I wish there was some way I could give every single wetshaver a sample of these performers, because then there would be no need to try to explain how much I enjoyed my shaves from them. You could just revel in the pleasure.
I've talked about them both before, but they bear revisiting.
Florena is the low-price, all around go-getter; the smooth shaves, the superb skin care and pleasant scent...just great stuff. It helped give me some of the best shaves I have ever got, and that's no joke. Take a solid base of quality shave cream, add a nice dollop of skin care, and a touch of classy scenting and you've got the ingredients for shaves to get you through the rough times.
Seriously, unless it doesn't agree with your skin for some reason, it should be in your shave den. Get some.
Penhaligon's, of course, is venerable. It's respectable and hoity-toity and overpriced. But it is also superb. It's lather is just impeccable, and as I got more used to it, it only got better--taking the time to get to know it right was a great idea. I found the lather to be thick, creamy and just oozing with character. It went with my Henckel's like "A wop bop a loo bop" goes with "a wop bam boom."
Of course, the scent is simply magnificent. It's a rich, complex scent full of confidence and charm. A fougere non plus ultra...It's a genuine pleasure just to open the bowl with this one, not to mention have it slathered all over my face for 15 minutes. The shaves you get from Penhaligon's are luxury events, like a champagne bath or a caviar shower. Well, not really. Those are pretty gross. But a shave with English Fern will bring you just that much closer to being Sean Connery...as close as any man can ever get.
If you've got the scratch (which, let's face it, is WAY TOO MUCH) think about it. Seriously. You owe it to yourself to at least see what all the fuss is about.
So there you go--I got great shaves, with great lather, and I am well glad I did. I've moved on, and I'm regretting it already...
Any recommendations on where to pick up some of this stuff? The Penhaligon's, I know, is hard to track down. But what about the Florena? Thanks.
ReplyDeleteand so it seems that the Nivea cream and the Florena that it ?replaced? are worlds apart. I'll have to get me some and judge firsthand.
ReplyDeleteScott, as far as I know Florena is only available in Germany these days. It was sold in Canada, but they discontinued it. It might still be found in old stock, but I'm not sure. Penahligon's is out there, but getting rarer by the day...
ReplyDeleteOh, and thanks for reading!
Kodou, I really wasn't that impressed with Nivea, it's true. Florena just gets better and better...But of course, YMMV and IMHO and IANAE and all that. ;) Tell you what, I'll send you off a bit of mine so you can check it out.
Thanks, as always!
Best,
Jim
Yeah the new Nivea is not as good as the old one. The older had a pink tinge to it and smelled like the ocean, the new stuff is white and smells like fruit.
ReplyDeleteOh well, I recently picked up some Kaloderma in Canada. It's not too bad. Better than the new Nivea, not quite as good as the Florena, but close. It has chamomile, olive oil, palm oil, and coconut oil. So it's not too far off from the Florena. My face likes any thing with those 3 oils in it.
Hey Aleks, how's the great white north treating you? Gotta be better than this nasty Japanese summer...
ReplyDeleteSo the Nivea WAS different! I'm glad to hear that, in a way...validates that I'm not totally nuts. Not totally, anyway. Kaloderma...That's another German one, isn't it? I think I've heard good things. I'm glad it agrees with your face!
I just googled it, and you know what? That tube looks a WHOLE LOT like my Florena tube...Hmmm.
LOL, The GWN has a nice mild summer, it's just the winter's are nasty.
ReplyDeleteI'm waiting to go to work in the Oil Fields in September. I'm flat broke right now, otherwise I would fire off a tube of Kaloderma. It's dirt cheap here, regular $2.99 CDN or $1.99 on sale.
Finally got the water ratio right with the Kaloderma, it's a little less forgiving than the Florena in that regard. The scent is a lot less pronounced than Florena too.
Funny how these inexpensive creams kick ass over a lot of "high end" slop. LOL