Saturday, April 25, 2015

Review: Top Shelf Subscription Box

Founder: Garry Johnson

Subscription boxes are everywhere these days from toys to clothes. In the wet shaving community we have more then our share with Luxury Barber Box, Select Shave and Wet Shave Club to name a few. I had the opportunity to review a new Wet Shaving Box called Top Shelf.  


When I opened the box I was confused at first and disappointed in how it looked but I’ll touch on this later. I started to unwrap everything and began reading the contents page that came with the box. Right away I knew two things I didn’t know before and maybe would have never known. You see Garry included an Original Art of Shaving Sandalwood full size puck in his box. I didn’t know this but that the formula is about to change by taking out the tallow. The included puck is of the org formula so for me this was worth the $20.00. Made me think maybe I should order another. More insider information was given regarding the reformulation of the included vintage cologne again outstanding insider information. Garry would continue to give his own personal take on each item along with any important news.

Saturday, April 18, 2015

Review - Custom Fat Boy Razor

Company: Tiki Bar Soap
Product: Custom Fat Boy Razor

 When I come home from work and before going into the house I have a habit of looking inside the mailbox, most of the time its just bills but on this day I received a package from Tiki Bar Soap.  As soon as I got inside I open the parcel to see a wonderfully wrapped red with white polka dotted box. (See Picture) When my wife saw this she yelled out so, what did you get me? I explained to her this was something for me. YEA right she said. To ease her mind I held the box up so she could see it. I said it’s a Custom Fat Boy. Oh I already have one of those she said.  Very funny I replied.

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Review - Citrus Mint Blaster Shaving Soap

Review
Company: Tiki Bar Soap, LLC.
Product: Citrus Mint Blaster
Founder: Amanda
Amazing Shave !

Packaging: 
Citrus Mint Blaster comes in a dark plastic tub with a screw on lid. The label on top is coated to protect it from pealing or damage. I had a hard time with the label the white type is almost impossible to read. Like Amanda I also love things Tiki and really like the company logo it would make a great t-shirt. I’m not sure if what I received was new or old packaging. I ordered mine from Maggards and the image of the product was a tin. But what I received was totally different. After checking the website it does say what is pictured is going to be a tub not a tin. I know its what on the inside that counts but confusing none the less. By the way the label on the tin looks easer to read then the tub.

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Review - Super Smooth English Lavender

Review
Company: Wickham Soap Company
Product: Super Smooth English Lavender 
Wakeup With English Lavender 

I’m going to talk about a soap I purchased back when I started Wet Shaving. I had no idea what I liked so I randomly just picked a few items on a website and waiting for the mail to arrive. When everything came in I looked at the Wickham soap and set it to the side. The reason for this had to be the packaging. Mine came in a flimsy white plastic tub with a yellow lid. I thought let me wait on this one for a while. That was over a year ago and many mail calls later.  

Despite the packaging the soap is rather unique. Two years of research and extensive testing went into bringing this product to market. The soap is extremely soft almost jelly like to the touch. When you open the lid the lavender jumps right out and hits you square in the face and doesn’t stop. I’m not sure if all the soaps from Wickham are strong like this but you really have to love lavender. I would give this a 9 out of 10 on the scent scale but moves to 10 when you’re lathering. The Notes: Traditional floral, herbaceous base with a hint of peppermint added for coolness and freshness from sweet top notes

Monday, April 6, 2015

Review - Seattle Sundries Shaving Soap

Company: Seattle Sundries
Product: Shaving Soap
Founder: Anne
Location: Seattle Washington
Trifecta of Bad

I first emailed Anne when I was ordering from her website, She was going on vacation and told me she would select all the shaving soaps for me and one hand soap I wanted. We had a good conversation on email and you can tell she’s a good-natured person. That's why it pains me to say this but I didn’t like her shaving soaps at all.

Packaging:
The shaving soaps come in a small tin 2.5oz 1”deep with a screw on lid. The opening is small but could be used to lather but for me I would suggest a mug or scuttle. The labels are made of paper with no coating to protect them from water. During my use with all 3 tins two of the labels became stuck to the puck causing them to peal off. Maybe I didn’t wait long enough until the puck was fully dry before putting them back. I do think more care should have been taken regarding the labels; maybe a plastic coating would have minimized the water issues from ever happened.



Scent:
Old School Shaving Soap was my favorite scent of all three. I will descript the notes on this as a very bright sweet almond. It was real pleasing and I could see myself using this often. On the scent scale I would put this on or about 4 out of 10.

Lather/Slickness/Glide:
Here is where this soap failed for me. I wanted this soap to work I really did. I tried many times to get a lather that would last. I even went to the website and followed the instructions exactly to the letter explained by the sharpologist. Nothing that I was doing was helping me create a lather that would last more then 1 min. I tried face, hand and bowl lathering. I tried more water less water I even bloomed the puck. As soon as I would apply the lather to my face it would slowly disappeared to a transparent state.

Conclusion:
I’m now using all three tins as hands soap because that’s what they seem to perform well as. I can’t really recommend them. All three performed exactly the same way. Today we have many artisan shaving soaps to choose from that can offer quality results. To step in this arena you have to play with some big contenders. Your product has to be at that level and for me Seattle Sundries shaving soap is not.

Price
$9.50 2.5oz

Saturday, April 4, 2015

Review - Gondolier (Vegan Shaving Soap)


Review
Company: Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements, Casa Grande, AZ 85122
Partners: Douglas Smythe (AKA)
Product: Gondolier (Vegan Shaving Soap)
A person who propels and steers a gondola

It’s hard to tell how a fragrance will be from the name sometimes. That was the case for me with Gondolier. PAA took time in developing a soap that not only performs extremely well but “Oh My God” this stuff smells fantastic. This soap is now one of my favorites in my den.

Condolier comes in two sizes 8oz and 3.5oz; my experience is with the 3.5oz. This tin has no screw on lid but it does have the elastic strip that wraps around the outside to seal and keep the lid on tight. The opening of the tin is more than ample to lather with a brush.