Okay, review time! I'll work backwards until the beginning, starting with my trip to the beach over Easter.
Gear:
The Tech has become my travel razor of choice, and as I'd never used the blue Astra before I was keen to give it a run. When combined with the Duke (I haven't used anything else since I got it), I think this has made comparison pretty fair between the different creams and aftershaves that I've tried thus far. Without further ado...
eShave Almond
I like this cream, but it's yet another that I would never buy. For $36 per tub from MensBiz, I was hoping that it would perform on the level of the T&H and GFT creams. I wasn't disappointed. If I've learnt anything from the Traveling Box, it's that a lot of these higher end creams perform more or less the same. That's a YMMV statement if I ever saw one, but it's true for me. These creams all seem to fall in to the "jack of all trades, master of none" category. Many might argue that consistency across all areas is the mark of a quality product, and I wouldn't necessarily disagree. I have somewhat sensitive skin, so for me, moisturising and protection are my two main priorities.
The eShave created a very slick and glidey lather, which I found to help the blade slide smoothly across my skin. I've been getting a couple of ingrowns around my jawline, so the ability to cut cleanly across those areas without antagonising them was great. On the downside, however, I found it quite difficult to build the lather to the volume I've become accustomed too. That said, the usual solution of just adding more product was impossible as I used the last of the product. Obviously this isn't the fault of the cream, but an equivalent amount of cream with the T&H 1805 would have created a lot more lather I reckon, so I was missing some of the protection that I'm accustomed to. The subsequent lack of cushion and sparser coverage of lather contributed to a bit of the rawness I experienced post-shave. The scent is nice and unobtrusive, which works for me. I'm not big on strong scents, if I want to smell like something later then I'll use a cologne or EDT. To sum up, the eShave is a nice cream but I don't think it offers anything that I haven't liked better elsewhere.
To finish up after the eShave, I busted out the Ogallala Bay Rum.
There were a few of these in the box, and I won't lie, I can't see how two of them are different. There's the lime one, the plain bay rum, and a bay rum toner? I took the plain bay rum aftershave. I think.
It was good! Sometimes you just NEED a bit of burn, and I find myself craving that fiery face more and more these days. The Ogallala has a nice strong heat on the face and neck when applied, and I thought the alcohol and witch hazel in it did a great job of cleansing and tightening up my skin post-shave. The scent was really pleasantly balanced, quite 'fresh' and not heavy on the cloves like the Pinaud Bay Rum that I've been using. It's an "old school" style aftershave, so I wasn't expecting it to have much in the way of healing ingredients. I used the Nivea post-shave balm over the top of the Ogallala, but the pleasant bay rum scent persisted on my skin for several hours afterwards. It got the tick of approval from my mate's sister, so that's something too. Overall, a very nice product. I'll consider getting some to replace the Pinaud Bay Rum when it runs out.
Moving on again to my next shave, and using the same kit as above...the Geo F Trumper Rose.
Now, I've used this cream before but I wanted to give it another run so that I could compare it to both the TOBS and the T&H creams in a short space of time. Well, they're all close enough to being the same in my view. With that in mind, I'm going to talk about the Truefitt & Hill Trafalgar here too. These are both very easy lathering creams, and I think it's fair to say that they really allow you to choose how slick you want your lather to be. I found that if I just kept on adding water during my second and third passes, it kept on absorbing it and becoming slicker without thinning out. Likewise, the lather wasn't drying on my face for the first pass when it was thicker. This might be why these creams appeal so broadly, you can adjust them to your liking and then create identical lather every time. Two slight differences between the two:
1. The T&H Trafalgar seemed to provide slightly better protection on my face than the GFT Rose. Really nice cushion, much like the 1805. I made a reasonably slick lather, and had no problems with blade glide.
2. The GFT Rose is really nice for the face. Sometimes my face feels so good that I disregard my usual alum block pass, and this was one of them. If the moisturising is as good in their other creams, I might be very keen to get some of their coconut oil cream.
