July 21, 2023- Fougere friday mania
- Brush: Böker – Synthetic
- Razor: Böker – King cutter
- Lather: Wholly Kaw – Fougere Mania
- Post Shave: Arinae & Evans – Amber Rose
- Fragrance: Versace – Dylan Blue
First, let us be thankful for a challenge that does not consists of creating crap lather and choose our own style.
#FOF
I do not understand Fougere. What do B&M Fern and Fougere Gothique have in common? And now Fougere Mania. My expectation was that this scent family would have something in common. It's ingredients, or direction of ingredients, for example tonka bean and vanilla might be interchangeable.
Maybe the direction they are going to is the same, but it's very difficult for me to find their common trait.
Huge edit: After dinner, I was rested and curiosity sparks in. It's easy to say, that I do not understand fougeres, but the way we play these games is a journey of discoveries. We measured temperature of water and it's amount, some shaved with ice water, tried new ways to lather, shaved with the non dominant hand and got hands on experience with unknown soft and hardware. Let's continue this spirit.
Google is out. Long live chatGPT.
ChatGPT describes fougeres as a Fragrance family with fresh or herbaceous top notes, floral and or spicy woody heart and earthy green base.
Interesting. But my chatgpt answer sparked new questions. What is the contrast to a Chypre(even more vague for me) and are there fragrances that break with the tradition of heat, heart and base notes for olfactory reasons?
To cut things short, a Chypre also has the three accords, some are similar to a fougere but take a different spot.
So, do fragrances exist that break with those three accords? Lazy me had an "ahh", of course" moment.
Gourmant scents, for example. They don't want to start with fruit loops and end with patchouli musk.
Soap:
As I was looking for Fougere samples on Maggards, I found Fougere Mania. The label spoke to me. It does not look that cool, rather spicy and oriental. Let’s give it a try, whoch brings me to my daily challenge:
I might have a stroke
Fougere mania smells just
like boonana soap
At first I thought that my brush or my mug is not clean, but I left the sample lid open during my hoemoffice and its really similar to Boonana. Is it the neroli, musk and tonka bean / vanilla combination? I am confused.
Wholly Kaw is rarely used in my den. The reason is that I got a sample of Cuero Oscuro, which is not an every day soap. The new coconut release looks promising though.
The lack of experience showed in the lather quality. It was good, but I am certain that it can be better.
Let’s review it in September. My shave left some closeness around the chin area.
Aftershave:
I expected the soap to be more floral, thats why I matched it with “Amber Rose”. As Fougere Mania is kind of sweet and amber rose, well, floral, this was not the best match.
There is not much to say about the aftershave scent. The name says everything you need to know. I like its post shave feel and its scent. It’s not grandma like, as rose scents can be.
Fragrance:
Versace Dylan blue is a woody fougere, although none of its classic fougere notes are present.
I get lots of bergamot with patchoulli and musk. Pretty unoffensive. Everyone can wear it, you won’t be wrong, but you will also never be right with it.
It stays very long on the skin though and after 11 hours I can still smell it on my wrist, where the scent reminds me sligtly of Fougere gothique. Whats left is a combination of grapefruit, incense and musk, made sweet with something else (most likely the labeled tonka bean).