Alert!! Declaration Grooming and Chatillon Lux

I just saw a post on Declaration Grooming's Instagram that they will be taking over Chatillon Lux's aftershave line - there is no mention of what Shawn and Chatillon Lux will be doing but I'm guessing that Shawn wants to focus on his perfume business.  The collaboration between Chatillon Lux and Declaration Grooming was one of the very early collaborations and a really good one as far as I'm concerned.  I fell in love with the Chatillon Lux scents and post shave products and to be able to get those scents in one of the top soap bases in the business was just great.  Scott at DG has continuously improved his soap base to the point where his current Milk Steak base is one of if not the top bases in the business.  I have been happy to watch Shawn's growth into his perfume business but, being a human I was a bit concerned with what would happen to the post shave line.  Nothng to worry about now the Declaration Grooming is taking it over.  Now I have to convince Scott that we really need a re-release of Blackberry Blossom Bay in Milk Steak 

Marko, according to Shawn, he was getting a bit overwhelmed with wanting to concentrate on his cologne/eau de toilette/perfume line and his outside job so he made the difficult decision to move the aftershave line to Declaration Grooming.  Shawn says he will continue to sell the unscented aftershave and post-shave toner on his site but the scented ones will be moved to DG.  I wish both Shawn and Scott continued success as we are fortunate to have them in the wet shaving world.

I also was nervous about the future of Chatillon Lux aftershaves given his clear focus on EdPs and EdTs. This is, for me, a perfect solution. Scott's aftershave formula is just as good as Shawn's, in my book, so enjoying CL scents in DG aftershaves will be just fine by me. In fact, Scott is releasing a CL-scented DG aftershave tomorrow!

I didn't see the Instagram post. Does anyone know if it will definitively be Scott's AS formula? Or is Shawn handing over formula/scents to DG? One reason CL dominates my AS collection is due to the formula and how great is makes my skin feel.

And a huge +1 to talking Scott into doing BB again...but in AS, Toner, Shave Soap, Bath Soap, Toothpaste, whatever!!!

I didn't see the Instagram post. Does anyone know if it will definitively be Scott's AS formula? Or is Shawn handing over formula/scents to DG? One reason CL dominates my AS collection is due to the formula and how great is makes my skin feel.

And a huge +1 to talking Scott into doing BB again...but in AS, Toner, Shave Soap, Bath Soap, Toothpaste, whatever!!!

The Instagram photo from Declaration shows Champs de Lavande in a standard-issue Declaration aftershave bottle. I believe Declaration plans to use the Declaration formula in the CL-scented aftershaves. Otherwise, Shawn will have to ship bunches of liquid to Scott, and continue to make “aftershave,” defeating the purpose in abandoning the business in the first place. Yes to Blackberry Blossom Bay!

P.S. Rereading your post, I now understand your suggestion that Shawn “share” his formula with Scott. As I mentioned I, for one, would be happy with Shawn’s scents in Scott’s formula, but we’re all different.

From Chatillon Lux Website  


June 29, 2020
So this is hard to write. Really hard. And I write for a living. But in this case, that’s part of the problem.
 
I started in 2015 making shaving products while realizing that I had a natural affinity for creating the scents that would go in them. As I grew and worked to develop my talent as a perfumer, I also realized that cosmetic formulation would end up becoming my Achilles’ heel. I wasn’t motivated to develop new bases and I could see that in the shaving world stagnation can be dangerous.
 
And while I may have experienced the problems of base stagnation, I was always appreciative of the people in the shaving community and the friends that I've made. Those who loved what I was doing. It was great and the amazing people made the long hours and the sleepless nights worth it. However, working long hours and all-nighters can end up taking its toll over time. Especially if there’s no path to scaling it to be my main gig, meaning all-nighters would become the norm...well, forever. And my day job had been getting more and more demanding with no signs of slowing down.
 
The biggest problem was that sometimes demand is huge (around the launch) and sometimes it would be maybe 6-8 bottles in a month. Hard to invest too much into something that fluctuates wildly, and even harder to keep up with a large workload when your day job was demanding but suddenly you're faced with a level of demand in a product that you're not used to seeing more than maybe a few times per year. 
 
However,  I never wished to quit my shaving line and realized my partnership with Declaration Grooming, and more specifically, my friend Scott, could be the answer to the problems that I faced in making my shaving line sustainable. In order to coordinate the supply of aftershave with the supply of soap, it would be easier for both our customers and retail partners to order our shaving products from one source that has far greater production capabilities than I have. Simplicity and production capacity in one fell swoop. 
 
With the freedom that this would bring, I would now be able to:

• Supply a streamlined fragrance supply without having to source and create bases and packaging, creating fewer stock outages
  
  
• Create more new scents by utilizing the time I spent on production on fragrance development
  
  
• Find a more predictable schedule for myself
  
  
• Ensure there is an easily accessible and dependable source for my shaving customers
  
  
• Provide someone who I could trust to keep the quality of production at the highest level
  

 
Unfortunately, it would seem that the aftershave business was simply not scalable. However, with the partnership with Declaration Grooming, I could keep the aftershaves alive and well while also creating a better work schedule for myself.
 
