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...
