May 3, 2026 (Mystic May Every Other Day)
• Brush: Semogue – 2000 (Boar)
• Razor: Eldrormr Industries – MM24
• Blade: Accuforge – GEM Microcoat
• Soap: Mystic Water – Rosalimone
• Aftershave: Talent Soap Factory – Fragrance Free Aftershave
• Balm: Stirling – Unscented Post Shave Balm
• Fragrance: Mystic Water – Rosalimone Perfume Oil
Michelle Burns, the charming and talented woman behind Mystic Water, spent time living in Sardinia, Italy and this has had a profound influence on many of the products that she creates. I see it in her respect for terroir and ingredients. I also see it in the confidence she has to simply let a single scent (or two) speak for itself. As our friend, @wyzeone, reflected yesterday in his wonderful review of her Lily of the Valley soap, she has the ability to create a focused and natural smelling soliflore (thank you, wyze, for teaching me that concept). She also has the ability to create scents that are redolent and evoke landscapes in Italy.
Just looking at her shave soaps, we can see it in Maestrale, which, she notes, “is the name of the bracing wind that brings fresh, clear weather to the island of Sardinia, where spike lavender, rosemary and peppermint grow wild.” She writes of her Poggio dei Pini: “This scent reminds me of hiking on the wooded hills behind my former home in Sardinia, Italy. Poggio means knoll or hill, Poggio dei Pini is literally ‘hill of pines’. It smells of pine and cypress trees, and the dry resinous underbrush of wild plants called the "macchia mediterranea" that grow everywhere, a masculine but subtle outdoors fragrance.” She even has a shave soap called Sardinian Honey, where she “used some of [her] private stash of honey from the Sardinian mountains in this delicately scented light brown soap (the color comes from the honey).”
I believe that Italy also inspired the shave soap I am using today: Rosalimone. She describes this as “a delicate, well balanced pairing of tart lemon peel essential oil and freshly cut roses.” This soap has been an absolute revelation for me. If you would have asked me as late as last year what rose smelled like, I might have thought of rosewater or rosewater Turkish delights. Perhaps I might have thought of a single, red rose. But, most of all, I would have thought of the Golden Girls and my grandmother’s cloying 1980s Rose scent. Rose to me wasn’t just a lady’s scent, it was an old lady’s scent.
Michelle changed all that with Rosalimone and a few other soaps she created (i.e., Earth Rose, Rose Garden, and Yellow Rose). I did not realize just how versatile rose can be as a scent. They are yellow roses, damask roses, and tea roses that have been tempered with other things like lemon or sandalwood.
In Rosalimone, the lemon is indeed tart. But, the rose scent is more than just floral and sweet. It is herbaceous, Earthy, and restrained. The scent is well-balanced and interplay between the two creates something that is exquisite. It almost conforms to what you are doing. It is cooling and bracing if the weather is warm and seems to elevate as it gets dark out. To be able to accomplish something this natural and complex with two scent notes is the work of a true artisan. I’ll be writing about some of the other rose scents as I use them. But, I’ll say this, if you’re after florals, particularly roses, Mystic Water is a great place to go. Her fragrance oils (the roll-on) you see are very potent and at about $9.00, represent some of the greatest value in the world of perfumery I have come across. I will say this often, but it is important. Michelle will do an aftershave of most any of her shaves for about $16.00 and a perfume oil for about $9.00. Just be sure to write to her to ask.
Have an awesome day, friends!
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