Chatillon Lux AMA, June 4th, 2017

Shawn, any chance at a smokey pinion or incense type scent? It could be you have one already that I don't know about.

PS - I am a big fan of Colbeck. This year I ordered a second bottle plus Taum Sauk. What a wonderful pair of summertime aftershaves! Maybe next year a matching mentholated shave soap could be developed as well?

Best, Tim

Hi Shawn, I want to thank you for doing this AMA but most of all I want to thank you for crafting some of the best post shave products I've ever used.  The post shave soothing, conditioning and man, the scents are out of this world.  Your scents are unique, imaginative and flat out awesome and the way you root your products in the history of the great city of St. Louis and the surrounding area is pretty cool.  Whenever you do a collaboration with a soap maker the Chatillon Lux scent makes the soap a very special soap.  

My questions are how did you get started in the post shave world? What was your inspiration?  Have you always been interested in scent in general and the blending of unique and creative scents as well?

Thanks Shawn, I wish you all the success and happiness that its possible to have and I look forward to more amazing creations coming from your nose/mind down the road.
Cheers,
Mark

Thanks, Mark! It's easy to make STL sound cool if you have a love affair with the city. I love it. My girlfriend is from Barbados and despises winter with ever fiber in her being, but she has fallen in love with the city so much that she actually tolerates the weather. It's one of the best endorsements I can think of.

The way I started was with the salve. I was a new shaver and was going through my first winter without a beard in a while. That winter was super harsh (not compared to yours, but still, for a relative southerner like myself) and single-degree (F) highs daily were killing my face. Some nice person had sent me a sample of L'Occitane Cade balm, which was amazing, but I started looking at the ingredient list and started wondering if I could make something myself in lieu of paying so much for a tube.

I have an inability to get into a hobby or interest casually. So once I started experimenting, I got super hardcore about it. Then, after a while, I began sharing it with my friends, who encouraged me to start a business. So I got off the ground with my very, very good friend as a business partner and he helped encourage me and ground me. Even though he left, Chatillon Lux never would have happened if it were not for him during those early days when we were basically inventing the wheel with every single thing we did.

As far as scents go, this is an interesting thing. During my high school days, aquatic fragrances were all the rage. I had a bottle of Tommy, and my college girlfriend made me wear Acqua di Gio. All of these scents were fine, but I never found them to be particularly interesting.

But I always did have an interest in scents thanks to my dad growing up. Not fragrances, because he wore Old Spice exclusively for 40 years until I started making aftershave. My dad was a forestry major and has managed a contractor-focused lumberyard for over three decades. I used to love visiting when I was a kid, when he would take me around showing me all the different types of lumber. He would sniff each board and have me smell it, telling me why he liked it so much. His favorite is red cedar wood. He always got excited if we came by the saw area and someone had just cut red cedar, because that meant we could go smell the shavings. He would take me to job sites and have me smell closets lined in cedarwood. When my parents first had a home constructed, he made the wet bar...you guessed it...red cedar. He and I also enjoyed camping, and we would smell all the flowers, undergrowth and plants of all kinds.

So now you know why I like green, woody and earthy scents. I made my dad a scent for Father's Day last year called Lumberyard Man. It was designed to smell just like his lumberyard after cutting some red cedar. Only he and I have that scent and I will never let anyone else ever use it. It's the scent I was most excited to make ever.

Thanks for the question, Mark! I sometimes wish I had gotten into fragrance at an earlier age, but then I remember that I am really happy with the journey that brought me to it.

Shawn,

Thanks for your thorough responses - I think thats really cool about your dad and how close a relationship you have with him. I was a carpenter in a past career and I also love the amazing and diverse scents of wood both cut and milled and standing alive in the forests. I think running a lumberyard would be a dream job for me. I have to say, you've come by your appreciation for scent honestly and its reflected in your creations which are all unique and wonderful.
Mark

Hi Shawn, first of all CL has quickly become my number 1 for shaving from pre shave to soap to post shave.

My question is that in future do you plan to have some soaps as permanent addition rather than hard to find limited edition

Also were you able to find the 'paan' which I mentioned in my colebeck review


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Shawn, any chance at a smokey pinion or incense type scent? It could be you have one already that I don't know about.

PS - I am a big fan of Colbeck. This year I ordered a second bottle plus Taum Sauk. What a wonderful pair of summertime aftershaves! Maybe next year a matching mentholated shave soap could be developed as well?

Best, Tim

Glad you're enjoying them! I don't handle really hot weather well and tried to make things that I would want to use on the most sweltering of mornings. So far none of my soapmaking partners use menthol. It could be cool, but I also prefer to work with people whom I enjoy both as artisans but also with whom I have had positive interactions and have an existing relationship. It could be a fun experiment. It's probably something I should start looking into this winter.

