What soap/cream did you use today?

Chiseled Face / Ghost Town Barber

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Noble Otter/APR Texaus

New to the den is Lisa’s Natural Herbal Creations (whew, that’s a mouthful) Somali Rose.  I first laid a sniffer on this one when the big Defoulk shaving soap sample box made its rounds.  Loved the scent then and the performance wasgreat too.  Finally squeezed the trigger on a tub and all I can say is WOW! Scent strength is on the light side of medium which really fits some scents well and this is one of those.  Rose overplayed with chocolate, sandalwood, and musk.  She said there is some moss in there too and to a trained sniffer I’m guessing there is.  All I know is this scent is easily in my top 10.  Don’t let the chocolate note lead you to “gourmand” because this scent is anything but that.  Super masculine and sexy.  And the stuff just lingers on my skin.  Five hours post shave and I still smell it.  By the way, lather is super low structure for me reminiscent of Mystic Waters properly hydrated.  So slick.  Finish is very nice on this super-fatted soap.  I like a bit more structure in my lather but a bunch of you post pics liking this type.  I do too but tabac lather is more my style.   Lisa’s is just a couple of hours south of me so it’s almost like she’s my next door neighbor.  This’ll be a scent I’ll have around always.

Love this scent.

French Vetiver v. (Cyril Salter) raw vetiver

Salter’s French Vetiver has the reputation for being the rawest, the smokiest, and some may say the rudest of all the vetivers. As far as my nose can tell, it’s scented with nothing but dank and dirty vetiver from Java. It’s potent. That robust scent is what attracts fearless shavers to it. I’ve fallen for French Vetiver three times. My first tub floored me. Fool that I was, I actually gave it away, thinking it was too strong. My second tub went bland on me after only a year. I pitched it. This third tub also came out of the gates lacking some luster. It was mild and a bit boozy, and altogether lacking that olfactory punch that makes this soap so tempting. Luckily I had a small vial of dark brown Javan vetiver oil on hand. Today I dumped it all into the shave cream, gave it a great big stir, and filled my brush. “Ugh, that’s strong! You’re not seriously going to put that on your face, are you?” my wife yelled from across the room. Ahhh, success at last!

   

My new tub lacked boldness too but it seems to have just maybe “skinned over” because when I dipped the brush tips in and started to built lather it woke up and hasn’t been dull since.  So so so very good.  I can feel the grit of earth on my teeth when I smell it. And about I, where does one obtain a vial of Javanese vetiver oil?

Love this scent.

It is a good shave as well.

Crabtree & Evelyn Mysore Sandalwood cream (vintage). Just like the C&E Sweet Almond cream, this made wonderful lather, thick and rich.

French Vetiver v. (Cyril Salter) raw vetiver
Luckily I had a small vial of dark brown Javan vetiver oil on hand. 

   

Where does one obtain a vial of Javanese vetiver oil?

Lipripper660: when I get really interested in a particular olfactory note, I like to order a small sample of its essential oil. That way I can get a grip on what it smells like all on its own without a lot of other notes clouding the performance. There are lots of vendors of essential oils. Search online and you'll be amazed at the number. Right now my favorite vendor is Eden Botanicals. They have a broad selection of oils, good descriptions, and sampler sets of popular scents such as patchouli and vetiver.