Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Pre-Shave : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s The Cube
Brush : Oumo SHD Silvertip Badger
Soap : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s Atomic Age Bay Rum
Post Shave : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s Atomic Age Bay Rum Star Jelly, Aftershave and Cologne
Razor : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s Copper Double Open Comb w/SuperMax Diamond Edge Blade

First time using the made in India SuperMax Diamond Edge blade and I have to say, first use performed better then I expected. Blade took off most growth easily with the odd micro stubble left only around my trouble areas which puts these slightly ahead of most blades below Feathers. What surprised me is how smooth the blade felt. Given, I was using PAA’s CK-6 formula + The Cube, but even so, I could feel the blade glide easily over slick skin.
Didn’t have to chase BBS too hard, Had kind of a 2 and a half pass with a XTG, ATG and cleanup to get the BBS shave we all go for.
And yes, I am still touching the chin and under-chin to feel how smooth it is. 😁

Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush : Oumo SHD Silvertip Badger
Pre-Shave : Razorock Pre-shave Oil (not pictured)
Soap : Fine Accouterments’s Green Vetiver
Post Shave : Thayers Witch Hazel : Lemon, Fine Accouterments’s Green Vetiver Aftershave Razor : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s Copper Double Open Comb w/Personna Blade
Others : Guerlain Vetiver

Back to one of my favorites scents, Guerlain’s 1959 Vetiver.
Reformulated more times than we care to count, but still available and still holding on to that old school “old money” DNA.
Love that scent.
The classics man, they are still selling for a reason.

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Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush : Friendship Shaving’s Macy G4 Synthetic by Frank Shaving
Pre-Shave : PAA’s The Cube
Soap : Van Yulay’s Gaia
Razor : Rockwell 6S-R4 w/Personna Blade
Post Shave : Van Yulay’s Gaia Aftershave and Balm
Others : Menthol grinder, Van Yulay’s Gaia Deodorant and Cologne

Description of Shaving Soap Scent:
This fragrance I have been working on for awhile now. This one is everything about the earth.Mother Earth! From the dirt below to the ozone above. This is a very clean scent. We start with earthy notes of Woods, Vetiver, Sage, Mint, Green Grass, Cypress, Thyme, Ylang-Ylang, Mug-wort, Patchouli, Violet, Pine, Dirt, Cilantro, Eucalyptus, Sea Moss, Holy Basil, Cardamom, Sandalwood and Juniper.

One of Monica’s Special Blends

The scent of this soap is pretty complex and can probably throw you off, giving you multiple scent images.
Scent off the puck is earthy, dirty, and you don’t get the “fresh” part of the soap till you lather.
Once lathered, you get the barest of woods notes, as they are very light, while the floral and fresh notes such as Cilantro, Eucalyptus, Ylang-Ylang, mint and such are up front and center, with the green and herbal notes of grass, mugwort, thyme, vetiver and such forming the backbone.
And sometimes my nose thinks one thing and then immediately picks up something else.
But the gist of it is fresh earthy grassfields, earth wet with dew with the scent of flowers and cold winds sweeping in.

I shaved with it the the evening prior to get my head around it and it took a while to take in all the scents you get from Gaia.
I did however change a tiny bit, for my morning shave. I ground in menthol to dissolve in the lathering bowl when making the lather. It made a huge difference for me, turning the experience into something crispier, fresher. The image of Gaia waking up after her
winter’s slumber and breathing life and freshness into the world again comes to mind.

It will be interesting to wear this scent to work though.
Fresh. Earthy, green and not exactly perfumery.

Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush : Oumo SHD Silvertip Badger
Soap : Siliski Soaps Appalachian Forest
Post shave : Nivea Men Deep Comfort Aftershave, Siliski Soaps Appalachian Forest Balm
Razor : Rockwell 6S-R4 w/Personna Blade

Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush : Friendship Shaving “Macy” by Frank Shaving
Pre-Shave : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s The Cube – Mentholated (not pictured)
Soap : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s Cold Spice
Post Shave : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s Cold Spice Star Jelly, Aftershave and Cologne
Razor : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s Copper Double Open Comb w/Personna Blade (3)
Others : Original Shulton Old Spice EDT

Old spice day!
Time to smell old school with a scent that probably no one under 30 remembers.

Gotta love the Macy, getting that killer lather porn is easy. To be fair, this is PAA’s soap in a Van Yulay Bowl + the Macy. 😁
About 12 swirls of a wet brush into the soap and made enough lather to finish a 3 pass + BBS chase cleanup for a glass BBS and still have enough to go another 3 passes.

• 

Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush : Oumo SHD Silvertip Badger
Pre-Shave : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s The Cube
Soap : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s Al Fin
Post Shave : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s Al Fin Star Jelly and Aftershave Cologne
Razor : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s Copper Double Open Comb w/Personna Blade
Others : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s Al Fin EDP

Fresh and bright with an edge. Love Al Fin,
Glass BBS shave.
Feel Great, smell great, 0300hrs but its a great start of the day.

Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush : Friendship Shaving G4 Synthetic “Macy” by Frank Shaving
Pre-Shave : Taylor of Old Bond Street Pre-Shave oil
Soap : Taylor of Old Bond Street Cedarwood
Post Shave : Thayers Witch Hazel Lemon, Taylor of Old Bond Street Sandalwood Aftershave
Razor : Rockwell 6S-R4 w/ Croma Blade (3)

High quality synthetic knots are more or less the same whether its sold by Yaqi, Frank Shaving, Oumo, Muhle or any number of brush companies but there are slight variations and though most are probably made of Taklon from the Japanese company Toray how each strand is made and then assembled into a brush knot can give a knot a very different feel.
Frank Shavings’ best Synthetic knot for the moment is the G4 knot and it is really good.

• 

• 

The tips looks and behave very much like natural hairs and I’ll bet that if you didn’t know better you’d thought from the pictures alone that they were animal hair.
They also performed like high quality badger.
While the brush I used is from Frank Shavings, Yaqi, Maggarts and many other shaving companies who do sell brushes do also use these knots under different names.

I have taken to using pre-shave oil again but to be honest, after using PAA’s The Cube, I think my pre-shave oil days are done. I’ll use up my (rather plentiful stock of several bottles) existing stock and then stick to the Cube or if someone else comes up with something similar, pre-shave soaps.

TOBS as always smell fantastic.
Croma blade left a few micro stubble around my trouble spots but its acceptable. I’ll clean up tonight and chuck the blade, its 4th use then.
I might just burn through the stock I have by using them as a one time use blade.

Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush : Oumo SHD Badger Silvertips (Holy crap, look at those tips!)
Pre-Shave : PAA’s The Cube
Soap : Van Yulay’s Gentle Sauvage
Post Shave : Van Yulay’s Gentle Sauvage Balm and Aftershave Splash
Razor : PAA’s Copper Double Open Comb w/Croma Blade
Others : Van Yulay’s Gentle Sauvage Deodorant, Christian Dior’s Sauvage EDP

Probably the most used men’s scent this past 5 or so years.
One of my favorites as well, though I actually prefer Eau Sauvage or Dior Homme but that is just me loving the old school scents more then the more recent releases.

Still, Gentle Sauvage as the name implies is a nod toward the more recent Dior scent and sets up your daily routine nicely for the finishing touch of the EDP or if you choose to, let the subtle scent of the shave fade off as you start your day.

Croma blades are a mixed bag. While the edge last a while, its not the sharpest kid on the block. Take a few clean ups before you get your glass BBS.

Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s Atomic Rocket
Pre-Shave : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s The Cube (Mentholated – not pictured)
Soap : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s Copalli
Post Shave : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s Copalli Star Jelly, Copalli Aftershave and Cologne
Razor : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s Copper Double Open Comb w/Croma Blade
Others : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s Copalli deodorant, Copalli Solid Cologne

Full PAA shave baby!
Well Almost.
The Van Yulay bowl is just too awesome not use. Besides, their travel scuttle has been sold out for ages and I don’t feel comfortable shipping ceramics half way around the world.

Copalli!

And we are back to the usual scent strength you come to expect from a PAA shave. Etiher that or my nose is just not picking up on Future Fiction as I should.
But we are doing Copalli today and whooooooooaaaaaaaa!
If you like woody scents like Oud, herbalistic scents like Sage, you are going to love this.

From Doug’s description.
” Black Copal Forward, with a kiss of Palo Santo. Ethereal, Aromatic, Resinous, Ambrosial and Balsamic. “

The long and short, Black Copal smells kind of like Oud with smoky blackcurrants, it had a romp with Sage or in this case Palo Santo and they had a kid and that kid is Copalli.

For anyone who loves Solstice, this is kind of like a more woody, oudy, smoky blackcurrant Solstice.
Sort of.
Where oud is darker more spicier, this is more green, still a little dark, a little heavy but smoky fruit undertone.
Where Solstice’s sage is kinda sweet and herbalistic, this is more resinous with amber on top, more raw cut woods, green fruit smell.

Copalli is definitely a very masculine and evokes an scent image of dark green woods.

The Cube and CK-6 formula is just too awesome. Super slick, super great feel post shave.
Getting Glass “I keep touching my face” BBS shaves every day, with zero nicks, zero weepers, zero irritation even when shaving twice a day should be illegal. 🙂

Smelling great!
Feeling great!
Effing epic start to the day!

Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush : Frank Shaving : Friendship Shaving Macy Synthetic
Pre-Shave : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s The Cube
Soap : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s Future Fiction
Post Shave : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s Future Fiction Star Jelly, Aftershave & Cologne
Razor : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s Copper Double Open Comb
Others : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s Future Fiction Solid Cologne

PAA’s Future Fiction, the soap, being a CK-6 formula is awesome.
The scent however, I must say that if you are used to PAA’s other stuff, is a little weak in comparision.
If we were to compare scent strength say with PAA’s Atomic Bayrum, that would be a solid 6/10 whilie Future Fiction is around the low 2-3/10.

Which is a shame as it is a very good scent, nice citrus, good pine resin woods with a little musk. But this meme comes to mind :

That’s Future Fiction right there, amongst the rest of the PAA’s other scents.