Razor: J.A. Henckels Friodur 72 6/8
Brush: Yaqi Silvertip Badger
Soap: Ariana & Evans Little Fictions
Aftershave: Ariana & Evans Little Fictions
Other: Thirsty Badger lather bowl
Another batch of new-to-me items hit the den this past week via free shipping Tuesday. The amount of items I turned over in my den already has me setup to post a bunch of different things. AS you might know, A&E has become one of my top soap bases so when I was able to pick up a few new A&E sets I pounced. This particular set is a collaboration with Grey Matters Parfums.
Little Fictions was born out of the love of Puerto Rico and the scents that the author picked up on there. Scent notes are coconut, cedar, bitter orange, bergamot, lavender, clary sage, juniper berries, white rum, white tea, lemon, amyris, musk, honey dew and ocean mist. The scent is very well rounded and it is tough to pick out individual notes. I do get the citrus and cedar for sure and I can pull out subtle notes of coconut and clary sage. Id say this shares some DNA with St. Barts (Creed Virgin Island Water) in some of the Caribbean flare, but this is much more refined and elevated. I did find this scent strength on the soap to be the lighter side of medium, and the splash around a medium. I tend to find scents in this family to always come across a bit lighter for me in general, so your mileage may vary. If you are looking for a good spring/summer cologne scent, this would be a good option. I also think this has enough going on that it will work just fine in the fall.
Having the day off today, I opted to use a straight I also picked up in trade. I wanted to see how different styles and shapes of razors would work for me as I continue to learn how to run a straight razor. This guy was smooth and comfortable, although I’m finding all my straights give me a bit of tug under the nose, where my whiskers run like copper wire. Anyone else experience this? After I finished 2 passes, I pulled out a DE that gives a lot of audible feedback. I did one pass to clean up and see how I did. Given the quietness of the razor, I could tell I had a very close and successful shave with the straight. I followed up with an alum pass and found only one spot (I skipped and bit myself a touch) that had a burn, the rest was smooth shaving. I take that as a success. I’m getting there 🙂
