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THEHTGAM/PPF/PH0ENIX/D0UGLAS/H0DGES/FRANCES Thread

Also, this is slightly off topic, but last night I was searching for Cavendish on their website and stumbled onto their "secret menu". They have a soap that mixes the scents of Gondolier and Cavendish called Cavolier, so of course I had to buy it.

I don't think I've seen that before. Ill have to look for it. Thanks for the tip!
 
Awesome, glad to hear you liked Harvest Moon. No Gondolier?! I'm so disappointed in you! I'm interested in Porthos and Sacre Bleue...cant wait to see your reviews.

I got a few more scents myself. Out of the batch Cavendish and Agharta were big winners. Both highly recommended. If you like a sweetish tobacco scent then Cavendish is for you. Loved it and already bought a full bottle.

I will eventually try those two. I'm sure I would love Cavendish
 
Porthos

This is their take on the classic Aramis. If you like Aramis, and I do, you will like this one. I do not have any experience with Aramis aftershave, but I always have a bottle of the spray cologne and it is one of my favorites. I would imagine that this aftershave has a better face feel than the actual Aramis aftershave, as is the case with Polo aftershave VS Han Polo. In comparing this with the spray cologne, it is just a tad lighter and crisper/brighter. That's nice though because the colognes are usually a bit heavier or darker. I don't have any experience with the original Aramis formulation, or with Clint by Avon either (their take on Aramis, I gather). This is supposed to be faithful to the original Aramis. WOW! This stuff is super potent when applied! I was driving with my windows down this morning and actually left for work a little early to stop at publix to get something for lunch. It died down after about 45 minutes to an hour. This one is not something I would put on right before a morning meeting! At the grocery store this guy in line behind me backed way up. Maybe it was just how he is, or he was intimidated by the manly smell of Aramis/Porthos. :001_rolle Or maybe it was just too much and he was choking. I really don't like to be "that guy" if you know what I mean. So I would say the scent strength on this is off the charts. But, hey.....it's Aramis after all. Face feel is excellent as always and length of scent is loooooong. If you like Aramis, this one is a no-brainer. Just don't apply it as liberally as some other aftershaves. I could see wearing this on a dayoff, sitting home playing records and basking in the lovely stench! With the cologne, i usually just spray my wrists, neck and maybe dab some behind my ears and it's fine. This was a full face application of aftershave and I even put a little more on under my neck. So I may have overdone it with this aftershave/cologne. I may just treat it as a straight up cologne in the future.

 
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Thank you all for the great input and reviews. You've got my olfactory juices flowing.
Seems that a sample haul is in order.
Man, every hobby I get into ends up emptying my pockets. First brewing and now this!
And many of us got into DE shaving to save some $$... :biggrin1: Well that's out the window.
Even with a dozen+ razors, I check BST forums almost daily.
When does it end?
 
I recently picked one of these razors up on a whim and after a couple shaves, I can say that its a keeper. Smooth, close and mine is flawless in terms of quality and blade alignment.
I like it so much, infact, that I decided to pick up an aluminum one in addition to the bakelite one that I already have.
Its got an interesting design feature in that one half of the top cap comes to a point on the top, like a triangle. Supposedly, the design is to ensure that you find the perfect angle. Thus far, I believe that it works and makes it almost foolproof.
Its also got another interesting design feature in that while it is a slant, it doesnt twist the blade. It basically just takes the head and keeps it straight but puts it at an angle, which is unlike pretty much any other slant on the market.
All in all, its a very efficient razor and is just a really cool.
 
Thank you all for the great input and reviews. You've got my olfactory juices flowing.
Seems that a sample haul is in order.

And many of us got into DE shaving to save some $$... :biggrin1: Well that's out the window.
Even with a dozen+ razors, I check BST forums almost daily.
When does it end?
I know, right? I want to try all the Myrsol after shaves too. Luckily Maggard has decent samples of most of them. I was just thinking how I have abandoned my hoarding of NOS vacuum tubes for my stereo lately for shaving stuff. I've been buying full size bottles and if I don't like something or if it bothers me I send it to my brother for him to try. So far Good Vibrations is the only one I didn't care for. But he likes barber shop scents so he will probably love it. I am more into woody leathery and outdoorsy scents. For example, I love Stirlings Coniferous and Ozark Mountain. I really like the Bergomot Lavender too. And Executive Man and Sandpiper......it never ends. Thus far I've limited myself to Stirling and PAA. I like them equally and With all the money I've spent on this stuff I could have bought the tube phono preamp I've been wanting....
 
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Harvest Moon

I will start by saying I absolutely LOVE this one. I tend to like woody smells and lately I am on an OUD kick. This one is much more complex than Coconut Oud and Oud Spice. If you like either of those, you will more than likely love this. This is a complex layered scent that I find hard to describe. The oud is there for sure, but it also has a dark, rich sweetness to it. I do not like sweet scents at all. However, this is a different kind of sweet.....maybe like caramelized sugar....or the sweetness of smoked ribs or pulled pork. Its a sweetness that is dark and enticing.....not sweet like candy. Here is the scent profile from the site:

Oud (Agarwood), Green Tobacco, Black Currant, Tobacco Absolute, Hay Absolute, Peru Balsam, Smoke, Spanish Moss, White Sage.

Also Contains: Spanish Moss Hydrosol, Glycerin, Hedione, Liquid Silk, Carrot Seed Extract, Aloe Vera and White Sage Hydrosol.

