Shaving Product Review - Ariana & Evans "St. Barts"
Value (Cost, Packaging and Performance)
Lather (Density, Glide and Feel)
Post-shave (Healing, Moisture and Feel)
Scent (Quality, Strength and Longevity)
Fans of a certain Creed scent will find this Ariana & Evans St. Barts offering in a #soap and #aftershave close enough to the original at a price hard to ignore.
St. Barts beautifully blends lime, coconut and rum into a warm, creamy scent, reminiscent of a very high-end niche type fragrance. St. Barts was inspired by Creed Virgin Island Water and is remarkably close to this wonderful fragrance.
Another Ariana & Evans product today; I'm still on a roll! For a background on Ariana & Evans check out the appropriately named article; What is Ariana & Evans? Check out my earlier reviews of L'Orange Verte, Asian Plum, Khalifa, NYC and Vanille de Tabac for much more info. Again, the artwork, branding and packaging are excellent.
The St. Barts scent is light and tropical. It features top notes of bergamot, lime, mandarin, coconut, Indian jasmine, sweet hibiscus, ylang ylang and ginger; base notes of sugar cane, musk, sandalwood and white rum. If that sounds at all familiar, it's essentially a clone of Creed Virgin Island Water (which has top notes of white bergamot, Jamaican lime, Sicilian mandarin and copra (the white inner flesh of the coconut); middle notes of Indian jasmine, sweet hibiscus, ylang ylang and ginger; base notes of sugar cane, musk and white rum). Basically, they're identical, note-wise. St. Barts does smell fairly close indeed, but not quite as crisp and strong; refined - while longevity is similar.
On open there's a citrusy burst of lime, followed quickly thereafter by bergamot/mandarin (orange) - all fading rather quickly into a light trace of coconut to finish out the top. The middle opens as a floral that's just slightly spiced up, thanks to the ginger - which peaks briefly before fading into the base. A sweet musk, thanks to the sugar cane and white rum. The entire dry down process happens over 10 minutes or so before finally settling into a slightly sweet, very light musk. It's a fresh, fruity floral perfect for warmer weather.
Both the soap and aftershave scent strengths are a medium with the former blossoming slightly when lathered. I could smell it for the duration of the shave, but it was light. The aftershave has a low sillage and an okay longevity at 2-3 hours. To be fair, the original doesn't last much longer, but you could always follow up with it to boost the signal. Regardless, these are the missing pieces of your morning routine - from start to finish. For a similar scent in a shave product, try Oleo Soapworks Bonaire (which perhaps not surprisingly, contains essentially identical notes).
The hardware consisted of a #TimelessRazor Pineapple handle and stand with a #Mühle #R89 head and a #PolSilver on shave two. The brush is a mammoth 30mm Tuxedo knot in an equally bombastic handle by #TurnNShave. Goes without saying that the #GTP scuttle played its part.
One more very pleasant shave with #arianaevans soap, bolstered by the matching aftershave. Both performing very well. The scent of St. Barts is very close to that of the real thing; perhaps missing only a bit of the strength and refinement of the original - but a surprisingly similar longevity. A great warm weather scent, as the bright, tropical notes fit the atmosphere (and the heat will keep it going a little longer). The genuine article will run you $395 MSRP for 100ml - so if you don't have deep pockets, grab the matching EdP ($28-36/30ml), Alexandria Fragrances Hawaii Volcano ($40/30ml-$60/60ml) or Dua Fragrances Caribbean Waters ($35/30ml) - and you'll still come out way ahead.