THEHTGAM/PPF/PH0ENIX/D0UGLAS/H0DGES/FRANCES Thread
- Thread starter jiaconianni
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Not that I am aware of.
I look forward to your take on The Beach, my favorite PAA (out of 15 or so) and one of my overall favorites. To my nose, it smells just like... the beach. Suntan lotion, sand, ocean air, hot dogs, vinyl (from the beach chair), popcorn, sunburnt skin, and tropical cocktail (which always accompanies the beach).
You should add some reviews to this thread! Its not just for me. Please do! I was hoping others would contribute their take on these as well. Sort of a consolidated review thread. As far as The Beach I haven't actually used it yet. But at work, with people (mostly women)sniffing the bottles and doing wrist tests, The Beach was a clear standout. Along with Coconut Oud. One person said it smells like my childhood. Another said it makes me remember being at the beach with my parents. Ill try that one this weekend. It seems to be a clear winner and a work of sheer genius. One person really had an emotional reaction to it and I felt bad taking it back. Ill have to get her a bottle of it for Christmas or her birthday.
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If anyone can comment on the fougere scents please do. I was afraid to buy them. FU Fougere in particular, or Jitterbug Fougere.
I ordered ten samples a few weeks back. I thought all in all they were very good, they have a great skin feel and seem to incorporate very high-quality ingredients, and they have excellent staying power. I admire the work that goes into the lineup, but I found it overwhelming to read the descriptions of 50+ aftershaves, the product line is almost too extensive, so I just quickly scanned them and settled on 10 to try. My favorites were:
Good Vibrations was supposedly a barbershop scent but I found it very musk-y and not pleasant.
Chella Cool was listed as mentholated but I found that it almost burned more than it cooled. The initial scent is sweet, almost cough-syrup like, and it settles into an almond. The website says not everyone reacts well to almond, maybe I'm one of those people.
Cavendish is the strongest of the lot and smells just like pipe tobacco, it's good for a while but I thought it was overwhelming, I could smell it on my face the entire day and it was a bit too much for me.
Ordering the sample tubes for a small fee is a great way to try out a bunch without breaking the bank or committing $25 to something you may or may not like in the long run. I didn't like all of them, but there were some great and unique aftershaves in the bunch, and I admire the owner's passion for the industry and innovative ideas. I also ordered the travel scuttle, and that will be a core product for me: unbreakable, it holds in heat pretty well, and the ridges in the bowl make it easy to whip up a good lather.
I work in NYC not far from Pasteur's and I stop in once in a while - I am blown away by the sheer amount of shelf space that the owner devotes to shaving products, but I've also noticed over the years an explosion in artisan shaving soaps and aftershaves, I'm sure all of them are good and all have their devotees, but I don't know how much longer it can go on. Then again, there are low barriers to entry in the business (the recipes are out there and it's not too hard to buy the ingredients and try it yourself) and I suppose the margins are pretty decent. If you get enough people to follow your brand and build a loyal customer base, you could probably do well over time, but the shaving world is almost becoming like internet dating, i.e. "sure I had a good experience with this brand, but there are 5 new brands to try every week, maybe one of them is better..." Sure, I settled on a couple scents from my initial order that I really liked, but do I order bottles of those? What about the 45 scents I didn't try? Would I like some of those even better? And this is just one product line.
Ultimately, choice is a good thing, but the surfeit of selections is almost stressful for the consumer- I sometimes miss the days when it was just Proraso and Taylor of Bond Street...
- Gondolier - clear winner, traditional Italian scent, I would order a bottle of this
- Aqua D - also very nice, I think the site lists this as an Italian scent but there is a cowboy on the label (spaghetti Western?)
- Atomic Age Bay Rum - very high quality and the absence of clove makes this special
- Planet 9 - neroli/orange scent was pretty unique
Good Vibrations was supposedly a barbershop scent but I found it very musk-y and not pleasant.