All of these ingredients are really well balanced into a whole where it is hard to pick out certain things. At least for me, because I am not a "nose" so to speak. But the sweetness may be the black currant and the sweetish smell of oud. The tobacco is there in a good way, as is the touch of smoke. This is a really difficult one to describe for a layman. I love it! Long lasting too, and not overly pungent upon application. So.....more complex than Coconut Oud. This has a nice non-coconut deep dark sweetness. Totally different from Oud Spice, which is basically Old Spice with Oud. This is not an oriental/spicey type scent at all. Highly recommended. It is light but somewhat dark at the same time. Sweet and woody/manly at the same time. Also, my wife loves it and likes to rub it on her arms. Her comment was...."Mmmmmmmm.....intoxicating!" She likes it better than her oud products which are an essential oil and a soap. She is really into yoga and Ayurveda (traditional indian medicine) as a both teacher and consultant, and practitioner so I trust her judgement as far as the quality. It is aptly named as it does remind me of a fall night when I lived in Ohio. And corny as some of his story/descriptions are.....after smelling I can definitely get the fall evening at the carnival vibe. This one is an A+ in my book.
 
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I want to get one of each of their slants. This one and the Bakelite open comb. I'm kicking myself for not having done so already.
 
I think Alpha Ecliptic is based on this razor.
 

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Ok, so i ordered 5 samples based on reviews above. I also added Chocolate Bourbon to it as I still have a HTGAM Chocolate Bourbon soap, and I never have a match. It's my little girl's favorite.
 
Ok, so i ordered 5 samples based on reviews above. I also added Chocolate Bourbon to it as I still have a HTGAM Chocolate Bourbon soap, and I never have a match. It's my little girl's favorite.
Which ones did you order? I've wondered about the chocolate bourbon. Is it sweet smelling or more like dark chocolate? And is it more bourbon or chocolate? Interesting combo for sure! Let us know what she thinks of the soap/aftershave combo!
 
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Sacre Bleu Sacre Bleu Soap and William's (Spain) Aqua Velva

Well, I will start this by saying that I have always been an "Aqua Velva Man." My dad used it and whenever I smell it I am taken back to our bathroom as a child, my father shaving and me with my plastic toy razor scraping shaving cream off my face. Then I would get the lovely smell of AV as he applied it and gave me a few drops to put on. I also remember smelling it when I would hug him or kiss his cheek. Ahhhh.....sweet memories! Anyway, it was the first aftershave I ever used, along with Old Spice, which my dad and grandfather also used. And I use it to this day. Somewhere along the line it morphed into the current Ice Blue iteration which, gradually happened and I didn't really realize just how much it changed until I ordered the....

William's Aqua Velva that is imported from Spain. The classic glass 200 ml bottle......the iconic original cap.....and the smell! Wow....just sniffing this from the bottle took me back.....and made me realize how much the current Ice Blue is a pale imitation of the Aqua Velva I know and love. The Williams has less menthol. Its still there but dialed way back. You get more of the traditional smell here. The Aqua Velva your dad used. The Aqua Velva that came in a glass bottle with the cool cap. This is that Aqua Velva. The skin feel is 100 times better than Ice Blue and the scent lasts longer. Its rounder and doesn't have the sharpness of Ice Blue. My wife doesn't care much for Ice Blue. When she smelled this she said it reminds her of her dad when she was a child. Me too. The scent is also longer lasting than Ice Blue. This stuff is the Real Deal Aqua Velva! Buy it now!!!!!

So getting to the Sacre Blue Soap....As as far as a soap its great. It lathers very well. In fact I put very little effort into using it. A+ The scent compliments the Williams Aqua Velva and Ice Blue very nicely. It doesn't smell like Aqua Velva but it works. Very Well, in fact. I like it a lot and use it on Aqua Velva days.

Sacre Bleu Aftershave/Cologne

This smells similar to the soap. The soap works well in conjunction with actual Aqua Velva. To me this has menthol, maybe a slight hint of Aqua Velva, and basically smells like powder. I do not like powdery scents, and would not expect an Aqua Velva inspired soap to smell like powder. If you are a fan of Aqua Velva this is a big disappointment. I wish I could wash it off because all day i am going to be smelling this powdery scent that I cannot stand. This is like Johnson's Baby Powder with a *hint* of Aqua Velva. I would call this one a fail.

In summary: William's Aqua Velva off the charts A+++

Williams Aqua Velva with the Sacre Bleu soap combo A+++++ and might be the only way you can get the Williams at this point. But its worth it. Very very worth it!

Sacre Bleu Aftershave: In terms of Aqua Velva its a fail. If you like the soap and want an aftershave that smells like the soap then it's good. It isn't horrible. Its just not Aqua Velva and I cannot stand powdery aftershaves. They make me nauseous. In terms of Aqua Velva D-. In terms of a stand alone scent? Its not bad if you like powdery scents. Face feel is very nice as always.


 
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Ive got a couple shaves in with the PAA now and its a good shaver. Its got quite a bit of blade exposure and a fair amount of blade gap, so you really feel the blade. Ive found that a 2-pass shave is really all I need.
So far, Ive only tried it with Feather blades and its a pretty aggressive shave with that blade. The other day I picked up a pack of Meijer blades (rebranded Personna Reds) and I picked up a few tucks of blades to try with the razor and see what I like. I picked up some Wilkinson Swords, Timors, Cromas and Bolzanos to try. All I had on hand for DE blades were Feathers because I lately Id been using my Feather AS-D2 and while those blades are very good in the AS-D2, theyre a bit much in the PAA.
 
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