June 3, 2024 - Where's the Beef?
- Brush: Brad Sears Gonzo Handle Manchurian Fan 24 mm #SHD
- Razor: GEM 1912 #TWINS
- Blade: GEM PTFE (14)
- Lather: Grooming Dept - Mallard Corretto
- Alum: Osma
- Post Shave: House of Mammoth - Embrace
- Fragrance: Maher Olfactive - Treachery
Challenge: I won’t be rubbing a styptic pencil and cracking black pepper on my face this year. I’ve been converted. In ~4 years of wetshaving I’d never used alum. In September I decided it was time to see what the hype was about. I included Osma in a Maggard’s order. I’ve used it after pretty much every shave since. I haven’t included it in my lather games posts because I don’t want the bot picking it up. Hopefully labeling it “Alum” will avoid that.
I love coffee. I drink a cup of black coffee made from good locally roasted beans almost every day. Mallard Corretto is tailored for a different kind of coffee drinker. It's very sweet. The combination of brandy and honey smells similar to caramel. There a big note of vanilla, and a bit of cocoa. If you like sweet fragrances, this smells nice. It's enjoyable for the duration of a shave. But, that's all I can take.
This soap utilizes a duck fat base. It's not the easiest soap to use. The consistency is that of room temperature butter. It's tricky to load as it likes to stick to my scooping stick, my fingers, and itself. I had little globules of soap in my brush that had to be worked out by working the brush on my face. It took a good bit of soap to get a lather going. Thankfully, it's not particularly thirsty. The end result was good. The lather had a nice consistency, resembling face cream. Primary slickness was good. Secondary slickness was lacking.
I picked Embrace to go with the coffee theme of Mallard Corretto. The fragrance in House of Mammoth’s balms tends to be a bit muddled. Embrace is warm and friendly. The notes blend together well. Nothing really sticks out more prominently than the others. I smell notes of fruity berries, cardamom, a sharper spice note, and a general green woodyness. It’s an inviting fragrance that I could sit with for a while. I wish this came in a candle.
The cocoa and vanilla sweetness of Mallard Corretto lead me to the most decadent fragrance in my den, Treachery. I love the bold boozy whiskey note in this that walks up and jumps on you like a poorly trained dog. It's chocolatey with an accompanying bitterness. After dry down the tobacco spice creeps up on you (or was it standing there the whole time?). There's also a warm spice that smells like cinnamon. This is a fragrance you wear when you want people to take notice. It also makes me want to smoke a cigar.
#photocontest - an onion, because it’s OnionMiOSMA day.
#FOF