Razor: DS Cosmetic DS-D8 w/ RazoRock HALOED UFO
Blade: Gillette 7 O’Clock SharpEdge Yellows
Brush: That Darn Rob 26mm Brown Synthetic
Soap: Zingari Man The Explorer
Aftershave: Zingari Man The Explorer Balm
Other: Bvlgari Man Wood Essence
It is ****COLD**** here in the province of Saskatchewan. We have actually been a bit spoiled temperature-wise this winter but mother nature fired a big polar freeze our way just to remind us who is boss. In typical fashion we went from having the warmest January day on record for our city (+6℃, 43℉) to a low of -35℃ (-31℉) in a little over a week. And even though the weather has gotten frigid, the days are getting longer and I’m already starting to think about spring. I had that in mind when I pulled this scent today.
The Explorer is Zingari’s homage to Bvlgari Man Wood Essence. The scent on this is a wonderful woodsy cologne scent. I get the bright and sweet pop of citrus with a natural woodsiness and it dries down with just a bit of that resinous base. Strength on the soap is just a touch under a medium. This offering is in the Zingari Sego Tallow base with performs very well, elite by all metrics when you dial it in. I do find it is a bit tricky to lather, as sometime I struggle to get a proper brush load and the base is extremely thirsty. If you take the patience to learn the base you are rewarded with a truly awesome lather.
I do want to mention the razor today, the DS Cosmetic DS-D8. I was browsing Aliexpress a while back and I noticed DS Cosmetic added a few CNCed razor options. Intrigued I decided to pick a couple up. This particular one is in 316 stainless, has the scalloped top cap and a .68 blade gap. I am really enjoying this razor. Fit and finish on this is awesome and I love how it performs. It pairs up perfectly with this stainless RazoRock handle and it has a really nice balance and heft with that combo. The .68 is on the milder side of medium but is still efficient enough to not be a pain to use. For me, with this blade combo, it shaves like a dream. The only wish I has was for the posts to be on the top cap instead of the base plate as I find that makes an easier/safer blade loading combo. Baring that detail, I am 100% satisfied with this budget pickup. I also need to give big props to the Gillette Yellow blade here which has pretty much moved into my top spot for blades these days.
I finished off with the matching balm from Zingari. I almost never reach for balms and when I do I tend to go unscented. I find the scented balms don’t carry scent very long so unscented just makes more sense versatility wise. In this case I grabbed the balm as it was all that was available in matching at the time of purchase. Scent strength on this, like the soap, is also on the lighter side of medium. A bit modest for my preference but the performance is on point. The balm is fairly light (although I would prefer just a touch more so) and goes on super easily with perfect skin absorption. My skin is always left feeling top shelf after a Zingari balm, the extra hydration is perfect for this cold snap. Another nice thing with this particular offering is that this balm will work with a tonne of scents with no issues.
Since I didn’t have the splash for this I decided to get a small size of the OG fragrance. The Zingari homage really does it justice. I’d say the frag pops a bit more citrus and the dry down woodsy/resin base is a bit more prominent. The vetiver is also a bit more on the forefront. I am able to carry the scent a bit longer than a typical aftershave would but this scent still doesn’t perform great for me. I’d say I get a few hours of performance at most. As such this would work for me on office days and the scent style will pretty much work year round.
Absolutely fantastic shave today, my skin feels great. Now if this cold spell could snap I’d be a happy camper. All for now – J
