Anyone use or tried it? How is it? What’s the scent like? How’s their aftershave balm?
How is Penhaligon Blenheim Bouquet Cream?
- Thread starter frenchy
- Start date
Pen's Blenheim Bouquet is perhaps their "signature" scent! Pepper, citrus and floral.
They now have a full BB line.
A shaving classic!
They now have a full BB line.
A shaving classic!
Quite good. Same great scent
- Thread starter
- #4
How does it compare to AdP or ABC? Cream? AS Balm? How would you describe the scent?
Almost exactly like the bb as or edc
Abc and adp cremes dont smell anything like their fragrances at least my experience
Abc and adp cremes dont smell anything like their fragrances at least my experience
- Thread starter
- #6
Sorry....I was talking about performance....Not scent..Sorry I wasn’t clear about that...
MY perspective is not as good as new modern “soaps” such as grooming dept or wholly kaw in post shave. Good glide and cushion soso post shave. I think just a step below the best classic soaps such as abc. But all the euros cant match the post shave of new us makers like gd and wk.
I know controversial but felt same way until dfoulk convinced me to try them. He was correct even though i wished it otherwise.
I know controversial but felt same way until dfoulk convinced me to try them. He was correct even though i wished it otherwise.
- Thread starter
- #8
Who are gd and wk? I’m a cream not a soap guy though...
They are croaps. Can mold with hand like playdough. Hence why in same group. Truth told abc is croap of about same consistency as wholly kaw (wd) or grooming dept (gd)
JCinPA
The Lather Maestro
This is an old thread, but I always wonder whether to start a new one or piggy back. Since it's just a product thread, I decided to just put my two cents in here and not start a whole new discussion.
I got this on Amazon, and first thing I noticed was it got seventeen 5-star reviews and one 2-star review. I hope that reviewer is not a member here, because I'm going to twist his nose if he is, but I couldn't get over this.
I found that amazing because all 17 others thought it was fantastic. My first day of using it, I was unimpressed, but in my 25 years of brush/mug shaving, the first rule I learned was never, and I mean NEVER make a decision on a shaving product after one use. For soaps and creams I won't opine until I've used it for a full week, sometimes more. Clearly this guy only shaved with it once, didn't know how to lather it (despite his years of experience), and crankily posted an impression and moved on. He should have stuck with it, because this is definitely not YMMV territory, the guy clearly did not know what he was doing. That's not an opinion, that's a fact. This stuff is very good, he should have stuck with it and dialed it in. But when 17 other folks are raving about it (and it is a widely recognized classic) and you can't get it to lather, maybe, just maybe, the problem is you.
Test gear was my Merkur 34C loaded with two Gillette Super Platinum blacks for 4 shaves, and a Merkur blade for 2 shaves. I used a 24mm Golden Nib silver tip, and a 22mm Golden Nib best badger in a couple of home restored handles, and with an Omega 10049 boar brush.
This cream is very good indeed, every bit as good as any other quality British cream. Slick, protective lather that gave me 5-out-of 6 BBS shaves with no nicks, weepers, or irritation, only my first run was disappointing and that was me, not the product. The scent is very nice, although my opinion is not of much use to anyone else, scent is too personal. I won't reload when it is gone simply because I tend not to prefer citrus scents, with the single exception of Razorock's Don Marco version of bergamot neroli. But if you are a lemon/lime citrus scent fan, you should definitely check this out. It is a classic and you owe it to yourself to see if the scent grabs you.
That said, it's no uber-cream, IMO. The basic ingredients in most quality British creams tend to be variations on a fairly narrow theme, and, again, IMO, the range of shaving effectiveness between British shaving creams tends to be very narrow as opposed to the incredibly wide range of performance between the world's various hard, soft and craft soaps. I did not notice a meaningful difference in the quality of shave I got from this and Taylor's Avocado or Rose, or Truefitt & Hill's 1805 or Rose creams. Once you dial them in, I think you will pretty much get the same shaving efficiency out of any of them.
What is unpredictable, though, is how your skin will react (mine is leather, apparently), or how you'll feel about the scent. If you react to one you definitely will hate it. Some folks can't stand TOBS Avocado, but I love it. You may think the Blenheim scent is other-worldly, but like I said, I'm not a huge citrus fan. I liked this much more than most other lime or citrusy creams, however, I will admit. But I think your perception of performance will be biased by scent and if you have any sensitivity to some ingredient.
Behavioral Economics research also indicates our perception of performance is affected by cost--we have a natural bias toward thinking higher-cost products perform better, and it's pretty hard to do a blind test because scents are so recognizable. So like other posters in this thread, I think this is as good as any quality cream out there ... but not some uber-cream worthy of a cult following. It is a timeless classic, like Cella, for example (my favorite shave weapon), and if you like citrusy creams, I do think you owe it to yourself to try this.
