Saturday, April 19 Vintage Williams~~Morris & Forndran Ali Baba 2~~Cooper Monobilt~~Invictus Aqua (2016) Making headway on the Williams. The Sabini knot is stunning. Chose the Monobilt as an homage to @jtspartan Thinking about you, friend.
A week of variety. Second shave with Zingari Man and this soap needs to be loaded heavy, it is not a 'thirsty' soap. Good perormance and great stank. The C-Mon replica brush is a soap hog so it was a good match, finished it off with Classica by Sospiro. Today is a warm day so I picked Sterling Electric Sheep, there could be mosquitoes now that the weather is warming up. It is a bowl from @jtspartan, I picked before seeing Primo's post. The Paladin Keyhole had lather flying around the den but with the window open it kept the bugs out. The stank is a classic and one of my favorites, YSL Rive Gauche Pour Homme. I have couple extra 'cans' in storage. Both blades were made Koraat. On the left ias a 7/8 spash motif in half hollow. On the right is the 14 2.0, an 8/8 double bellied hollow. I have three razors from Koraat and he is always a pleasure to work with and produces excellent custom razors. When I ordered the 14 double bellied hollow he saw I commented online that I had a 8/8 full hollow that I loved but it had a major problem, it would flex when I shaved. He saw my post and promised this one will not flex. I hope everyone had an enjoyable Easter.
The week of variety continues: In the Old Spice mug is vintage Old Spice, best performing soap I have ever used. The scent is gone but the performance is not. A Brad Sears brush so I could mug lather and add in my bedazzled Ed Brice smiling razor. Just like jeans in the 80s this razor is bedazzeled but unfortunately the rubies did not catch the light for the picture. The stank du jour was Le Barbier de Tanger by MDCI. Despite it's cool name this dissapointes, smells good then poof, it is gone. Steam Punk was the variety of choice, good performance and enjoyable scent. Cobra Classic for a quick close shave and a Whipped Dog brush. The stank is a fun one, Mr. Blass from Bill Blass topped of with one of my fancy watches.
Wednesday, April 23 Vintage Williams~~Vie-Long~~Gillette New LC~~Paco Rabanne 1 Million Privé The Williams broke into about 15 pieces at the bottom of my bowl. I mashed them together as best I could and will see how many more shaves I can muster up. The 1 Million Privé is a lovely stank.
Still enjoying some variety. Decided to break into my tallow AoS stash, this one is Sandalwood scent, but it is very faint now. But the performance is what I remember, excellent. My Ambre Nuit is getting low, not sure how I can replace this one given the international shipping restrictions To support our Korean vendor I purcahsed this tub of Tabula Raza Dezember. I will have another go at this before pronouncing my judgment. I finally got the edge right on this 7/8 Art Razor. The Pour Monsieur is now empty, another stank 86'ed. I did buy a replacement this week as I enjoy it in the summer.
Saturday, April 26 Vintage Williams~~Wald S1~~Gillette New LC/Wizamet Iridium Super~~Louis Vuitton Pur Oud Reaching the end of this 3017. Always great lathers from the highly-mentholated tallow Williams. The Pur Oud is sublime.
A week a variety but I had to go back and use the tallow AoS soap again. What a pleasure to shave with. The steel is a George Wostenholme with some cool shoes. Duble Duck homage brush to keep with steel's traditional theme. A modern Le Labo Santal 33 stank for this spring day and to enhance the minimal sandalwood scent of the soap. For the watch afficiandos todays ticker is a H2O Green Ocean (but the dial is blue starburst), saphire bezel with a Swiss movement and mokume gane case. Honestly I do not know mokume gane is but like some modern straight razor makers the watch maker likes using fancy metals for his case. The watchmaker is German and loves lume, this is the best lume of all my watches, there is even lume on the back of the watch .
Sunday, April 27 Ariana & Evans Agarwood~~Rubberset 400/3~~Feather AS-D2/Wizamet Iridium Super~~Tom Ford Oud Wood Took a chance on this shave cream and seeing it was only $15, pulled the trigger. Almost a complete dupe of the Tom Ford. Fantastic lather and that scent...wowsers! It's a winner.
Nice to know A&E has Agarwood soap. I already have two Agar soaps(both of the Stoylin persuasion), but is a third possible? We shall see.
Monday, April 28 Macduffs Prairie Rumrunner~~Semogue 2012 SE Mistura~~Feather AS-D2~~Dominica Bay Rum Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words...
Hello everyone. I am just checking in. The first third of this year has been rough. My mom broke her ankle which has required a lot of effort on my part to get the therapy needed to transition her back to assisted living. In the end, she seems to have given up on walking with a walker in favor of using a wheelchair full-time. I am not too happy about that but in the end it her choice. On the shaving front, I am down to shaving 3 times a week at best. I am still working on the Fine Italian Citrus shave soap. I hope everyone is doing well. I will check back in as time allows.