I recently won a tub of the Captain's Nor'Easter shaving cream in one of his giveaways; this review is totally my own thoughts, though. Prior to this, I've never tried any Captain's Choice products, and the only shaving creams I've ever used were AoS (love it), Proraso (classic; love it), and ToBS (could be sacrilege, but I don't love it). Generally, I use soaps and I've tried most of the well known artisans, but generally gravitate toward products that are mass produced (Proraso, PdP, Cade, and Tabac are all currently in my den). I was really excited to try Nor'easter because I love menthol, I was offered the cream, soap, or balm and chose the cream because I've never tried an artisan cream.
First off, I love the scent. The menthol is mild (for me), and the tones of amber, lavender, bergamot, and I believe citrus all come through to me. For comparison, I paired it with Tommy (by Tommy Hilfiger) which has a lot of the same scent profile. I find the scent to be excellent for spring and summer.
I dabbed out about a small almond sized amount of cream and put it in my shave bowl, then whipped it up with an Omega boar brush. At first, I was just left with an unimpressive amount of cream on the brush and sides of the bowl. So I added a little more water and tried again and the lather really exploded. I did a two pass shave (WTG, ATG) and still had enough lather for at least one and maybe two more passes. Next time I'll use a pea sized amount of cream.
The shave experience itself was great. Slick, zero irritation, BBS shave--everything we all strive for. I give the cream, and especially the scent, high marks.
As a bonus, I also received some small samples. There is a 45th Parallel cream--I assume the performance will be the same but the scent is fruity and a bit sweet for me. There is a Venture shave balm that I tried last night; very nice balm and the scent is more of a jasmine bergamot. Finally, there is a Sandalwood aftershave. I love Sandalwood scents and this one is excellent--I'll try it out with my Proraso Red next time I use it.
First off, I love the scent. The menthol is mild (for me), and the tones of amber, lavender, bergamot, and I believe citrus all come through to me. For comparison, I paired it with Tommy (by Tommy Hilfiger) which has a lot of the same scent profile. I find the scent to be excellent for spring and summer.
I dabbed out about a small almond sized amount of cream and put it in my shave bowl, then whipped it up with an Omega boar brush. At first, I was just left with an unimpressive amount of cream on the brush and sides of the bowl. So I added a little more water and tried again and the lather really exploded. I did a two pass shave (WTG, ATG) and still had enough lather for at least one and maybe two more passes. Next time I'll use a pea sized amount of cream.
The shave experience itself was great. Slick, zero irritation, BBS shave--everything we all strive for. I give the cream, and especially the scent, high marks.
As a bonus, I also received some small samples. There is a 45th Parallel cream--I assume the performance will be the same but the scent is fruity and a bit sweet for me. There is a Venture shave balm that I tried last night; very nice balm and the scent is more of a jasmine bergamot. Finally, there is a Sandalwood aftershave. I love Sandalwood scents and this one is excellent--I'll try it out with my Proraso Red next time I use it.