Thanks to a trade, I was finally able to experience Grooming Dept. Wonderland. I had been intrigued by the scent notes when it released, but I was only committed to buying a single tub so I chose Angel. The Wonderland arrived in the mail on Friday, and I decided to give it a go yesterday before settling in for some football.
Here was my setup:
Brush: The Holy Black True Black Synthetic
Soap: Grooming Dept. Wonderland – Cedarwood, Musk, Leather, Guiacwood, Hay, Civet, Castoreum, Sandalwood
Razor: Doc Holliday – Asylum RX (Feather Pro Guard blade)
I must say, I was a little apprehensive, not knowing how the scents would come together. And because the strength of scent is pretty high, 4/5 out of the tub, if you don’t like a GD scent you will not be able to just ignore it or shave through it. Upon first sniff, I could recognize the hay and wood scents, and they actually seemed to be ok. Once I started to lather, they started to come together with the animal scents of musk, civet, and castoreum. On the face, the scent blossomed even more, and the leather became an anchor for everything else. Apparently this scent was based on Dzing! by L`Artisan Parfumeur, which is meant to evoke the aromas of the circus. I would say this soap scent puts me firmly in mind of the stables and tack room when I used to ride horses as a teenager. It was very masculine and nostalgic, and it started hitting all the right happy buttons in my brain the more I smelled it.
This soap uses GD’s beef tallow base, and it lathers and performs like a dream. I loaded my slightly wet synthetic for about 30 seconds, and lathered in a bowl with a couple teaspoons of water. This soap can take a good deal of water, and the resulting lather is thick without being sticky, almost gel-like, and super slick! I never wanted to drip, even though it goes on so wet. I did N-S, S-N, and some XTG touch up passes with the RX, and there was almost no effort required to get the resulting BBS shave. Touch ups could be done with water only, but the lather and scent were so phenomenal I could not resist any excuse to reapply the lather to my face.
As with my previous tryout of a Grooming Dept soap, I was able to use just the lather for my post shave, and skipped any balms or splashes. There was no irritation, and the lather was very moisturizing for my skin. Even better, the scent lingered for almost 4 hours on my skin. Grooming Dept. and Wild West Shaving Co. are the only soaps that I can skip aftershave when I use them, and this soap earns a solid spot in Tier 1 Box 1 of the @cvargo soap ranking chart:
In all, Grooming Dept. Wonderland is a terrific soap in a fantastic scent. I can see it being a bit polarizing, of course, but it makes my top 5 soap scents of all time. I wasn’t expecting to enjoy it so much, and I was surprised to find that it fits almost perfectly with some of my favorite Cowboy themed scents. In fact, it would have been a strong contender in @-EdG 's original Cowboy Soap Shootout.
Here was my setup:
Brush: The Holy Black True Black Synthetic
Soap: Grooming Dept. Wonderland – Cedarwood, Musk, Leather, Guiacwood, Hay, Civet, Castoreum, Sandalwood
Razor: Doc Holliday – Asylum RX (Feather Pro Guard blade)
I must say, I was a little apprehensive, not knowing how the scents would come together. And because the strength of scent is pretty high, 4/5 out of the tub, if you don’t like a GD scent you will not be able to just ignore it or shave through it. Upon first sniff, I could recognize the hay and wood scents, and they actually seemed to be ok. Once I started to lather, they started to come together with the animal scents of musk, civet, and castoreum. On the face, the scent blossomed even more, and the leather became an anchor for everything else. Apparently this scent was based on Dzing! by L`Artisan Parfumeur, which is meant to evoke the aromas of the circus. I would say this soap scent puts me firmly in mind of the stables and tack room when I used to ride horses as a teenager. It was very masculine and nostalgic, and it started hitting all the right happy buttons in my brain the more I smelled it.
This soap uses GD’s beef tallow base, and it lathers and performs like a dream. I loaded my slightly wet synthetic for about 30 seconds, and lathered in a bowl with a couple teaspoons of water. This soap can take a good deal of water, and the resulting lather is thick without being sticky, almost gel-like, and super slick! I never wanted to drip, even though it goes on so wet. I did N-S, S-N, and some XTG touch up passes with the RX, and there was almost no effort required to get the resulting BBS shave. Touch ups could be done with water only, but the lather and scent were so phenomenal I could not resist any excuse to reapply the lather to my face.
As with my previous tryout of a Grooming Dept soap, I was able to use just the lather for my post shave, and skipped any balms or splashes. There was no irritation, and the lather was very moisturizing for my skin. Even better, the scent lingered for almost 4 hours on my skin. Grooming Dept. and Wild West Shaving Co. are the only soaps that I can skip aftershave when I use them, and this soap earns a solid spot in Tier 1 Box 1 of the @cvargo soap ranking chart:
In all, Grooming Dept. Wonderland is a terrific soap in a fantastic scent. I can see it being a bit polarizing, of course, but it makes my top 5 soap scents of all time. I wasn’t expecting to enjoy it so much, and I was surprised to find that it fits almost perfectly with some of my favorite Cowboy themed scents. In fact, it would have been a strong contender in @-EdG 's original Cowboy Soap Shootout.
