DOOD.CA: Guy Stuff

Sandalwood is one of my favourite scents, bar none. I love the rich, woody scent and unlike other commons scents like Lime, for example, Sandalwood can vary so widely from one brand to another that they don’t even smell like remotely the same scent. My first experience with sandalwood was with sandalwood essential oils when I used to try mixing my own blends of scents. I always remembered the deep woody scent that had a hint of almost butter to it. Most companies blend their own fragrance and essential oils with sandalwood to achieve a more pleasant scent. I’ve broken down my analysis of various products of Sandalwood here for you.

I took a shot of some of my current Sandalwood products, but have also used others like Truefitt and Hill and Mystic Waters which I have given away because they didn’t agree with me. Here’s my take on Sandalwood… I have rated the scents based on a combination of strength and overall quality of scent.:

Art of Shaving Sandalwood
I have used both the Shaving Cream and the Eau de Toilette, and both have a very similar scent profile. Many refer to this as the gold standard for Sandalwood scents as it is true to the original Mysore Sandalwood and adds a little in terms of complimentary scents to round out the overall smell. It has a somewhat sweet smell to it, with what I want to call a fruity smell, almost like the smell of grapes. Overall a superb smell and the strength is quite good on the shaving cream. My review of the strength applies to the shaving cream and not the EdT.

Scent Quality: 10/10

Scent Strength: 7/10

Edwin Jagger Sandalwood
I use both the EJ Sandalwood shaving cream and the After Shave Balm. I have not tried the shaving soap, so I don’t know how it compares. The shaving cream has a very similar scent as the after shave balm, except perhaps the balm has a bit of a balmy smell as well in there. Not sure how to explain it. The Edwin Jagger Sandalwood scent is quite strong, perhaps slightly less strong than the AoS one, but still plenty fragrant that you enjoy the scent while shaving. It is also quite true to Sandalwood Essential Oil smell, but adds a tiny bit of complexity again to round out the scent. This is my favorite Sandalwood Scent.

Scent Quality: 10/10

Scent Strength: 7/10

Crabtree & Evelyn Sandalwood
I have both the Shaving Soap and the After Shave Balm, and while I enjoy the scent, its not an everyday scent for me. Its a bit strong and “perfumey” for lack of a better term. Has a strong “sting” to the scent on your nose when you inhale the soap deeply. Its a great lathering soap though and I quite enjoy it. The ASB is quite strong and can be smelled afterwards for a bit. Overall I can’t really detect much Sandalwood scent here, its a complex blend of spices with some woody base notes that might have some sandalwood hiding in there.

Scent Quality: 6/10

Scent Strength: 9/10

D.R. Harris Sandalwood
D.R. Harris only makes a Sandalwood Aftershave, but I’ve included it in this write-up because I know that if you’re like me, you’re going to want to know what this After Shave Splash/Lotion smells like! Its a pretty potent smell, and again, not predominantly Sandalwood in character. On drydown, there is perhaps a hint of it in the basenotes, but what hits you in the beginning is a blast of camphor, citrus and what I think might be patchouli.

Scent Quality: 7/10

Scent Strength: 10/10

Taylor of Old Bond’s Street Sandalwood
This is based on the cream and not the soap. I have not tried the soap, so it could have a very different smell though from what I understand it is similar. Tobs Sandalwood to me does not smell like sandalwood at all. It is a soapy smelling blast of perfumery, that might have some sandalwood in there somewhere, but not to my nose. All the other scents are much stronger and smells quite artificial to my nose. I do not like Tobs Sandalwood scent much at all, though the performance of the cream is quite good.

Scent Quality: 4/10

Scent Strength: 9/10

Mystic Waters Mysore Sandalwood
Mystic Waters makes some good shaving soaps, and this stuff performs well. However, the scent is actually very similar to the Taylor of Old Bond’s Street Sandalwood. I was expecting it to smell like the QCS Mysore Sandalwood because of the name, but it smells nothing like it. Another strong, blend of frangrances with an extremely artificial smell to it that doesn’t work for me. I prefer more natural smelling creams and soaps. Its quite strong and settles down a bit once you lather it up though.

