Stirling will always be a mainstay in my den. It was one of the first soaps I ever tried, and will be last one remaining- should I ever be forced to pare down to one product. Even though I have other brands in my den, I typically reach for Stirling, due to the consistency I get from my shaves when using it. As someone who has now been wet shaving for a while, I value consistency over variety. I'd rather my face be smooth and nick/irritation free, than to try every new product that comes out.
Sharp Dressed Man is my top scent, but it took a while. At first it was just "oh, this is nice." Then, the more I used it, the more I liked it. Now I have to open the tin and smell it occasionally if I haven't used it in a while.
I'll probably pull out X-Man next. I'm already pairing my Stirling Gentleman sampler with my Rte 66 soap(Cavendish).
Used Stirling Gentleman in a shave last night and it is just FANTASTIC!! Maybe just a personal experience but the smell lingered quite a while on my face which I just loved. Question for the group: In your experience how long do the Stirling Aftershave scents linger? Do they linger longer than or shorter than the balms? I'm sure this depends on the scent to a degree but love to get some feedback. Along those same lines does the soap and/or lotion tend to remain with you for very long?
In my experience, the splashes far outlast the balms in terms of scent. That said, not all splashes linger the same amount of time. I can smell the Bay Rum, Sharp Dressed Man, and Ozark Mountain splashes in my morning shower the following day after applying them the previous morning. However, I don't get quite the same staying power for some of the others. None of the splashes I've used are "weak" in scent though.
The answer about soaps is similar to that about aftershaves. Longevity depends on the scent. The soaps are perfect IMO, your skin smells good, but someone would have to be close enough to sniff your skin to notice. The lotions I have tried are a little stronger, but settle down rather quickly.
Just got my latest sampler yesterday. Picked up 3 samples of Witch Hazel, and 8 samples of aftershave. So far, here's my record with Stirling Scents. Love -Sharp Dressed Man -Aventus -Mountain Man -Barbershop -Dunshire -Sandpiper Like -Vanilla Sandalwood -Tuscany -Nag Champa -British Leather Dislike -Piacenza -Arkadia -Ben Franklin -Bergamot Lavender -Texas On Fire -Bay Rum -Gatlinburg -Margaritas in the Arctic -Ozark Mountain -Vetiver
The bath soaps I've used have a bit of staying power, but in my experience, the shave soaps rinse very clean, leaving almost no smell.
Sandpiper is lookin good to be my choice for a full-size. I like Stirling Gentleman as a close second though.
I like that post. Mine would go something like: Love: (Scents I always want to have in one form or another.) -Gentleman -Piacenza -Electric Sheep -Scots Pine Sheep -Lemony Orange -Limes -Orange -Margaritas in the Arctic -Black Ice -Ozark Mountain (Soap only. Splash is too smoky) -Gin and Tonic -Sandalwood -Hot Apple Cider -Rosemary Mint -Iced Pineapple Like: (Like them, but probably won't replace when they are gone, or sampled and didn't buy full size.) -Autumn Glory -Lemon Chill -Curveball -Ben Franklin**** (Maybe goes to Love) -Green -Blu -Almond Cream**** (Maybe goes to Love) -Glastonbury -Grapefruit -Bergamot Lavender -Coconut Limes Could Take or Leave: -SDM -Executive Man -Mountain Man -Island Man -Wintergreen -Tuscany -Spice -Barbershop -Arkadia -Nag Champa -Padre Island -Frozen Tundra -Pharoah's Dreamscicle -Tea Tree -Vanilla Sandalwood Dislike: -Bay Rum -Gatlinburg -British Leather -Texas on Fire
I am preparing my next order of samples and am really curious about Sandpiper which you have listed as a love.....however, I got the Bergomot Lavender in my last order and definitely did not care for it. You also have that listed as a dislike; so my question is that the Sandpiper description lists both Bergomot and Lavender in it. Do you find those scents just arent real strong in the Sandpiper or does it somehow just blend better with other scents opposed to just the Lavender shave soap itself?
I've been trying for over a year to come up with some sort of correlation between my scent preferences (or distastes). Haven't been able to figure it out. In general, there are a few safe notes, but for the most part I've seen the same notes in scents I like and dislike. The only trend I can find is that I tend to like highly blended Cologne scents that aren't too earthy or too sweet. As for your specific question, Bergamot is in most of my favorite scents, and Lavender is in quite a few, but I still didn't like the Bergamot Lavender combo. Sandpiper is based on YSL L'Homme. Not a copy, but I like L'Homme, and I like Sandpiper, so must be fairly close.
I just tried SDM with today's shave. I have had it for a short while but had not tried it until now. I'm not sure about the scent. It wasn't unpleasant but it also didn't speak to me - it didn't say anything. Not sure if it will grow on me or not. Unlike Executive Man which I liked immediately and use often.
Use it for a week, set it aside for a week, then come back to it. It grew on me. I liked it at first, but I didn't love it. The more I used it, the less often I wanted to put it down. Before you know it I was sneaking away from the family every 10 minutes just to open it up and catch a whiff...
My Executive Man A.S. sampler had problems getting going this morning-kind of the exact opposite of a racehorse struggling to get into the gate-the A.S. struggled to get OUT of the bottle,. Hope it won't be like that for the rest of the bottle, but again, this was just the sampler.
