Looking for volunteers - new scent!

[JCarr]

My sample arrived yesterday...will be trying it out tomorrow and will post back.

 

[LJS]

To preface, I am an almond smell lover. So I tend to try all things that have that fragrance and enjoy many.

This was certainly no disappointment and hit several key qualities I want in an aftershave. I like/need to feel my AS. After a very smooth shave; 3-passes with straight razor and using Cella brick; the AS felt great to me. I felt alcohol as I would wish but no wicked burning which is the right level. Sometimes after very smooth shave I don’t get that alcohol feel but this was spot on. It was not harsh or drying and left good smooth after feel which is something I always note when picking AS I like. The fragrance was as stated - straight up almond to me maybe something lightly sweet in the background. My wife smelled vanilla with vial closed and almond when open. We smell things very differently so it is always interesting (and sometimes important) to get her feedback. But she liked the fragrance as much as I did.

Simple, straight and effective. Not overly complicated with tones all over and checked the main boxes on AS performance.

If I had any critique to offer for tweaking it would be that I could actually stand more intensity of the almond and how long it lingers. But I also know enough to think that this is just a fact of the almond fragrance and it is not one that carries for many hours. It is an AS and not a cologne so most aren’t designed for that anyway.

I like it.

 

[sneefy]

The vial arrived in the mail.

First test was of the scent. This post will speak to that.

I opened the vial. Smells exactly like almond extract. Dabbed some on my wrist. Same. I wafted it under my wife's nose without saying what is was. "Almond extract?" was her reply. So, we agree that it smells like almond extract. Dead ringer.

The scent was 100% gone within an hour.

So far, I like the scent. It's also probably good that it disappears completely very quickly because, as much as I do like the scent, I wouldn't actually want staying power out of it else I'd get sick of it really fast.

Would I buy it? Based solely on this first impression, probably not high on my personal list. I do like it for what it is, but I prefer something with a little more staying power, and more complex scent profile.

This, IMO, is a niche scent for someone that wants to use an aftershave, likes the warm, sweet (but not sickly), tasty scent of almond, but doesn't want any projection/sillage whatsoever. For that use case, it would work great because the scent is GONE in under an hour. But that's not me, typically. Maybe if I had a larger collection of aftershaves and wanted one to fill that niche.

I have not yet used it post-shave, but will report in again when I do to rate the feel!

Had a chance to use this on the face. Finally.

Mild. The scent disappears very fast. Feel does the same. No residue.

I have not used an aftershave that had this little to it. The scent is quite pleasant but there's just not much here that would make me want to reach for a bottle of this.

That said, the lack of linger may indeed be a feature for some. No stickiness. No burn. No shine. Nothing to bother the officemates. Just a warmly sweet scented splash after a shave that soothes a bit and is then soon forgotten. That is a fair niche that can work, but I wouldn't expect this to be a big volume seller if it's a premium 4 oz. Bottle of aftershave like the rest of the Captain's quality aftershaves.

Now, if this were an inexpensive-ish, almond scented larger bottle of witch hazel, that could sell like hotcakes. (I will accept a small profit percentage for the idea...)

 

[JCarr]

Used the sample this morning. Nice face feel and a sweet, pleasant almond scent. Some almond scents can be heavy almost cherry-scented. Although there is a "cherry-ness" to this, it wasn't a dominating cherry scent. More sweet almond. The scent does not linger long as I used it liberally on my face, neck and shirt. Twenty minutes after application, I can still smell it on my hands and on my shirt, if I bring them up to my face to take a sniff. But just sitting and working it's barely noticeable.

I'm simply reporting my experience above, now for some opinion. I think with this kind of scent...you wouldn't want it to be strong because it would end up being almost cloyingly sweet...which...wouldn't be good. So, in my opinion, this has good balance between the scent, sweet and longevity. All that having been said, I'm not sure this particular scent would be for me.

All the best!

Happy shaves!

 

[Fred D]

@Captain Pre-Capsize
I have a question about your lather bowls.
I'm very interested in one of the heavy copper bowls, and my question is about the size, are all the bowls the same general size, or are there small and large versions? It looks like they are all the same dimensions, but I thought I read that you also had a larger size version?

By the way, I also saw your silvertip custom brushes while visiting your site. I had only seen the synthetic version and didn't know you offered silvertips as well. They are absolutely stunning!

Thanks

 

[Captain Pre-Capsize]

@Captain Pre-Capsize
I have a question about your lather bowls.
I'm very interested in one of the heavy copper bowls, and my question is about the size, are all the bowls the same general size, or are there small and large versions? It looks like they are all the same dimensions, but I thought I read that you also had a larger size version?

By the way, I also saw your silvertip custom brushes while visiting your site. I had only seen the synthetic version and didn't know you offered silvertips as well. They are absolutely stunning!

Thanks

Thanks Fred, for noticing and for your kind comments. It took some time to get the resin blend to where we wanted it - we wanted it to reflect the maritime vibe of our brand and we love what we ended up with. Then there was the shape. Where we started and where we ended up were quite different. It was important to us that the grip be secure and in scale with the most popular size knot. As I understand it that is 24mm. So the goal was as much function as it was that it be visually appealing. One consistent feedback we get from customers is that the brushes are more beautiful in person than looking at them online.

Customers seem to love our custom brushes as well. We have more inbound but only have one of the silvertip left at this point. You are correct, we have had the synthetic brushes for a few months and just introduced the silvertip version a month ago. That is the most sought after badger knot so we thought it a great combo to go with our custom handle.