I also think that Amazon reviewer's experience was not invalid ... like I said my first run was less than stellar. Starting out use more product than you think you need, and start with a drier brush and sneak up on the sweet spot with small drips of water and when you nail this you will definitely think it performs. YMMV applies to whether you will be blown away by it or, like me, think it's as good as many, many other performers. But the review on Amazon, is not in the realm of YMMV, it's just wrong. I hope that guy tried it a few more times, he missed out on a good cream. If you can't get it to lather, and it drips off your face, you're doing it wrong. It's fairly easy to lather, actually.
Just as a matter of personal choice, when I get a new soap or cream, I commit to using it exclusively for a week or two before moving it into rotation. I like to master each product to get the best out of it that it is capable of, and I suggest you try the same for new lather products. That won't be a single shave, normally, though, even for a guy with 50 years of experience.
I give it a 4.5 out of 5 stars. If I loved the scent, I'm sure I'd be giving it 5. This could be one of your favorite products. You won't know until you try it!
I got this on Amazon, and first thing I noticed was it got seventeen 5-star reviews and one 2-star review. I hope that reviewer is not a member here, because I'm going to twist his nose if he is, but I couldn't get over this.
I found that amazing because all 17 others thought it was fantastic. My first day of using it, I was unimpressed, but in my 25 years of brush/mug shaving, the first rule I learned was never, and I mean NEVER make a decision on a shaving product after one use. For soaps and creams I won't opine until I've used it for a full week, sometimes more. Clearly this guy only shaved with it once, didn't know how to lather it (despite his years of experience), and crankily posted an impression and moved on. He should have stuck with it, because this is definitely not YMMV territory, the guy clearly did not know what he was doing. That's not an opinion, that's a fact. This stuff is very good, he should have stuck with it and dialed it in. But when 17 other folks are raving about it (and it is a widely recognized classic) and you can't get it to lather, maybe, just maybe, the problem is you.
Test gear was my Merkur 34C loaded with two Gillette Super Platinum blacks for 4 shaves, and a Merkur blade for 2 shaves. I used a 24mm Golden Nib silver tip, and a 22mm Golden Nib best badger in a couple of home restored handles, and with an Omega 10049 boar brush.
This cream is very good indeed, every bit as good as any other quality British cream. Slick, protective lather that gave me 5-out-of 6 BBS shaves with no nicks, weepers, or irritation, only my first run was disappointing and that was me, not the product. The scent is very nice, although my opinion is not of much use to anyone else, scent is too personal. I won't reload when it is gone simply because I tend not to prefer citrus scents, with the single exception of Razorock's Don Marco version of bergamot neroli. But if you are a lemon/lime citrus scent fan, you should definitely check this out. It is a classic and you owe it to yourself to see if the scent grabs you.
That said, it's no uber-cream, IMO. The basic ingredients in most quality British creams tend to be variations on a fairly narrow theme, and, again, IMO, the range of shaving effectiveness between British shaving creams tends to be very narrow as opposed to the incredibly wide range of performance between the world's various hard, soft and craft soaps. I did not notice a meaningful difference in the quality of shave I got from this and Taylor's Avocado or Rose, or Truefitt & Hill's 1805 or Rose creams. Once you dial them in, I think you will pretty much get the same shaving efficiency out of any of them.
What is unpredictable, though, is how your skin will react (mine is leather, apparently), or how you'll feel about the scent. If you react to one you definitely will hate it. Some folks can't stand TOBS Avocado, but I love it. You may think the Blenheim scent is other-worldly, but like I said, I'm not a huge citrus fan. I liked this much more than most other lime or citrusy creams, however, I will admit. But I think your perception of performance will be biased by scent and if you have any sensitivity to some ingredient.
Behavioral Economics research also indicates our perception of performance is affected by cost--we have a natural bias toward thinking higher-cost products perform better, and it's pretty hard to do a blind test because scents are so recognizable. So like other posters in this thread, I think this is as good as any quality cream out there ... but not some uber-cream worthy of a cult following. It is a timeless classic, like Cella, for example (my favorite shave weapon), and if you like citrusy creams, I do think you owe it to yourself to try this.
I also think that Amazon reviewer's experience was not invalid ... like I said my first run was less than stellar. Starting out use more product than you think you need, and start with a drier brush and sneak up on the sweet spot with small drips of water and when you nail this you will definitely think it performs. YMMV applies to whether you will be blown away by it or, like me, think it's as good as many, many other performers. But the review on Amazon, is not in the realm of YMMV, it's just wrong. I hope that guy tried it a few more times, he missed out on a good cream. If you can't get it to lather, and it drips off your face, you're doing it wrong. It's fairly easy to lather, actually.
Just as a matter of personal choice, when I get a new soap or cream, I commit to using it exclusively for a week or two before moving it into rotation. I like to master each product to get the best out of it that it is capable of, and I suggest you try the same for new lather products. That won't be a single shave, normally, though, even for a guy with 50 years of experience.
I give it a 4.5 out of 5 stars. If I loved the scent, I'm sure I'd be giving it 5. This could be one of your favorite products. You won't know until you try it!
