Razor: Merkur Progress
Blade: Gillette 7 O'clock Super Stainless (Green) (5th Shave)
Soap/Cream: Siliski Soaps - Toasted Almond
Brush: Stirling Synthetic
The Penultimate Aftershave: Humphrey's Lavender Witch Hazel
The Ultimate Aftershave: Figaro Monsieur
Good Stuff Up Front:
The first thing we almost always judge a soap by is the scent. What do we all do when presented with a new tub, puck, or sample of soap? We stick our nose in it. Toasted Almond is a really nice scent. A lot of us will associate the scent of an almond soap with that light almond fragrance of a good Italian soap. Nutty, but with that slight, almost cherry scent. The scent on Toasted Almond by Siliski soap is not quite like that. It still has that cherry like almond scent to it. But I would equate this more to Amaretto than to toasted almond. And yes...I know Amaretto is an almond liqueur...but it has a much sweeter aroma than what I would consider an almond scent. Either way I like it...and I like it a lot! The scent is very pronounced and not overpowering. This is also one of the only soaps I have ever tried, in which the scent stayed the same strength from first sniff out of the tub, all the way through my final rinse of the shave!
Okay...enough abut the scent. I think you get that I like it. I am going to try to speed this one up, as I realize I am running out of time! This was a really easy soap to lather. Minimal amounts of water will get you a nice thick lather. Little elbow grease required too. Add more water and this will give you a nice slick soap. The lather maintained a pretty good consistency throughout all phases of the shave and I didn't have to worry about dissipating lather.
The shave itself to be very nice indeed. I added a bit more water to the lather and was rewarded with a nice and super slick soap. Maybe not the slickest I have ever had...and certainly not like the Jerry Stark soap I tried earlier. But I think it is slicker than most soaps I have tried. Cushion and Protection are pretty top notch. I didn't have any issues (despite I probably should have used a new blade).
The residual slickness was really good...top tier for sure. And as with soaps that have really good residual slickness...the post shave feel was excellent. In fact! I had that really nice post shave feel throughout the work day! You know...that nice feeling your face has when you go to rub your chin because you are in deep thought and the get distracted by how good your skin feels? Yeah...that's the one. This soap has some of the best post shave feel I have experienced with a soap. So, this soap will obviously get a good grade from me.
Speaking of grades...let's get on with it. As I have stated before...I weigh a lot of my soaps by the type of post shave feel I get. That doesn't mean that I ignore the other aspects of the soap. After all...if you have a soap that can't perform but still gives you a good post shave feel...It's still not a great soap. So if I wasn't judging this soap with post shave feel in mind...I would likely put this Middle of Tier 1. But add in the post shave feel and this soap is amazing. Maybe not elite (not yet at least...I would have to shave with it a time or two before I am willing to make that statement), but pretty darn close. That's why I am giving this soap a:
Tier 1, Box 2
Like I said...it's not elite (yet), but it is pretty darn close!
Blade: Gillette 7 O'clock Super Stainless (Green) (5th Shave)
Soap/Cream: Siliski Soaps - Toasted Almond
Brush: Stirling Synthetic
The Penultimate Aftershave: Humphrey's Lavender Witch Hazel
The Ultimate Aftershave: Figaro Monsieur
Good Stuff Up Front:
- Scent - Amazing and one of the most consistent smelling soaps from out of the tub to the end of the shave.
- Lather-ability - Super easy to lather without a lot of work.
- Slickness - If you want this slick...you can definitely make it slick without compromising the consistency of the lather.
- Cushion/Protection/Glide - Very solid in the these three aspects.
- Residual Slickness - Very Good
- Post Shave Feel - Elite Post Shave Feel
- Final Grade - Tier 1 , Box 2
The first thing we almost always judge a soap by is the scent. What do we all do when presented with a new tub, puck, or sample of soap? We stick our nose in it. Toasted Almond is a really nice scent. A lot of us will associate the scent of an almond soap with that light almond fragrance of a good Italian soap. Nutty, but with that slight, almost cherry scent. The scent on Toasted Almond by Siliski soap is not quite like that. It still has that cherry like almond scent to it. But I would equate this more to Amaretto than to toasted almond. And yes...I know Amaretto is an almond liqueur...but it has a much sweeter aroma than what I would consider an almond scent. Either way I like it...and I like it a lot! The scent is very pronounced and not overpowering. This is also one of the only soaps I have ever tried, in which the scent stayed the same strength from first sniff out of the tub, all the way through my final rinse of the shave!
Okay...enough abut the scent. I think you get that I like it. I am going to try to speed this one up, as I realize I am running out of time! This was a really easy soap to lather. Minimal amounts of water will get you a nice thick lather. Little elbow grease required too. Add more water and this will give you a nice slick soap. The lather maintained a pretty good consistency throughout all phases of the shave and I didn't have to worry about dissipating lather.
The shave itself to be very nice indeed. I added a bit more water to the lather and was rewarded with a nice and super slick soap. Maybe not the slickest I have ever had...and certainly not like the Jerry Stark soap I tried earlier. But I think it is slicker than most soaps I have tried. Cushion and Protection are pretty top notch. I didn't have any issues (despite I probably should have used a new blade).
The residual slickness was really good...top tier for sure. And as with soaps that have really good residual slickness...the post shave feel was excellent. In fact! I had that really nice post shave feel throughout the work day! You know...that nice feeling your face has when you go to rub your chin because you are in deep thought and the get distracted by how good your skin feels? Yeah...that's the one. This soap has some of the best post shave feel I have experienced with a soap. So, this soap will obviously get a good grade from me.
Speaking of grades...let's get on with it. As I have stated before...I weigh a lot of my soaps by the type of post shave feel I get. That doesn't mean that I ignore the other aspects of the soap. After all...if you have a soap that can't perform but still gives you a good post shave feel...It's still not a great soap. So if I wasn't judging this soap with post shave feel in mind...I would likely put this Middle of Tier 1. But add in the post shave feel and this soap is amazing. Maybe not elite (not yet at least...I would have to shave with it a time or two before I am willing to make that statement), but pretty darn close. That's why I am giving this soap a:
Tier 1, Box 2
Like I said...it's not elite (yet), but it is pretty darn close!