I have Sandpiper and find it to be a terrific scent. It does match YSL as far as I know. I had a sample of Through the Fire Fine Craft 'The Beast' which was based on the same cologne. The Beast and Sandpiper smell almost identical. Perhaps the sample in the box "took on" some scents from the other soaps? In any case, Sandpiper is a terrific scent in my book.
May 22 - Hot and Cold, Hot and Cold and Hot and Cold From my experiences with the pass around box, I grabbed a full tub of Stirling Orange Chill. Love the orange scent and the touch of menthol. Today, I decided to use my scuttle to get a warm application of lather. It was interesting getting the warm application followed by a kick of cold from the menthol moments later. Scent was good and strong. Lather, as usual was perfect but this is what I have come to expect from Stirling. BBS obtained with a Merkur 34C/Rapira SS Chrome in 3.25 passes. Needed a small touch up to gab the baby. If you like orange scent and would like to try a touch of menthol, this would be the perfect soap for you.
Haven't commented on several shaves, but I've started trying the pass around samples as well as a few others I already own but hadn't tried. Yesterday I shaved with a Castle Forbes lime sample (not in the box). Great cream, but I'm not sure it's worth $30 a tub to me. We'll see, but it's not on my "rush out and get" list. This morning was stirling grapefruit soap. First comment is that a tiny bit of Stirling goes a loooong way! This was passed along as a single sample, and I'm realizing that WAY, WAY less than a pea sized amount of stirling will get you a good 3+ pass shave. Second, I'm a big "scent" guy, but I got very little grapefruit scent from this soap at all. I own Stirling's barbershop and cherry soaps, which are really good, strong scents that I really like. Grapefruit really didn't have any smell to me as opposed to TOBS grapefruit, which smells fantastic to me. Lots of Stirling samples left to try. We'll see what happens. So far the grapefruit was a bit disappointing to me.
Good news and bad new today - Good: I went back through this thread and found the identity of the mystery soap - Stirling Glacial Wintergreen. Bad - I found that Brand X soap is still in my bathroom (assuming that is one in a small jelly jar). Not sure what to do about this. I can send it on to Perry or wherever it needs to go, if needed. Sorry about that, guys.
The Brand X is a Beta Test Cream made by Chris @americanshamrock . It's not available to be purchased...yet. If I recall you aren't a big fan of florals? That sample is lavender with a heavy dose of menthol. Don't worry about passing it along unless the scent or menthol content doesn't suit you. It is a Tallow based cream. PM Chris if you have any other questions about it. I didn't sign a Non-disclosure agreement, but it isn't mine to divulge the ingredients beyond what I already said. It is already a very good products, can't wait to test the next version! I think last time the Brand X was discussed Chris may have taken names of folks interested in "testing" the next batch.
@RyX Is that sample lavender or chocolate/mint? Incidentally, Randy is one of the ones that's on the round 2 beta tester list.
I know it was selfish of me, but I kept the York Peppermint Patty scented. Pretty sure I sent the lavender on The Box tour. Tapatalk Via Kyocera
Not selfish at all. Adding either was a selfless act. I was just confused as to what you had added to the box
Same product/ different scent? I recall the Lavender shaved well. The other smells good enough to eat. I've had a York or two since and I'm not a big candy consumer. After reading discussion of keeping aftershaves in the fridge, I put my Brand X tub in. That shall be my next cold water shave. Thanks for the inspiration @americanshamrock & @BaylorGator !
I think this one is the chocolate mint. Haven't used it yet, but that's what it smells like to me. If you enjoyed it enough to keep, and you open up the one you have and its lavender, let me know. I'll send this one back your way. Hopefully with a Shavey!
May 25 - Yum! Pumpkin Pie!!! re-posted here: today my daughter got to pick the shave soap from what was left to try and she selected Stirling's Pumpkin Spice. this was one of the samples I grabbed from the pass around box. I will admit I was reluctant to grab it since I wasn't sure how to think about it. I do love pumpkin pie but would I like it ON MY FACE!!! Today was the day I would settle this question. Since you cannot eat pumpkin pie cold, I prepped the new scuttle and boy was it delicious!!! My daughter could not stop begging me to get her a bath bar or just get a tub to shave with. She is 9 but loves to lather her face and wash with my lather and pretend with her finger she is shaving. I will admit that it is very different from anything else I have tried before and loved the change. My homemade pumpkin pie recipe has 3 spices, nutmeg, cinnamon and ginger. The site indicates this soap has the following scents, 'A seasonal blend of pumpkin, all spice, ginger, and nutmeg.' Yeah, I think I can smell all of them and might need to adjust MY pumpkin pie recipe to match!!! Just might need to look for this one comes the fall. Sharp star blade and this thick deliciously scented lather resulted in a 3 pass BBS. No touch up needed. I found it rather quiet in shaving, smooth and among the sharper type of blade. My facial hair seems to need a rather sharp blade to do XTG and ATG well. Alum had a light bite to it and dulled quickly. Nice blade overall. Will need to see how it progresses but based on today, this will be added to my list of good blades for me. If you love fall and pumpkin pie, definitely be on the look out for Stirling Pumpkin Spice comes this fall!!
It's on the way to Steve unless he's already got it. Should be there today. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk
May 26 - The end of the new to me Stirling Soaps Merkur 34C Sharp Star Platinum (Day 2) 23 mm AOS Pure Badger DIY PSO Stirling Gentleman Alum/Thayers/AOS PSB Today's soap was a sample from the pass around box. It is the last soap in my possession from Stirling that I have yet to try. Today rectified this! The posted scent is 'A warm and masculine blend of Tobacco, Vanilla, Amber, and Musk'. It was a rich and definitely masculine scent but for some reason I believe I am not a fan of tobacco scents and it did not thrill me. I found the scent good and certainly not offensive. It just wasn't a scent I love or might love. I have never smoked and never liked the smell of tobacco even though I grew up with lots of family members who did. It just wasn't a scent I enjoy. The lather was very cushiony and slick. Sharp Star was draggier today than yesterday, especially on the XTG and ATG passes. I needed 3.5 passes to get the BBS. Alum did sting a bit but quieted quickly. Blade must be showing some wear since today I felt I needed more of a buffing stroke on the last pass and touch ups. Blade , I feel still is a good blade but I think I just need sharper still to get more days out of it. I think it will be a upper echelon blade and will go in my preferred list. Let's see how day 3 goes... Have an enjoyable Memorial Day. Thank you to those who gave their lives in order to safeguard our freedom. Thank you to those who currently serve and are willing to give their lives as well.