Chella Cool was listed as mentholated but I found that it almost burned more than it cooled. The initial scent is sweet, almost cough-syrup like, and it settles into an almond. The website says not everyone reacts well to almond, maybe I'm one of those people.
Cavendish is the strongest of the lot and smells just like pipe tobacco, it's good for a while but I thought it was overwhelming, I could smell it on my face the entire day and it was a bit too much for me.
Ordering the sample tubes for a small fee is a great way to try out a bunch without breaking the bank or committing $25 to something you may or may not like in the long run. I didn't like all of them, but there were some great and unique aftershaves in the bunch, and I admire the owner's passion for the industry and innovative ideas. I also ordered the travel scuttle, and that will be a core product for me: unbreakable, it holds in heat pretty well, and the ridges in the bowl make it easy to whip up a good lather.
I work in NYC not far from Pasteur's and I stop in once in a while - I am blown away by the sheer amount of shelf space that the owner devotes to shaving products, but I've also noticed over the years an explosion in artisan shaving soaps and aftershaves, I'm sure all of them are good and all have their devotees, but I don't know how much longer it can go on. Then again, there are low barriers to entry in the business (the recipes are out there and it's not too hard to buy the ingredients and try it yourself) and I suppose the margins are pretty decent. If you get enough people to follow your brand and build a loyal customer base, you could probably do well over time, but the shaving world is almost becoming like internet dating, i.e. "sure I had a good experience with this brand, but there are 5 new brands to try every week, maybe one of them is better..." Sure, I settled on a couple scents from my initial order that I really liked, but do I order bottles of those? What about the 45 scents I didn't try? Would I like some of those even better? And this is just one product line.
Ultimately, choice is a good thing, but the surfeit of selections is almost stressful for the consumer- I sometimes miss the days when it was just Proraso and Taylor of Bond Street...
Thank you for your comments. I pretty much have limited myself to Stirling and PAA at the moment. Oddly, I prefer the more natural scents from Stirling, rather than the cologne types, an exception being Executive Man. Both companies offer great products and have quite extensive choices. It can get overwhelming for sure. But it is fun to try new things. Is Gondolier a "barbershop" scent? In terms of being like the ubiquitous Clubman and talc? I could not tolerate Good Vibrations either. I avoid sweet and overly floral or talcum scents because I tend to get headaches from them. I have not tried some of their big sellers like Al Fin because i thought they may be more in the barbershop vein. I agree with you 100% on the skin feel of PAA stuff. It is simply second to none.
I have only been into wet shaving for a few months now, so take my opinion for what it is, but I agree with the majority of @castlebar 's post (2 posts up), so I don't want to be repetitive. I just want to add that the scents stick around for a good long time.
I ordered the Gandolier shave soap from PAA and fell in love with the scent, so I also ordered a bottle of the aftershave as well as 20 samples (that's how much I liked the scent). I think my wife liked the scent even more than I did. I wrist tested all of the scents (over several days) and my wife and I gave them a rating from 1-5.
5=WOW!
4=Great
3=Good
2=Eh
1=Pepe Le Pew
The break down was: 5-2, 4-5, 3-7, 2-5, 1-1.
Obviously this is all personal preference. Personally I'm not a fan of Bay Rum scents in general so the 2 I tried got a 2.
I'm not great at picking out specific scents and describing them, so I am just going to list the aftershaves that will be a future purchase for me and stood out.
I ordered the Gandolier shave soap from PAA and fell in love with the scent, so I also ordered a bottle of the aftershave as well as 20 samples (that's how much I liked the scent). I think my wife liked the scent even more than I did. I wrist tested all of the scents (over several days) and my wife and I gave them a rating from 1-5.
5=WOW!
4=Great
3=Good
2=Eh
1=Pepe Le Pew
The break down was: 5-2, 4-5, 3-7, 2-5, 1-1.
Obviously this is all personal preference. Personally I'm not a fan of Bay Rum scents in general so the 2 I tried got a 2.
