What soap/cream did you use today?

A&E Khalifa
Top, top shelf shave
Thx Robby

Schmellin' gut

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Tommy, does the oud dominate or just accent?

Great read. I was right there with you. And admittedly a little scared!
It's kinda surprising how long since First Snow has been produced. I had it in the Tre Città formula, that seems like forever ago.
You had the Glissant, I presume?

Yep.  Glissant.  I really like Glissant.

Mass market delights series



Malizia. Italian brand. The shaving cream is actually made in Egypt (I haven't seen it marketed in Europe) . A fair product that delivers in line with what should be expected from a cream i.e. easy lathering, good glide and protection, pleasant scent. It also has a bit of menthol which is always nice.

I shave in the morning but of late have not found time to post until evening.  It’s all a wash though I suppose.  Today’s shave is one of my favorites.  From the Karve D plate razor, to the vintage dubl duck brush picked up somewhere on my travels and reknotted with a donor out of an Omega 10066 I’d had for years, to perhaps the most perfect scent Will At B&M has ever made, this shave seems like the pinnacle of a morning shave.  When I was in college several decades ago my apartment needed a Christmas tree and my legs needed a good stretch so I jumped in my Landcruiser and headed to the hills with a rifle slung over my back, a bow saw in hand, and a pair of snowshoes.  It had been blowing a storm for the last two days and snow was deep and drifted.  I had no plans to push my luck by punching through drifts or for that matter going anywhere I would have to chain the tires.  I’d just get close and snowshoe to the trees from there.  Coming out of the valley and up onto the Rexburg bench I found the storm was a sight from being finished but I knew a road that didn’t drift closed that would get me within half a mile of the forest and perhaps a mite further.  Sure enough, I got to the end of the road and saw that the way beyond had snow machine tracks on it so I’d not have to bust trail through deep snow.  I strapped on the shoes and set out up the trail.  The wind was howling but it felt good to be out in the storm and heading up the hill on a good track.  A ways up the road a snowmobile had cut across a meadow and up a ridge that had good timber on it so I broke from the main trail and followed this track.  Higher and higher I climbed, all the while the wind buffeting me.  The peaks ahead had flags of spin drift tied to their tips like pennant flags.  At the top of the ridge the trail broke left and headed down the valley so I stepped off into virgin snow and started working up the ridge quartering into the wind.  This was a lot harder shoeing and I found myself wishing I’d brought a pair of poles but never mind, I had a tree to find and a hike back.  Occasionally I’d stop to catch my breath and to survey the trees below me for a likely candidate. The wind whipped snow around me and some places I fought through deep drifts.  About a third of a mile along the ridge I was having a blow and spied a likely candidate tree but it was steep enough that I wanted to really inspect from the top before giving up any elevation.  As I looked, my eye kept being pulled to an odd cluster of branches until I finally focused on them only to realize a big Muley buck was tucked into a bed on the leeward side of that tree.  He was totally snowed over and all that was sticking out was his snowy head and he was looking at me.  All at once he jumped up and his snow fort flew everywhere.  I sort of felt bad to interrupt his lair but he was gone now and the tree did look good so I tipped off the ridge and covered the 50 yards quickly.  I don’t know how long he’d laid there but he was totally snowed in.  I cut that tree for my Christmas and as I stood there I felt the wetness of melted snow on my cheeks and the icy blast of the wind and the smell and feel of First Snow soap transported me back to a time when I was a lean and hard man.  What an excellent Shave.

As you ventured deeper into the wild white and suspance gained momentum, my mind was set for a mountain lion or grizzly encounter. Too much National Geographic, I guess. Excellent report.

