Al’s Shaving Products – Lather Shaving Cream – Blue

Tags

7/10, Al's Shaving Products, amber, Coriander, geranium, Jasmine, lavender, musk, peppermint, rosewood, shaving cream

So Al’s got a new line of shaving cream which he’s in the process of developing. He sent me out a sampler pack of a bunch of scents that he’s trying out right now, including the one that he currently has available, Blue.

It’s supposed to be a more affordable option than his main line of creams. I guess the million dollar four dollar (the price difference between the two lines) question is whether or not the savings in cost came at the expense of performance? Well, IMHO, yeah, a bit.

Don’t get me wrong here, the lather shaving cream is still a good cream. It’s just not a great cream, which I feel that Al’s main line is. It lathers up easily, however I wasn’t able to get it quite as thick and creamy as I can get the main line. It’s not a very thirsty cream, so just a tad of water would be needed. Folks used to his main line should be warned not to over-water it, as it will start to thin out appreciably if you use the same amount. Still, it yielded a nice and slick cream with some good thickness. Some minor stability issues, but I do mean minor, only thinning out a bit while applied to the face during the shave. One thing it does share with the original formulation is a good amount of volume produced.

The line is designed to also appeal to those who like a more subtle scent to their shaving cream. So, well, anyone who’s been reading my reviews will know that is one aspect I’m not going to be a fan of. That seemed to be the case for the sample I tried, coming in at what I’d consider to be just under a medium strength scent. So great for those of you who don’t like their scents strong I guess.

The “Blue” is designed to be a rendition of Davidoff’s Cool Water, which was itself an homage to Creed’s Green Irish Tweed. It’s a pleasant blend, although like most “cologne-y” scents, I have trouble picking out any of the individual notes. Al says it’s crafted with lavender, peppermint, geranium, jasmine, coriander, rosewood, musk, and amber. Quite pleasant.

• 9/10 Scent Pleasantness
• 7/10 Scent Strength
• 8/10 Lather Quality

Overall, I’ll give it a 7/10. It’s a good cream, but I’d mostly recommend sticking with the originals instead, unless you’re one of those folk who do like their creams to not be as heavily scented.

• Cost: $14 for a 100 g tub.

Gear used:

• Brush: Mühle HJM Black Fibre
• Razor: Edwin Jagger DE81BL (Red)
• Blade: Sharp Durablade
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

Ingredients: Aloe Vera, Water, Stearic Acid, Myristic Acid, Potassium Hydroxide, Glycerin, Coconut Acid, fragrance, Sodium Hydroxide

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Prairie Creations tallow cream: Bondage Nights

Tags

8/10, berry, cotton, Fruit, leather, linen, melon, musk, Prairie Creations, shaving cream, vetiver, wood

For my 2nd review of a Prairie Creations product (the first here), I’ve got some of their tallow based shaving cream. Now, one of the nicest things about this company is that they’ll custom create your soap or cream, with the ability to pick not only the scent you want, but how much of it they’ll be adding. As anyone who has followed my reviews probably can guess, I went with the heavily scented option.

The initial impressions of the scent are fruity and woodsy, and rather complex. Since my nose in inadequate at picking out distinct notes, here’s what they have to say about the scent:

The bold and daring night-time and masculine fragrance for the newly invented adventure hero, a sensual top notes of melons and berries leading to heart notes of leather, linen and cotton, and finally ending with deep woods, vetiver and musks.

I’d say that the melon and the berries are indeed the most obvious; after that, it’s a rather complex mix. While it isn’t something that I’d like as a cologne, it works well for a nice pick me up during the morning shave.

The strength was indeed heavily scented; it came on rather strong and only faded a little during the shave. I’ll be rounding up a bit for this, but I think it deserves top marks for the strength. Which is of course a warning for those of you who don’t like their soaps or creams quite as strong as I do, you might want to go for the regular of even the weak scented versions.

Performance wise, it’s rather good. To start off, the consistency is a rather thick cream, but not quite firm enough to be considered a “croap”.  It provided some great glide, although it didn’t work out quite as thick as I usually prefer. Lather stability was good once you had enough water, and the moisturization was also decent enough.

• 8/10 Scent Pleasantness
• 10/10 Scent Strength
• 8/10 Lather Quality

All in all, I’d recommend trying this out. It’s a clear 8/10.

• Cost: A 4 oz jar will set you back $12 (they’re now being sold in larger jars than the one I have shown).

