Catie's Bubbles - V
Ever-Ready 100T | Elite Razor Manchurian
Ever-Ready 1924 Shovelhead | Gem PTFE
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I fully anticipated Catie's Bubbles' "V" to smell like reptilian extraterrestrials, but alas, it turns out "V" is the Roman numeral thus commemorating their fifth anniversary in the business.
Catie's Bubbles is among my favorites, and has firmly maintained "top artisans" league status for me since the first time I used it approaching one year ago, now. V utilizes their luxury soap base. There's no need to belabor the performance of V, including the top-level slickness, protection, and post-shave it offers, because there are ultimately no strikes against it.
I purchased the full set of soap, splash, and eau de parfum, so my logic dictates that I convey my impressions of the EdP and then address how it translates to the soap. V opens with a bright, sharp, slightly sweet citrus that is an unambiguous grapefruit and to a lesser extent lemon. It's quickly flanked by a woodiness and gentle green botanic musk. This, in a subtle way, is reminiscent of their masterpiece, Confiant, but with a grapefruit lean as opposed to verbena or lemon. I estimate this stage sustains for a good hour or more. However, the descent was quite lengthy. The accord begins to take on some peppery and spicy attributes before they can clearly be defined. This "limbo", as it were, is interesting and subtle. With time, V gains even more complexity and depth becoming darker and more herbaceous and ultimately resinous, approaching syrupy. Finally, in an ever so insidious fashion, breaches that familiar smoky Haitian vetiver requisite to any Catie's Bubbles commemoration. The smoky vetiver is downplayed such that it maintains its elegance.
The lathered soap opens as a less descript citrus battle between something similar to lemon battling grapefruit. Ultimately grapefruit wins out. Halfway though the shave, the green notes actually remind me of freshly broken green fruit tree branches, starting with a camphor and impending medicinal note before rapidly being overtaken by green wood. Unlike the EdP, the soap doesn't give the accord time to burn off the citrus before fully introducing the more resinous and dark sweet notes. This is not a detraction, but rather an observation as to how the base hurriedly translates and mutes the heart fragrance.
I finished with the perfectly matching splash (formally denoted "Before and After Shave") which is difficult to evaluate performance-wise, since the preceding soap nourishes my skin more than adequately. I use the splash for the full experience and the refreshing feel of an alcohol-based aftershave. The fragrance is essentially a less potent iteration of the EdP devoid of any glaring conflict with the splash base itself.
This was a fragrant journey lasting a good 8 hours. It was apropos for a morning shave coinciding with a day that began with an unseasonal muggy 78°F and, as a cold front blew through, is approaching 50°F.
V is an artfully blended and crafted fragrance opening with an unassuming light citrus and ending with a dark resin seemingly telling a story from morning to night or perhaps Summer to Autumn. I'm a huge fan of Catie's Bubbles' Confiant, but I believe V may well have taken its place, or at least become it's colder counterpart.
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