Items by Joe Edson

Currently the 2-band blonde badger Morris & Forndran brushes are only available directly from the brush producer via email exchanges. After reading all the hype on these brushes I finally caved and ordered a 24mm knotted brush with a 49mm loft in a genuine horn handle. Pricewise this came in at the same ballpark of an upper end Simpson's best or similar to the new Rooney Stubby XL 2-band brushes. A wide variety of handles are available, but having plenty of faux-ivory brushes I opted...

Gendarme opens with an assortment of what I detect to be light florals (jasmine?) and grassy green notes (verbena?). I do not detect much in the way of citrusy notes. This progresses over 30 minutes to a light soapy smell and within an hour the fragrance is barely detectable. It's a nice fresh scent, but longevity and silage are both rather poor. I detect no leather whatsoever on dry down despite that listed as the base note.

Some of you may remember that I had a post awhile ago wondering about the Frankonian hone available from Olivia Seife's website: http://www.olivia-seife.de/shop/hwherren/steine.html I was intrigued that you could buy a finisher there (Frankonian) that was described to be used after an escher. I debated on this hone for some time and after selling off some of my other HAD stones I had some money burning a hole in my pocket that just HAD to be used on an Oozuku from Maxim and the...

After waiting nearly a month since ordering the Semogue LE 2010 badger I recently received mine and gave it a whirl. This is my impressions of the brush after 5 uses. Semogue has traditionally been known for their exquisite boar brushes and exquisite they are. I've never looked at semogue as a producer of high quality badger brushes, though things may be changing. My brush arrived with specs of a 24mm knot and 53.5mm loft. I was initially worried that the loft may be too high for MY...

Well it may be a little premature to review a brush after one use, but the new Rooney Stubby XL made quite the impression on me. Price - Approximately $150 shipped from vintageblades. Definitely on the higher end of things, but compared to say a Chubby 1 in 2-band super it is right in line. These brushes seem like they were also created to directly compete with the Simpson Chubby series. Quality - I absolutely love Rooney brushes. This brush didn't shed a single hair on the first...

Being a huge Lavender fan I had to try QCS Lavender Shaving "Croap" when made available. Price - $12 plus shipping for I think 4-5oz of cream is a tad on the pricier side of things, but this is an artisan product. Quality - Probably the best artisan product I've had the pleasure of using Scent - Pure LAvender EO and lots of it! Great scent! Latherability - QCS creams are similar in texture to cella and lather just as well once you get the water ratio down. Efficacy - Lather...

Since this review is for a custom Shavemac, it will vary a lot based on knot size and loft. That said, I have seen a number of Shavemac "Guile" brushes on the boards and thought I would throw up a review based on the specs of my brush. My Custom Specs: 24mm Knot 43mm Loft Cocobolo/Nickel handle Price: 8 - This was at the time of my purchase the most expensive brush I had received. My price was $230 shipped (when the euro was pretty high), but most of that was from the handle. I...

QCS just came out with some vetiver shaving "croap" and being a vetiver fan I decided to try it out. Price - $14 plus shipping for I think 4-5oz of cream is a tad on the pricier side of things, but this is an artisan product. Quality - Probably the best artisan product I've had the pleasure of using Scent - True to its roots vetiver. You must love vetiver to try this stuff as it uses pure vetiver EO Latherability - QCS creams are similar in texture to cella and lather just as...

I recently tried a sample of Domenico Caraceni EdT from lucky scent and after about 3 days of trial, I fell in love with this scent. I decided to purchase the shaving cream based on this hoping it smelled the same. Price - This is not a cheap cream by any means. It is $60 shipped from luckyscent using a coupon code for free shipping. That said this is an 8.5 ounce jar (250mL), which is about double what most shaving creams are sold as. Still though, this is on the pricier side of...

Been on a vetiver kick lately and bought Lalique Encre Noir blind based on some threads here. Paid $45 for 100mL bottle. Considering the quality of this juice that is a steal. I've only tried L'Occitane and MPG vetivers and Lalique is very much different than the previous 2. It is a dry, dark, smokey, earthy, rooty hit you in your face vetiver in a very good way. Settles down to after 2-3 hours, but the overall longevity is impressive and definitely lasts 10+ hours. Pretty powerful...

Vie-Long brushes have been rumored to source their hair from the same place as Plisson. Whether this is true or not I'm sure no one knows but the manufacturers. Price: 9 - $70 for a 2-band badger from bullgoose is about the lowest price you can pay for a 2-bander outside of a TGN knot. Quality: 8 - The olive wood handle is nice and the knot hasn't shed any hairs since purchase. Does come with the worst badger funk ever out of the box that takes some time to get rid of before use...

I can't believe this hasn't been reviewed yet. Semogue makes some of the finest boars and this one is no exception. Price: For a boar this brush is rather expensive at about $30 shipped, however, given the quality of the brush and everything that comes with it, this brush is a bargain. I dare you to find a brush this good in a badger for the same price - not happening. So it gets a 10 Quality: Semogue is known for their high quality boar hairs, and the semogue 830 showcases this. The...