Gear used:

• Brush: Wee Scott
• Razor: Travel Tech head on an Ikon wave handle
• Blade: Asco Super Stainless

Ingredients:

Liquid Used : Aloe Vera Juice
Oils Used : Castor Oil, Jojoba, Tallow
Other Ingredients Used : Fragrance, Glycerin, Kaolin Clay, Liquid Germall Plus, Raw Silk Fibers, Stearic Acid, Tocopherols

Penhaligon’s Opus 1870 Shaving Cream

Tags

6/10, black pepper, cedarwood, cinnamon, cologne, Coriander, floral, Incense, musk, Penhaligon, Rose, sandalwood, shaving cream, spice, wood, Yuzu

Yes, yes, I know. I’ve been lazy about writing reviews lately. I’m sorry! So, here’s a new one! Penhaligon’s Opus 1870 Shaving Cream! Which, judging by the fact that I can’t find any information about it on Penhaligon’s website, appears to be discontinued. It still seems somewhat available elsewhere, but if you’re a fan you might want to stock up.

It lathers up quite nicely, although you shouldn’t go by how it looks when doing so. With just a tiny bit of water, it lathered up into something that looked like it was good to go, but was still rather severely lacking in lubrication; more water and a bit more elbow grease fixed that up quite nicely, resulting in a nice thick cream, with plenty of cushioning and good glide. All in all, a rather good shave.

The scent was a bit lacking. First off, I compared it to its corresponding cologne, which I recently got a sampler of. While similar, it’s not quite there. Here’s what it’s supposed to smell like:

Opus 1870 is a complex and elegant woody chypre. Opening with a luxurious accord of sweet citrus and fiery black pepper, the heart is lit by the delicacy of English Clove Rose and evocative incense. The base notes are glorious, smoky waves of aromatic cedarwood and sandalwood. Opus 1870 is wonderfully warm and comforting, a fragrance to wrap yourself in on cold winter nights.

There’s a bit of an additional scent that I’m picking up, it seemed to me to be somewhat silty; it reminded a bit of of J&E Atkinson’s I Coloniali mango shaving cream. Also, I didn’t really detect any of the black pepper notes that’s so noticeable in the cologne. However the florals and the woods seemed about the same.

But, all that which was noticeable was fleeting; it wasn’t strong to begin with, and I found it quickly faded.

• 8/10 Scent Pleasantness
• 6/10 Scent Strength
• 8/10 Lather Quality

Overall, I’ll say 6/10. Frankly, the lather isn’t nice enough to buy it just for the lather, and the scent isn’t nice enough / strong enough to buy it just for the scent. I wouldn’t bother unless you’re absolutely a fan of the EtD already.

• Cost: I had a sample sent to me by a kindly redditor who wanted to know what I thought of the cream. Otherwise, the cheapest listing I found was on amazon for $41.36, for a 150 mL / 5 oz tube.

Gear used:

• Brush: Mühle HJM Black Fibre
• Razor: 1966 Solid Nickel Gillette Tech
• Blade: Astra Superior Platinum
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

Ingredients: Not sure! Probably rather similar to that of the Blenheim Bouquet, but I can’t find a listing online.

New York Shaving Company – Tonsorial shaving cream

Tags

7/10, amber, barber shop, citrus, floral, Fruit, iris, lavender, lemon, lime and mandarin, musk, New York Shaving Company, shaving cream, wood

My initial impression of New York Shaving Company’s Tonsorial cream was of a “barbershoppe” scent, which for those of you like myself who might have to look up the word Tonsorial, seems to be exactly what they were going for. They describe it as follows:

Warm and masculine, this scent opens with a citrus fusion of lemon, lime and mandarin. It emerges with lavender and iris, finishes with a warm musk and amber woods.

Personally, I think the notes that I pick up the most would be the amber and the citrus, but it’s a nice blend of all of the above. It’s fairly reminiscent of Taylor of Old Bond Street’s Shaving Shop, but without quite straying away from a clean scent to a sterile scent, as I mentioned in that review.

Strength-wise, it is indeed a lightly scented cream, however it does stay fairly steady throughout the shave, without any significant fading.

The lather was exactly what I recall from the review last week, so I’m just gonna copy it here: The lather provided a good shave. I was able to hit the sweet spot for a good combination of thickness and slickness each time, with a bit of tinkering; it seems to be a reasonably sizable but not large range of acceptable water content. Very good lather stability, decent moisturization.

• 8/10 Scent Pleasantness
• 7/10 Scent Strength
• 8/10 Lather Quality

So, it kinda looks like I like this cream almost exactly the same as I did the other New York Shaving Co cream I tried last week. So, overall rating’s the same too; 7/10.

