What soap/cream did you use today?

Sbandavapori by Spanish artisan Joserra. Good but nothing to write home about. I like the label artwork though, it looks like fun.

What does that one smell like Adrian? I have his FERN Soap, it’s the most unique FOUGÈRE I’ve ever schmelt.  When friends or Family smell this one eyes light up.  I was VERY LUCKY to score mine from jshaves2554 And performance….wow.  I’m a bowl latherer mostly so I can whip Mayo pretty fast.  I want a couple more of his products.  Fern is a very special product, try it if you get the chance!

Well... I'm just terrible at describing scents. I find it impossible to break down a fragrance into its individual elementary olfactory constituents. I admire people who seem to have the gift of breaking the code behind a scent and are able to reconstruct the top-mid-base pyramid.

With due regard to the disclaimer above, here comes my attempt to describe the fragrance. Svandavapori scent profile perfectly matched my taste. Based on scent "blueprints" alone, it seemed to be a totally safe no-brainer buy. Ozonic, marine heading the scent to a heart of green florals combined with citrusy bits, all layed on a foundation of amber, cedar and juniper. I enjoy marine notes, I just love citrus. What's not to like? So I dived head first into a blind date with a Svandavapori combo (soap and aftershave). Unfortunately it just wasn't love at first sight. What I got was a dull fragrance that lacked the sharpness, briskness and sparklingness of citrus and also missed the clean and serenic nature of ozonic and marine notes. Pleasant but mediocre. Hope I'm not being to harsh on this fragrance. We all know scent is an extremely subjective matter.

Performance was solid, as with many other top tier soaps available.

For me, the key take away from this is a self-descovery i.e. my shaving journey is (still) mainly driven by scent and to a lesser extent by performance. Does this mean I'm not at shaving maturity yet?

PS: thanks for the tip, I'll give Fern a try if I manage to get a sample from my fellow local wetshavers (we've recently done a group buy from Joserra)

Nero. Those are great pucks. What does the sweetwood  smell  like?

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Hey Tommy, I think it will feel familiar/homey to everyone.
Wood accord... supported by moss and lavender/floral. Simple. Clean. Classic. Soapy (but not green, IMO).

Thanks brother. Most vendors are sold out! Gotta git me some. Fendrihans was the only us seller so far as I could find.

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I had tried to order directly from the Van Der Lovett website but they don't ship to the US.

Martin De Candre Original

C&S No 88

Got lucky and found AlanH81 selling this well-known soap on the BST a little while ago.  First go with it this morning and I can see why many enjoy it so much.  Next time I use it, I'm going to try Bouki's method and do at least 200 swirls. 

B&M Rhapsody​

Soft Heart Base

The scent is very inviting. I have no idea what the scent notes actually are but, to me, this soap is a warm, spicy, oriental. I purchased this limited edition set (soap and balm) as an afterthought to my purchase of a Full Measure of Man set. FMoM turned out to be a flop but this one I very much enjoy. The soft heart base is easy to create a nice shiny lather with and the result is a slick and smooth shave.

Fine Accoutrements / Italian Citrus

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I think I’ll give the Marlborough sliver one more chance but this morning, after a two minute load, it just didn’t come up to snuff.  I’m not worried about scent because I ain’t gotten any. (Idaho Syntax).  It just seemed I needed more soap loaded to get the slickness I’m used to.  One more chance, perhaps with a 3 minute load to make sure I got all the goodness I desire.  Or perchance I ought to just quit with the niggling and let those few  cents worth of soap go.  Pretty sure I’ll still be ok as far as soap supply goes……….And for heavens sake dude, get some oil on the wood container!  It looks hideous!

B&M Rhapsody

Soft Heart Base

The scent is very inviting.  I have no idea what the scent notes actually are but, to me, this soap is a warm, spicy, oriental.  I purchased this limited edition set (soap and balm) as an afterthought to my purchase of a Full Measure of Man set.  FMoM turned out to be a flop but this one I very much enjoy.  The soft heart base is easy to create a nice shiny lather with and the result is a slick and smooth shave.

Good choice my friend!  I like this one too and it’s the pear blossom note that does it for me.  Super sweet, almost syrupy and some find that too much but my kid home had a row of pears against the south side of the lane and a manger/feed lot on the north.  I’d smell those pears in blossom time as I fed cattle.  This rhapsody takes me back there.