My accompaniment to the GFT Rose was the GFT Sandalwood Skin Food. I was expecting the Skin Food to be more of an oil, but it's really more like a balm or a gel. I used a tiny amount and got great coverage, which made me feel better about the price ($35/100ml). The sandalwood scent is prominent but not overpowering, and it lingers pleasantly for a few hours into the day. My skin was quite dry as I'd been at the beach, and the Skin Food did a great job of rehydrating that half of my face post-shave. The lower half of my face was quite noticeably softer and healthier than the top half that had only copped a bit of the Nivea balm. The Skin Food was also great at soothing a few raw patches from where I pushed a little hard. Not just refreshing the raw skin, but also removing the redness and encouraging it to heal very quickly. The Speick was good in the healing regard too, but the Skin Food is, in my opinion, another step up again.
A quick note on the Ogallala Bay Rum and Lime aftershave. I used this in combination with the T&H Trafalgar, and I actually liked it more than the plain Bay Rum A/S. The addition of the lime is subtle but there, it adds a really pleasant extra dimension to the normal bay rum scent. I had less burn on my face from this one than the plain, but still enough to wake me up a little. It left me with the same clean and tight feeling that I've come to expect from the old school aftershaves. I've committed to only have a maximum of two A/S at a time, but this is probably up the top of my list for when I need a new one.
That's all for me, really. Sorry to condense a bunch of reviews up into one post, I think I still have one review left in my notes so there's another one to come. I've also pinched enough Arko cream for one shave, so I'll post a review of that. Hopefully, my Arko soap in a tub will have arrived from Turkey by then, so I might do a shootout review between them both.
Thank you very much Mark for organising the box, it's been a great opportunity to try some stuff out and a bit of fun poking through it too. It's gone in the mail tonight I've been told, so Pethdogg, you can expect the package at the start of next week.
Gear:
- Gillette Tech
- Astra Superior Stainless
- Simpson Duke 2
The Tech has become my travel razor of choice, and as I'd never used the blue Astra before I was keen to give it a run. When combined with the Duke (I haven't used anything else since I got it), I think this has made comparison pretty fair between the different creams and aftershaves that I've tried thus far. Without further ado...
eShave Almond
I like this cream, but it's yet another that I would never buy. For $36 per tub from MensBiz, I was hoping that it would perform on the level of the T&H and GFT creams. I wasn't disappointed. If I've learnt anything from the Traveling Box, it's that a lot of these higher end creams perform more or less the same. That's a YMMV statement if I ever saw one, but it's true for me. These creams all seem to fall in to the "jack of all trades, master of none" category. Many might argue that consistency across all areas is the mark of a quality product, and I wouldn't necessarily disagree. I have somewhat sensitive skin, so for me, moisturising and protection are my two main priorities.
The eShave created a very slick and glidey lather, which I found to help the blade slide smoothly across my skin. I've been getting a couple of ingrowns around my jawline, so the ability to cut cleanly across those areas without antagonising them was great. On the downside, however, I found it quite difficult to build the lather to the volume I've become accustomed too. That said, the usual solution of just adding more product was impossible as I used the last of the product. Obviously this isn't the fault of the cream, but an equivalent amount of cream with the T&H 1805 would have created a lot more lather I reckon, so I was missing some of the protection that I'm accustomed to. The subsequent lack of cushion and sparser coverage of lather contributed to a bit of the rawness I experienced post-shave. The scent is nice and unobtrusive, which works for me. I'm not big on strong scents, if I want to smell like something later then I'll use a cologne or EDT. To sum up, the eShave is a nice cream but I don't think it offers anything that I haven't liked better elsewhere.
To finish up after the eShave, I busted out the Ogallala Bay Rum.
There were a few of these in the box, and I won't lie, I can't see how two of them are different. There's the lime one, the plain bay rum, and a bay rum toner? I took the plain bay rum aftershave. I think.
It was good! Sometimes you just NEED a bit of burn, and I find myself craving that fiery face more and more these days. The Ogallala has a nice strong heat on the face and neck when applied, and I thought the alcohol and witch hazel in it did a great job of cleansing and tightening up my skin post-shave. The scent was really pleasantly balanced, quite 'fresh' and not heavy on the cloves like the Pinaud Bay Rum that I've been using. It's an "old school" style aftershave, so I wasn't expecting it to have much in the way of healing ingredients. I used the Nivea post-shave balm over the top of the Ogallala, but the pleasant bay rum scent persisted on my skin for several hours afterwards. It got the tick of approval from my mate's sister, so that's something too. Overall, a very nice product. I'll consider getting some to replace the Pinaud Bay Rum when it runs out.
