Razor: Gillette Fatboy on 4
Blade: Wilkinson Sword
Brush: Tournure de bois 24mm APShaveCo 2BED Synthetic
Soap: Ariana & Evans The Undersea
Aftershave: Ariana & Evans The Undersea
Other: Thirsty Badger lather bowl
I’m BACK….. from vacation that is. We took a little road trip to visit some family (we keep a small circle of folks we have opened up our family to in these covid times). Things didn’t go exactly as planned but we did get to see everyone we wanted. I was even able to have a little social distance visit with a couple of Winnipeg wet shavers, including Jonathan from Stonefield Shaving Co. Of course I picked up some new goodies from him, but before I left I had placed an A&E/Club order and as luck would have it, everything arrived just when I got home. The two sets I grabbed from A&E/Club were SoCal Hipster and The Undersea, both fantastic summer scent choices. Given I was itching to use my new Tournure de bois 24mm APShaveCo 2BED Synthetic brush, blue seemed to match the aquatic theme and Undersea we go.
This scent is a very nice departure from the typical bold, boozy and tobacco heavy lineup I currently have from A&E/Club. Scent notes on this are Calabrian bergamot, grapefruit, osmanthus, watercress, black pepper, honeysuckle, violet leaf, jasmine, marine notes, ambergris, white musk, amber, myrrh, Himalayan Cedar. To my nose, this is your typical aquatic with a nice bright fruity citrus up front. You are greeted with this wonderful grapefruit/bergamot punch over that cool aquatic ocean vibe. I really enjoyed it and it is a scent profile under-represented in my shave den. Scent strength is about a medium for me, perfect for the hot summer weather.
The base itself if in Kaizen (as are all the A&E/Club soap releases now) and I’m honestly still figuring this out. The soap loads super easily, too easily in fact. I really have to be mindful to not load like my typical soaps. It is also quite thirsty. You really need to push water into it. I still haven’t figured out that sweet spot and as such, cushion and post shave are excellent but slickness is still lacking a bit for me. Maybe I’ll switch back to my favourite brush for a few shaves to really figure it out. As for this brush, I’m still not sure of this APShaveCo 2BED knot. It looks gorgeous, the closest thing to a badger, but I find it a bit too much on the backbone and scrub and it has lost a lot of hair in the first few shaves, not typical of a synthetic. Hopefully it is just a bit of break in, as I really like the brush handle I paired it with.
The splash, not too much to report. This is the same fantastic performing splash that I’m used to from Peter. Scent is bang on the soap and feels great on the skin. Scent is also mid strong but I didn’t find it carried for a long time. You could easily dial this up by paring with an aquatic frag of your choice.
Pretty bang up shave today. All for now – J
