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The wonderful excesses of acquisition disorders...and wet shaving
- Thread starter Dagwoodz
- Start date
Monday, 9 April, 2018
Ariana & Evans Grecian Horse | ERN Ator 5/8” Swayback
Currently on Shave #482 | Straight shave #289
Well, I couldn’t help myself. I had just enough stubble to justify shaving this morning, and IT was calling to me. I’m referencing the new addition to the den, Ariana & Evans Grecian Horse. So, I went over my initial impressions yesterday, with my first sniffs telling me it was their take on Endymion. This matches up with the name, as Endymion is famous in Greek mythology. (Titan goddess of the moon Selene fell in love with him while he slept, had Zeus grant a wish that he be granted eternal youth, and forever asleep). Endymion is also synonymous with the setting sun, from an etymology standpoint. I digress…
This is a very close interpretation of the Penhaligon fragrance. It also bears some resemblance to Davidoff’s Hot Water. Mix 3 parts Endymion with 1 part Hot Water and you get Grecian Horse. Enough about the scent, I know many of you were curious about the performance, if it matched the reviews given to it other places online. Rest assured, I went into this with a critical mind, more so than other soaps; I was protecting against any kind of confirmation bias that I may have had. It wouldn’t have mattered. This soap is right up there with the best in my den, actually outscoring Wholly Kaw’s Donkey Milk formula (just). When price, preference, and performance are taken into account, this soap is BY FAR the top soap in my den. It scored, out of 85 possible, 82. The closest to it is Wholly Kaw’s King of Oud at 78. Take price point out of the equation, and it’s still top. Out of 75 possible, it scored 74! Declaration Grooming’s Champs de Lavande was next at 72.5. Declaration Grooming is only slightly better from a pure performance standpoint, scoring 54.5/55, while this scored 54/55. High praise indeed. The lather consistency is very similar to DG and WK, a pasty, creamy, slick wonder-cream. The water tolerance is about as wide as you can get. Off of a 15 second load, I probably put close to 4 tbsp of water in and was still dipping the brush in for some additional moisture while face lathering. The only places I downgraded it were docking ½ a point on both slickness and moisturizing.
Price point is similar to Stirling, though to get access to these soaps you do have to pay a membership fee (2x a year), so it comes out to about $3.25 an oz., not taking the membership into account. Not bad considering WK is about $4.50 oz., with DG about the same.
So, the shave. I grabbed the ERN Ator, knowing that it’s well-honed and capable of giving a great shave. This morning was no exception. Three passes, with the ‘Jectah taking care of the trouble areas and clean-up. I got a little over-zealous on the neck, causing some redness and giving me some feedback from the alum. But, I am truly BBS all over. Chasing the baby indeed. The matching aftershave is quite nice. It reminds me of the SV aftershaves in consistency, maybe a bit thinner, but very, very close in face feel once applied. Even though alchohol is the top ingredient, there was very little bite. It paired so well with the Endymion, I couldn’t tell the aftershave from the EdT once applied.
Final notes on this soap…a truly worthwhile addition to the den. I’ll be getting at least one other soap from him, possibly two, partially to help defray the cost of the membership amongst different products, but mainly because they are just THAT good. I was honestly not expecting this soap base to exceed my expectations…it did so in spades.
After a long day at work, I held on anxiously waiting for the end of an auction I had bid in. I ended up winning the following:
It’s a brass Colonial Razors General, very lightly used. I almost sprung for the aluminum version, but wanted something with a little more weight behind it, as that is my primary complaint about the Hawk. Looking forward to getting this in. (pictures from the listing)
Have a great weekend everyone!
