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cmh737 Straight Venture Journal Continued

Wednesday's shave:

Back in town. And I did, in fact, take the MW Sandalwood with me on the road. My goodness, it totally digs the water up in New York, as the lathers were elite status all the way!

Today, however, I went with a different Mystic Water soap - "Almond Vanilla". The scent of this one is fantastic! It will be best for winter, but it's still good even now that it's summer. The Merkur Progress (w/Nacet) gave an outstanding shave!

Immediate post shave was the usual Sampson's unscented balm.

Finished up with a dousing of Guerlain Eau de Cologne du Coq. This is strictly an EdC for summer time as it's quite fleeting in terms of longevity - but the half hour that's it there is nothing short of wonderful! The most natural orange scented fragrance I've come across thus far.

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Thursday's shave, June 6th:

Today marks the 75th anniversary of D-Day. I wonder how many of our young folk (or not so young, for that matter) know what that day meant, or even know about it at all - sigh......

On a happier note, on to the shave.......

Here was the set-up:

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OUTSTANDING! What a shave! Perfect, I say. Absolutely marvelous!

Merkur Progress w/Persona Red that was perfect - check!
Tabac scent and performance that was perfect - check!
Vie Long horse brush perfectly generated uber slick lather - check!
Master's Bay Rum (my favorite bay rum a/s) + Paladin unscented a/s balm that was perfect - check!
Nicolai's New York Intense EdP that is perfect for this cloudy/rainy day - check!

I'm a happy camper right now (even though I'm "on call" today). What a shave! 😎
 
cmh737 said:
Today marks the 75th anniversary of D-Day. I wonder how many of our young folk (or not so young, for that matter) know what that day meant, or even know about it at all - sigh......
Click to expand...
How different the world could have been!
 
Monday's shave:

Back in town, and glad to be so. Man oh man, there's not a lot to do in downtown Bismark, ND. At least it wasn't winter. :cool:

Today's set-up is one that I had intended to go with a couple of weeks ago, but never got around to. But today was the day. This:

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Mike's Natural Soaps "Bergamot, Orange, Ylang-Ylang" is one of my favorites soaps - it's elite status all the way. And the scent? FLAT-OUT-AWESOME!!! I totally dig it! The Guerain Habit Rouge was an excellent match. BTW, speaking of Habit Rouge.....this bottle of EdT is the current formulation. But I also have a sample of a vintage formulation (EdT). I used them both today to compare. I'm happy to say that the current formulation is as good as the vintage, although there is some slight difference. The vintage is more citrus forward with a "sweeter" dry down and not much "powder"; whereas the current version, while still citrus forward, has a more powdery component. Longevity-wise, I'd say they're both about the same. I like both equally. If I were forced to make a choice, I'd probably lean vintage just due to the lesser powder note and richer citrus. Can't go wrong with either! It's a classic for good reason!

Oh yeh, the shave.....the Rudy Vey 2-band Manchurian whipped up an uber-slick lather for the Merkur 34c (w/Feather) to perform an effortless and very satisfying result. Perfect, actually!
 
SR Shave #662:

It's been too long - the "king" has returned! Yes, the "king of the den" made an appearance this morning, and it was magnificent. I'm talking, of course, about my all-time, A#1, top dog, favorite straight razor: the Wacker "Allround Blonde". I have not used a better, more perfect razor, than this one. It is impeccable in every aspect; dare I say, even sublime.

What a shave today!

Here was the set-up:

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The Thater 2-band whipped up a stellar, uber-slick lather from the Wholly Kaw Cypre Rose Concerto soap. Man oh man, this brush is incredible! And the soap, as you all know, I totally dig! An easy two passer that was immensely satisfying. The edge is holding up extremely well - not even close to needing a refresh yet.

Immediate post shave was some Thayer's Rose Petal Witch Hazel; then finished up with Kiehl's Original Musk Blend No. 1 EdT.

This Kiehl's musk is actually extremely good, at least to me, and very affordable. There are certainly different types of musk scents, with some being downright skanky (which I cannot even stand those!), but this is not one of them - this one is actually quite refined. It does not have any animalic accord to me (which is good, as I don't like animalic notes in fragrances); rather, this is the soapy, clean type of musk. It also has wonderful floral notes lurking. The "official" note breakdown (according to the Kiehl's website) is: Top Notes: Bergamot Nectar and Orange Blossom//Middel Notes: Rose, Lily, Ylang-Ylang and Neroli//Base Notes: Tonka Nut, White Patchouli and Musk. Yeh, that's what I get, with the rose being the one I notice the most. Bottom line, this is a clean, soapy, floral scent that is versatile and non-offensive in any way (as long as not over sprayed - very important). It's appropriate for pretty much any occasion (IMHO), again, not over applied. It's not a big projector, but isn't merely a skin scent either; it creates a nice personal space "bubble". I dig it.
 
Wednesday's shave:

Today felt like a "barbershop" kind of day, so went with the following:

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I totally dig the scent of TOBS "Mr. Taylor's". I'd have to say that this is, hands down, my favorite TOBS shaving cream. And the performance is actually very good for me, now that I've figured out how to best use shaving creams. The trick, for me, is to NOT lather this (or any shaving cream) like a shaving soap - meaning, it doesn't take much water at all. Leave it on the thicker side and that's when it's the slickest and offers the best protection. If one keeps adding water, as with a soap, trying to get that "soap slickness", it'll get too airy and the magic will be lost. Also, there's something about TOBS shaving creams that leave my ole mug feeling nice post shave. I dig it!

Immediate post shave was a re-lather with the TOBS, cold water rinse, then Sampson's unscented balm. Finished off with a fragrance from DUA, called, "Invasion of the Barbers" Extrait de Parfum. This is the first time I've used a fragrance from DUA. They offer clones of many niche fragrances and higher end designer fragrances. This particular one is a clone/representation of MDCI's "Invasion Barbare", and DUA has done an excellent job! I had sampled the MDCI before and really liked it, but not enough to justify the price they want, in that while it's an awesome barbershop fragrance, it's not unique. For just a 75ml bottle of the MDCI, it's $250. But the DUA 30ml is about $50. Like I mentioned, this is a classic "barbershop" scent, and it is absolutely wonderful. It's masculine all the way - no unisex on this one! And it's for the 30+ age group, IMHO. The scent has some of Eric's @Smattayu "pencil shavings", with some spice and creaminess. Fantastic! More for winter time, as it's quite strong. But we've got a cool spell here in the ATL, so am using it anyway; although I went light on the application. Now, how close did DUA get this to the original? They nailed it to about 99.9% the same! Actually, I'm hard pressed to tell a difference. And it actually has greater longevity than the MDCI. I've got a couple more DUA fragrances that I'll be using in the near future, so keep a lookout on my comments about them.

Later this afternoon I'll be heading to the Braves game. Hope it doesn't rain!
 
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