July 22, 2007

Some thoughts on Geo. Trumpers shaving soaps

Trumper's soaps are pretty good but not really in the top echelon of shaving soaps since their reformulation back in the early 1980's.  But where most shaving soap manufacturers have only one or two scents Trumpers has a whole handful of them, and there's very little overlap with the other manufacturers.  The downside is that many of their scents date back to the Victorian era so they're a bit on the gay side nowadays (and may have been back then for all I know).  But I figure that shaving with a bare blade is sufficiently masculine that it all balances out, and dammit I *like* the smell of amaretto-scented baby powder (or Bulgarian roses, or Corsican violets) in the morning.

Posted by: mparker762 at 12:29 PM
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Puma day

Rooney small style 1 brush
Trumper's Almond soap
Hand American strop
5/8 Puma #39 straight razor
Bay Rum aftershave - Taylor's of Old Bond Street

This combination of scents was a serendipitous discovery a few weeks ago.  The Trumper's almond soap smells vaguely like a combination of amaretto and baby powder, and the Bay Rum aftershave smells a bit like pumpkin pie.  But the baby-powder component dissipates very quickly leaving an intoxicating complex of aromas.  This has quickly become my Sunday-morning staple.

Oh, and the Puma kicked ass too.  Baby-butt smooth and only a hint of burn when I slapped on the aftershave.

Posted by: mparker762 at 12:27 PM
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Camping

just the two of us

Posted by: mparker762 at 11:34 AM
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Desktop Tower Defense

I've been playing this flash game a fair bit lately, along with its cousin "Element Tower Defense".  It started out as a flash implementation of the old Warcraft minigame, though it's diverged a fair bit from the original.  Basically, creeps come out from the top and left, and you have to build mazes out of various flavors of guns to divert their path and destroy them.  New waves of creeps come every 20 secs, though you get bonus points for sending them early - make sure you've got enough excess destructive capacity to deal with them though.

more...

Posted by: mparker762 at 11:07 AM
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Kawaii canine

kawaii canine

At 17 years, he's very old for a Beagle.  They usually don't last much beyond 12-13 yrs, so he's earned his rest.  And he's doing a bang-up job holding down the clothes.  At the moment he's dreaming of chasing bunnies: his nose is twitching and he's making little yelping noises.

Posted by: mparker762 at 09:54 AM
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July 21, 2007

His and Her Circumstances II

I watched disk 2 of the thinpak last night in between honing sessions on the Puma gold, and my Jude the Obscure worries have subsided substantially. 

Posted by: mparker762 at 10:37 AM
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Puma day

Rooney small style 1 brush
Trumper's Rose soap
Hand American strop
6/8 Puma Gold
Purell Hand Sanitizer

Last night's session on the hones did the trick for this lovely razor.  The shave this morning was effortless and smooth, and I'm quite pleased with the way this razor handles.  Because of the lingering scent of the soap I didn't bother with a scented aftershave this morning, instead opting for a quick slap of the Purell Hand Sanitizer that makes a dandy scent-free and residue-free aftershave.

Posted by: mparker762 at 10:27 AM
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Puma Gold

A week or so ago I managed to acquire a 6/8 Puma Gold for the growing Puma stable.  This is a beautiful gold-washed razor that is a bit on the pimp side, but is a top-of-the-line piece of work from one of the best of the old straight razor manufacturers.  Tonight I managed to spend some time honing up it between episodes of Kare Kano (His and Her Circumstances).  I'll give it a real test tomorrow morning but at the moment it looks pretty good.  I think I'll break out the Trumper's Rose soap for the occasion.  Bulgarian rose is an odd scent for a men's shaving soap nowadays, but (a) Trumpers has been a very traditional english firm and (b) this soap dates back to the Victorian era and (c) they aren't the sort of company to change their product line to follow the fleeting winds of fashion...  They also make a violet soap ("smells like a French whore's handbag") and almond soap ("smells like my grandmother's handbag") for extra credit.  Trumpers soaps aren't the best shaving soaps around (that honor goes to D. R. Harris, Truefitt&Hill, and Penhaligon's), but the scents are definitely different, and good for a change of pace.
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Posted by: mparker762 at 12:48 AM
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July 20, 2007

Puma day

Rooney small style 1 brush
Harris Almond shaving soap
Hand American strop
5/8 Puma #39 razor
Pinaud Clubman aftershave

I really love this razor.  Light and agile, and takes a really nice edge.  It's about 3 weeks since it's last honing, and its still very keen.
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Posted by: mparker762 at 12:43 PM
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His and Her Circumstances

I've watched the first disc of this so far and I'm getting a wierd Jude the Obscure kind of vibe off of it.  I liked Jude but I'm not sure I want to see that happen to these kids.

It probably doesn't help that the girl reminds me of me at that age.

Posted by: mparker762 at 12:40 PM
Post contains 57 words, total size 1 kb.

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