Razor: ALE 9/8″ 1/2 hollow
Brush: Copper Hat Synthetic
Soap: The Club The Novelist
Aftershave: The Club The Novelist
Other: Styptic… yeah it was one of those shaves
I did something stupid. Today is a good reminder, slow down and enjoy the shave. I was a bit distracted and before I even started the shave I did a little juggle and caught myself with the straight razor…. on the arm. Crap. I’ll put it this way…. the ALE is hella sharp and has enough weight to do the work for you, the perfect combination for a nice clean gauge in the arm. A bit of styptic and a touch of super glue for good measure and I’m good to go. Guess I should have had a second cup of coffee this morning…. oh well…. on to the shave….
The Novelist is a recent waffle win. I had wanted this soap since I was given a sample a while ago. The scent is that good, an homage to Histoires de Parfum 1899. It features notes of Bergamot, Juniper, Black Pepper, Orange Blossom, Vanilla, Iris, Vetiver, Tobacco and Amber. Together this gives you a subtle spicy and slightly sweet cologne scent. This to my nose is Viktor & Rolf Spice Bomb with a touch more sweetness, a bit more subtlety and a little softer around the edges. I liked Spice Bomb when I had it but something about it just didn’t fit me. This scent just works for me.
Scent strength on this off the tub is on the stronger side of medium but not in your face like some of the A&E/Club offerings. While I usually love the robust offerings from Peter, today I really appreciated the touch of restraint here. I believe the base on this soap is a slightly older formulation. I still got a nice glossy lather but I’d say the lather was a little trickier to dial in and performed just a touch less than his latest formulation. No complaints though, this still performed like a champ.
I followed up with the matching splash, a perfect compliment to the soap. Scent strength is mid strong and carries enough to be present. This is soft enough that you could wear on a work day but has enough kick that your date will compliment you on it. If you really wanted to amp this up, you could get the Histoires de Parfum 1899 or Spice Bomb EDT to layer and elevate the scent even further. In fact…. I may just have to do that.
Two pass shave today, didn’t want to push it after the pre-shave drama. More than passable. Now I will go lick my wounds. Have a good one folks…. and stay safe out there :p