Scent Quality: 3/10

Scent Strength: 9/10

Queen Charlotte Soaps Mysore Sandalwood
Probably the most natural and authentic Sandalwood Frangrance that I have ever smelled. This stuff smells like straight up Sandalwood EO, and nothing else. I’m not sure if QCS uses other oils in the blend, but I can’t smell it. Its not as strong as I’d like it to be, but its pure unadulterated Mysore Sandalwood. Its also priced quite a bit higher than their other fragrances, which tells me that there is a significant value of Sandalwood EO in this cream. Fantastic cream, very nice natural scent, just not strong enough.

Scent Quality: 9/10

Scent Strength: 2/10

Truefitt and Hill Sandalwood
This one is an interesting scent, and to my nose smells nothing like Sandalwood. It has some woody, musk sort of basenotes and some citrus at the top, and smells quite nice and modern even, but doesn’t really strike me as Sandalwood at all. Its a fantastic cream too, but I just didn’t like it enough to keep it.

Scent Quality: 7/10

Scent Strength: 6/10

Proraso Red Sandalwood
This is actually quite a natural smelling Sandalwood scent, and reminds me a bit of a very light version of the Art of Shaving scent. Its a fantastic performer and probably the best budget Sandalwood scent out there, in my opinion. I keep one of these around all the time and use it for travelling a lot as I don’t mind using it to fill up one of my GoToobs.

Scent Quality: 7/10

Scent Strength: 3/10

Hope you guys enjoyed my Sandalwood Shootout write-up, and can use it as a guide for finding your own favourite Sandalwood scent. Everyone’s tastes are different, and I’ve seen others write about a few of these scents with very different opinions, so just keep that in mind when you’re trying them out for yourself!

Joris is a luxury French shaving razor and brush maker, owned by another French Luxury brush maker – Plisson. Joris has different designs and also has a very desirable line of straight and DE safety razors that are among the nicest you can buy. Their meticulously crafted shaving brushes are also nothing to sneeze at, and show some incredible attention to detail and fantastic construction. I was able to snag a dying Joris brush on eBay for a decent price and decided it might be a candidate for a re-knot. I wish I took some photos of the brush before I took it apart, but I forgot!

Here’s the beautiful brush mounted with a 20mm TGN Finest Knot in a Fan configuration. I had a bit of a hard time deciding which knot to use because I knew that the way the collar was designed I wouldn’t be able to set the knot deeper to get a shorter loft. In retrospect, maybe a fan wasn’t the best choice but the TGN Super Silvertip was going to be a bit too floppy for me mounted this shallow.

The construction of these handles is incredible. They are actually screwed together with multiple piece construction, a much more costly way to make things. This does allow Joris to use different types of Cores as they offer handles in wood, stainless steel and other interesting materials as well. On my brush here, the caps that are gold plated appear to be Brass, while the middle piece is stainless steel. I was able to polish up the stainless steel and get a fantastic mirror finish again.

The knot is actually mounted in a collar, which is screwed down with a cap. The original knot was a slightly larger one, which I believe was placed into the collar which was then clamped onto the knot. Since the collar was already clamped into, I had to drill and chisel out the old knot and replace with a smaller one that would fit in the reduced section. I then slowly filled in the gap with clear epoxy to get the new TGN knot secured inside the collar.

After the epoxy dried, I was able to screw the color back into the three-piece base, and have a fantastic brush with an out-of-this-world Joris handle! I am really happy with the outcome of this particular project. The Joris handle probably cost me about $45 plus $20 for the knot, but I have a great new brush now that cost me a lot less than the $300 or so a Joris would have.

Here are the separate pieces of the Joris handle in case you’re interested in seeing the neat construction that these use. I’ve never seen a multi-piece brush like this that is screwed together and so intricately crafted. Reminds me a bit of a three-piece Watch construction. Hope you enjoyed the article!

