SOTD by u/ginopono

2023-07-23 What's that smell?

• Brush: Yaqi Metal Timberwolf
• Razor: Gillette Travel Tech (J3: 1964) #JETSETTER
• Lather: Stirling Soap Co. - Oro Valley
• Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co. - Oro Valley
• Fragrance: Stirling Soap Co. - Oro Valley

Relevant Post-Shave and Fragrance: Trickhole.

What is that enchanting aroma?:
Wait, you guys are getting compliments?
I'm just going to make the excuse that I don't generally have a habit of getting close enough to people—wait, uh, close enough in physical proximity for them to get a whiff. Yeah, that's it. Not the other thing.
That said, I have presented my ridiculous soap-filled cabinet to a small few people who, after smelling a number of scents therein, request a re-sniff of Oro Valley, agreeing that it is indeed phenomenal.

#FOF
Oro Valley is a dupe of Tom Ford's Ombre Leather. Honestly, the main reason I bought this is because of the name (it's not the first time I bought a soap for this reason, and it was far from the last), plus the promise of jasmine seemed, well, promising. I assume that u/stirlingsoap chose the name because they wanted something to evoke the US southwest and isn't so close to Tuscan to cause confusion, plus Valley has an idyllic connotation to it. I couldn't help but want to find out what kind of scent Stirling would name after such a place. Once it hit my nostrils, I immediately got the whole set.
That was the direction of causality: I was curious because of the name, and after that I fell in love with the scent. Don't want anyone thinking I chose this for today just because of the place for which it's named (that part's just convenient).

I assume that the noses under which I've shoved this scent appreciate it for the same reasons that I do. My overall impression is that the leather is masculine and earthy without being too dark or rugged. Cardamom is quite prominent; it is close to being too much, but it mellows out after not too long. It seems to fill a transitional space between the leather and jasmine—so much so that I hesitate to say I can pick the jasmine out, but I believe it's there.

Side note: if you're following along (why would you?), you may recall that I had a couple other run-ins with cardamom earlier this month, at which point I was like, "I don't even know what this is!" I since just went and grabbed a jar of the cardamom spice and bam I know what it smells like. It seems obvious, but if you—like me—feel uncertain with a lot of scents, just find the thing in isolation and (if you can) compare it to scents that purport to contain that scent note. It came in super handy yesterday, when I was hesitant about the berry-ness of Spitfire, and then it was super-obvious that that scent is packed with juniper after I stuck a bunch of juniper berries up my nostrils.

Challenge Accepted

#photocontest
Photo: Scenery

I took a little trip to the soap's namesake.

There's still going to be an "outside" challenge eventually, isn't there? I was really hoping it was going to be today. We've finally started getting some rain, lowering our high to 107/42 today (during the past week, we hit 113/45 for a couple days). Obviously, I brought some drinking water—ahem, some drinking water. It turned out not being too bad, though; I left before the sun, and there was also generous cloud-cover.
(Edit: As I update this in the afternoon, now back at home, it's 110 with a "feels like" of 111 (like that matters). It's fucking death out there. Technically cooler than last week, though.)

I had no idea where I was going to go, but I noticed a sign for a state park. I thought that sounded promising, but I noped out of there after seeing signs about park fees and then a scary-looking ranger began to emerge from the ranger station. Nah, I'm sure he was a friendly chap, but I still left. I decided instead to go to the empty parking lot of a government subcontractor I briefly worked for a few years ago. I'm totally revealing too much information about myself now, but oh well.

It's too bad the depth of field in my phone's camera is limited, but watcha gonna do? I shaved there in the parking lot, eyeing a lone white van that also happened to be there for some reason, and that big bag of water came in quite handy.

