No sun, 38ºF
I’ve found — as no doubt you have as well — that a good shave early in the morning adds some brightness and warmth to a dark, cold day. And this is a day when that special property of a good shave is most welcome. View from the living room window at right.
Organism 46-B (link is to regular formula, but it is also available in the CK-6 formula) has, as I’ve noted, a fragrance that is pleasing to me:
Scent Notes: burnt sugar – bitter orange – brandy – Hedione – tobacco absolute – benzoin resin – ambergris
The bitter orange and tobacco absolute really make great bookends in the shape of this very complex blend. The brandy adds a nice, warm boozy note and the ambergris adds a touch of crisp ozone and ocean. The benzoin resin really smooths out the entire collection of notes adding depth. You’ll also notice how the benzoin during dry down, gives off a subtle vanilla sweetness which adds a spectacular contrast to the slight minty, almost chocolate ghost note born from the combination of the tobacco, orange and burnt sugar. It’s truly multi-dimensional in the interplay of scent notes.
Benzoin resin seems to be one of those fragrances that, like certain tastes, vary a lot from individual to individual. I love the taste of cilantro, but my daughter hates it because to her it tastes like soap. The fragrance of benzoin resin strikes most as vanilla but without the food sense and sweet without being sugary — and yet to some it simply smells like creosote. Wikipedia notes: “Benzoin is a common ingredient in incense-making and perfumery because of its sweet vanilla-like aroma and fixative properties.” This is not like creosote (to most noses):
Creosote has a strong, smoky smell, and can smell like a fresh-paved driveway made of asphalt. The smell of creosote can be likened to the smell of tar, and this creosote smell is easily picked up by the human nose even in small concentrations.
The fact that different people can experience such a difference in fragrance from the same substance is, of course, why we have such a variety of fragrances available — and why we see again that YMMV.
The lather, though not the CK-6 formulation, was excellent, and there are few razors so good as the Baby Smooth. Three passes to a perfectly smooth face, then a good splash of Organism 46-B to get me through the day.
Batch 3 of beans in my continuing experiment is about to go into the oven.