Razor: Haward Safety Razor
Blade: Gillette 7 O’Clock Super Platinum Blacks
Brush: APShaveCo 26mm Fine Tuxedo
Soap: Master Soap Creations Vintage Lapidus
Aftershave: Master Soap Creations Vintage Lapidus
Wow, it has been a hot minute since I last posted a shave of the day. Rest assured, I haven’t quit shaving, I just started a new day job and by the end of the day my head is ready to explode. Luckily I’m continuing to work from home so I can keep wearing stronger scents without worry of offending co-workers…. other than my wife. Luckily she seems to be on board with almost any of the scents I’ve tried.
So today I’m using a set from a new-to-me artisan Master Soap Creations. MSC is based out of South Africa and they recently were picked up by a couple of wet shaving companies I frequent. They have a good assortment of fragrances with several dupe options so I decided to give them a try. This Vintage Lapidus seemed up my alley as it is an homage to an 80s fragrance, Lapidus Pour Homme. I do like a good throwback every now and then and the 80s brought some good powerhouse fragrances. I’ve never tried this one in particular but being a barbershop style fragrance, I decided to give it a go.
The scent notes on this are top: pineapple, lavender, artemisia, juniper berries, lemon, bergamot heart: honey, incense, pine tree, rose, Brazilian rosewood, jasmine, caraway, orris root, lily-of-the-valley, and petitgrain base: tobacco, patchouli, oakmoss, amber, sandalwood, musk, tonka bean, and cedar. Yes, those 80s fragrances loved to throw everything but the kitchen sink at you. This definitely reads barbershop. This has that throwback 80s vibe but with a powdery talc-type punch. It reads warm, sweet and has a bit of green and pine to it. If you like those 80s style fragrances like a Drakkar Noir, this would be a big win. I’d say in that vein, it is like a less played-out barbershop version of a Drakkar Noir. I don’t know if I’d pick up the matching frag to smell like this for hours, but is awesome for the hour or so you smell it post-shave. I do enjoy Drakkar every now and then and this I would say is better.
The base on the soap is a fairly basic tallow/shea formula. It isn’t going to win any awards for performance. It lathers very easily and is a higher structure lather that will take a good amount of water. I’d say cushion, slickness and post-shave are about average. The matching splash is a basic witch hazel formula that smells really nice but also is about average performance for this type of post-shave base. Even so, it more than does the job and given the types of fragrance offerings they have, I could totally see adding more of them to the den. You don’t always need a steak, sometimes a great hamburger hits the spot.
No complaints with the shave today. Smooth and good to go. All for now – J