As far as incense goes, there is a healthy dose of it in TSM Fougère and also some in La Quatrième Ville, and Bon Vivant has birch tar, which is less smoky than charred, however. I don't have any good ideas for doing a scent that features those scents more prominently since scents like that seem harder to differentiate. You never know what will pop in my head, but so far I haven't found a good inspiration. Plus, I tried A City on Fire by Imaginary Authors, so I have a hard time imagining myself creating a smoky scent that would even come close to being the same league. It's so good: https://www.imaginaryauthors.com/product...y-on-fire/

Shawn,

Thanks for your thorough responses - I think thats really cool about your dad and how close a relationship you have with him. I was a carpenter in a past career and I also love the amazing and diverse scents of wood both cut and milled and standing alive in the forests. I think running a lumberyard would be a dream job for me. I have to say, you've come by your appreciation for scent honestly and its reflected in your creations which are all unique and wonderful.
Mark

Thanks, Mark! And running a lumberyard does seem like a good way to find new, interesting problems to solve every day since no two jobs are the same.

Hi Shawn, first of all CL has quickly become my number 1 for shaving from pre shave to soap to post shave.

My question is that in future do you plan to have some soaps as permanent addition rather than hard to find limited edition

Also were you able to find the 'paan' which I mentioned in my colebeck review


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hey, Ankit! Thanks so much! That's awesome to hear!

Also, L&L Grooming makes TSM Fougère soap as a permanent addition to their lineup. And that's really, really hard to keep up since it's hard enough to keep track of my own business, let alone coordinate with someone who lives really far away and is also a super busy person. Unfortunately, since I have no interest whatsoever in developing a shaving soap (and really no time to do so, either, unfortunately), I am not sure I could coordinate any other of my scents being permanent additions to soapmakers lineups.

Lastly, no! I was just thinking about that paan yesterday, but I haven't managed to get myself to a grocery store of any type lately. I think I should set an alarm to remind me to stop at an Indian market after work tomorrow because that sounds really interesting. And thanks for reminding me! I definitely really need to check it out

Hi Shawn, first of all CL has quickly become my number 1 for shaving from pre shave to soap to post shave.

My question is that in future do you plan to have some soaps as permanent addition rather than hard to find limited edition

Also were you able to find the 'paan' which I mentioned in my colebeck review


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hey, Ankit! Thanks so much! That's awesome to hear!

Also, L&L Grooming makes TSM Fougère soap as a permanent addition to their lineup. And that's really, really hard to keep up since it's hard enough to keep track of my own business, let alone coordinate with someone who lives really far away and is also a super busy person. Unfortunately, since I have no interest whatsoever in developing a shaving soap (and really no time to do so, either, unfortunately), I am not sure I could coordinate any other of my scents being permanent additions to soapmakers lineups.

Lastly, no! I was just thinking about that paan yesterday, but I haven't managed to get myself to a grocery store of any type lately. I think I should set an alarm to remind me to stop at an Indian market after work tomorrow because that sounds really interesting. And thanks for reminding me! I definitely really need to check it out

Great, I don't know anyone there otherwise could have pointed you to the right store.

I can understand about the soap and this time not going to miss the release this month




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Shawn,

Can you talk about the 6 top things you love about St. Louis? I know its hard to limit it to 6 but otherwise you'd go on all day I'm sure. I know I'm going to make it out there some day to see for myself but I love hearing a place described by someone who obviously is in love with that place.

Mark

first, thanks for taking the time to do an AMA on DFS.

what's your favorite food and beer?

Shawn,

Can you talk about the 6 top things you love about St. Louis?  I know its hard to limit it to 6 but otherwise you'd go on all day I'm sure.  I know I'm going to make it out there some day to see for myself but I love hearing a place described by someone who obviously is in love with that place.

Mark

This is a great question, but very hard. Deep breath. Okay.

1. Forest Park - this is cheating a little bit, but too bad. it is the park that hosted both the 1904 World's Fair and the 1904 Summer Olympics simultaneously. The row of houses built for international dignitaries are all still standing, lining the park on Lindell Blvd. While some items still remain (including the Jewel Box, where my sister held her wedding, which was amazing), it also features the Missouri History Museum (a place I love), the Saint Louis Art Museum (which contains work from many masterful artists from throughout history), the Saint Louis Zoo (one of the best in the United States), and the Saint Louis Science Center, all free. Plus, there are ample trails and wooded nooks, paddle boats, all kinds of courts and fields, and hosts a bunch of festivals thoughout the year.

2. Cherokee Street - a bunch of authentic Mexican restaurants/bakeries/groceries, art galleries, antique stores, music venues and record stores. I also really like the Loop (home to Chuck Berry's Blueberry Hill restaurant/music venue, great restaurants and the incomparable Vintage Vinyl), but Cherokee is a little more exciting to me.

3. Busch Stadium/Ballpark Village - the Cardinals are super frustrating this year, but not much beats catching a Cardinals game on a nice day and visiting the Cardinals Hall of Fame museum.

4. Downtown attractions - City Museum is like a contemporary Gaudí work, the Gateway Arch park is starting to finish major renovations that were started for its 50th birthday, Busch Stadium, Scottrade Center, Union Station, the Broadway Oyster Bar, 4Hand Brewing, Citygarden, and more.

5. Festivals - from the world's second-largest Mardi Gras serason to LouFest to Q in the Lou to Fringe Fest to many craft beer festivals to....the list goes on and on.

6. This is a hard one, but The Hill, the Italian neighborhood that inspired Colonia Balsamica. Really amazing rustic Sicilian and Lombardy restaurants with bocce ball courts and really great people.

Honorable mention: many, many amazing craft breweries. Earthbound Brewing (on Cherokee) has become a recent favorite.