Items by blantyre

I've been using Al's creams for a while and find them to be excellent so when re-ordering I added a pack of Calabria balm. The balm comes in a dark plastic pack with a valve top. Quite easy to get a 1/2" shot which is about right. This balm is rich, thick and quite strongly scented. Like several of Al's products, the scent is very good and has echos of classics - Calabria has a definite Musgo Real grassiness, but there is also a strong citrus note in there - very pleasing and it lasts...

I bought a Semogue 2009 Limited Edition boar brush. After using 30+ badger brushes and only 2 boars (cheap non-names, one new, one that I got well-used) I decided that this would be a good brush to try out the potential of boar bristle. Brush #84 arrived in early Jan. 2010, inside a plastic sleeve wrapped in a cardboard tube. Not fancy but cost-effective and functional. A good looking brush with a turned and lightly varnished heavily grained wood handle and a large “2-band” fan-shaped...

I picked up a fairly decent condition 195 bottom dial a few months ago and have been using it in my rotation. This razor came on the scene about 2 years after the Fatboy was launched in ~1958. The razor I have has an F4, 1960 date code, the same and only year of the toggle. Even so, the 195 has the appearance of a prototype from a model shop – well finished but with the patina of a development part rather than a mass produced one. The fit and finish is not quite as good as a production...

I picked up a couple of 10 ml tubes of this in Target to try it out. It contains almond oil, lanolin and beeswax along with calendula and chamomile and rosemary. Seems to be all natural. Quite thick, very moisturizing and a bit sticky. It's probably not really sold as an AS since Weleda already make a balm as well. However, if you want heavy duty moisturizing with a mild scent, this is a good candidate. It only takes a pea-sized drop, so even these little travel size tubes will...

I bought a decant of Speick Balm a couple of months ago. Initially, I was unimpressed - it does not moisturize to an extraordinary degree (QED wins in this depertment IMO) and the scent is rather harsh, earthy with a slight sour acidty to it. Not unlike the wormwood topnotes in Eau de Quinine but no powdery sweetness to slake it. Speick has slowly won me over, partly for being what it is - unpretentious, straightforward, natural ingredients and effective as a mild aftershave. I...

Penhaligon's sums up this product on the packaging: "Endymion was a king, born rich, beautiful and strong. He sacrificed it all to pursue a lover he saw only in his dreams. Then he discovered that the woman from his dreams did exist, she was Phoebe, goddess of the moon. He was granted immortality on condition that he spent his life asleep and dreaming of her. He accepted." It sounds rather over the top but this quite expensive shaving cream is really hypnotic. Endymion cream only...

Got a decant, so my ratings for packaging and atomizer are not necessarily accurate. Scent is a rather one-dimensional leather note. Sweeter than Knize 10 and lacking the authoritative punch and complexity. However, it dries down to a nice steady low key leather scent that lasts about 6 hours. It's an inexpensive and decent quality product. Would make a good leather scent in a to flesh out a cologne collection without spending a small fortune and it isn't extreme in any way - could work in...

The last thing on my mind was acquiring another shaving brush. I logged onto B&B for a few minutes break from a writing project - there was a nicely-contoured PJ2 in super just up on B/S/T. With uncertainties about the future supply and quality of Simpsons, my reflexes took over and I bought it immediately (things move fast on B/S/T). I already have a PJ2 in best bought from Maitlands of Piccadilly in the 1980s. The best was my daily brush with Floris #89 soap for years. Post-shaving stuff...

Always a fan of Muelhens 4711 cologne in the warmer weather, I recently sprang for a bottle of the Roger and Gallet Jean Marie Farina Eau de Cologne. These two colognes have a common ancestry. It came in a very nice 200th anniversary (actually 2006) refillable atomizer bottle reminiscent of a Penhaligon's bottle. The cologne is quite different from 4711, more in the league of Acqu di Parma. It opens with a "citric blast" again similar to a Penhaligon's product -- Blenheim Bouquet. The...

I am doing this comparison partly because Plissons don't often get reviewed, partly because there has been a lot of discussion about bristle quality variation within a single brush type -- often associated with Simpson's super grade brushes. I don't mean the small differences that are inevitable in a natural/handmade product, but major ones that can completely change the character of a brush. I have two Plisson 12 HMW brushes. One was purchased from Atkinson's of Vancouver about a year ago...

This is an "earthy" version of vetiver, no floral notes to speak of here. It starts as it means to go on after a very brief opening as the carrier evaporates when there is a hint of sherry (probably from the alcohol), it goes into vetiver with woodsy undertones, a hint of cedar and mentol that seem to enhance the sweeter elements of the vetiver. To my nose, the scent hardly changes over time and it lasts about 6 hrs. This is an excellent cool weather choice. The packaging is attractive...

Imperial Limes from Anglia perfumery has a nice sharp lime scent with longevity as well. I was surprised that it is still noticable after 5 or 6 hours in warm weather. I found it a very nice shop in Berlin "The English Scent" (www.english-scent.de) run by a true enthusiast. Also recommend checking out ES if you are in Berlin.

I bought a Taylor model S41 in super at their London store. The handle is a chubby made of an attractive grained "faux ivory" about 50 mm long and 40 mm at its widest. The knot is a denselu packed 28 mm diameter that extends 55 mm above the handle. The brush works up a very smooth, dense fine lather from Floris elite hard soap. It has a large capacity for both water and lather. The bristles are stiff and have a decent softness making for a pleasant lathering experience. In about 70...