Fine Accouterments American Blend Review

Time to do a new week long review of a soap. This week, it'll be the American Blend.

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Full disclosure, I was never really excited about Fine's soaps. Or Fine anything really. Basically, I read somewhere that one of Fine's splashes had a scent that was a complete knock off of Art of Saving Sandalwood, so I had to try it! It was exactly as described scent wise, and it was a great splash too - so I started collecting the splashes and pairing them to my collection.

When I finally got to the American blend, I had an opportunity to try and pair it to a barbershop scent of my choosing, or buy the corresponding soap. I half begrudgingly decided to buy the Fine American Soap, to match the Splash.


Now let me tell you, I love the scent! And best off, the scents layer! The soap and the splash match perfectly!

I have no idea what your barber shop smells like, but the American really does smell like the barbershop I've conjured up in my mind without the synthetic aftertaste lol! For some reason, most barbershops I go to, use some great smelling product, but its also synthetic smelling stuff.

So the Fine American scent is lovely and not synthetic. But it's also clean! It smells sterile. I don't know how else to put that. Its as though the scent will clean your bathroom lol!! It really is lovely.

Scent-wise, there is no "season" associated with this for me. Spring, summer, fall, or winter, it's all good in the hood.

Ok, now for the soaps characteristics. If you read others reviews, you'll see that men either seemingly love, or are indifferent about this soap. It was probably the indifference from some of my favorite reviewers that saw me not buy it for the longest time. But I have it now and I've shaved with it a few times!! I'll leave this section bare for now. It's definitely not going to be a horrible review.

After tomorrows shave I'll get into those details, but I'd love to hear what you think of yours!!


Just so you guys know, when I do these reviews, I always use my DE R41 with a new Personna blade, my Feather AC, and a straight. Over the week, as the blade dulls, we ... I get some great insights as to how effective the soap is in less favorable situations.

Ok - until tomorrow then - Maybe Friday.


EDIT - I know it shouldn't matter but, I kind of dig the simple packaging and I love the soaps pressed on face/logo. I know, I know... but it just adds a little.

Well I'll put my two cents in....Love it.!

Every time I go for the American blend..its gone.!

I've Been using the Platinum, Fresh Vetiver, Snakebite, and matching aftershaves for some time now, almost a year.

For me, its as good as Castle Forbes. Easy to lather, thick n rich, great cushion n glide. I also follow my shaves with a drop of Glycerin after a cold rinse, so if there is any tightness afterwards... I have no idea.

So my next two will be, Orange Noir, and American Blend. Hopefully there's some left....:gaah:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by outback

Well I'll put my two cents in....Love it.!

Every time I go for the American blend..its gone.!

I've Been using the Platinum, Fresh Vetiver, Snakebite, and matching aftershaves for some time now, almost a year.

For me, its as good as Castle Forbes. Easy to lather, thick n rich, great cushion n glide. I also follow my shaves with a drop of Glycerin after a cold rinse, so if there is any tightness afterwards... I have no idea.

So my next two will be, Orange Noir, and American Blend. Hopefully there's some left....:gaah:

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I've only used the American with respect to soaps, but man, let me tell you, that Orange Noir splash, is some kind of funky! Good funky! I've got Platinum in my Amazon cart now - next purchase.

Those both are a hard scent to describe. Wife hates the Platinum, until it winds down some. The Orange Noir is similar, just not as strong as the Platinum. If I use it in the morning, I can still smell the mug in the bathroom when I get home from work. :tu

Quote:

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Originally Posted by outback

Those both are a hard scent to describe. Wife hates the Platinum, until it winds down some. The Orange Noir is similar, just not as strong as the Platinum. If I use it in the morning, I can still smell the mug in the bathroom when I get home from work. :tu

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That’s impressive! Wow.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by outback

Well I'll put my two cents in....Love it.!

Every time I go for the American blend..its gone.!

I've Been using the Platinum, Fresh Vetiver, Snakebite, and matching aftershaves for some time now, almost a year.

For me, its as good as Castle Forbes. Easy to lather, thick n rich, great cushion n glide. I also follow my shaves with a drop of Glycerin after a cold rinse, so if there is any tightness afterwards... I have no idea.

So my next two will be, Orange Noir, and American Blend. Hopefully there's some left....:gaah:

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Wow, outback, you certainly have my attention. I will definitely follow this review as I would love to add another barbershop scent to my shave den.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Speedster

Wow, outback, you certainly have my attention. I will definitely follow this review as I would love to add another barbershop scent to my shave den.

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You’ve got a sample of it somewhere in your house there Mark. Just saying :).

Not a fan of the soap base. Nowhere near the performance of Tabac and more expensive...YMMV

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CrownCork

Not a fan of the soap base. Nowhere near the performance of Tabac and more expensive...YMMV

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The reverse is true on this side of the pond when buying from the usual online retailers as far as costs go. Fine is about a third cheaper from Fendrihan.ca. That still does not change the soap base or any issues with it though.

Bob

UPDATE:

So as you know, I've shaved with this stuff before, but it's been a while. Today, opening the tub, the first thing I noticed was how soft this soap is. A true croap. The scent though... no need to talk to that anymore though. That's covered. I like it.

