March 2025 Acquisitions

N_Architect

Travel, See, Feel, Explore
Ordered an SE AC head (Shield) and a few ring washers, through Tao Bao, couple of days ago.

They included the half DE head as well for free...
Top cap finishing is a bit rough, semi-well finished, but that is OK.
I assume it must have been a 'seconds' item.

The ultra-lightweight Shield SE AC head was £38 delivered, while the washers were 38 pence for 50...
(they wrongly sent black ones instead of white, but come on, who cares...)

The shaving soap samples are predominantly oud-scented, and the Super Iridium DE blades are most likely fake (will give them a run).

I want to add the AC SE matte handle [27gr. I believe] but it is out of stock at present (£13).

There are plenty of other interesting items here (e.g. the ARNO brush line w/ ST-2 knot) which I may explore soon.

I am also interested in sourcing good quality AC SE and DE blades, need to do some sampling first, there are so many choices here,


Living in mainland China.























 
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Randy

Forum GOD!
Which label do you have in mind?
I just checked their current offering, and none of them really looks like that.
One has a floral, circular pattern, but it's actually pretty different from the one Folk Soap use on theirs.

Adding to that, the Celtic knot is a popular pattern that's hundreds of years old, and so are circular patterns on pretty much anything that's circular, such as a round tub of shaving soap.
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Northam Saint

Forum GOD!
The Leica looks like a great piece of kit, very nice, handy focal length, 24 mm-75 mm, I have a Sony 24mm- 82mm it's the perfect walk-around lens.
I do have a Sony A7mk2 with a 75-200mm, nice camera but too heavy as a travel camera. It was a toss up between the Leica, Ricoh and Fujifilm. The lens was the deciding factor, now to get shooting.
 

Randy

Forum GOD!
I must be blind because I can't see any celtic on this label, and were are the 4 circles with images? To my eyes the label looks nothing like the Folk label.
On this one I will have to disagree with your statement of them blatantly copying.
I mean the whole structure of the label, not exactly the theme. Peter was his inspiration as it seems.

He is Jason Derulo of the wet shaving.
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slapo

It's... alive!
There's the text in the middle and a ribbon-like strip of text underneath, but that's hardly uncommon and that aside, the pattern is very different (swirls and fruit flesh-like bits on the A&E vs knot work on the folk soap label) and so is its arrangement.
IMO, you've been lead astray by very broad strokes kind of similarity here.

Centre text placement and a ribbon underneath surrounded by "stuff" isn't really rare, and hardly a A&E trademark (and I really doubt the arrangement is unique, or that there's no precedence for it).
 

MichaelS

Forum GOD!
MDC calls Absinthe's scent 'fresh', which it certainly is for me and very pleasant too. I was fearing the absinthe scent (as in the spirit) might be one-dimensional/overdone (e.g. my experience with A&E Absinthe-Minded) but its presence is barely perceptible (to my nose), being blended subtly with several other herbs. MDC also says the soap is slightly mentholated - I could hardly feel it and that's how I like it: it just adds to the 'freshness', unlike some ice-cold soaps which freeze my face. Well done MDC!

Performance-wise, the same outstanding lather as previous MDCs (I've tried all except Magellan) . This excellence has been described across the forums for 30 years so nothing new for me to add on that here.

Re: Magellan, MDC itself calls the scent 'strong' and that, together with camphor and clove in the description, raised my warning antennae. Nothing wrong at all with these two pleasant and popular ingredients but they can irritate my skin if used excessively - hopefully MDC has replicated its customary moderation here too. Any feedback on Magellan scent please before I pull the trigger?



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Johnny Bravo

Love Guru to the stars.
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Mail call,
This is the first of two parcels from our whiplash fast Connaught.
The Musgo has always been sold out and I wanted to see if it would be a good replacement for my Mogno when it runs out and I was glad to see it back in stock.
I have never tried any of the Saponificio Varesino products before and as this was a new release, I jumped in feet first with an all or nothing attitude.
I am glad I like the scent phew.

That blooming @Paul threw in a free sample of MDC Original in my previous order and the wife and I liked it so much that a full jar was added to the list.
The Blades are from a BST purchase.
My next parcel should see me through new shaving soaps for the next year fingers crossed.
 
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