Razor: Haward Safety Razor
Blade: Astra Green
Brush: Ever-Ready Two Band Badger
Soap: L&L Grooming Cuir et Épices
Aftershave: L&L Grooming Cuir et Épices
Other: Thirsty Badger lather bowl
A cool fall morning called for a dark fall scent. This particular set from Declaration Grooming (formerly L&L Grooming) was screaming my name. It has been a while since I last used it, pretty much a year ago.
Cuir et Épices (translated to Leather & Spices) is a perfect match for the fall. It comes as advertised, it is a manly dark leather scent with notes of tobacco flower, cedar, anise, oakmoss, and patchouli. No brightness here. It is a rich, dark, spice and earth scent. Scent strength is on the stronger side. I can see this as being polarizing for sure. If leather and patchouli aren’t your thing, skip this one.
The L&L base is fantastic. It is a bison tallow and lanolin base. It lathers fairly easily into a rich, creamy and low structure lather. It has a nice sheen to it. I was able to feed it plenty of water. The resulting lather had excellent slickness (lathered and residual) and a really nice post shave feel. I got a really smooth shave today.
I used the matching splash and I had forgotten this had menthol in it. It has a nice cooling kick, it felt fantastic. The menthol, however, crushed the initial scent for me. It took a little bit but once it dried down and the cooling left, I was left with a perfect matching scent to the soap. It carries well, 2 hours later and I can still pick up the scent.
A great fall Friday shave. Have a good one folks!
