June 25th, 2025: tub kill run shave 2
Time to go cream. Theres quite a lot in the tub but it's easy to load heavy.
Forgot to log the first shave
Mm, creamy
June 25th, 2025: Christmas in June
Daily Theme: Thank you to u/Gaidin23 for this soap today. It was an entirely full sample of Desairology, and folks, this was given to me after SW closed up shop. I'd been interested in this scent when I got first into wetshaving and barbershop scents shortly after, but never followed through with picking it up. I am glad to have tried a sample of it because while it is an interesting take on a barbershop, I don't know if a full tub would have my name on it. It has the usual SW flair on it and I smell something dark and animalic in it, which is not necessarily a bad thing. I pair Tabac as a relevant post shave because it too has an animalic funk, but is balanced out by the soapy like Stank we all know and love.
Daily Challenge: Honestly, this might not be too out there, but Glace Herbe in the Premium Base would honestly be really cool. The Haitian Vetiver has the perfect blend of being simple, yet fairly complex as a standalone scent. Grassy, earthy, tinge of smokiness, and sweetness mixed in menthol would be a soap that I could use year around with no complaints at all. Another one would be CF Trade Winds in Prem base and hoping it would not give me frag burn because that is one of my favorite scents ever.
Theme justification: This generous smush is from @[email protected] , whom I can thank for experiencing the Macduffs base. I've since bought a set of their Trail Tobacco which I greatly enjoy. It was used in one of the first Buena Vista Wetshaving Social Club meetings, throught which I have discovered a few great new-to-me bases and artisans.
Relevant post or frag: Old Strathcona is a barbershop scent that plays into the fougère area, so I'm going with three scents that all play with being fougère. Following the soap, comes Baudelaire which is actually a fougère (+ Mousse de Saxe) but you kinda need to play tricks like combining it with a strong Mousse de Saxe scent to really feel the green come out. It's one of the most fascinating scents that way and fun to play with (look [here](https://reddit.com/r/Wetshaving/comments/1djbzxt/wednesday_lather_games_thursday_sotd_thread_jun/l9bj7qb/] and here for a fun little experiment). Finally, Fleur de France smells like the result of making a fougère but without any green notes. The geranium, coumarin and oakmoss feel like the base of a fougère, the citron also fits in there, but there's no lavender or vetiver. I initially struggled to categorise this scent and find pairings, but at one point two years ago when playing with Fougère Nemeta, Varen, and FdF, it clicked for me.
Wetshaving Wish List: Easy, u/C_bubbles, the people (mostly me) need Gruyère, a cheese-topped fougère in prem base, preferably in time for fondue season. You can even reuse the Blugère/Crangère artwork concept, making it yellow this time. A guaranteed success.
June 25th, 2025: Christmas in June
$discord
Theme: This was a smush from u/josiguuh, who is very much participating in the games. Thank you for sending me this soap and the 3d-printed razor. I appreciate having you around.
Challenge: If I could design a soap, I think I'd go for a straight strong anise. Think Stirling Black Ice without the menthol. I know that Stirling did an Anise soap, but I've never seen it for sale.
I just want my face to smell like black licorice, hopefully without frag burn or a ton of menthol.
$SELFCARE - Today I followed through and told my boss that I'm giving them two week's notice. I'm feeling a whole range of emotions about this, especially because I don't have anything else lined up yet, but I know that it's ultimately the right decision for my well-being.
$FOF - The soap doesn't really fit, but Proraso Red into Stirling Gentleman was an outstanding combination. The warm sandalwood from the splash played wonderfully with the tobacco, amber, and vanilla in Stirling Gentleman. An excellent combination to wind down with at the end of a long day.
$ROTY
June 25, 2025
2 passes. Face lather. Excellent shave.
I received this smush of Raconteur from u/_walden_. He sent it to me, and to others, for use in our May 21 Buena Vista Wetshaving Social Club (BVWSC) shave. The BVWSC has been a lot of fun and a great way for us all to share our soap collections. I really like the Raconteur fragrance. This would be a good one for someone to "reinvent".
As for a scent I'd like made (besides Raconteur). I'd like a "Boat Drinks" scent that captures my experience of that event. Stirling's Boat Drinks, while a very enjoyable scent, is a complete miss for me. I was almost born on a sailboat and have sailed, on and off, for most of my life. This has all been salt water sailing; either on the Chesapeake Bay or from ports along the east coast of the US. My memories of cocktails after the end of a long day sailing (boat drinks) contain a vastly different mix of scents than those captured in Stirling's effort.
$discord
June 25th, 2025: Xmas
Theme justification: This smush was given to me by BossHoggins10 in preparation for next month's Buena Vista Wetshaving Social Contest (BVWSC for short). The smush is big enough for at least 2 shaves, so I still have plenty left over for the 3rd Wednesday of July.
The BVWSC has been going on monthly for some time, but it gets skipped in June because of the Lather Games. It's held mainly on https://sub.wetshaving.social/, but most people crosspost to Reddit too. What is that place I just linked to? It's just another place to go and post your shave stuff, especially if you're a nerd. Reddit has started down a bad path over the past couple of years, so the Lemmy server is a place with 1) multiple mobile applications available, and 2) no ads.
Anyway, this soap is terrific. I've only smelled one other Rive Gauche dupe in my day, and it was different than this one. This one came across as more elegant, more spicy, more fancy. I've really enjoyed both of the dupes that I've smelled, so it's a mystery why I don't have something like this in my den. The soap base, too... wow. This was my first go with Darkwing and it was super easy to dial in. Super good looking lather, and very slick.
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