Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush : Frank Shaving Silvertip Badgers
Soap : G&A Japanese Dream
Post Shave : Thayers Witch Hazel Lavender, Prep
Razor : Rockwell 6S-R4 w/Derby Premium

Just cycling soaps in the rotation.
No Aftershave as the one I received is not useable.

Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush : Frank Shaving Silvertip Badger
Preshave : Proraso Pro Cypress and Vetyver
Soap : Proraso Pro Cypress and Vetyver
Post Shave : Proraso Pro Cypress and Vetyver Balm

First lets get to the obvious and the good because Razorock ALMOST made this the perfect replacement to the Razorine.
That the Switch was made in response to all the complaints against the Razorine is no secret and those of us who have bought the Razorine looked forward eagerly for Razorock’s release of the Switch.

The number 1 complaint for me and I think most who have used the Razorine for a while is with its poorly machined blade locking and blade alignment design.

The cap and the base have such leeway, blade slant and X-axis balance can be very obviously bad. This is not what you expect from something of “quality”. Sure, you can fiddle around, loosen, readjust retighten making sure that the torque you apply to tighten the locking screw doesn’t shift the blade out of alignment, in which case you start from zero again.

Razorock’s switch on the otherhand, is a one time try, perfect balance and alignment without bullshit x-y azis play.
WIN!

And of course if you don’t feel like using the shaver as a shavette, you can always do the Switch, turning it into an “almost” regular DE saftey razor.

I say almost as you do have to bear in mind of the side with the knob and have that face the outside or away from your ears or nose to prevent mistakes with your shaving strokes.
So where did Razorock failed?
The other major complaints that the handle of the Razorine is slippery if your hands are soapy.
Now, I have in the past said “that’s what alum is for.”
But that before you had a choice.
True, I could apply alum to my fingers to give me a better grip.
Or I could DIY and use PlastiDip to give the handle a coat of of non slip layer for a better grip but how hard was it to just give us a handle that already had grip texture?

Luckily, the shaver is designed to be modular and the handle uses a standard thread.
And I’ll give respects to my $2 made in India Gillette Tech knock off for its sacrifice.

Am I annoyed?
Yes.
Razorock could have, SHOULD have gave the entire handle a non slip grip.

And oh yeah, had a perfect, no cuts, no nicks BBS shave.

Love the head design, but the decision to give us a handle that “looks” good but is functionally ill-designed is retarded.

Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush : Frank Shaving Silvertip Badger
Preshave : Proraso Green
Soap : Proraso Green
Post Shave : Proraso Green
Razor : Vikings Blade The Emperor Augustus w/Zaza Blade

Haven’t used the Emperor in a while, and I wanted a menthol shave.
I forgot what the Emperor Augustus is such an awesome shaver, that dual safety bar does give some control over the shave you want besides being able to adjust on the fly how aggressive you want the shave to be.
Went in “reverse” going from low to high, 3-straight bar for WTG, 4-straight bar for XTG, and 4-scalloped bar for ATG.

Really smooth, really close shave. Glass Baby’s butt easy.

Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s Atomic Rocket
Soap : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s Solstice
Post Shave : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s Aftershave and Cologne, Mysterium Serum Mentholated
Razor : Razorock MJ-90A w/Croma Blade
Other : Menthol in a salt grinder

28°c at 2:30am …
30°c at 8:00am onwards with the sun up.
Welcome to the tropics. I am going to be grinding in some menthol.

Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush : Frank Shaving Silvertip Badger
Soap : Razorock Blue Fougere
Post Shave : Razorock Blue Fougere, Prep
Razor : Rockwell 6S-R4 w/Croma Blade

Sometimes your nose needs a rest and or the soap and AS needs a second chance.
For some reason, when I did the first lather test and hand massaged the AS to allow the scent to be sniffed, I could not smell anything off the soap and I think I described that it smelt of light citrus with powdery fresh seaweed barbershop.
That’s not quite right.
Must have been some residue of the previous aftershave or something else on my skin that when mixed in, skewed the scent profile.

This time after the bath, and the nose had the night to clear its pallete I thought I give Blue Fougere a fresh look and try to see what the difference is.
The soap’s scent is very weak, 1-2/10, but it is there. Still barbershopish, still a little powdery but this time, the greens is a litle brighter and I thought it was a little familiar.
A little lavender, maybe patchouli or bergamot, very light on the vetiver and a little spice.

I don’t have a perfumer’s nose so I have no idea what the original notes for this is.
It was only when I put on the aftershave that it hit me. It was has that “Dior DNA”

So I started sniffing my Dior perfume bottles and sure enough I thought there were similarities. Almost Sauvage but not so peppery, almost Doir Homme but not so citrusy.
Its actually quite good.
And for $16.50 for that huge soap brick and Aftershave, definitely well worth the money.

Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush : Frank Shaving Silvertip Badger
Soap : Razorock Caribbean Holiday
Post Shave : Razorock Caribbean Holiday Aftershave splash, Prep
Razor : Razorock SLOC w/ Treet Black Beauty Blade

I remember talking about combining PAA’s Pineapple Bayrum with Coconut Bay Rum to create a Pina Colada theme soap / splash.
Then a few months later I see this, and I am like FRACK YEAH!
Bought it …then visited Van Yulay’s site and went … DUH!!!
They got one out too! (and to be honest I’d rather have bought Monica’s version) but what is done is done. I’ll get hers another time.

Soap and AS smells awesome BTW! So I am not too disappointed.
Coconut, Pineapple and Rum! Its a little light on the rum but that can be fixed! Just mix the AS in with more rum or better yet, Bayrum!
I think 70:30 AS:Bayrum ratio might be good. Need to get more of those Miniso spray bottles.

Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush : Frank Shaving Silvertip Badger
Soap : Ginger’s Garden’s British Empire Argan shaving cream
Post Shave : Ginger’s Garden’s British Empire Aftershave Lotion, Aftershave Balm, Cologne spray
Razor : Razorock SLOC w/Treet Black Beauty

I need more shelves.🤣

Usually I don’t post my evening shaves, which I generally use Proraso, Bodyshop or more recently soaps from the Village Soapsmith (wonderful soaps btw) but, this evening I just had to try the stuff that just came in.

In particular, Irena’s Ginger’s Garden British Empire line.
I bought the vegan Argan shaving cream, Aftershave lotion, Aftershave Balm and Cologne spray.

Scent profile as described by the artisan :
” Crisp citrus, exotic oud, golden amber, rich sandalwood and white musk.”

This opens with citrus, has a supporting base of sandalwood, but the stars of the show are amber, oud and white musk. I’d say this is primarily a musk scent with oud and golden amber balancing and rounding out the musk, taking some of the edge off that you usually find in musk scents.

The Soap itself, has the weakest of scent strength about 3/10, with both balm and lotion rounding out at around 4/10 and of course the cologne higher at around 5/10
This is not a loud scent nor does it project very far.
If I stand next to the wife she smells me, but sitting in the same room, she doesn’t.
Sillage is likewise within your personal space more or less.
Overall, this is a nice mild musky scent, office safe, and so far lasting quite a while after the shave.

Her Argan shaving cream is thirsty. Give it water.
But do it slow and easy.
It is also slick as heck.
Really good residual slickness, really good post shave feel.

I am now wondering if her tallow base is better or this is. You’d swear it’s tallow if you didn’t know better.

Also, from my use, the cream is very forgiving, you don’t have to get the water content exactly right to dial into a lather that is very slick and usable.
I even added more water at one point to see if going past what you can tell is “good” would still work and it does. Wouldn’t recommend anyone purposely going ultra thin on the lather though.
You only need a small amount of cream to generate enough for 4+ cleanup passes. (I used only about 1/2 – 2/3 of my pinkie’s digit in volume) so that large 4.5 ounce tub is going to last you a while unless you are really wasteful.

Ps : Its about 3 hours (shaved at around 2030hrs and at the time of writing it is now… 2327hrs) since the shave and I still can still make out the scent on me. As mentioned, its more of a skin scent with very mild sillage.
Longevity though I am betting it’ll go past 4 hours maybe into 5-6.

Going to need to visit Ikea tomorrow and look for some shelving. My wash-sink counter top is a mess.

Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush : Frank Shaving Silvertip Badger
Soap : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s Agharta
Post Shave : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s Agharta Aftershave Splash and Cologne, Mysterium Serum
Razor : Rockwell 6S-R5 w/Treet Black Beauties

Brush : Frank Shaving Silvertip Badger
Soap : Wet The Face’s Grey’s Vetiver Tallow Puck in Frank Shaving Apothecary Mug
Post Shave : Wet The Face’s Grey’s Vetiver Aftershave Splash, Prep
Razor : Rockwell 6S-R4 w/Feather Blade (2nd)
Other : Tom Ford’s Grey Vetiver EDP

So, for today, I have decided to go “classic office suave”, Grey Veitver by Tom Ford, and the best way towards that is going with WTF’s Grey’s Vetiver, scent stacking, Yeah baby!

• 

Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush : Frank Shaving Silvertip Badger
Soap : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s Cold Spice
Post Shave : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s Cold Spice Aftershave & Cologne, Mysterium Serum
Razor : Rockwell 6S-R4 w/Feather Blade
Others : Vintage Old Spice EDT

Nothing like good the Old Shulton to start a day.
Been awhile since I used this and knowing that there is a CK-6 version now, well no reason to not just use this tub more often.
Still one of the best scents that will trigger good vibes of a time gone by.
Let this scent never be truly lost.

Also, its been a while since I used a feather, good to remind myself just how perfect these blades are with the Rockwell.