Razor: Yaqi Mellon
Brush: Copper Hat Synthetic
Soap: Tallow + Steel West Indies
Aftershave: Tallow + Steel West Indies Splash
Up today…. Tallow + Steel West Indies. This set it the T+S take on a Bay Rum. It is described as “a warm citrus scent, tinged with ocean breeze and lightly spiced with the smells of the Caribbean – West Indies is the smell of endless sunny days where troubles are left far away“. Scent notes are Wild Orange, Amyris, Allspice, Coconut, Haitian Vetiver, Pepper, West Indies Bay.
Packaging on T+S is always top notch. Nice labels with solid artwork are great but my favourite touch is having scent note % markers so you have an idea what stronger notes may be. The fragrance on these is also complete essential oil based and the base is made from all organic ingredients. If those things are important to you, T+S is a line you should check out. This is the previous base which has undergone a slight change recently to remove a bit of scent that the base was imparting on the overall fragrance. I have products in both bases and I find the performance pretty much the same.
The performance on the soap is fantastic. Load and lather is very easy, it didnt take much to get a dense and glossy lather. Slickness (lathered and residual) are both great, and the post shave is really good. Cushion is great as well. You can’t go wrong with the T+S base. What I do find is that T+S has some pretty polarizing scents. This would probably be one of the less polarizing ones. You get the brightness of the citrus, the West Indies Bay giving that Bay Rum vibe all rounded out by the spice and earthy notes of vetiver, allspice and pepper. Off the puck the scent strength on this was just under medium but when lathered the strength changed and really jumped up. I find this with all T+S soaps, so don’t judge the scent off the puck.
The matching splash, to me, was a little more citrus forward. I actually preferred that over the spice and earth of the soap. Performance is fantastic. Witch hazel, water and aloe are the primary ingredients. No burn and this rich skin food left me feeling nice and hydrated. A great post shave to finish up.
Not my favourite scent, but it is hard to argue with the performance of this T+S line. If you are a Bay Rum fan, this different take could be a nice win for you.