I'm not great at picking out specific scents and describing them, so I am just going to list the aftershaves that will be a future purchase for me and stood out.
- Gondolier - Cant recommend this one enough.
- Speakeasy
- Harvest Moon
- Coconut Oude
- The Beach
- CAD
- Briar
agreed, Gondolier is fresh and clean, it's not a cloying barbershop scent. It was the first one I tried and kept its place as my favorite all the way through. There is a video on YouTube of the PAA owner making a batch of bay rum, where he is actually distilling from the bay leaves, it's pretty interesting to watch. This guy sweats the details and I think the aftershaves reflect that fact, although I don't know how it's economical/practical to small batch distill and age all those fragrances, and have a running inventory of 50 fragrances, but they have a depth of character that comes through when you wear them. I think the bespoke nature of a lot of these fragrances finds its way into their asking price, raw materials and aging time and warehouse space and limited runs add to the cost.
For me, the Proraso green and red are equally as good, and feel as good on the skin, and because they have a limited line and produce thousands of gallons of each, that's how they can retail for $15 vs. $25 per 100 ml. But given the # of applications from each bottle, the difference is really negligible.
Also I would like to add, that if you get any of the sample vials, do not judge by just smelling directly from the vial. Actually put these on your skin. I'm sure most of you already know or do this, but being newer to all of this, I first smelled these from the vial and was super disappointed.
Once I put some on my wrist it was a whole other world and all of them smelled 100% different (for the better).
@Fabi Without getting too off track (Soap vs Aftershave), if you think these are bold scents, then you should take a whiff of Caties Bubbles - Irish Coffee. I just open the lid on that thing in the morning and within a few minutes my entire bathroom smells like starbucks!
Once I put some on my wrist it was a whole other world and all of them smelled 100% different (for the better).
@Fabi Without getting too off track (Soap vs Aftershave), if you think these are bold scents, then you should take a whiff of Caties Bubbles - Irish Coffee. I just open the lid on that thing in the morning and within a few minutes my entire bathroom smells like starbucks!
I will add gondolier to my list. It is highly rated but I was afraid it would be a clubmannish scent due to the barber references. I love proraso original.
Is it similar to that? I'm not clear on what Italian barber scent is
Is it similar to that? I'm not clear on what Italian barber scent is
Guess who is kicking his *** wishing he ordered samples? Lol. So far I have been lucky. Only one I can't stand.
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Yes! These scents change as the day goes on. Definitely not the typical one-note aftershsves
Guess I'm gonna have to order a bunch of samples.
Yeah, think I am going order Harvest Moon, Coconut Oude and another 20 samples, lol.
Man, every hobby I get into ends up emptying my pockets. First brewing and now this!
Man, every hobby I get into ends up emptying my pockets. First brewing and now this!
Han Polo (Crown King Scent)
As you can probably guess, this is a take on the original Polo fragrance. I used to love this stuff in the late 80s. Actually, I still love it I always have a bottle of it somewhere in my dresser. I also love Polo Blue. Hint Hint-----Stirling Blue is a very nice Polo Blue scent. I have the soap, shaving soap, and aftershave in that fragrance and love it!
But I digress....
Han Polo is very nice. I know polo has gone through several reformulations over the years and it just isn't what it used to be. This version is really really nice. I love it! It is fresher and cleaner smelling than the current polo and maybe a bit more grassy. But in a good way. If you are a fan of the original polo, or just wanting to try it out on the cheap, then this is a no brainer. I like it better than my current bottle of the real thing! A++ Simply amazing. It's also a (relatively)cheap one at 14.95 I think. This stuff smells like Polo used to smell only just a tad lighter and a tad crisper and fresher. Love it. Scent strength is a 9 Face feel is great, unlike the original Polo aftershave. This one is one of my favorites. I should buy another one before they run out.