[**2023-07-23 What's that smell?**](https://i.imgur.com/bquQsPv.jpg)

* **Brush:** Yaqi Metal Timberwolf
* **Razor:** Gillette Travel Tech (J3: 1964) #JETSETTER
* **Lather:** Stirling Soap Co. - Oro Valley
* **Post Shave:** Stirling Soap Co. - Oro Valley
* **Fragrance:** Stirling Soap Co. - Oro Valley

**Relevant Post-Shave and Fragrance:** Trickhole.

**What is that enchanting aroma?:**
[Wait, you guys are getting compliments?](https://youtu.be/no0qB8CVspY)
I'm just going to make the excuse that I don't generally have a habit of
getting close enough to people—wait, uh, close enough in physical proximity for
them to [get a whiff](https://i.imgur.com/9iIDfoP.gifv).
Yeah, that's it. Not the other thing.
That said, I *have* presented my ridiculous soap-filled cabinet to a small few
people who, after smelling a number of scents therein, request a re-sniff of
Oro Valley, agreeing that it is indeed phenomenal.

#FOF
Oro Valley is a dupe of Tom Ford's Ombre Leather. Honestly, the main reason I
bought this is because of the name (it's not the first time I bought a soap
for this reason, and it was far from the last), plus the promise of
jasmine seemed, well, promising.
I assume that u/stirlingsoap chose the name because they wanted something
to evoke the US southwest and isn't so close to *Tuscan* to cause confusion,
plus *Valley* has an idyllic connotation to it.
I couldn't help but want to find out what kind of scent Stirling would name
after such a place. Once it hit my nostrils, I immediately got the whole set.
That was the direction of causality: I was curious because of the name,
and after that I fell in love with the scent. Don't want anyone thinking I
chose this for today just because of the place for which it's named
(that part's just convenient).

I assume that the noses under which I've shoved this scent appreciate it for
the same reasons that I do. My overall impression is that the leather is
masculine and earthy without being too dark or rugged.
Cardamom is quite prominent; it is close to being too much, but it mellows out
after not too long. It seems to fill a transitional space between the leather
and jasmine—so much so that I hesitate to say I can pick the jasmine out, but I
believe it's there.

Side note: if you're following along (why would you?), you may recall that I
had a couple other run-ins with cardamom earlier this month, at which point I
was like, "I don't even know what this is!" I since just went and grabbed a
jar of the cardamom spice and *bam* I know what it smells like. It seems
obvious, but if you—like me—feel uncertain with a lot of scents, just find the
thing in isolation and (if you can) compare it to scents that purport to contain
that scent note. It came in super handy yesterday, when I was hesitant about the
berry-ness of Spitfire, and then it was super-obvious that that scent is
*packed* with juniper after I stuck a bunch of juniper berries up my nostrils.

**[Challenge](https://i.imgur.com/gCnJtym.jpg)
[Accepted](https://i.imgur.com/31RLnhc.jpg)**

#photocontest
**Photo:** Scenery

I took a little trip [to the soap's namesake.](https://i.imgur.com/K0XR336.png)


There's still going to be an "outside" challenge eventually, isn't there?
I was *really* hoping it was going to be today.
We've finally started getting some rain, lowering our high to 107/42 today
(during the past week, we hit 113/45 for a couple days).
Obviously, I brought some
[drinking water](https://i.imgur.com/MkWkP6X.jpg)—*ahem*,
[some drinking water.](https://i.imgur.com/rOTpdYv.mp4)
It turned out not being too bad, though; I left before the sun,
and there was also generous cloud-cover.
(Edit: As I update this in the afternoon, now back at home, it's
[110 with a "feels like" of 111](https://i.imgur.com/RROAUMG.png) (like that matters).
It's fucking death out there. Technically cooler than last week, though.)

I had no idea where I was going to go, but I noticed a sign for a state park.
I thought that sounded promising, but I noped out of there after seeing signs
about park fees and then a scary-looking ranger began to emerge from
[the ranger station.](https://i.imgur.com/nvVN6kD.png) Nah, I'm sure he was
a friendly chap, but I still left. I decided instead to go to the empty parking
lot of a government subcontractor I briefly worked for a few years ago. I'm
totally revealing too much information about myself now, but oh well.

It's too bad the depth of field in my phone's camera
[is limited,](https://i.imgur.com/DBAIWth.jpg) but watcha gonna do?
I shaved there [in the parking lot](https://i.imgur.com/stZtQMP.jpg),
eyeing a lone white van that also happened to be
there for some reason, and that big bag of water
[came in quite handy](https://i.imgur.com/ZxIUocf.jpg).