D.R. Harris Arlington After Shave Splash
Product: After Shave Splash
Size: 100ml
Origin: Made in UK
Price: $33.00

D.R. Harris is one of the old English brands, established in 1790 and still around today. They’re style is a mix of apothecary and old time English style kind of similar to Penhaligon’s but much cheaper. Arlington is one of their most popular scents, and once I tried the shaving cream, I knew I had to buy the after shave too. I own the cream, after shave and the cologne – I would own the soap too if I didn’t already have two tubs of the cream! They also make a shower gel and some other body cleansing products.

D.R. Harris after shaves come in cool rectangular glass bottles, with great labels that feature D.R. Harris’ vintage style labeling. The bottles come in a thin cardboard box with a D.R. Harris label stuck onto it. They aren’t the most elaborate packaging out there, but I do like the style of the bottles and labels. They suit my tastes.

The scent is a citrus and fern type of combination, and in my opinion smells fantastic. Most people have commented that their wives and girlfriends like the scent, but oddly my wife does not at all. Its too bad because I love it and I wear it often. The fern scent is definitely the predominant scent that lingers, what I guess would be called the basenote.

The bottle has a plastic reducer, which is perfect for shaking out the product. I use about 3-4 shakes every time I use it, and its a good amount for me. The product is supposed to be used within 12 months of opening it, which is not easy when you have as many after shaves as me. I tend to only use splashes during the summer and hotter times of the year, because in the winter I need more moisturizing that a balm can provide. A 100ml bottle can last me 3 years! I’ve had lots of after shave splashes for several years, and they all seem okay, though the smell can change.

While splashes are not as moisturizing as balms, most of the better splashes out there don’t leave my skin feeling dry, even if they have alcohol in them like D.R. Harris does. This is due to the addition of Glycerin in it I believe. The menthol in this splash gives an extra bit of tingle and burn which is nice and refreshing in the summer particularly.

Here’s a shot of the ingredient list, which I have also typed out below. Overall this is a great after shave splash, with some moisturizing ability that also gives a nice refreshing feeling after application. I really love this splash and its definitely my go-to product during the hot days. Highly recommended.

Scent: 10/10

Moisturizing: 6/10

Performance: 9/10

Packaging: 8/10

Value: 6/10

Overall: 9/10

Ingredients:
Alcohol denat., Aqua, Glycerin, Parfum, Limonene, Cetrimonium chloride, Linalool, Menthol, Geraniol, Citronellol, Citral, Farnesol

Lavera Men Care After Shave Balm
Product: After Shave Balm
Size: 50ml
Origin: Made in Germany
Price: $20.00

I’m a strong believer in using natural products, especially when it comes to Shaving. There are a few brands out there that use primarily natural ingredients in their products, and that’s a good thing. Many luxury or specialty brands also use primarily natural ingredients as well, even though they aren’t marketed as such. While not all of these “natural” brands are good performers, Lavera does perform well with their After Shave Balm at least.

Lavera Men Care After Shave Balm comes in a small 50ml tube, which is packaged inside a cardboard box that includes the ingredients as well as an instruction sheet. Its nice packaging and I suppose is slightly better than just a Tube. The packaging states that the After Shave Balm contains horsetail, and oddly enough, the stuff does smell a bit like grass/weeds. Its not an off-putting smell, but its not anything that you’d want others to smell. Its a very mild scent though, so no worries there.

The balm is a bit more on the liquidy side, and is very moisturizing. In fact, this is my go-to cream when I have a bit of razor burn or my skin is acting up. It soothes and relieves my skin better than anything else I have ever used. Fantastic stuff. I always like to keep a tube around just for that reason. Really good stuff in the Winter especially, and only a small squirt really tames down the skin. As a soothing balm, this my personal favourite, and one I won’t ever do without. Highly recommended.