• Cost: I haven’t seen samples of this scent readily available (this one was provided to me from Men Essentials). A 2 oz travel container goes for $12, or $18 for a full-sized 4 oz.

Gear used:

• Brush: Mühle HJM Black Fibre
• Razor: Feather AS-D2
• Blade: Ladas Super Stainless
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

Ingredients: Dunno! Couldn’t find a current listing. Best I could give you is this from their website: “This rich cream contains such beneficial ingredients as Coconut oil, Glycerin, Organic Cocoa Butter & Organic Aloe.”

New York Shaving Company – Old St. Patrick’s

Tags

7/10, benzoin, bergamot, cedar, cinnamon, Coriander, cypress, geranium, ginger, lavender, musk, New York Shaving Company, nutmeg, patchouli, shaving cream, vanilla

New York Shaving Company’s Old St. Patrick is a clean fresh scent; I’m not quite sure why they called it Old Saint Patrick’s, I had assumed before trying it that this might be their attempt to emulate Creed’s Green Irish Tweed, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. It’s a rather complex scent, one which I’d say overall is rather pleasant, if rather hard to describe. Here’s how they describe it:

A fresh gentlemen’s fragrance that opens with an enveloping fusion of nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, and bergamot notes, and emerges into a perfect blend of coriander and cypress with subtle lavender and geranium undertones. It finishes with a base of patchouli, musk, and cedar softened with vanilla and benzoin.

Maybe it was Irish Spring soap they were going for there, I’ll admit I can’t quite say as it’s been forever since I’ve used that soap.

The strength is middling; it wasn’t all that strong, but it didn’t fade significantly during the shave, staying nice and steady at that lightly scented stage. Which I know some of you definitely prefer!

The lather provided a good shave. I was able to hit the sweet spot for a good combination of thickness and slickness each time, with a bit of tinkering; it seems to be a reasonably sizable but not large range of acceptable water content. Very good lather stability, decent moisturization.

• 8/10 Scent Pleasantness
• 7/10 Scent Strength
• 8/10 Lather Quality

So, overall I’ll say it’s a pretty good shaving cream, I’ll give it a 7/10. Apparently they re-formulated their product within the last year or so, so if you tried it in the past and didn’t like it, it might be worth a shot again.

• Cost: I haven’t seen samples of this scent readily available (this one was provided to me from Men Essentials). A 2 oz travel container goes for $12, or $18 for a full-sized 4 oz.

Gear used:

• Brush: Mühle HJM Black Fibre
• Razor: Feather AS-D2
• Blade: Ladas Super Stainless
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

Ingredients: Dunno! Couldn’t find a current listing. Best I could give you is this from their website: “This rich cream contains such beneficial ingredients as Coconut oil, Glycerin, Organic Cocoa Butter & Organic Aloe.”

O Melhor shaving cream

Tags

7/10, Claus Porto, cologne, marine, musk, o melhor, shaving cream, wood

O Melhor is made by Confiança, a company which was recently acquired by Ach Brito/Claus Porto, who many of you might know as the makes of the Musgo Real line of pre-shave soaps and shaving creams.

The lather I found to be a bit tricky. It seemed to me both times that I tried it, that I had to choose between having either a thick lather, or enough slickness. If it had a sweet spot for water content that gave a good balance of both, I overshot it when I was giving it a try. The moisturization was pretty good, and I didn’t notice any issues with lather stability.

The scent is a rather “cologne-y” aroma; with marine notes, woods, and musk mostly predominate. Personally, I don’t really think it was anything to write home about; not to say that it’s unpleasant by any means, but it doesn’t quite do it for me. The strength was ok. It wasn’t too strong, but it was steady.

• 7/10 Scent Pleasantness
• 8/10 Scent Strength
• 7/10 Lather Quality

Overall, I’d say it’s a toss-up between a 7/10 and a 6/10, but I think I’m a bit inclined to lean towards rounding up to the 7/10.

• Cost: Samples are currently available for $2 per 1/4 oz from the Wet Shaving Sample Shop. A full sized tube (100 mL) will cost €10.2 (the only place in North America that I’ve seen carrying it is out of stock)

Gear used:

• Brush: Mühle HJM Black Fibre
• Razor: Gillette Travel Tech
• Blade: Astra Superior Platinum
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

Ingredients: Stearic acid, palmitic acid, aqua(water), potassium hydroxide, cocos nucifera, glycerin, sodium hydroxide, parfum(fragrance), lauryl PEG/PPG-18/18 methicone, sodium borate, lanolin, sodium lauryl sulfate, sodium myristyl sulfate, sodium cetyl sulfate, sodium stearyl sulfate, laureth-10, octydodecanol, benzyl salicylate, butylphenyl methylpropional, linalool, alpha-isomethyl ionone.