Moving on again to my next shave, and using the same kit as above...the Geo F Trumper Rose.
Now, I've used this cream before but I wanted to give it another run so that I could compare it to both the TOBS and the T&H creams in a short space of time. Well, they're all close enough to being the same in my view. With that in mind, I'm going to talk about the Truefitt & Hill Trafalgar here too. These are both very easy lathering creams, and I think it's fair to say that they really allow you to choose how slick you want your lather to be. I found that if I just kept on adding water during my second and third passes, it kept on absorbing it and becoming slicker without thinning out. Likewise, the lather wasn't drying on my face for the first pass when it was thicker. This might be why these creams appeal so broadly, you can adjust them to your liking and then create identical lather every time. Two slight differences between the two:
1. The T&H Trafalgar seemed to provide slightly better protection on my face than the GFT Rose. Really nice cushion, much like the 1805. I made a reasonably slick lather, and had no problems with blade glide.
2. The GFT Rose is really nice for the face. Sometimes my face feels so good that I disregard my usual alum block pass, and this was one of them. If the moisturising is as good in their other creams, I might be very keen to get some of their coconut oil cream.
My accompaniment to the GFT Rose was the GFT Sandalwood Skin Food. I was expecting the Skin Food to be more of an oil, but it's really more like a balm or a gel. I used a tiny amount and got great coverage, which made me feel better about the price ($35/100ml). The sandalwood scent is prominent but not overpowering, and it lingers pleasantly for a few hours into the day. My skin was quite dry as I'd been at the beach, and the Skin Food did a great job of rehydrating that half of my face post-shave. The lower half of my face was quite noticeably softer and healthier than the top half that had only copped a bit of the Nivea balm. The Skin Food was also great at soothing a few raw patches from where I pushed a little hard. Not just refreshing the raw skin, but also removing the redness and encouraging it to heal very quickly. The Speick was good in the healing regard too, but the Skin Food is, in my opinion, another step up again.
A quick note on the Ogallala Bay Rum and Lime aftershave. I used this in combination with the T&H Trafalgar, and I actually liked it more than the plain Bay Rum A/S. The addition of the lime is subtle but there, it adds a really pleasant extra dimension to the normal bay rum scent. I had less burn on my face from this one than the plain, but still enough to wake me up a little. It left me with the same clean and tight feeling that I've come to expect from the old school aftershaves. I've committed to only have a maximum of two A/S at a time, but this is probably up the top of my list for when I need a new one.
That's all for me, really. Sorry to condense a bunch of reviews up into one post, I think I still have one review left in my notes so there's another one to come. I've also pinched enough Arko cream for one shave, so I'll post a review of that. Hopefully, my Arko soap in a tub will have arrived from Turkey by then, so I might do a shootout review between them both.
Thank you very much Mark for organising the box, it's been a great opportunity to try some stuff out and a bit of fun poking through it too. It's gone in the mail tonight I've been told, so Pethdogg, you can expect the package at the start of next week.
and rang you but got caught up in meetings! Life so silly at the moment :blink:
. But I got there and whipped up some nice thick and slick lather. Grabbed the Tech with Astra SS and got to work. Not a lot of hair to remove just a light stubble which was made short work of. But the one thing I noticed was that it was not as slick as I had hoped. The P.160 was so slick I think the next shave was always going to fall short in comparison. But otherwise it was an excellent cream, thick, cushioning, and smelt fantastic. One weeper on my neck, which is most likely my fault and no fault of the cream. The blade was still "razor" sharp (forgive the pun) and cutting through hair like nobodies business. After three passes and some touch ups, I was walking away with a DFS. As close as the P.160 but needed a few more touch ups. 
mg: That's a stinger! I was not expecting that much sting. I admit I don't usually use bay rum, however when I got a shave at the barber for my Bro's wedding they used GFT bay rum and it did not sting that much. Any way the sting was short lived, but I definitely knew I had shaved. 
The smell was really good, not much clove if any, but a freshness about it with that classic bay rum base. It mingled a bit with the rose but that only made me enjoy it more. The scent lingered for quite a while, not overpowering but evident.