Barrister’s Reserve Cool (Barrister & Mann) bergamot, lemon, and lavender
Shave 3 ・ 102% left

Many years ago when I first smelled a sample of Cool, it struck me as the prototypical scent of an old geezer. I gagged and swore I’d never own a full tub until I needed a cane to hobble to the mailbox. Time passed, my nose grew up, and I have to confess now that I really like the smell of this soap. Spicy, green, wet, and woody all at once, it takes a little from each of the major scent families and turns out a complex cologne that oscillates somewhere between a fougère and a chypre. Barrister & Mann didn't make this up, of course. Cool is a bit of homage to Floïd Blu, the first in this family of aromatic aquatic scents, which was woefully discontinued around 2015. So what's up with the blue rose on the label? Well, while there is a light floral background in this fragrance, there may be more to the label than just that. Maybe the blue rose is also Will's way of paying his respects to the passing of that classic aftershave, his clever way of laying a flower on grave. 
____________
Razor 1938–45 Gillette Tech ・ Blade Feather ・ Brush Phoenix Shaving Peregrino ・ YTD 726 g  ・ Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep, Chap. 14
   

I shave in the morning but of late have not found time to post until evening.  It’s all a wash though I suppose.  Today’s shave is one of my favorites.  From the Karve D plate razor, to the vintage dubl duck brush picked up somewhere on my travels and reknotted with a donor out of an Omega 10066 I’d had for years, to perhaps the most perfect scent Will At B&M has ever made, this shave seems like the pinnacle of a morning shave.  When I was in college several decades ago my apartment needed a Christmas tree and my legs needed a good stretch so I jumped in my Landcruiser and headed to the hills with a rifle slung over my back, a bow saw in hand, and a pair of snowshoes.  It had been blowing a storm for the last two days and snow was deep and drifted.  I had no plans to push my luck by punching through drifts or for that matter going anywhere I would have to chain the tires.  I’d just get close and snowshoe to the trees from there.  Coming out of the valley and up onto the Rexburg bench I found the storm was a sight from being finished but I knew a road that didn’t drift closed that would get me within half a mile of the forest and perhaps a mite further.  Sure enough, I got to the end of the road and saw that the way beyond had snow machine tracks on it so I’d not have to bust trail through deep snow.  I strapped on the shoes and set out up the trail.  The wind was howling but it felt good to be out in the storm and heading up the hill on a good track.  A ways up the road a snowmobile had cut across a meadow and up a ridge that had good timber on it so I broke from the main trail and followed this track.  Higher and higher I climbed, all the while the wind buffeting me.  The peaks ahead had flags of spin drift tied to their tips like pennant flags.  At the top of the ridge the trail broke left and headed down the valley so I stepped off into virgin snow and started working up the ridge quartering into the wind.  This was a lot harder shoeing and I found myself wishing I’d brought a pair of poles but never mind, I had a tree to find and a hike back.  Occasionally I’d stop to catch my breath and to survey the trees below me for a likely candidate. The wind whipped snow around me and some places I fought through deep drifts.  About a third of a mile along the ridge I was having a blow and spied a likely candidate tree but it was steep enough that I wanted to really inspect from the top before giving up any elevation.  As I looked, my eye kept being pulled to an odd cluster of branches until I finally focused on them only to realize a big Muley buck was tucked into a bed on the leeward side of that tree.  He was totally snowed over and all that was sticking out was his snowy head and he was looking at me.  All at once he jumped up and his snow fort flew everywhere.  I sort of felt bad to interrupt his lair but he was gone now and the tree did look good so I tipped off the ridge and covered the 50 yards quickly.  I don’t know how long he’d laid there but he was totally snowed in.  I cut that tree for my Christmas and as I stood there I felt the wetness of melted snow on my cheeks and the icy blast of the wind and the smell and feel of First Snow soap transported me back to a time when I was a lean and hard man.  What an excellent Shave.

Was once again taken back to a much better and happier time of youth. It was good reminiscence given the disastrous imbroglio in which enmeshed at moment; literally an existential Manichean battle.

A great setup to go with a fantastic pic!

A great setup to go with a fantastic pic!

Thanks very much.  By coincidence, the brush, soap, and SFS were all newly arrived in the den yesterday, and I could not wait to shave with them.  I was very pleased with all of them!