I used a boar brush today - that was a mistake. This soap would do way better with a nice badger. Why? Well because A., my badgers can be loaded up with more soap, and B., my badgers hold more water than my boars. But more on that later.

So before hitting the shower, I loaded up a nice lather. I scooped all of that lather out into my mixing bowl and went to town again. Woot! I got so many soaps, I don't have to be frugal lol!

No the truth is, my little boar doesn't eat that much, so two goes is fine. Anyway, I then took my bowl with brush inside and placed it on top of my mug of steaming hot coffee and hit the shower.

After the shower, I put on a lovely, lovely warm lather that just hugged me on this cold morning! But it went on a little thick. I should have known. Of course, you guessed it, after a scant few passes, I noticed the soap was drying out. I added more water and re-lathered both my bowl and my face. And that's the thing about rotating - I forgot how much water this soap needs!! It needs a lot!

Ok so that said, I finished up my quick two pass shave with my R41 and a new Personna blade. It was hurried and it seemed a little rough, it felt a little rough too, but when I got to the alum - no burn at all. I was surprised! Really surprised actually. But that's what a good soap will do right? Good job Fine.

So that's all to say, I had a mediocre shave at best. I had a keen blade, a rushed shave and a lather that I blew, but it all went off without any pain. So yay!

I'm going to try and hold off on shaving tomorrow and get to my straight on Saturday - but we'll see. A two pass shave new blade or not, usually means I'll HAVE to shave tomorrow.

Until next time my friends - keep your soap hydrated!

Shave II:

I did something unusual this morning, I skipped my shave. Did something even more unusual this evening, I showered and shaved.

I used my badger want-to-be synthetic. It sucks up more water and ultimately loads up way more soap too. And this time I face lathered. Gents, it was impressive. Lather was not a problem today. It was plentiful!

It was a pretty relaxing shave really. Just me and my straight taking on a day and a half’s worth of growth. No pod casts to distract me as per my routine in the mornings. The sound of the whiskers seemed amplified.

But that first pass was a little rough. Nothing serious, and I don’t know what it was that made it a little uncomfortable, the blade was sharp enough. Odd.

The second pass saw another heaping of suds coating my face. Again though, there was a little roughness. I can’t understand this. It was this way last shave too, but I chalked it up as me rushing. I again expected some burn after the shave from the Alum...

None. Not even a tingle.

I just don’t get it! I get a great lather, clearly awesome protection being no burn from the alum, great viscosity, I checked often, but rough shaves. Crazy.


Well, this is the beauty of the week long shave review right? We’ll see what happens on the third shave tomorrow or Sunday. Right now I’m in the, I love the scent and viscosity, but I can’t figure out the cushion thing... I can take it or leave it at this stage.


Until the next shave friends.

Edit. It’s been a little over an hour since the shave so far, and my face does still feel pretty darn good. The soap does leave it feeling soft.

SHAVE III

I’m not going to lie, two crappy shaves in a row was really bugging me! Really bugging me. There’s a lot of men who love this stuff and here I am struggling. I thought I loved this stuff! I never thought I struggled with it before? So I decided to shave with the soap again today with my DE.

I mean, I sacrificed a Saturday straight shave to my R41 because there’s nothing smoother than that DE with a Personna blade on its second use. That’s huge because I love my straights on the weekend. Anyway, shave I would! It was going to be a great, smooth shave.

I used my Simpson brush! Nom, nom! Guys, this soap is all lather! It loves the water, but man... the lather is impressive! The scent is impressive! Guys, this should be an excellent soap but again, the cushion was awful! What’s going on?? Again the shave was uncomfortable(ish).

The post shave again - no sting and the face feels great! How could this all just be showing up right now? I’ve used it before! I don’t recall the shaves being this uncomfortable. And then it dawned on me. Look at this photo:

Attachment 296210


I’ve always used the Proraso pre-shave with this soap. Not for the review though. It just totally complements the soap. I just didn’t know how absolutely it complemented it!! This is the most certain I am that the Proraso pre shave actually works. I never really cared before. It was just a nice product to start with.


Gentlemen, I think i’ve Had it with Fine’s American soap. I don’t think i’m moving forward with it. I’ve got plenty of great soaps, and this stuff for me is just ok. But I’m totally stoked thinking of how effective the Proraso is!

What a very odd experience! I honestly thought when I started that this was going to be a glowing review! How very odd! How real though! Crazy.

UPDATE!

GENTLEMAN, this review really bothered me. I remembered the American being a great soap... I thought I was going to write a positive review, but the review seemingly proved otherwise. So today I did everything I did normally, IE used the Proraso PreShave, and off I went.

Attachment 296265


What a great shave! The Proraso “gunks up” on your blade more, if you care about such things, but man does it make for a smooth shave. Even the second pass was comfortable!

So as much as Fine’s American Soap wasn’t for me, that Proraso isn’t going anywhere!

Thanks for saving me from ordering Fine shave soap. I needs me some cushion and slickness.

Guess that leaves more for me. :tu