As with so many of our items (lather bowls, leather brush rolls, Razor Jackets, coffee mugs for instance) each is made one at a time by an artisan to our specifications. So no two brushes will be exactly alike which is the appeal of hand crafted goods - you receive a one-of-a-kind item.

As to the copper bowls we have two styles that are both the same size. The difference is in the weight and the finished edge. One has a rolled edge and the other has a flared edge. We did used to have a larger size bowl but only in ceramic and just in two colors, gunmetal and cobalt.

 

[Fred D]

View attachment 1238496

Thanks Fred, for noticing and for your kind comments. It took some time to get the resin blend to where we wanted it - we wanted it to reflect the maritime vibe of our brand and we love what we ended up with. Then there was the shape. Where we started and where we ended up were quite different. It was important to us that the grip be secure and in scale with the most popular size knot. As I understand it that is 24mm. So the goal was as much function as it was that it be visually appealing. One consistent feedback we get from customers is that the brushes are more beautiful in person than looking at them online.

Customers seem to love our custom brushes as well. We have more inbound but only have one of the silvertip left at this point. You are correct, we have had the synthetic brushes for a few months and just introduced the silvertip version a month ago. That is the most sought after badger knot so we thought it a great combo to go with our custom handle.

As with so many of our items (lather bowls, leather brush rolls, Razor Jackets, coffee mugs for instance) each is made one at a time by an artisan to our specifications. So no two brushes will be exactly alike which is the appeal of hand crafted goods - you receive a one-of-a-kind item.

As to the copper bowls we have two styles that are both the same size. The difference is in the weight and the finished edge. One has a rolled edge and the other has a flared edge. We did used to have a larger size bowl but only in ceramic and just in two colors, gunmetal and cobalt.

Thanks for the information.

I do hope you make more of those silvertip brushes, for that style and color handle even a cheapskate like me thinks the price is very reasonable for a custom silvertip badger brush.

I'll definitely be picking up one of the copper bowls soon, I'm too clumsy for anything breakable.

 

[hairless wonder]

I should've written this earlier; after last night's shave, I applied the Captain's Experimental Almond aftershave, again. My results were the best ever.

The splash's almond aroma was still wonderfully fragrant fresh out of the bottle but didn't seem to dissipate as much after applying to my skin. I wonder, though, if this may have been due to the fact that I used Cella as my soap for this shave.

Tools
Razor: Lord L5

Blade: Lord Super Chrome (second shave with this blade)

Soap: Cella (in tub)

Brush: Van der Hagen Starry Night 3-band silvertip

Alum: Generic block from Indian market

Splash: Captain's Experimental Almond

Balm: None

Background
This was my second shave with this particular blade. After my shower (during which time I soaked my brush and bloomed the soap), I did a two pass shave (WTG, ATG) with touchups.

After I set down my razor, I applied alum and felt no significant sting whatsoever. I waited for the alum to dry then rinsed it off and toweled my face dry before applying the Almond aftershave splash.

Review of the Almond Splash
The almond extract smell was as strong and pleasing as ever.

I poured out some splash and applied it to my face. I then poured out some splash and applied it to my upper lip. Next I poured out some splash into my other hand and applied it to the other side of my face. I also poured out some more splash and applied it to my chin and neck.

I felt no sting whatsoever from the splash. Then again, I also felt no sting from applying my alum block. This suggests my BBS shave was pretty gosh darn perfect and irritation free.

As usual, I took a deep breath through my nose after applying the splash, this time I noticed a hint of almond scent. I am not sure if this is from the Cella, the Almond splash, or both. In any case, I've never had as enjoyable a shave before. Best of all, my face did not feel dry, itchy, or irritated in any way after the shave so I didn't feel any need to apply an aftershave balm.

Based on this, I would suggest that the Captain's Almond splash pairs very well with Cella.

Scores
Based solely on this experience, I would grade the splash as follows:

Scent in the bottle: 9 out of 10
Scent as applied: 6 out of 10
Disinfectant: 0 out of 10
Strength of scent: 6out of 10
Healing/soothing: 4 out of 10
Overall: 7 out of 10

 

[sneefy]

The vial arrived in the mail.

First test was of the scent. This post will speak to that.

I opened the vial. Smells exactly like almond extract. Dabbed some on my wrist. Same. I wafted it under my wife's nose without saying what is was. "Almond extract?" was her reply. So, we agree that it smells like almond extract. Dead ringer.

The scent was 100% gone within an hour.

So far, I like the scent. It's also probably good that it disappears completely very quickly because, as much as I do like the scent, I wouldn't actually want staying power out of it else I'd get sick of it really fast.

Would I buy it? Based solely on this first impression, probably not high on my personal list. I do like it for what it is, but I prefer something with a little more staying power, and more complex scent profile.

This, IMO, is a niche scent for someone that wants to use an aftershave, likes the warm, sweet (but not sickly), tasty scent of almond, but doesn't want any projection/sillage whatsoever. For that use case, it would work great because the scent is GONE in under an hour. But that's not me, typically. Maybe if I had a larger collection of aftershaves and wanted one to fill that niche.

I have not yet used it post-shave, but will report in again when I do to rate the feel!

Bumping this thread quoting my own review, lol.

So, I was wanting a light, pleasant-smelling after shave with good feel but short scent longevity. I remembered the sample vial I was sent here and thought to myself, "That would work great!". So I ordered a bottle!

 

[DaveC2k21]

If it's still open, I'm in