March 2021 Acquisitions

[Roy_FR]

Just arrived

Davide of Leonidam Brushes, really does make some beautiful brushes.. ( The Rockwell wasn't included obviously )

It's extremely really well made, comes in a lovely waxed sealed box with a personal handrwritten note from Davide.. It's 26mm silvertip badger that will hopefully be with me for quite a few years to come.

It's actually quite hefty and has a very solid feel. The colours change with the light which makes it very 3 dimensional and deep...

 

[pjgh]

Indeed ! Had some hand soaps before from them and they were great so looking forward to giving it a try!

it doesn’t say anything on the box or soap, but from what I found online it’s not including Shea butter. The list is:
Sodium cocoate, neem seed oil, pure essential oils of cedarwood, cyreol, vetiver.

it’s a third party site that mentions it so not sure if it’s correct, but apparently it is 100% coconut oil based.

Finally! Mine has arrived ... all the way from (about 5 miles over there) neighbouring Bradford.

Wow! That is dark!

I note from your SOTD that it brightens up once out of the paper, but the lather is thin and airy. I will give it a go. In fact, I'll give it a test lather this afternoon and see if I can crack it for the evening shave. If not, then bath soap it is and that lovely rosewood bowl will become home to something else.

Good to have supported a noble cause and actually, Mrs likes the look of a lot of their other products so likely a larger purchase will be made soon.

 

[Scorpio93]

Finally! Mine has arrived ... all the way from (about 5 miles over there) neighbouring Bradford.

Wow! That is dark!

I note from your SOTD that it brightens up once out of the paper, but the lather is thin and airy. I will give it a go. In fact, I'll give it a test lather this afternoon and see if I can crack it for the evening shave. If not, then bath soap it is and that lovely rosewood bowl will become home to something else.

Good to have supported a noble cause and actually, Mrs likes the look of a lot of their other products so likely a larger purchase will be made soon.

Damn that’s a long distance haha!
Yep it definitely does - do let me know how you get on with it, maybe it’s something to do with my technique rather than soap itself. Will be interested to hear!
I love that bowl, it does look really good !

Definitely is ! I saw their stuff before in a shop and bought couple of their hand soaps - they were great.

 

[pjgh]

I'll pop this in here as it pertains to the discussion above about Dalit Sandalwood soap, which is a lovely soap with a really true sandalwood scent ... but it's not a great shaving soap. It's also a little "dark" (read: dank) due to, I think, the neem oil. That does dissipate somewhat once the soap has been let out to breathe.

Lathering up, as is, produces a thin but stable enough lather ... although when I used it, I did have to re-lather mid-pass.

I mused that it would be dramatically improved by something neutral, but known to produce volumes of slick cream. The scent is quite powerful so it would take some bashing, but I didn't want to alter that unrefined essence. I have some Vitos (Green) in the loft which has long lost its scent but in case it did have any residual or pulled a Lazarus on me, I thought that an expired woody almond scent would not be a bad thing mingling in with this soap.

Formulation?

The Dalit soap weighed 95g, so chopped in half was 45g (ish). I went with 30g of Vitos (Green) initially, which would give me some wiggle room if it still wasn't a good blend.

... and here, I hit my first problem. The Dalit soap was very dry and kinda crumbled/shattered when cut. I was not able to grate it on my usual large grater that does a sterling job with more moisturised soaps and sticks. I had to pull out the parmesan grater and that took some time. The Vitos, too, was dry and kinda crumbled apart, so the parmesan grater did a sound job.

... and here, I hit my second problem. The resulting soap was a fine powder and was in no way going to behave putting it back into a container. I had to make up a thick paste with hot water to get the soap back into a pliable consistency for putting back into the bowl. Using just too little water was about right as the resulting mess was indeed a thick paste. Spooned back into the bowl and pressed/moulded with the back of the spoon, and we're back in business!!!

Test lather ...

Which produced something I am very pleased with. The deep, raw sandalwood scent is still very present, dank still. But the lather is dramatically improved! Thick and luxurious with a nice sheen. Very much a lather I'll be happy to shave with.

So, ratio: three parts Dalit to two parts dried out Italian croap < Vitos, TFS or 3P would all be fine

 

[donnie_arko]

I'll pop this in here as it pertains to the discussion above about Dalit Sandalwood soap, which is a lovely soap with a really true sandalwood scent ... but it's not a great shaving soap. It's also a little "dark" (read: dank) due to, I think, the neem oil. That does dissipate somewhat once the soap has been let out to breathe.

