My dad did this for years! That is until I gave him a tube of Proraso Green and told him he could lather it up with the brush. Nothing wrong with simply slathering your face with already made lather IMHO.
My shaving brush made me fall in love with Barbasol all over again. I hate applying creams by hand but it applied great with my brush.
I'll have to give those two a try. I wish I could find the Skin Conditioner variety in Baton Rouge as I hear good things about it as well. I'll have to order some of it online at some point.