When you're in an indulgent mood and your favourite cologne has a matching shaving product (less 15% on a store 'special'), it's sometimes really hard to resist! And so that's how I came to spend £39.95 ($51) on the Acqua di Parma Colonia shaving cream tub (125g) from a major London store. For me, this is a very expensive spend and one I did not make lightly. I simply love the classic Colonia fragrance and given my fascination with shaving products, I just had to have it. The key question is obvious - is this worth the super-premium spend? As we know, price and value are largely subjective. Some might be horrified at this spend while others would take it in their stride. From a review perspective, the cream performs really well. It's more like a croap and is not runny in any way. Perhaps the tube version is softer, but the tub necessitate a few swirls of my Simpsons Chubby Synth and then a solid face lather to produce a very protective, soapy coating of my face. You really don't use much product to get a sufficient coating for two passes so there is some value in that for sure. Lathering was very easy indeed. Shaving performance was also very good. Lovely and slick for a croap/cream. I found the blade glide excellent and the residual slickness (which I love) to be better than average when compared to other premium creams and many soaps as well. So technically, I found the shave rates very highly. It also seemed a very close shave - perhaps closer than average too and very protective as well. Now, the really pleasing bit for me was the Colonia scent. Ahhh - that's why I paid so much for this. It's a stronger than the average scent - and that is precisely what I wanted. Clearly, the product is there to satisfy the olfactory aspect for Colonia fans. While the scent is pretty powerful, it does not linger too long - but much longer than the average cream. Pared with the matching balm, this is simply outstanding and you barely need the actual cologne if all you want is a subtle whiff of fragrance for a few hours. So, was it worth the price? Yes - if you love the fragrance. But, if you are ambivalent about the fragrance, it's surely a superior cream/croap but performance-wise, you can get equivalent from the likes of T&H, Castle Forbes et al. Fragrance aside, I could barely tell any performance differential from T&H Apsley or 1805 for example, although I did think this cream was superior to the likes of TOBS. Finally, I have been using this cream alongside an old Cella red tub that I unearthed from under my washbasin. Acqua di Parma doesn't beat the Cella - in fact, the old Cella is a slicker product all round. But then again, its all about the Colonia fragrance with a performance certainly way good enough to warrant this spend, at least IMHO!