Lathering up, as is, produces a thin but stable enough lather ... although when I used it, I did have to re-lather mid-pass.

I mused that it would be dramatically improved by something neutral, but known to produce volumes of slick cream. The scent is quite powerful so it would take some bashing, but I didn't want to alter that unrefined essence. I have some Vitos (Green) in the loft which has long lost its scent but in case it did have any residual or pulled a Lazarus on me, I thought that an expired woody almond scent would not be a bad thing mingling in with this soap.

Formulation?

The Dalit soap weighed 95g, so chopped in half was 45g (ish). I went with 30g of Vitos (Green) initially, which would give me some wiggle room if it still wasn't a good blend.

... and here, I hit my first problem. The Dalit soap was very dry and kinda crumbled/shattered when cut. I was not able to grate it on my usual large grater that does a sterling job with more moisturised soaps and sticks. I had to pull out the parmesan grater and that took some time. The Vitos, too, was dry and kinda crumbled apart, so the parmesan grater did a sound job.

... and here, I hit my second problem. The resulting soap was a fine powder and was in no way going to behave putting it back into a container. I had to make up a thick paste with hot water to get the soap back into a pliable consistency for putting back into the bowl. Using just too little water was about right as the resulting mess was indeed a thick paste. Spooned back into the bowl and pressed/moulded with the back of the spoon, and we're back in business!!!

Test lather ...

Which produced something I am very pleased with. The deep, raw sandalwood scent is still very present, dank still. But the lather is dramatically improved! Thick and luxurious with a nice sheen. Very much a lather I'll be happy to shave with.

So, ratio: three parts Dalit to two parts dried out Italian croap < Vitos, TFS or 3P would all be fine

A fine job for your frankensoap.

Vitos has a reputation for being a croap, but I think it only is for about a few weeks when it's new, after that it's a rock solid soap!

 

[markamonaghan]

View attachment 67309

small package delivery from ES - got some matching aftershaves for my SV soaps, pinaud clubman and Eucris shaving cream - thought I’d give it a try - scent is quite interesting

Dear or dear, I've never seen SV aftershave before..... have you tried it and wheres my wallet?...

 

[Scorpio93]

Dear or dear, I've never seen SV aftershave before..... have you tried it and wheres my wallet?...

That was first time I saw them too. Haven’t tried them yet although I am looking forward to it. Especially the tundra artica - love the smell of that!

 

[ss123]

Omega Roma Colosseum

Like the look fo this brush. Where did you get it if you dont mind me asking?

 

[donnie_arko]

Like the look fo this brush. Where did you get it if you dont mind me asking?

You can get it here. There's a TSR discount code as well.

It is very similar if not exact to the Simpsons Trafalgar series brush (same knot different handle) and there's one for sale in the BST section of this forum.

 

[ss123]

You can get it here. There's a TSR discount code as well.

It is very similar if not exact to the Simpsons Trafalgar series brush (same knot different handle) and there's one for sale in the BST section of this forum.

Thanks, that's very helpful. I can see the similarities there, the omega being slightly cheaper landed than the Simpson.

 

[donnie_arko]

View attachment 67740
My Sharpening stones and Razor arrived today from @Fergiebilly, I can't wait to try out the razors edge later and just need to pick up a cheap little razor to practice honing on.

Maybe post this up in the April acquisitions thread?

 

[Johnny Bravo]

Maybe post this up in the April acquisitions thread?

Where does the time go these days lol I forgot we are now in April

 

[Rubbish Triathlete]

View attachment 66972
*Oops - put it on the wrong page first time*
Well that was bloody quick - only left Belarus on Friday
Lilac soap, Rose soap & ASL, Juniper soap and menthol ASL. Also freebie samples of Himalayan Salt bath soap, goats milk shaving soap and the intriguingly named "Baby Weasel", which disappointingly turns out to be a sensitive skin soap suitable for babies and not some mad artisan creation smelling of Mustela spraint and milky vomit

What do you make of your new acquisitions?

 

[Jester]

What do you make of your new acquisitions?

To be honest, I've only managed to use the menthol ASL so far due to being in possession of the newbie box. My description of that was "medicinally menthol" - bit workhorse, not too complex but worked for me. Wife said it was a bit "old man" so I pointed out the obvious and reminds her she's just turned 40 The soaps will get a run out in the next week or so, so I'll tag you on my SOTD when they get used