Razor: Fatip Piccolo
Blade: Astra Green
Brush: Rubberset Cashmere Synthetic
Soap: Abbate Y La Mantia Isacco
Aftershave: Abbate Y La Mantia Isacco Splash
Today I figured was a good day to visit Italy. Both the software and the razor were from Italy. Both of these items were purchased solely based on looks. Fig and apple smelled delicious and the packaging is cool, so why not? The razor, well this looks nice but it isn’t actually what I ordered. I had placed an order online for the Piccolo special edition but this arrived instead, The seller was very apologetic and I have the proper razor on the way, so all is good.
The Abbate Y La Mantia is your typical soft Italian style shaving soap (or croap). Scent on this is on the lighter side of medium. As I mentioned earlier, the notes on this are fig and apple. This definitely has that green apple scent but it isn’t overly bright. The fruitiness of the fig rounds that out and softens any bite you would get. I enjoy the scent very much. While it isn’t what I would call a bright scent, it is a fresh fruit scent. I wish it was dialled up a touch in strength because it is very pleasant. The lather itself is OK. It loads and lathers easily into a larger volume and slightly airy lather. You have to be very careful not to push too much water or it will break into a foamy mess. When properly dialled in (I’ve used this now 5 or 6 times to get the kinks out) you will get a soap with decent slickness and adequate post shave. I found it easier to work with a synthetic vs a badger or boar and I found my best results occured when I would under-hydrate it while lathering and then paint in a bit of water at the end. Packaging on this was unreal as it came in a cardboard box wrapped in an Italian ribbon and a wax seal. The tin itself looks fantastic. And while I would say it is a decent set, this doesn’t really perform up to it’s price-point. You can definitely get more bang for your buck performance wise.
The Fatip razor gave a really nice shave. I’d say it is slightly on the aggressive side but I had no issues paired with an Astra Green (my blade of choice for new razors). For a small razor it has a nice weight and balance to it. The styling was excellent as well. This isn’t the razor I was hoping for but I can’t complain about the shave. I can’t wait for the Special Edition to arrive.
I finished off the with matching Isacco splash. This is an alcohol based splash with a touch of menthol. It has a nice skin feel with just the smallest hint of cooling. I appreciate the restraint on that as menthol has a tendency to kill the fragrance, which this did not. Scent on this is a perfect match for the soap and while it is a touch stronger it doesn’t have a tremendous amount of staying power. You’d have no issues using this on a day at the office, or in my case, a lazy Saturday off.