Penhaligon’s Blenheim Bouquet shaving cream

Tags

9/10, Blenheim Bouquet, citrus, lavender, lemon, Lime, musk, Penhaligon, pepper, pine

I’ll admit, I try a lot of shaving soaps and creams that a lot of people rave about, and a lot of the time I just don’t really see what they’re going on about. Once in a while, I do, and Penhaligon’s Blenheim Bouquet is one of those times.

It’s mainly a citrus scented soap, however after the first hit of the lemon and lime, it reveals a nice complex mix, tempered by lavender, and supported by pine, musk, and a bit of black pepper. I really really quite liked it.

The strength was great as well; not much fading, good strength throughout the shave.

The lather too was rather good. Relatively thirsty for a cream, once enough water was added it easily lathered up to a nice thick consistency with great glide. Rather voluminous as well. Nothing outstanding in the way of moisturization / skin care, bad or good. My only quibble would be that the stability could have been a bit better; it didn’t become unusable or anything, but the lather was visibly fading by the end of my shave.

• 10/10 Scent Pleasantness
• 9/10 Scent Strength
• 8/10 Lather Quality

Overall, I’m giving it a 9/10, and I think I’ll slot it in at #7 on the top ten list. Because, damn that stuff smelled nice. Seriously, I need to get the cologne. So… if anyone’s got a spare $120 kicking around, I’d really appreciate it!

• Cost: I had a sample sent to me by a kindly redditor who wanted to know what I thought of the cream. For everyone else, however, I do recall Garry’s Sample Shop having had it in stock at one point, although he doesn’t right now, you might want to keep your eye there, and on the Wetshaving Sample Shoppe. Or, you could just go for it: 150 mL can be found for $45 in a travel tube or $55 in a glass jar, shipping included.

Gear used:

• Brush: Ecotools Kabuki Finishing Brush
• Razor: 1966 Solid Nickel Gillette Tech
• Blade: Lord Super Stainless
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

Ingredients: Aqua, stearic acid, myristic acid, glycerin, potassium hydroxide, coconut acid, glycol distearate, sodium C14-16 olefin sulfonate, parfum(fragrance), limonene, linalool, citral, phenoxyethanol, methylparaben, butylparaben, ethylparaben, isobutylparaben, propylparaben

Al’s Shaving Products – Scent of the Month: Rosebud Shaving Cream

Tags

9/10, Al's Shaving Products, citrus, floral, lavender, musk, Rose, shaving cream, SOTM, spice

Al’s Shaving Products has three of their “Scents of the Month” coming out for April, and I was offered a chance to get a sneak peek at two of them. The first would be the Rosebud.

As per usual, Al’s Shaving Products provided a very nice shave. It’s a thirsty cream, so don’t skimp on the water; it’ll be put to good use, and you don’t need to worry much about overshooting the water content, as it’s got a pretty wide sweet spot. Nice and thick, while plenty slick, and leaving the face feeling more and soft and moisturized than most creams do.

The aroma is a floral scent (rose and lavender), with a base of musk and hints of citrus and spice. The florals were tempered nicely by the other scents, avoiding becoming cloyingly sweet. Al says that he was shooting for “a cleaner version of Pierre cardin pour Monsieur [more] oriented for younger audiences, [that] dries with notes that are similar to Old Spice”, if that helps you make a decision on whether or not you’d like it.

The strength is pretty decent. It comes on strongly, and stays that way throughout about half of a pass or so, after which it’ll start fading somewhat. By the end of each pass, it’s definitely still there, but not quite what I’d call strongly so. At the start of the shave, it’s at a 10/10, by the end, about a 8/10, IMHO.

• 9/10 Scent Pleasantness
• 9/10 Scent Strength
• 9/10 Quality of Lather

I’m happy enough to round this one up to a 9/10. If the scent sounds appealing, I suggest getting it while you can.

• Cost: This sample was provided gratis for the purposes of this review. The SOTMs are available for $18 for a 4 oz tub.

Gear used:

• Brush: Ecotools Kabuki Finishing Brush
• Razor: Vintage Bakelite Slant
• Blade: Bolzano Superinox
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

Ingredients: “The forumula of Al’s Shaving Cream is Triethanolamine and preservative (parabens) free and only contains sodium and potassium salts of fatty acids (stearic, oleic, linoleic, palmitic, myristic and lauric) in addition to water, glycerin and botanicals.”

