I thought I'd post up my thoughts on these two brushes.
In order to gauge the scale of the scale of them I have started by picturing them alongside a Rooney 3/1.
Starting with the Prince
As you may already know, I'm a bit of a fan of the WSP Stubby (extra-firm), so I thought I'd compare the two together to start with:
Two things immediately struck me as noticeable; the knot in the Prince is denser than the knot in the Stubby, and the handles are noticeably different (as can be seen from the photo).
As I bowl-latherer, I thought I'd put the Prince to the test first. Here's the result using some Vulfix cream:
Gobs of thick creamy lather were what I ended up with. The result is certainly better than the Stubby (which is an excellent bowl-latherer in itself). This is, I think, down to the lack of the glue bump in the knot (which shortens the effective knot length of the Stubby).
The new handle, whilst not up there with the best turned handles, is an improvement over the handle on the Stubby as well in that it is far less slippery-when-wet compared to the handle of the Stubby.
The Prince has nice, soft bristles and was a joy to use when the lather was painted on my face, with no scritchiness evident.
All-in-all I would say that Prince is a definite improvement over the Stubby and is definitely a keeper for me.
Moving on to the Monarch.
I've photographed it next to a Kent BLK4 for comparison, as the brush is in the style of the Kent with slight differences between the two handles:
So, the question is, how well does this brush bowl lather some Vulfix cream?
Here's the answer:
The knot on this brush is seriously nice.
It's very soft, with no hint of scritch, and has far more backbone than I thought it would have.
I could have sworn that I was using a Simpsons Best or Super knot when it was being used on my face - it felt that good.
Here's the after shots of the two brushes:
Conclusion
Overall, I would say that these brushes represent excellent value for money.
The handles are not up there with the likes of Simpsons, Rooney and Morris & Forndran but then the brushes are significantly cheaper (even with the added Customs charges if you are importing them into the UK).
They are, though, certainly on a par with handles produced by Kent and Edwin Jagger for example.
I rate the hair used in the Monarch as being up there with the Simpsons Super and Best, as well as the Rooney, M&F and Kent Silvertip knots.
If anything, it felt as luxurious as my BLK12 whilst having the backbone of a Rooney 3/1.
The hair in the Prince doesn't feel as good as the hair in Monarch but does come very close to it.
It's a very nice knot in itself and would certainly score highly in terms of a price performance ratio.
So, in conclusion, I would say that both the Monarch and Prince appear to be great brushes and have certainly made me think twice about brushes made in China as they are worlds apart from some of the other offerings I have seen produced there.
In order to gauge the scale of the scale of them I have started by picturing them alongside a Rooney 3/1.
Starting with the Prince
As you may already know, I'm a bit of a fan of the WSP Stubby (extra-firm), so I thought I'd compare the two together to start with:
Two things immediately struck me as noticeable; the knot in the Prince is denser than the knot in the Stubby, and the handles are noticeably different (as can be seen from the photo).
As I bowl-latherer, I thought I'd put the Prince to the test first. Here's the result using some Vulfix cream:
Gobs of thick creamy lather were what I ended up with. The result is certainly better than the Stubby (which is an excellent bowl-latherer in itself). This is, I think, down to the lack of the glue bump in the knot (which shortens the effective knot length of the Stubby).
The new handle, whilst not up there with the best turned handles, is an improvement over the handle on the Stubby as well in that it is far less slippery-when-wet compared to the handle of the Stubby.
The Prince has nice, soft bristles and was a joy to use when the lather was painted on my face, with no scritchiness evident.
All-in-all I would say that Prince is a definite improvement over the Stubby and is definitely a keeper for me.
Moving on to the Monarch.
I've photographed it next to a Kent BLK4 for comparison, as the brush is in the style of the Kent with slight differences between the two handles:
So, the question is, how well does this brush bowl lather some Vulfix cream?
Here's the answer:
The knot on this brush is seriously nice.
It's very soft, with no hint of scritch, and has far more backbone than I thought it would have.
I could have sworn that I was using a Simpsons Best or Super knot when it was being used on my face - it felt that good.
Here's the after shots of the two brushes:
Conclusion
Overall, I would say that these brushes represent excellent value for money.
The handles are not up there with the likes of Simpsons, Rooney and Morris & Forndran but then the brushes are significantly cheaper (even with the added Customs charges if you are importing them into the UK).
They are, though, certainly on a par with handles produced by Kent and Edwin Jagger for example.
I rate the hair used in the Monarch as being up there with the Simpsons Super and Best, as well as the Rooney, M&F and Kent Silvertip knots.
If anything, it felt as luxurious as my BLK12 whilst having the backbone of a Rooney 3/1.
The hair in the Prince doesn't feel as good as the hair in Monarch but does come very close to it.
It's a very nice knot in itself and would certainly score highly in terms of a price performance ratio.
So, in conclusion, I would say that both the Monarch and Prince appear to be great brushes and have certainly made me think twice about brushes made in China as they are worlds apart from some of the other offerings I have seen produced there.
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