Pairing fragrance with shaving products

Hail fellow travelers,

Many of us enjoy both fragrance and fragranced shaving products. Sometimes, however, we notice that our fragrance of the day clashes with our shaving cream, soap, or aftershave, and we ultimately end up smelling weird and perhaps a smidge unpleasant. We'd all like to avoid that scenario.

This thread is for discussing fragrances that you like to pair with particular shaving products. I'll start:


Shaving products:

Antica Barbieria Colla shaving soap: Though the soap is lightly scented, I sometimes use it with Antica Barbieria Colla's Almond Aftershave Milk. When I do, I like to pair these products with an almond fragrance. My fragrance of choice for this soap is Carner Barcelona's Tardes. Tardes has a prominent almond note, but pairs it with other elements that make it smell both fresh and sweet/boozy simultaneously.

Martin de Candre Fougere shaving soap: This is a very "green" fougere, but not all fougeres smell green. Consequently, I typically don't pair Martin de Candre with my usual lavender fougeres (which come across as more "purple" to me). Because of its slightly smoky (yet clean and fresh) quality, I love pairing Martin de Candre Fougere with a good vetiver. Roja Parfums Vetiver Extrait, Guerlain's Vetiver, and Creed's Original Vetiver would all be great choices.

Santa Maria Novella Crema da Barba shaving cream: To me this shaving cream is more about menthol and eucalyptus than tobacco. For that reason, I want a fragrance that will reflect or accent these notes. On the minty side, I like using this cream with Frederic Malle's Geranium Pour Monsieur, Xerjoff's 1861, or Acqua di Parma Colonia Club. For the eucalyptus accent, I always reach for Creed's Royal Mayfair, which is a delicate scent that pairs eucalyptus with lime, rose, pine, and gin.

Geo F. Trumper's Extract of West Indian Limes shaving cream: I don't use this cream often, but it has one of my favorite scents. The lime comes across as very citric and acidic, so I pair Extract of West Indian Limes with similarly bright citrus fragrances. The matching EDT is wonderful (though too light to last the day), but I also use it with Xerjoff's Nio, Tom Ford's Neroli Portofino, and Tom Ford's Azure Lime.

Mystic Water Sensitive shaving soap: Technically the Sensitive formula is fragrance free, however the heavily concentrated natural ingredients in the soap end up smelling like chamomile tea. Since this reminds me of tea, I like pairing it with tea fragrances. Among these are Creed's Asian Green Tea and By Kilian's Imperial Tea.

XPEC Original shaving cream: This is a tough cream to pair since it smells like a masculine chypre. It's positively stuffed with tuberose, so I wear it with tuberose and chypre fragrances. The XPEC Original EDT works well with the cream (obviously), as does Roja Dove's Diaghilev, Frederic Malle's Carnal Flower (avoid if you don't like slightly feminine fragrances), and, surprisingly, Creed's Aventus.

Barrister & Mann Night Music shaving soap: Night music has a heavy note of civet that smells "warm". Civet reminds me of how one might use oud in a fragrance, which has a similarly animalic yet intriguing scent. These two items sometimes go well together, so I like to pair Night Music with fragrances that have light oud notes. In particular, Tom Ford's Oud Wood, Creed's Royal Oud, and By Kilian's Cruel Intentions work beautifully with the scent of this soap. And some days when I want a more obvious animalic aura, I use Night Music with Maison Francis Kurkdjian's Absolue Pour le Soir.


What fragrances do you like to pair with your shaving products?

- NX

The matchup I probably use most frequently is Barrister & Mann Cheshire Shaving Soap with Penhaligon's Blenheim Bouquet EdT.  It's a great combination for me.

What scent of B&M Freddy? I love Blenheim Bouquet. Out of all the B&M soaps, I'd probably pair it with Seville or Cheshire.

What scent of B&M Freddy? I love Blenheim Bouquet. Out of all the B&M soaps, I'd probably pair it with Seville or Cheshire.

I cannot believe I just did that.

I have since corrected my post, Peter.

Thanks mate hehe . For a minute there I was wondering if you enjoy pairing Blenheim Bouquet with Night Music O_o.

I haven't tried Night Music but gather they wouldn't exactly be the perfect match.

great thread, NeoXerxes!

personally I'm only rocking out with 4 aftershaves at the moment: B&M DFS LE splash, Stirling Sandalwood ASB, Proraso sensitive skin balm & Krampert's Finest Bay Rum. I do find it hard to pair the aftershaves with my soaps at time.

very interested to keep an eye on this thread!!!

