Razor: DS Cosmetic DS-D8 w/ RazoRock Barberpole
Blade: Gillette 7 O’Clock Super Platinum Blacks
Brush: Yaqi 24mm Cashmere Synthetic
Soap: Stirling Soap Mountain Man
Other: Armaf Derby Club House Blanche
Top o’ the mornin to ya! Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Feeling the spirit today so I wanted to do a green themed shave. The easy choice would have been a Greed Irish Tweed scent but as luck would have it, I pretty much did that for yesterday’s shave. I thought to myself, what would make another green option for the day and the iconic green Stirling Soap tub instantly came to mind. Given the warm-ish weather we have been having, the fresh fragrance of Mountain Man was a pretty logical choice.
Mountain Man is Stirling’s homage to Creed Silver Mountain Water. It is described as having notes of bergamot, orange, green tea, black currant, galbanum, musk, sandalwood, and petitgrain. I’ve never smelled the actual Silver Mountain Water so I can’t say how accurate this is. What I can say is it is a really nice and fresh cologne fragrance. I get a creamy fresh and slightly aquatic vibe with a just touch of floral. It is a really versatile scent that I’d consider a good unisex option and perfect for this time of year. I’ve heard it described as inky and while I can see what people are getting at, I wouldn’t say that comes to mind. Scent strength on this particular soap is about a medium and stays that way once lathered and through the shave. This isn’t the type of fragrance that is going to stick around long after the shave, but having tried a few different Silver Mountain Water dupes, I’d say this is my favourite soap interpretation.
No matching post shave but I do have a fragrance to work with it. I was looking for something to fill out a fragbuy shopping cart and this cheapie was calling my name. Armaf is a dupe fragrance house and Derby Club House Blanche is their interpretation of Silver Mountain Water (well, one of, they have a couple). As I said, I can’t speak to the closeness to the original, but I can say this is a great match for the soap. The opening is a tad harsh (pretty common for Armaf I’m told) but once you get past that 15-20 seconds you are left with that same creamy fresh fragrance that Mountain Man was throwing off. Again, not a powerhouse long lasting fragrance but still decent and quite enjoyable. You probably won’t stop someone in their tracks but if you have someone close by they are quite likely to throw a compliment.
Quite a stellar shave today. All for now – J