As you can probably guess, this is a take on the original Polo fragrance. I used to love this stuff in the late 80s. Actually, I still love it I always have a bottle of it somewhere in my dresser. I also love Polo Blue. Hint Hint-----Stirling Blue is a very nice Polo Blue scent. I have the soap, shaving soap, and aftershave in that fragrance and love it!
But I digress....
Han Polo is very nice. I know polo has gone through several reformulations over the years and it just isn't what it used to be. This version is really really nice. I love it! It is fresher and cleaner smelling than the current polo and maybe a bit more grassy. But in a good way. If you are a fan of the original polo, or just wanting to try it out on the cheap, then this is a no brainer. I like it better than my current bottle of the real thing! A++ Simply amazing. It's also a (relatively)cheap one at 14.95 I think. This stuff smells like Polo used to smell only just a tad lighter and a tad crisper and fresher. Love it. Scent strength is a 9 Face feel is great, unlike the original Polo aftershave. This one is one of my favorites. I should buy another one before they run out.
Black Bot (Crown King scent)
This is a recreation of the infamous (or not) Black Belt from the same maker of Hai-Karate. I remember seeing this in stores but was not old enough to be using aftershave at the time. So I have no recollection of it from the era.
Upon opening the bottle it basically smells like soap. But as with most of their products, the scent changes when you apply it and then changes throughout the day.It is a very fresh and clean scent that dries down to a nice light musk. I put it on at work and my wife said I smelled great when I got home. She said it smelled rather feminine, but not too feminine. I will trust that PAA recreated this fragrance very well, as they usually do. I actually like it more than I thought I would. It was a toss-up between this and Lo-Haiku, which is their Hai! Karate! reboot. I chose this one and was pleasantly surprised. It is very clean and fresh smelling and then dries down to a somewhat lightly floral/soapy musky scent. Strength is good. 9 It lasts but is not overpowering. It was a crapshoot and hey! I won! Nice scent overall. One of my favorites. Reminds me of the locker room in middle school, but in a good way. The alternative to Brut, which instantly transports me to the swimming pool changing rooms in the late 70s. LOL Speaking of which.....The Beach is next!
This is a recreation of the infamous (or not) Black Belt from the same maker of Hai-Karate. I remember seeing this in stores but was not old enough to be using aftershave at the time. So I have no recollection of it from the era.
Upon opening the bottle it basically smells like soap. But as with most of their products, the scent changes when you apply it and then changes throughout the day.It is a very fresh and clean scent that dries down to a nice light musk. I put it on at work and my wife said I smelled great when I got home. She said it smelled rather feminine, but not too feminine. I will trust that PAA recreated this fragrance very well, as they usually do. I actually like it more than I thought I would. It was a toss-up between this and Lo-Haiku, which is their Hai! Karate! reboot. I chose this one and was pleasantly surprised. It is very clean and fresh smelling and then dries down to a somewhat lightly floral/soapy musky scent. Strength is good. 9 It lasts but is not overpowering. It was a crapshoot and hey! I won! Nice scent overall. One of my favorites. Reminds me of the locker room in middle school, but in a good way. The alternative to Brut, which instantly transports me to the swimming pool changing rooms in the late 70s. LOL Speaking of which.....The Beach is next!
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If you get Harvest Moon please give your impressions. It sounds like something I would like but there were no reviews. Coconut Oud is a definite winner!
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I have a sample already. I rated it very high. I'll try to remember and rub some on when I get home and post something. I'm not very good at picking things out of a scent and describing however.
Me either!
I just re read the description of harvest moon. If it has Oud, I'm in, generally. I think what put me off was the "barbershop on mars" thing because i cannot tolerate traditional barbershop talc/sweet scents. I dont know what I was thinking ordering Good Vibrations. It sounds like it would be a winner in my book!!
I just re read the description of harvest moon. If it has Oud, I'm in, generally. I think what put me off was the "barbershop on mars" thing because i cannot tolerate traditional barbershop talc/sweet scents. I dont know what I was thinking ordering Good Vibrations. It sounds like it would be a winner in my book!!
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