Imagine yourself in a saddlery. Imagine yourself in a BIG saddlery… … surrounded by freshly made harnesses, beautifully burnished saddles, leather straps, highly polished boots. The smell of cleanliness, the smell of manliness, the smell of Russian leather. Well – I was transformed to such a place today. Here is the story – I was contacted on Instagram by a gentlemen called Evgeny, from Chelyabinsk – this is IN Russia dudes.. he asked would I like to try a Russian soap called Fenomeno Cuir De Russie which translates as Phenomonon – Russian Leather. Now I know Russian Leather soaps and indeed I have one from another Artisan maker made in UK – but having a Russian leather soap, made IN Russia – how could I resist? I paid the price and Evgeny got the soap to me in less than 10 days. By the way if you want to contact Evgeny here he is: https://www.instagram.com/evgeny13doc/. Here is the soap: Now know that Chanel originated the Russian Leather fragrance in an aftershave. I have never had that frag but I looked up the notes for it – listed as: “Cuir de Russie is of “wild cavalcades, wafts of blond tobacco and the smell of boots tanned by birch bark, which the Russian soldiers would wear”. The scent contains frankincense, juniper wood, mandarin orange, bergamot, rose, jasmine and ylang-ylang.” I can not say that I smell all of them in this soap but it just shouts LEATHER to me. If you like Russian Leather soaps or indeed the aftershave then you NEED this. You simply need it. The soap lather readily and is super super slick. Quite thirsty but just superb and that Russian leather fragrance stays with you all day. I splashed a teeny bit of the rather mild D R Harris Bay Run to layer it up. The rest of my shave was using a Feather Kamisori shavette, Feather professional blade and my own travel brush “The Imp” with a synthetic knot – Artic Fox. Here are the rest of the shots from the shave including some lather porn!! Regards Steve Tinter, Alpha Shaving Sign up for Alpha!! Where Style Matters HERE -> Alpha!!