Kell’s Original Hemp Blend Shaving Soap – Black Tea

Tags

8/10, amber, bermagot, black tea, cedarwood, citrus, floral, Fruit, Glycerin, Jasmine, kell's original, lemon, musk, Orange, shaving soap, tea

Kell’s Original Black Tea is one of those ones were it’s probably best just to start off by giving you the listing of how they describe the scent:

This smoky, sexy and sophisticated fragrance is reminiscent of roasted tea leaves with strong overtones of tobacco. With surprising top notes of Italian Bergamot, Sicilian Lemon and Southern Orange, the blend winds down with Black Tea Leaves, Star Jasmine, White Cedarwood, Amber Crystal and a rich musk. This is a bold and unusual scent sure to intrigue.

So, as you can see, it’s a fairly complex scent. I’m not going to lie, had someone asked me to sniff it and give a description, I’m not sure that “tea” would have popped up. But, knowing that’s what they’re going for, I can see how it hints at that. I’m not entirely sure that I pick up everything listed there, in particular I don’t get all that much of a citrus impression at all, be it lemon, orange, or bermagot. As an aside, I think I would greatly enjoy a shaving soap that manages to capture the essence of Earl Grey, a classic blend of black tea and bermagot.

Anyways, it’s a complex scent, but it’s rather enjoyable; I found it to be somewhat invigorating, it’s just spicy enough to give a little bit of a kick to the senses. It comes on just shy of “strong”, but manages to avoid fading noticeably from there.

As is expected now from Kell’s Original, the lather is quite nice. It’s provides good performance in thickness, glide, and moisturizing properties, provided that you remember to use enough water! Quite voluminous as well, a fully loaded brush will provide far more lather than is needed for a typical 3-pass shave.

• 9/10 Scent Pleasantness
• 9/10 Scent Strength
• 8/10 Lather Quality

All-in-all, 8/10. I’d definitely recommend at least trying out a sampler. Also available with aloe, although I haven’t tried that formulation.

• Cost: The sample puck used was $2 for 1 oz, also available are 2.7 oz cakes for $5.25, 4oz in a tin for $8, or a 2.5 oz shave stick for $9.

Gear used:

• Brush: Ecotools Kabuki Finishing Brush
• Razor: Vintage Bakelite Slant
• Blade: Bolzano Superinox
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

Hemp blend ingredients: Coconut Oil, Palm Oil, Olive Oil (Grade A extra virgin), Safflower Oil, Glycerine (vegetable origin), Hemp Seed Oil (unrefined), Purified Water, Sodium Hydroxide (saponifying agent), Sorbitol (moisturizer), Sorbitan oleate (emulsifer), Soy bean protein (conditioner), Wheat Protein (conditioner)

The Shave Den – Winter Pagoda shaving soap

Tags

6/10, amber, Glycerin, musk, shaving soap, the shave den, wood

The Shave Den’s Winter Pagoda is fairly sweetly scented. And that’s about it; other than the sweetness, it’s not all that distinctive. It’s supposed to be “frost and white woods with sweet amber and light musk”, but to be honest, it’s hard to really make out any of the individual scents. Maybe a bit of the musk, but overall, it’s kind of bland. Vaguely pleasant, but boring.

And that’s when sniffing the soap itself. Once applied to the face, there’s not much there at all.

For the lather, the usual caveats for the Shave Den apply; load your brush very heavily, and then add your water gradually, and you’ll should be able to hit the sweet spot with a good balance of lather thickness and glide. It’s easy to overshoot though, and can be tricky to get just right.

• 7/10 Scent Pleasantness
• 7/10 Scent Strength
• 7/10 Lather Quality

So, overall, meh. 6/10 I guess. There’s definitely better stuff out there.

• Cost: A one ounce sample goes for $2.50, or $6.99 for a full 4 ounce puck (an extra $2 if you want a tub with it).

Gear used:

• Brush: Ecotools Kabuki Finishing Brush
• Razor: Merkur Progress
• Blade: Croma Diamant
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

Ingredients: Glycerin, Aqua, Olive Oil, Bentonite Clay, Sodium Borate, Sweet Almond Oil, Sodium Palmate, Sorbitol, Sodium Cocoate, Palm Acid, Coconut Acid, Pentasodium Pentetate, Tetrasodium Etidronate, and fragrance.