PAA Deja Fougere Unboxing and Shave Review!

It's every wet shaver's most exciting time before the actual shave. The moment where you receive the actual mail call, the all anticipated package that contains all the goodies that you have hyped up to the absolute maximum in your own mind!

This was no exception, and to my relief, it lived up to it's expectations.

Unboxing

I took a picture of each step of the unboxing process with this mail call, because the folks up at The Stray Whisker seem to box up their packages the best of all.

Their packaging adds to the whole unboxing experience, and surely enough, when I took off that initial gift paper with The Stray Whisker logo sticker, it was excitement all the way. The much anticipated Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements Deja Fougere Aftershave Cologne and Shave Soap was here!

This scent has piqued my interest ever since a fellow wet shaver friend of mine (Chris) introduced me to this scent via a sample he received himself.  I had to have (acquire) it! It has the beautiful "old time" base note scents of Oakmoss, Tabacco, Tonka, Dark Musk, Vanilla and Hay, making this woodsy scent all the more seducing to the nose. The Top notes of Pineapple, Bergamot, Lavender and Clary Sage give this scent a bit of a "fruity" spring to the step after application. Combined with floral Mid-Notes, it allows the overall scent to change as the day goes on and overall, last the day.

For me, I can see myself using this all year round, as it is quite elegant. Douglas from PAA based this scent on the 133 year old Houbigant Fougere Royale, the "Master" fougere scent. The Aftershave Cologne itself contains Alum, Menthol, Alcohol, Lavender Hydrosol, Glycerin and Aloe.

Shave Soap initial thoughts

As I have only had the opportunity to sample the Aftershave, I never really knew what to expect from the Shave Soap. I have heard and watched numerous YouTube reviews on the actual soap, but wanted to judge this for myself seeing as I really took this overall scent very seriously. And boy, it didn't disappoint at the slightest.

As soon as I opened the Shave Soap lid, a beautiful aroma came out matching closely to that of the aftershave cologne, with little differences. As this is a vegan soap. that was to be expected. It was firm to the touch, and is also hot-poured into the jar when first assembled as well.

I found myself actually going to the shave den, just to take an all-mighty whiff of the stuff, because it's that good!

I have heard that PAA Soaps Lather quite well and are extremely slick, and this was also proven to be the case. It legitimately only took me all but 30 seconds to achieve an absolutely fantastic, rich and creamy lather with my Boar bristle brush, with which the scent just livened up the room!

The blade on my slant razor just glided over my face nice and smoothly thanks to the slickness of the Soap, and reapplications of the Soap between passes was awesome as the soap did not lose any consistency, which I have seen all too much with other branded soaps. And the beauty of this particular shave, the nuances of the scent just stood in the nostrils, making it amazingly therapeutic.

Aftershave Cologne Initial Thoughts

The Aftershave cologne has always been one of my favourites, just from the samples given to me alone. The refreshing, soothing menthol of the aftershave was just what my skin needed after a nice and pleasant shave, and the scent just topped off the whole shave. I must say that the Aftershave actually brought out additional floral Mid-Notes that I missed during the initial shave, and it just topped off an overall calming shave. The Aftershave also left my skin feeling extremely smooth, thanks in part to the Glycerin and Lavender as well.

The overall shave consisted of me using a RazoRock Wunderbar Slant, Polsiver Super Iridium Blade, Semogue Boar bristle Brush and accompanying Deja Fougere Aftershave Cologne. 

Overall, a fantastic Shave of the Day with a soap and aftershave cologne that will no doubt make it to the regular top 3 rotation of my shaves for a while yet!