Ariana & Evans Grecian Horse | ERN Ator 5/8” Swayback
Currently on Shave #482 | Straight shave #289
Well, I couldn’t help myself. I had just enough stubble to justify shaving this morning, and IT was calling to me. I’m referencing the new addition to the den, Ariana & Evans Grecian Horse. So, I went over my initial impressions yesterday, with my first sniffs telling me it was their take on Endymion. This matches up with the name, as Endymion is famous in Greek mythology. (Titan goddess of the moon Selene fell in love with him while he slept, had Zeus grant a wish that he be granted eternal youth, and forever asleep). Endymion is also synonymous with the setting sun, from an etymology standpoint. I digress…
This is a very close interpretation of the Penhaligon fragrance. It also bears some resemblance to Davidoff’s Hot Water. Mix 3 parts Endymion with 1 part Hot Water and you get Grecian Horse. Enough about the scent, I know many of you were curious about the performance, if it matched the reviews given to it other places online. Rest assured, I went into this with a critical mind, more so than other soaps; I was protecting against any kind of confirmation bias that I may have had. It wouldn’t have mattered. This soap is right up there with the best in my den, actually outscoring Wholly Kaw’s Donkey Milk formula (just). When price, preference, and performance are taken into account, this soap is BY FAR the top soap in my den. It scored, out of 85 possible, 82. The closest to it is Wholly Kaw’s King of Oud at 78. Take price point out of the equation, and it’s still top. Out of 75 possible, it scored 74! Declaration Grooming’s Champs de Lavande was next at 72.5. Declaration Grooming is only slightly better from a pure performance standpoint, scoring 54.5/55, while this scored 54/55. High praise indeed. The lather consistency is very similar to DG and WK, a pasty, creamy, slick wonder-cream. The water tolerance is about as wide as you can get. Off of a 15 second load, I probably put close to 4 tbsp of water in and was still dipping the brush in for some additional moisture while face lathering. The only places I downgraded it were docking ½ a point on both slickness and moisturizing.
Price point is similar to Stirling, though to get access to these soaps you do have to pay a membership fee (2x a year), so it comes out to about $3.25 an oz., not taking the membership into account. Not bad considering WK is about $4.50 oz., with DG about the same.
So, the shave. I grabbed the ERN Ator, knowing that it’s well-honed and capable of giving a great shave. This morning was no exception. Three passes, with the ‘Jectah taking care of the trouble areas and clean-up. I got a little over-zealous on the neck, causing some redness and giving me some feedback from the alum. But, I am truly BBS all over. Chasing the baby indeed. The matching aftershave is quite nice. It reminds me of the SV aftershaves in consistency, maybe a bit thinner, but very, very close in face feel once applied. Even though alchohol is the top ingredient, there was very little bite. It paired so well with the Endymion, I couldn’t tell the aftershave from the EdT once applied.
Final notes on this soap…a truly worthwhile addition to the den. I’ll be getting at least one other soap from him, possibly two, partially to help defray the cost of the membership amongst different products, but mainly because they are just THAT good. I was honestly not expecting this soap base to exceed my expectations…it did so in spades.
After a long day at work, I held on anxiously waiting for the end of an auction I had bid in. I ended up winning the following:
It’s a brass Colonial Razors General, very lightly used. I almost sprung for the aluminum version, but wanted something with a little more weight behind it, as that is my primary complaint about the Hawk. Looking forward to getting this in. (pictures from the listing)
Have a great weekend everyone!
Cvargo said:
Don't quote me on this, but from listening to all of the Youtuber's talk, it seems like this is a soap base that he's making himself. That, I believe is what Ariana & Evans is...the soaps that Peter has been self producing. The other two soap lines on that site are produced by other people, however, and for the most part are vegan bases.
I just ordered the Grecian Horse soap and AS. If you order directly from the aegrooming.com website, there is no membership required.
Nice Shave and review Josh
Very nice review Josh.
So, no shave today, but I did get a mail call in from Groomatorium. (one of many packages to come in over the next week+)
Byrd Grooming Salty Cocounut Surf Spray
Razorock R400 synthetic
The hairspray I became interested in after reading how it can act as a nice, gentle hairspray or pre-treatment to other product. It's supposed to give incredible volume...we'll see.
Also, I've been hankering to get my hands on an RS400 for a while, but A) I am unwilling to pay what they are going for online, and B) I don't have the facilities to properly restore one and install a new knot.
This one is quite substantial, more so than I was expecting. I'm sure if I get a curly hair up my backside, I can drill out the current knot and install a badger or another type of synthetic in there. Quite a bargain for the price they are asking for it. It's heavy enough to use as a weapon!
Byrd Grooming Salty Cocounut Surf Spray
Razorock R400 synthetic
The hairspray I became interested in after reading how it can act as a nice, gentle hairspray or pre-treatment to other product. It's supposed to give incredible volume...we'll see.
Also, I've been hankering to get my hands on an RS400 for a while, but A) I am unwilling to pay what they are going for online, and B) I don't have the facilities to properly restore one and install a new knot.
This one is quite substantial, more so than I was expecting. I'm sure if I get a curly hair up my backside, I can drill out the current knot and install a badger or another type of synthetic in there. Quite a bargain for the price they are asking for it. It's heavy enough to use as a weapon!