Scent: 6/10

Moisturizing: 10/10

Performance: 10/10

Packaging: 6/10

Value: 7/10

Overall: 9/10

Ingredients:
Water (aqua), Alcohol, Caprylic/capric triglyceride, Glycerin, Glycine soja (soyabean) oil*, Hydrogenated palm glycerides, Stearic acid, Simmondsia chinensis (jojoba) seed oil*, Prunus amygdalus dulcis (sweet almond oil)*, Hydrogenated lecithin, Tocopheryl acetate, Xanthan gum, Chondrus crispus, Lysolecthin, Sea sal “floer de sal” (maris sal), Hydrated silica, Equisetum arvensis extract*, Calendula offcinalis flower extract*, Hamamelis virginia (witch hazel) water* Enchinacea purpurea extract*, Aloe barbadensis leaf juice* Butyrospermum parkii (shea butter), Lecithin, Tocopherol, Brassica campestris (rapeseed) sterols, Ascorbyl palmitate, Fragrance (parfum)**, Citral** Eugenol**, Geraniol**, Limonene**, Linalool**
* ingredients from certified organic agriculture
** natural essential oils

Crabtree & Evelyn West Indian Limes After Shave Balm
Product: Aftershave Balm
Size: 100ml
Origin: Made in UK
Price: $32.00

I’m always walking past the Crabtree & Evelyn store in the mall and eyeing the Mens section, and occasionally I walk in there and give everything a sniff. I usually try and avoid going in unless I have some time to kill because the salespeople in there drive me a bit nuts. They make good stuff and the prices are pretty decent, except on the shaving brushes and hardware that seem to be made by other companies but cost more than them.

The West Indian Limes is my favourite mens scent that Crabtree & Evelyn makes, except that it has a notorious reputation for having a weak scent with the shaving products, and the cologne has a reputation for not lasting. Its really too bad because the scent is so amazing! The aftershave balm smells fantastic, and has an earthy, citrus-y smell that’s quite nice and masculine. It smells a lot like the other companion West Indian Limes products, and matches them well. It comes in a nice, solid box with embossed lettering and logos, and an amber glass bottle with a mini-pump like many other aftershave balms out there, generally very nice packaging.

The balm itself is a thicker than most balms I’ve used, but spreads on well. 1-2 pumps is usually good for me. The balm contains a lot of silicone lubricants in it that give my face a nice smooth feeling afterwards, but silicones are known to plug up pores and could cause breakouts for some skin types. The product is free of parabens which is nice. Generally though, I find that my skin does feel smoother with this after shave balm than most others, and I personally think its because of the silicones in it, since other C&E products with similar ingredients seem to work equally well. I don’t use this in the summer however because my skin likes after shave splashes better when its hot out.

Overall this is a really great product at a very good price. Most luxury after shave balms are priced quite close to this and aren’t quite as concentrated as the C&E product is, so the value is definately there. The scent is fantastic with what Crabtree and Evelyn calls “zesty lemon, orange flower and vetiver” among other complex blends of fragrance. While I do wish that this ASB had a longer lasting, and more potent scent, it is a nice calming after shave that smells just enough to make me smile and doesn’t interfere with any fragrance that I may choose to wear on that day.

Scent: 9/10

Moisturizing: 10/10

Performance: 9/10

Packaging: 9/10

Value: 7/10

Overall: 9/10

Ingredients:
Water (Aqua)(Eau). Cetearyl Alcohol. Dimethicone. Glycine Soja (Soybean) Oil. Fragrance (Parfum). Isohexadecane. Hydroxyethyl Urea. Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter. Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil. Citrus Aurantifolia (Lime) Fruit Extract. Vetiveria Zizanoides Extract. Zingiber Officinale (Ginger) Root Extract. Avena Sativa (Oat) Kernel Extract. Jojoba Esters. Glycerin. Squalane. Hydrogenated Cottonseed Oil. Ceteth-10 Phosphate. Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride. Dicetyl Phosphate. Dimethicone Crosspolymer. Hydroxyethyl Acrylate/Sodium Acryloyldimethyl Taurate Copolymer. Dimethiconol. Polysorbate 60. Hydroxyphenyl Propamidobenzoic Acid. Pentylene Glycol. Butylene Glycol. Propanediol. Sodium Hydroxide. Citric Acid. Disodium EDTA. Pentaerythrityl Tetra-di-t-butyl Hydroxyhydrocinnamate. Ascorbyl Palmitate. Tocopherol. Benzyl Salicylate. Limonene. Linalool. Hexyl Cinnamal. Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone. Eugenol. Citral. Hydroxycitronellal. Phenoxyethanol. Methylisothiazolinone. Potassium Sorbate. Sodium Benzoate.