Hey again everyone, just finished up a sampler pack of each of Truefitt & Hills shaving cream lineup and am ready to give my review on the cream itself and the various scents they come in. My overall impressions are simply put that it is a very nice performing and scented cream. As I'll get to later, its the best performing cream I've ever used and the scents are classy, aromatic - cologne type scents that are a perfect 5/10 in scent strength. It's formulation however is not a particularly natural or clean one and even contains parabens (minus the ultracomfort cream).
Performance:
This product is a great performing cream. It is not the most product efficient cream and requires a little more cream than usual to get the lather I like but the slickness, feeling of protection, post-shave and especially residual slickness are the best I've ever gotten out of a cream. The lather is dense and silky, doesn't leave residue on the face or the razor and rinses off with a gentle splash of water. It can take a slightly above normal amount of water and as expected doesn't really dry up or degrade over the 10-20min it takes to shave and clean everything up. The post-shave is very good. My skin is smooth, clean, supple and my skin didn't react to any of the fragrances. The residual slickness in particular easily eclipses every other cream I've ever used, in fact its better than many soaps I've used too. Overall, this product is an excellent performer and if scent doesn't matter to you, I can easily recommend it on this basis alone.
The Scents:
1805: Good
This is your typical, oceaninc aquatic cologne scent but very pleasing. Not too sweet, not too cloying. Just nice and fresh. Very reminiscent of an up market mens body wash. Think Ocean/sea salt type scents but rather bright and airy with fruity notes mixed in. Not my favourite out of the line-up but a great all-round scent.
Apsley: Excellent
A bit difficult to describe scent, to me its a dry woody accord with some mild citrus, vetiver and musk notes that combine together to make something like a green tobacco accord. The darkest scent (but not really a dark scent) in the lineup. Its not particularly ashy or incense like but instead just a nice, masculine aroma that swings between tobacco-esque and woody cologne. I really liked it, its quite unique and cedarwood is one of my all time favourite notes. I'm not sure this will be a complete crowd pleaser but for me, its a nice elegant woody fragrance that doesn't have the sharpness and ash-like, burning wood quality that some other similar scents have.
Grafton: Ok
This is just a soapy, green, fougere like scent. Its basically the perfect medium of fougeres, its woody but not overly so, not particularly strong on spice or floral notes, just kind of green and cologne like. Its soapy, powdery, herbacious, light, somewhat woody, sort of spicy and thats it. If you like Drakkar Noir, Rive Gauche, Polo Green....you'll like this and find it to be a pleasant middle ground between all of the 3. I don't mind it, but its just ok to me. Not something I would buy a full tub of personally.
Sandalwood: Excellent
A brisk Sandalwood cologne scent that to me melds Creed Santal and Creed Aventus in nearly a perfect 50/50 ratio. I like both fragrances but together they make something thats right up my alley. Make no mistake, this has nothing in common with Sandalwoods from TOBS, DRH, Proraso etc. This is absolutely a fresh, sweet, effervescent cologne scent with unmistakable melon and pineapple notes and a sweet sandalwood accord thats not woody or creamy at all. The sandalwood stops the cologne from entering gourmand territory but its not a woodsy, amber type fragrance. I really enjoyed this one but would probably prefer to grab the AS or EdT more than the cream. Thats how much I like this scent, which is unusual since I don't tend to like scents like this one, but they really did a good job on this imo.
Trafalgar: Bad
Smells like musky, musty non-existence to me. Like an old book that has been abused for 20 years and then forgotten on a shelf in the library for another 20. Dusty, dry, somehow a little sweet that even takes on vanilla characteristics at times. Just can't recommend it at all. A really odd combo of scents that each work to make the other smell worse.
Ultimate Comfort: Good
Technically unscented, this cream features lavender essential oil as a skin conditioning, soothing and anti-septic agent. perhaps a 0.5/10 strength lavender scent that like most lavender scents is quite a dark, masculine floral that smells like fennel mixed with anise to me. Barely noticeable, I had to really take a second to look for it. For all intents and purposes this cream is unscented. I only really noticed a 'scent' at the very end of the shave when rinsing everything. The formulation also (apparently, though I'm not sure if this is a website error or not) omits parabens and some of the other synthetic chemicals and features real, organic lavender oil. If you need an unscented option, this is it.
West Indian Limes: Excellent
The nicest straight up citrus scent I've used so far. Its not a sweet, candy/lolly like scent that has more in common with skittles, lemon sherbert or all-purpose cleaner but rather a tart, zesty, bitter lime scent. To me, there is even a mild doughy accord that adds a subtle green-earthiness to the scent as the brightness and sharpness of the lime cuts through. I really was bracing for another yuck tier cream that I could barely stomach since it was so sweet but again was pleasantly surprised. You get the full lime scent too, lime oil, lime peel, lime juice and lime flesh. They all come together here. There are other citrus notes in the composition, but I could only pick out a very distinct lime and an earthy, doughy scent in the base. Comes off a little medicinal but in a pleasant way, kind of like bayrum (note: it doesn't smell like bayrum just comparing the pleasant medicinal esque vibe it gives.
