Just happened upon this site in my travels. What is Coup de Maître? Can any of our experts give a better explanation than the one here?

http://www.en.nassrasur.com/razorcentral/coup.html

I find the upper lip just under the nose the most difficult part to shave using a straight, and this sounds like a technique, but damned if I can work out what it is from the description!

"Put the blade flat against the underside of the nose, and while rotating around the back as its axis, push towards the upper lip. Repeat until the complete upperlip is ready. It is important to keep moving forward while rotating the blade, because you then prevent cuts. The blade touches the skin at a frightening 80 degrees during this Coup de Maître."

Yikes! I don't like that rotating on an axis thing... sounds like a recipe for cutting yourself up.