Someone started Forgoctober, so I am going to use some of the stuff that I haven’t been using for a while now and give them some love.
I am of course expecting some more supply drops and will do those outside of Forgoctober.
Fresh citrus musk, a great way to start the day.
Sometimes you buy a soap because the label caught your eye, this is one of those times. Saw the label, read the scent profile and they tickled my “buy me now!” impulse.
Scent profile as per Van Yulay’s site :
Green notes of Bamboo, Sweetness of Orange blossoms, Peppery notes of carnation, Gardenia, Nutmeg, Clary Sage Vanilla, Oakmoss, Tonka Bean and Musk
The scent reminds me of a light cologne, similar to Florida Water or 4711 but more green and fresh spicy.
Was a very pleasant surprise and a very refreshing shave.
As the scent is not heavy, so you can easily pair this with any fougere, woods, or wood-spice perfume and it would not clash nor break the scent experience.
Van Yulay’s Dress Bleu’s scent is a nice light aquatic scent. Think of it as Channel Bleu light.
This is definitely a good daily driver for those of you who want something that smells nice but does not fill the room like an olfactory two by four, or if its your off day and you are putzing around the house but still want to be well groomed.
Monica’s new hard puck soap is a good performer good initial slickness though falling behind her croaps in the residual and post shave feel department. Soap is also quite thirsty and one can be easily fooled into loading up on his brush way too much soap.
A good shake than load with the damp brush and the brush will soak up enough soap on its own.
It’ll literally “dry up” taking up the soap in its bristles.
Then either face lather with a fresh wet face or bowl lather while adding water slowly.
You don’t want too much water, aiming for that thin yogurt cream consistency (easier to dial in if you face lather) and then its rock and roll time.
Scent is on the light side for my soap, but I suspect that’s the nature of this particular scent that I am using.
Good glide, ok residual slickness and passable post shave. Her croaps do give better residual and a much better post shave feel.
Not saying its isn’t good.
To make another comparison it is like comparing PAA’s normal Crown King formula vs CK-6.
I actually like the idea of the hard puck.
I can recycle and reuse the tin and buy refills, set the pucks in shaving mugs, recycle old soap tubs … do that little part for the environment.
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.
Creed wanted a scent to convey the image of freshly melted mountain snow, flowing down as pristine stream of silver blue.
They came up with Silver Mountain Water.
Love this scent, its one that when you take a deep breath of, you just feel refreshed, new alive.
So what’s more vintage then finishing off with a scent that’s been around since 1898?
The Two Girl’s Florida Water’s scent is a throw back to an age long gone, and still wonderfully refreshing.
Wife likes it.
Rose, myrtle and tobacco are the main notes and they play so well with each other. Light and dark, bright fresh and and all that an edge that makes this scent one of my favorites.
This soap even has its own theme song.
Perfect glass “I keep touching myself” BBS shave again.
Gotta love that Feather + Ascension combo.
Praise John Frum!
Best goddamn sandalwood musk scent. As a frag head, this is one I am really enjoying using.
Though, I am still waffling on the EDP.
We’ll see.
Feather and Ascension.
Sometimes I wonder why I bother using so many different blades and razor combos.
Razor and blade combo = Glass “I keep touching myself” true BBS shave easy.
Even my usual trouble spots were mowed clean and I didn’t really need a clean up pass.
I did it anyways as it just seemed wrong not to lather up the face, enjoy that beautiful scent and feel the blade glide oh so effortlessly across smooth skin.
Feeling great, smelling great, epic start to an awesome day!
Tobacco, cherry, vanilla, patchouli, cloves, spices.
Smooth, rich, deep and dark scent.
The aftershave has a kick of a burn too. So for those into that, this one’s a must get, otherwise just get the balm.
R4 plate on the Rockwell seems to be sweet spot for me and for most of the blades I use. Haven’t rotated back to Feathers / Bics.
Maybe tomorrow.
Still, got my glass BBS, smelling great and ready for work!
Steve's Wet Shaving in Singapore 