In summary, I really liked almost all of them. The scents range from crazy good to quite bad depending on tastes but the performance is unmistakble. The ingredient formulation could be better and I hope they clean it up but that seems like wishful thinking. What have you guys thought about them?
Performance:
This product is a great performing cream. It is not the most product efficient cream and requires a little more cream than usual to get the lather I like but the slickness, feeling of protection, post-shave and especially residual slickness are the best I've ever gotten out of a cream. The lather is dense and silky, doesn't leave residue on the face or the razor and rinses off with a gentle splash of water. It can take a slightly above normal amount of water and as expected doesn't really dry up or degrade over the 10-20min it takes to shave and clean everything up. The post-shave is very good. My skin is smooth, clean, supple and my skin didn't react to any of the fragrances. The residual slickness in particular easily eclipses every other cream I've ever used, in fact its better than many soaps I've used too. Overall, this product is an excellent performer and if scent doesn't matter to you, I can easily recommend it on this basis alone.
The Scents:
1805: Good
This is your typical, oceaninc aquatic cologne scent but very pleasing. Not too sweet, not too cloying. Just nice and fresh. Very reminiscent of an up market mens body wash. Think Ocean/sea salt type scents but rather bright and airy with fruity notes mixed in. Not my favourite out of the line-up but a great all-round scent.
Apsley: Excellent
A bit difficult to describe scent, to me its a dry woody accord with some mild citrus, vetiver and musk notes that combine together to make something like a green tobacco accord. The darkest scent (but not really a dark scent) in the lineup. Its not particularly ashy or incense like but instead just a nice, masculine aroma that swings between tobacco-esque and woody cologne. I really liked it, its quite unique and cedarwood is one of my all time favourite notes. I'm not sure this will be a complete crowd pleaser but for me, its a nice elegant woody fragrance that doesn't have the sharpness and ash-like, burning wood quality that some other similar scents have.
Grafton: Ok
This is just a soapy, green, fougere like scent. Its basically the perfect medium of fougeres, its woody but not overly so, not particularly strong on spice or floral notes, just kind of green and cologne like. Its soapy, powdery, herbacious, light, somewhat woody, sort of spicy and thats it. If you like Drakkar Noir, Rive Gauche, Polo Green....you'll like this and find it to be a pleasant middle ground between all of the 3. I don't mind it, but its just ok to me. Not something I would buy a full tub of personally.
Sandalwood: Excellent
A brisk Sandalwood cologne scent that to me melds Creed Santal and Creed Aventus in nearly a perfect 50/50 ratio. I like both fragrances but together they make something thats right up my alley. Make no mistake, this has nothing in common with Sandalwoods from TOBS, DRH, Proraso etc. This is absolutely a fresh, sweet, effervescent cologne scent with unmistakable melon and pineapple notes and a sweet sandalwood accord thats not woody or creamy at all. The sandalwood stops the cologne from entering gourmand territory but its not a woodsy, amber type fragrance. I really enjoyed this one but would probably prefer to grab the AS or EdT more than the cream. Thats how much I like this scent, which is unusual since I don't tend to like scents like this one, but they really did a good job on this imo.
Trafalgar: Bad
Smells like musky, musty non-existence to me. Like an old book that has been abused for 20 years and then forgotten on a shelf in the library for another 20. Dusty, dry, somehow a little sweet that even takes on vanilla characteristics at times. Just can't recommend it at all. A really odd combo of scents that each work to make the other smell worse.
Ultimate Comfort: Good
Technically unscented, this cream features lavender essential oil as a skin conditioning, soothing and anti-septic agent. perhaps a 0.5/10 strength lavender scent that like most lavender scents is quite a dark, masculine floral that smells like fennel mixed with anise to me. Barely noticeable, I had to really take a second to look for it. For all intents and purposes this cream is unscented. I only really noticed a 'scent' at the very end of the shave when rinsing everything. The formulation also (apparently, though I'm not sure if this is a website error or not) omits parabens and some of the other synthetic chemicals and features real, organic lavender oil. If you need an unscented option, this is it.
West Indian Limes: Excellent
The nicest straight up citrus scent I've used so far. Its not a sweet, candy/lolly like scent that has more in common with skittles, lemon sherbert or all-purpose cleaner but rather a tart, zesty, bitter lime scent. To me, there is even a mild doughy accord that adds a subtle green-earthiness to the scent as the brightness and sharpness of the lime cuts through. I really was bracing for another yuck tier cream that I could barely stomach since it was so sweet but again was pleasantly surprised. You get the full lime scent too, lime oil, lime peel, lime juice and lime flesh. They all come together here. There are other citrus notes in the composition, but I could only pick out a very distinct lime and an earthy, doughy scent in the base. Comes off a little medicinal but in a pleasant way, kind of like bayrum (note: it doesn't smell like bayrum just comparing the pleasant medicinal esque vibe it gives.
In summary, I really liked almost all of them. The scents range from crazy good to quite bad depending on tastes but the performance is unmistakble. The ingredient formulation could be better and I hope they clean it up but that seems like wishful thinking. What have you guys thought about them?
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