CATA-DOC and TSOA, a combo of the best buffing razor and my favorite blade, made getting that “I keep touching myself” BBS shave all to easy. Glass smooth, even on my trouble spots, zero irritation, I really can’t ask for more.
Another wonderful shave with Pinnacle Grooming, this time with Ottoman. And this time I was able to dial it in and get the kind of lather we all love!
So yeah, it was user error with yesterday’s first shave, the second shave (wasn’t posted) was much better and I thought that the soap acted quite a bit like Van Yulay’s Croaps. So I this time, I lathered as if I was lathering up a Van Yulay Croap and …
Resulting lather porn would be right at home with other Artisanal soaps and perform just as well. (give or take a bit considering the new bases the top tier artisans come up with) Lather went on thick, had great cushioning, good slickness, good residual for buffing and good post shave.
So, what does it smell like? Officially, its a reproduction of Penhaligon’s Halfeti and the notes listed on Pinnacle’s we web site are: Top Notes Grapefruit, Bergamot, Green Notes, Armoise Heart Notes Lavender, Cardamom, Cumin, Nutmeg, Saffron, Violet, Cinnamon, Rose, Jasmine, Cypress, Muguet Base notes Leather, Oud, Amber, Resins, Cedarwood
“So what does it really smell like to you?”
You take Guerlain’s Santal Royal and mix in a little Coppalli and you’ll have something very close. Yups. AWESOME!
Went with the CATA-DOC with the USTA, not the best of pairings as I’d prefer a sharper blade in to buff less, take off growth with minimal effort. As is, the USTA did a fine job and while not as good as a Feather or Bic, buffed a perfect, glass smooth “I touch myself” BBS shave.
And yes, the Aftershave was a good as yesterday’s Once Upon a Time. Went on easy, absorbed fast and settled the skin and smells fantastic.
The problem with being in too many rabbit holes, is that you are often broke. *puts Penhaligon’s Halfeti on the “to buy when you have the cash” list*
TLDR : Mail Drop from Pinnacle Grooming. How to make your own lathering monster of a bowl, Shave of the day was freaking EPIC! Buy their Aftershaves even if you don’t buy the soap!
Mail Call
So I got home and found two boxes waiting for me, one which was “lost in transit” for while (I wasn’t worried as it was a “Signed off Hand to Hand” shipping) and the other ordered about a week and a half later. All were from the UK, by the good people at Pinnacle Grooming. From top to right and bottom; Once Upon A Time (CoStume National Scent Intense), Ottoman (Penhaligon Halfeti) and The One (Limited Edition Original scent)
Cheap Lathering Bowl that cost less than 10 Feather Blades (based on Amazon prices as of today)
Start with a cheap stainless steel mixing bowl that you can buy from a bargain store for about $2-$4 It’s usually shiny on both sides, however, just use a fine grade sandpaper and work the inside layer doing small ecliptic circles till the entire bowl is now “not so shiny”. Or put in in a vice and use a sanding attachment on a drill or whatever. What you want is to create micro ridges. Wash out well. Use. Enjoy! You don’t have to spend a lot of money for a “Bling Bowl” that many of us do buy and use.
Morning Shave Of The Day
Pre-Shave : Shower, PAA Cube
Bowl : Cheap SS Mixing Bowl
Brush : Oumo 24mm ACE SHD Dual Band Manchurian Badger
Soap : Pinnacle Grooming’s Once Upon A Time
Razor : Parker Variant -S3 w/Derby USTA blade
Post Shave : Pinnacle Grooming’s Once Upon A Time Aftershave Splash (skin food – no alcohol)
First time purchase from Pinnacle Grooming. I had no idea of the quality of the soaps, aftershaves or how well their scent mix or reproductions were. I bought the soaps based purely on scent description and label art.
And the honors for first use goes to “Once Upon A Time”.
Based on CoStume National Scent Intense Scent notes are : Apple, Bergamot, cinnamon, Tea, Jasmine, Hibiscus, Davana, Patchouli, Sandlewood, Crystal Amber, Amber, Olibanum, Leather
What caught my eye was the inclusion of Davana which is a herb that is commonly used in Ayurvedic healing incense here in Singapore, especially if you wander around little India, you’ll more than likely smell its herbal dark tea and kind of floral fruit like scent wafting from shops as you pass them by.
Now for the soap itself, lather is about mid tier artisan. Its not as good as PAA / Stirling, more in line with Van Yulay or some commercial creams like Proraso Single Edge line. Though since this is my first time using the soap, it may be that I didn’t lather as well or it might do better with a face lather.
Scent strength of the soap is light-mid light. Scent is very sweet, floral with a bit of spice and fougere notes mixed in. I do not detect any leather at all.
Initial slickness is good, though lather is a little on the “cream froth” side, preferring slightly more water which differs from the more recent trend of thick heavy cream lather we see with the US Artisans, but it more than does the job.
Having said that, I found that the cushioning is not quite the same as the heavy cream lather you get from PAA CK-6, Stirling and other top end artisans. But that might be my prejudices since I have been using those soaps more and loved that thick, heavy bodied, rich lather.
Residual slickness and post shave feel is rather good.
The Variant paired with the USTA is a good choice. Very efficiently took off all growth and easily with a 2 pass and cleanup pass. Resulting in a “I keep touching myself” BBS shave.
And this is where Pinnacle Grooming blew me away.
The Aftershave.
Its a non alcoholic skin food type. But scent strength and longevity is off the scale! Its been more than 2 two hours since I have shaved, and washed my hands with soap, but I can STILL smell that wonderful sweet amber, apple, cinnamon and floral scent on my hands.
I need to say though, that this is a skin scent. I don’t think it projects as the wife did not smell it if she’s more than two meters or so away. But then again, she’s a little nose blind and doesn’t even smell the garlic, that I can even in another room, when I am cooking pasta, I’ll need to ask my daughter when she gets home from school.
The scent on my face wafts its aroma now and then and I really do enjoy this particular scent. So much so that I might actually go look for the actual Perfume to buy and use.
To say that the aftershave’s scent performance in comparison to the soap are miles apart is kind of an understatement. And oh yeah, the face felt great with that skin food.
Well the monsoons have arrived and its been a wet week, either raining the whole day or overcast. Thems the tropics for you. Along with weather getting cooler I couldn’t be help but think of that line “Winter is coming!” (too bad they botched that last season) Unlike the show though, Don’s soap is fantastic. Smells great, lathers up great and is just the thing to get my work day started. Well, work night …but you know what I mean.
Used the standard Nodachi configuration with the USTA, as I thought that blade works just a tad better with the added blade exposure. I am still at time amazed at just how little of the blade I feel, even though I know its there. Fantastic engineering.
Steve's Wet Shaving in Singapore 