Razor: Gillette Aristocrat
Blade: Wizamet
Brush: The Todoroki
Shave Cream: Ethos Grooming Blue Note
Aftershave: Ethos Grooming Blue Note
I actually had Blue Note a day before before the Sandalwood arrived, but held off because I wanted to have whiskers to test the sandalwood soap on lol. The scent for this shave cream was inspired by Maison Margiela's Jazz Club. I had a small decant of Jazz Club at one point, though I have no idea where it is now. It has been on my to-buy list for a while, but was just catapulted up to the top. I do love having a matching set of shave cream, aftershave, and frag.
I pretty much grab my razors on a whim when it's time to shave, so there are a lot of them that don't see much use. The Aristocrat falls into the rarely used camp, though I always enjoy shaving with it. Grabbed the Todoroki, popped the lid on the shave cream, and got to it. First off, I have shave soaps that are softer than this cream so loading the brush from the tub was not a problem. As with most Ethos products I've used, it was fairly thirsty but didn't require the fire hose to get it to where I wanted it. Scent strength was moderate and fantastic. It has been a while since I smelled Jazz Club, but I'd say this is pretty close. Warm and spicy with some citrus notes playing peekaboo, I'd curl up on the couch with this for a laid back evening of Korean drama binging. I generally test slickness with a straight razor, which I will definitely do with this cream, but based off of experience with my other creams while using a safety razor this is as slick as the best of them. Three easy passes left me with a BBS and no sting from the alum. Splashing on the AS gave me a slightly different experience, as once it hit the skin it actually felt a bit like a thin lotion. It was odd, since I'm pretty sure it is the same formulation as my other splashes from Ethos. Maybe there was a bit of the cream left on my skin and it reacted with that. Either way it felt great. I'm seriously considering 3017ing this tub, but only if I make sure to order a spare first. Don't want to run out, have it be out of stock, and have to wait to use it again.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!