I have to be honest.

None of my shaving products smell for long enough to clash with my fragrance.
My most potent after shave smells for perhaps 1-2-3 hours tops.
I deliberately buy my after shaves so they are not too strong in scent, as most of you know I have a rather large fragrance collection, that has my focus when it comes to smelling good all day.

I almost never match my fragrance with any of my shaving products, because my fragrance will far far outweigh any scent that would be left from the shaving products I used 1-2 hours before going out the door anyway.

I do match my after shave somewhat with the shaving soap/cream, so it at least will match it a bit, but not even my DR Harris Sandalwood after shave lasts for more than 2-3 hours tops, and that is one of the strongest after shaves in my collection (I only own it because it was a gift, and because I like the DR harris Sandalwood so much more than other cologne type sandalwood scents)

It also has to do with the fact that after I apply after shave, I apply 2 skin care products to the same region of the face, and this will thin out the scent from the AS.

So in short, I don't ever match my fragrance with my shaving products, because I'm a liberal oversprayer already, and apply my fragrance du jour as body spray as well as a fragrance around my neck and head.

Even thick fragrance like Tom Ford Tuscan Leather, Nasomatto, Profumum Roma scents and thick oud scents I easily spray 6-8-10 sprays on chest, neck and body.

This eliminates ALL of the scents used during and after the shave.

I try to avoid being THAT COLOGNE GUY, but I must admit that I don't really care about it that much any more.

I live in an area of Copenhagen, where people smell of anything from garlic to curry so strongly, that I take pride in being able to overtake their scents with my fragrance du jour.

By the time I'm at work, 1-2 hours has gone after initial application, and I might choke some out the first hour or two - but I still smell way better, than the guys smelling of old cigarettes, sweaty armpits and unbrushed mouth

FYI I have actually toned my fragrance overspraying down a bit, this after two incidents, where two taxi drivers in the same week had to role down their window because I had just appllied my fragrance. I gave them an excuse for my strong perfume, and they gave me a laugh back.

I realize it's impotance to smell good, but it's also important to respect the people around you, and some might have allergies towards fragrances.

I often and quickly apologies to my co workers, if I can hear they sneeze or cuff, and tell them 'Sorry, I may AGAIN have over applied my fragrance du jour'

Have yet to receive a complaint though. In Denmark 80% of all men don't wear fragrances daily, only for weekends going out, so when a man finally wears it daily, most people will appreciate it, unless it's TOO MUCH or they have allegies.

Wow CHSeifert! I have much respect for such a formidable fragrance collection (mine is respectable, but not huge), and a shared passion for olfactory arts, but I must say, I cannot imagine spraying anything close to 6-10 sprays and getting away with it. I work in an open office, and even I have been irritated by the occasional coworker who wears too much of something (it's usually a buzzing woody-amber or my bugbear, dihydromyrcenol). I keep my application to one or two sprays these days, perhaps very occasionally three, and it does well. People get a whiff when they are close to me (and I get compliments), but I can feel secure knowing I'm not blasting anyone or causing undue irritation. Around here, someone else's fragrance, when it persists beyond that person's immediate space, can be quite an intrusion. It's interesting, though, that in your context in Denmark, it plays out differently! That would be fun, actually.

That said, I agree that few shaving soaps or creams last long enough to actually clash with an EDT or perfume or whatnot. Still, I do often choose my fragrance for the day based on the soap or cream I've just used. This is partly because the soap has set the mood for me, but also I've usually chosen the soap based on the sort of fragrance which matches the day (is it hot out? cold and snuggly? etc.), so I'm already on the same track I'd be if I were just choosing my EDT.

Some of my favorite combinations:

B&M Bay Rum with Comme des Garçons Dover Street Market
B&M Seville with a vetiver, such as Guerlain or Dior
B&M Leviathan with Dior Leather Oud (leather, civet, spice; they really do pair well)
Pannacrema Nuàvia Blu with Caron Third Man (these are peas in a pod; very similar, great pair)
Pannacrema Nuàvia Rossa with Amouage Epic Man, or Jubilation XXV
Tabac with Tabac EdC (duh)
CRSW Bergamot & Bay with Chanel Egoïste (similar tobacco note)
Proraso green with a vetiver, or Geranium pour Monsieur
Santa Maria Novella with Bvlgari Black (for me, they share a rubber note)

I have found out that other than Nuavia, most of my soaps and creams don't have a strong enough scent. So I don't limit myself to matching products. Having said that, I don't mind matching and do it often. I mostly buy my soaps and creams with matching aftershaves.