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Bowl : 6.25′ soup bowl
Brush : Oumo SHD Silvertip Badger
Soap : Summer Breezes Sample
Post Shave : Thayers Witch Hazel Lemon, Prep
Razor : Rockwell 6S-R3 w/Derby Extra Blade
Others : PAA’s John Frum’s Deodorant and Solid Cologne

As per the description from Van Yulay :
Top notes are light which consist of bergamot, neroli, and lime. The middle notes of jasmine and orange blossom are perfectly paired alongside base notes of amber and cedar

Van Yulay’s Tallow base performs as you would expect as evidenced by the lather porn but I think I got a bad sample. Could not detect much of the middle notes and the base is almost non existent leaving mostly the top notes of bergamont, neroli and lime commanding the scent profile throughout the shave.
Based on the sample, it reminds me of fresh laundry and the detergent (Fab) used.

To be fair, I haven’t used Tom Ford’s Nerori Portofino but I am pretty sure this not what was intended and may have had a bad sample.

Finished up with the shave and was reminded why Derby Extras are one day use blades. Didn’t get my glass BBS, I can still feel spots where there’s micro-stubble. With 3 passes, an extra pass and clean-up, and its not clean, I rather settle for “good enough” and not chase that BSS and give myself severe burn.

John Frum’s scent is awesome.
Did I say it was Awesome?
AWESOME!
Going forward it’s going to paired with everything Sandalwood.

Bowl : 6.5′ soup bowl
Brush : Oumo SHD Silvertip Badger
Pre-shave : Shower
Soap : The Village Soapsmith’s Bayrum
Post Shave : Shower, Gabbel’s Bay Rum
Razor : PAA’s Copper DOC w/Rockwell Blade (8)

This evening shave more then anything drives home that in wet shaving, the saying “Your Mileage May Vary” holds true.

Go online and read reviews of Rockwell Razors and you get nothing but praise for the most part, but reviews for their blades, not so much. Usually you’ll see more negatives than positives, Rockwell blades have the unfortunate reputation of not being sharp, tugging, and or leaving the user with razor burns. But also, you’ll notice that most of these reviews are not new, some dating a year or two ago.

So while I had a bunch of these (100s that came with the razor pakage) I never bothered to use them long term, usually just treating each blade as a day blade or one time use blade and just chuck them without really caring if they lasted long or able to keep their edge.

That is, until almost a week ago when I decided to just use one in an endurance test just to see how long the blade will last / give me clean shave.
Today marks the 8th use of the blade. Still gave me a clean BBS shave and no irritation. The edge finally starting to go as it left the odd micro stubble around my usual trouble spots that fresh sharp blades takes off easily. That is to say, I had to do an extra pass and clean up to get that glass BBS on the 8th shave with the blade.

To be fair, I could probably push this blade for a few more uses. 10-12 use is not unthinkable. This is comparing to say 6-8 (max) uses from Feathers and Bics, 4-6 uses from Derby Premiums and most other blades which makes the Rockwell a fairly good blade in my book.
It is definitely not the sharpest or smoothest by any measure but it is sharp enough, and smooth enough blade that lasted a long time.
I would imagine shavers with thinner, less wiry growth than mine (peach fuzz) would definitely find the edge holding out easily for two or more weeks assuming they shave once a day.

I’d recommend you try some if you can get a sample pack. See if it works well with your shaver. Used this blade on both the Rockwell 6S and PAA’s Copper DOC.
As with all things wet shaving, YMMV.

Glass BBS shave, no irritation, minor additional clean up pass.

I don’t see too many using Ginger’s Garden and that’s a shame.
Irena’s soaps are actually pretty awesome. Her soap base is very forgiving and can take quite a bit of water but I’d suggest keeping her lather at or near that thick cream / thin yogurt consistency as while her lather can still “look good” with too much water, it’ll not give you as good a glide as you’d like.

Enigma.
This is one of my favorite scents of the all soaps I have.
The scent profile for it are :
Pine, Cedar, Amber, Sandalwood, Patchouli and Vanilla with skin safe scented notes of Marshmallow, Musk, Brown Sugar and Coconut

Its almost gourmand but not quite as the Cedar, Amber, Sandalwood, Pine and Musk brings it back towards a more cologne type scent. I think I joked before that when Irena said that its a scent that she envisions as a woman what she would like a man to wear, that man is Aragon / Viggo Mortensen and the scent imagery is as such :

That scene where Aragon moves aside the banner to see Arwen, he knows she’s there and knows what he wants, Arwen on her part can’t help but want to leap into his arms.

And yes, with the opening of patchouli, heartnotes of coconut, vanilla, cedar, and amber and a good sandalwood and musk base, with the other notes as chasers this is an awesome scent. Very manly, very yummy.

My only problem is that I still haven’t figured a good to response to when being ask what it is that I am wearing.

Brush : Oumo SHD Silvertip badger
Soap : Ginger’s Garden’s Enigma
Post Shave : Ginger’s Garden’s Enigma Aftershave and Balm
Razor : PAA’s Copper DOC w/Rockwell (7!)
Others : Ginger’s Garden’s Enigma Solid Perfume

All done. Al Fin.
Well maybe a bath soap and shampoo to be a completionist. Love that Rose and Tobacco scent.
The Rockwell blade is still going strong, surprising enough. 5th shave and its still taking growth off like its new or at least its not obvious with leaving mirco stubble, still getting clean BBS shaves without irritation.

Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Pre-Shave : The Cube Mentholated
Brush : Friendship Shaving’s Macy G4 Synthetic by Frank Shaving
Soap : PAA’s AL Fin
Post Shave : PAA’s Al Fin Aftershave and Cologne, Star Jelly Aftershave Balm
Razor : PAA’s Copper DOC w/Rockwell Blade (5)
Others : PAA’s Al Fin Deodorant and EDP

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The moment I saw the AS package bag with spillage in it I knew there was something very wrong. While I was lucky that I had a spare cap from another time that this happened, I can’t but help thinking that this could have been prevented.
Loosing an 8th of your Aftershave and a badly damaged label isn’t exactly something you want to see.

The shave itself was great, CK-6 performance is outstanding, razor and blade even on the 4th use is still performing at peak.
Scent is a great melding of Australian, Indian and Hawaiian Sandalwoods is freaking awesome.
The scent favors the Hawaiian a little more than Indian and while I don’t think I have smelt Australian sandalwood before, I think that little sharpness I detect to the sandalwood scent is attributed to the Australian, counterbalancing the sweetness of the Hawaiian and deep resinous Indian.
Very intoxicating.

The joy of the shave is marred only by the damaged goods I recieved.
And I don’t think I want to do anymore Supreme Sandalwood Science SOTD pictures with AS bottle in the future. Or at all.

Doug, you should think about packaging a little more and definitely think about the material of the caps.
I don’t know how many other have had the same experience but this is twice now that I have received an Aftershave bottle with the cap damaged in transit and loosing some of its contents.
I am seriously not a happy camper at the moment.

Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Pre-Shave : PAA’s The Cube
Brush : Friendship Shaving’s Macy G4 Synthetic by Frank Shaving
Soap : PAA’s Supreme Sandalwood Science
Post Shave : PAA’s Supreme Sandalwood Science Aftershave Cologne and Star Jelly Aftershave Balm
Razor : PAA’s Copper DOC w/Rockwell Blade (4)

Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush : Friendship Shaving’s Macy G4 Synthetic by Frank Shaving
Pre-Shave : Proraso Green Pre-Shave Cream
Soap : Proraso Green
Post Shave : Proraso Green Aftershave Splash, Prep
Razor : PAA’s Copper DOC w/Rockwell Blade (3)

Been a while since I did a full menthol shave. Can’t go wrong with Proraso green.

Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush : Friendship Shaving’s Macy G4 Synthetic by Frank Shaving
Pre-shave : PAA’s The Cube
Soap : Van Yulay’s Royal Oudh
Post Shave : Van Yulay’s Royal Oudh Aftershave and Balm
Razor : Rockwell 6S-R3 w/Rockwell Blade
Others : Royal Oud Perfume Oil attar

Hail to the Oud baby!
Love that Van Yulay lather, goes on like cream, feels slick as melted butter on glass, and most importantly smells like a million bucks.

Thought I’d use the Rockwell Blades that I got when I bought the razor. Don’t know why it has a bad rep, its sharp and smooth.
Glass BBS shave, zero irritation. Can’t ask for more than that.

Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush : Oumo SHD Silvertip Badger
Pre-Shave : PAA’s The Cube
Soap : Wet The Face’s Himitsu
Post Shave : Wet The Face’s Himitsu Aftershave, Prep
Razor : Rockwell 6S-R3 W/Lord Platinum Blade (2)
Others : Dior Homme EDT

When you think of Japanese scents do you think like a gaijin and think of plums and cherries? Or do you look further, beyond the surface, stay at a onsen inn and enjoy the scents and sense of things Japanse?
Himitsu means secret or private and if you look up Himitsu Bako which means secret box or puzzle box, which is used in the past by Japanese ladies (and men) to hold and keep keepsakes or valuables. Usually a dried lemon peel or dried rose buds are left in to keep things smelling great.
Made me wonder if Don had seen one of these and more importantly what’s inside.

Which comes back to Wet The Face’s Himitsu. When I first used the sample some time ago, it brought back memories of a vacation in Japan in an Onsen Ryoken in Hakone, and I remember entering the room and smelling that wonderful rosewood and lemon scent. No, it wasn’t something out of a can but of the woods, and peelings left by the staff to freshen the room. Old school, rich, beautifully natural.

WTF’s Himitsu’s notes, of Patchouli, Saffron, Sweet Lemon and Rose hits the scent imagery right out of the park.
Opening with Patchouli and Sweet Lemon with a hint of Saffron that is held together by a strong Rose base.
I will say this again, this scent is AMAZING.
Fresh, floral and soul centering.

Oh, yeah, the soap was great, shave was great, 2nd use of the Lord blade.
Glass BBS Shave yada yada.
Feeling great, SMELLING GREAT!

Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush : Oumo SHD Silvertip Badger
Soap : Ginger’s Garden British Empire
Post Shave : Ginger’s Garden British Empire Aftershave and Balm
Razor : Rockwell 6S-R4 w/Lord Platinum Blades

Been a while since I used Ginger’s Garden and this one’s a Citrusy White Musk (really heavy on the musk) with a light woods base soap. Would have preferred if it was more sandalwood, oud and amber and a way more less on the musk but it is what it is.
Still good though.

Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Pre-shave : PAA’s The Cube Mentholated
Brush : Oumo SHD Silvertip Badger
Soap : PAA’s Future Fiction
Post Shave : PAA’s Future Fiction Aftershave Cologne, Star Jelly Aftershave Balm
Razor : PAA’s Copper DOC w/Personna Blade
Others : PAA’s Future Fiction Solid Cologne

Love the spiced citrusy woods musk scent. If it had just a tad more strength, better sillage, this would have been my favorite driver for the a while.