PAA - Dirt

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658
I bought this from @beardybrewer a few weeks back (BTW, many thanks for throwing in the extra goodies, @beardybrewer . Very kind).

I just have to review it, because it is the weirdest shaving soap I have ever experienced.

It's deep fougere. Well, that's one way of describing it. Fougere has a range of descriptions, which tend to be about moss, ferns and forests. Here's the wiki description:

"top-notes are sweet, with the scent of lavender flowers; as the more volatile components evaporate, the scents of oakmoss, derived from a species of lichen and described as woody, sharp and slightly sweet, and coumarin, similar to the scent of new-mown hay, become noticeable. Aromatic fougère, a derivative of this class, contains additional notes of herbs, spice and/or wood.[2]"

But as the name suggests, PAA Dirt smells like dirt. No joke, open up the tin and it smells like dirt. Full on dirt smell. Not hints of dirt, or a bit like dirt. 100% dirt.

I found it disgusting. Really off putting. But, apparently the performance is good, and I had paid good money for it, so I gave it a whirl.

Here's the surprising thing. As I loaded the brush, lathered my face, and kept adding a little more water, the smell changed. Not rapidly, but slowly. By the time I was on my second pass, it smelt much more like a stroll in a forest. There's no sweetness whatsoever, but it became really quite pleasant, but incredibly different to how it smelt in the tin. Shaves very nicely as well.

To an extent, it's a party trick. of a soap. But it's amazing to experience.
 
I bought this from @beardybrewer a few weeks back (BTW, many thanks for throwing in the extra goodies, @beardybrewer . Very kind).

I just have to review it, because it is the weirdest shaving soap I have ever experienced.

It's deep fougere. Well, that's one way of describing it. Fougere has a range of descriptions, which tend to be about moss, ferns and forests. Here's the wiki description:

"top-notes are sweet, with the scent of lavender flowers; as the more volatile components evaporate, the scents of oakmoss, derived from a species of lichen and described as woody, sharp and slightly sweet, and coumarin, similar to the scent of new-mown hay, become noticeable. Aromatic fougère, a derivative of this class, contains additional notes of herbs, spice and/or wood.[2]"

But as the name suggests, PAA Dirt smells like dirt. No joke, open up the tin and it smells like dirt. Full on dirt smell. Not hints of dirt, or a bit like dirt. 100% dirt.

I found it disgusting. Really off putting. But, apparently the performance is good, and I had paid good money for it, so I gave it a whirl.

Here's the surprising thing. As I loaded the brush, lathered my face, and kept adding a little more water, the smell changed. Not rapidly, but slowly. By the time I was on my second pass, it smelt much more like a stroll in a forest. There's no sweetness whatsoever, but it became really quite pleasant, but incredibly different to how it smelt in the tin. Shaves very nicely as well.

To an extent, it's a party trick. of a soap. But it's amazing to experience.
Sounds just up my street, I love real earthy scents like leaf mold and rotting wood on the woodland floor, yea I'm a little strange! :)
 
Sounds just up my street, I love real earthy scents like leaf mold and rotting wood on the woodland floor, yea I'm a little strange! :)
Yes I love that sort of smell. It's like waking up from camping snd smelling the forest still wet with morning dew. What's it called?

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk
 
Yes I love that sort of smell. It's like waking up from camping snd smelling the forest still wet with morning dew. What's it called?

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk
It's called PAA Dirt apparently, but that's a great example of the smell you gave..waking up in a forest in the morning, that real earthy smell.... Lovely! :)
 
You gotta understand that the scent gets there once you have lathered up. All yer ferns, an' wotnot.

In the tin, it smells like you have woken up on the forest floor with your nose two inches deep in dirt. There is nothing else you can smell except dirt. You are not even sure how you got there.
 
You gotta understand that the scent gets there once you have lathered up. All yer ferns, an' wotnot.

In the tin, it smells like you have woken up on the forest floor with your nose two inches deep in dirt. There is nothing else you can smell except dirt. You are not even sure how you got there.
You gotta understand that the scent gets there once you have lathered up. All yer ferns, an' wotnot.

In the tin, it smells like you have woken up on the forest floor with your nose two inches deep in dirt. There is nothing else you can smell except dirt. You are not even sure how you got there.
When you imagine waking up on the forest floor with your nose two inches deep in the dirt are you naked and feeling ashamed? :)
 
I have a sample of chiseledface summer storm that I think smells very similar. To me it smells just like a freshly unrooted tree, a mixture of soil and almost rotten wood.

Interesting. To me, CF Summer Storm smells a lot like wet sand, similar to a beach or a childrens' sandbox with freshly constructed sand castles. ;) Meaning I don't get a specifically earthy scent (in the sense of wet soil) from it, like I get from Barrister & Mann Petrichor. And a third variety I've experienced would be Castle Forbes Cedarwood/Sandalwood, which reminds me of an old and slightly musty shed you enter after having done some gardening.

Also somewhat dirt-y is Logona Mann shaving cream.
 
Interesting. To me, CF Summer Storm smells a lot like wet sand, similar to a beach or a childrens' sandbox with freshly constructed sand castles. ;) Meaning I don't get a specifically earthy scent (in the sense of wet soil) from it, like I get from Barrister & Mann Petrichor. And a third variety I've experienced would be Castle Forbes Cedarwood/Sandalwood, which reminds me of an old and slightly musty shed you enter after having done some gardening.

Also somewhat dirt-y is Logona Mann shaving cream.

Very interesting comment. I can definitely smell the woody scent but it's very wet wood and not freshly wet, if you know what I mean.
 
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