I will continue to offer unscented versions of my aftershave and toner, but from here on out, Declaration Grooming will be the sole provider of Chatillon Lux fragrances in shaving product bases. We plan on making this transition by mid-August. I will try my best to stock as much product as possible until the transition happens, but my job has become far more demanding than it previously had been, making it hard to promise anything more than doing my best to create as much stock as possible while it’s still in production.
 
You all have been wonderful and I look forward to seeing what amazing things we can do with the enhanced structure of Chatillon Lux as a fragrance maker in conjunction with Declaration Grooming’s production capabilities.
 
However, what makes a difficult decision easier is knowing that Scott will not only continue to do work of only the utmost excellence, but will also remain both a partner and a friend with whom I can work closely. That way we can trust that the level of quality will remain at and (most likely) above the standards I have set. We aim to have this transition fully in place by mid-August for the launch of Lamplight Penance. 


Link. https://chatillonlux.com/blogs/news/news...n-grooming

I recently ordered an after shave splash from the CL website, and saw this announcement. I didn't know much about the DG/CL collaboration previously, but that is what prompted me to go check out the CL products. This seems like a good way for Shawn's shaving products to keep going.

Looks like there was a big run on CL splashes at Maggards...completely out of stock of AS and toners

P.S. Rereading your post, I now understand your suggestion that Shawn “share” his formula with Scott. As I mentioned I, for one, would be happy with Shawn’s scents in Scott’s formula, but we’re all different.

I have a few DG splashes but they were from when he was L&L Grooming.  And they are good bases, I have no problems/issues/dislikes with his AS, it's just that I have always considered CL the top-tier with NO competition when it came to performance and scents.  I am happy that CL scents will live on but am a little bummed that the base won't be around anymore.  Thankfully, Shawn still had a few Weinstrasse & Gratiot League Square AS available on his site, so I may have stocked up on something I dont' really need  

From Chatillon Lux Website  


June 29, 2020
So this is hard to write. Really hard. And I write for a living. But in this case, that’s part of the problem.
 
I started in 2015 making shaving products while realizing that I had a natural affinity for creating the scents that would go in them. As I grew and worked to develop my talent as a perfumer, I also realized that cosmetic formulation would end up becoming my Achilles’ heel. I wasn’t motivated to develop new bases and I could see that in the shaving world stagnation can be dangerous.
 
And while I may have experienced the problems of base stagnation, I was always appreciative of the people in the shaving community and the friends that I've made. Those who loved what I was doing. It was great and the amazing people made the long hours and the sleepless nights worth it. However, working long hours and all-nighters can end up taking its toll over time. Especially if there’s no path to scaling it to be my main gig, meaning all-nighters would become the norm...well, forever. And my day job had been getting more and more demanding with no signs of slowing down.
 
The biggest problem was that sometimes demand is huge (around the launch) and sometimes it would be maybe 6-8 bottles in a month. Hard to invest too much into something that fluctuates wildly, and even harder to keep up with a large workload when your day job was demanding but suddenly you're faced with a level of demand in a product that you're not used to seeing more than maybe a few times per year. 
 
However,  I never wished to quit my shaving line and realized my partnership with Declaration Grooming, and more specifically, my friend Scott, could be the answer to the problems that I faced in making my shaving line sustainable. In order to coordinate the supply of aftershave with the supply of soap, it would be easier for both our customers and retail partners to order our shaving products from one source that has far greater production capabilities than I have. Simplicity and production capacity in one fell swoop. 
 
With the freedom that this would bring, I would now be able to:

• Supply a streamlined fragrance supply without having to source and create bases and packaging, creating fewer stock outages
  
  
• Create more new scents by utilizing the time I spent on production on fragrance development
  
  
• Find a more predictable schedule for myself
  
  
• Ensure there is an easily accessible and dependable source for my shaving customers
  
  
• Provide someone who I could trust to keep the quality of production at the highest level
  

 
Unfortunately, it would seem that the aftershave business was simply not scalable. However, with the partnership with Declaration Grooming, I could keep the aftershaves alive and well while also creating a better work schedule for myself.
 
I will continue to offer unscented versions of my aftershave and toner, but from here on out, Declaration Grooming will be the sole provider of Chatillon Lux fragrances in shaving product bases. We plan on making this transition by mid-August. I will try my best to stock as much product as possible until the transition happens, but my job has become far more demanding than it previously had been, making it hard to promise anything more than doing my best to create as much stock as possible while it’s still in production.
 
You all have been wonderful and I look forward to seeing what amazing things we can do with the enhanced structure of Chatillon Lux as a fragrance maker in conjunction with Declaration Grooming’s production capabilities.
 
However, what makes a difficult decision easier is knowing that Scott will not only continue to do work of only the utmost excellence, but will also remain both a partner and a friend with whom I can work closely. That way we can trust that the level of quality will remain at and (most likely) above the standards I have set. We aim to have this transition fully in place by mid-August for the launch of Lamplight Penance. 


Link. https://chatillonlux.com/blogs/news/news...n-grooming

Thanks for posting this on DFS - I just checked the Merchant threads and noticed that Shawn (Chatillon Lux) is no longer on our roster - I assume that's in anticipation of this transition.