Shaving Product Review - Declaration Grooming "Try This Soap"

Value (Cost, Packaging and Performance)

Lather (Density, Glide and Feel)

Post-shave (Healing, Moisture and Feel)

Scent (Quality, Strength and Longevity)

A collaboration between Declaration Grooming (formerly L&L Grooming) and TryThatSoap.com under a re-opening celebration brings us Try This Soap in a #soap and #aftershave combo.

Art and science are not mutually exclusive, and that is the basis for the first new release underneath the Declaration Grooming name. This collaboration with TryThatSoap.com is the result of this combination of inspiration and data. When researching the ratings of the scores of scents on the website, we noticed a trend of scents that were rated highly, yet too rarely used. So with this in mind, we set out to create a scent that gives you the scents you love but have trouble finding.

The result was a fruity scent with underlying exotic woods and spices. Taking these popular notes, we blended the accord so that the sweet, rich overtones of yuzu citrus and black currant are balanced out with oak, howood and teak wood, with the zest of black pepper and thyme giving it a punch that grabs attention in all the right ways. We are excited to present our newest collaboration, the smell of science: Try This Soap.

I've reviewed quite a bit of #landlgrooming here (click that hashtag for all the reviews) so I won't be covering anything but the scent today. A brief reminder that Declaration Grooming is the new name for L&L Grooming who just completed a move from Georgia to Michigan and re-opened the site under the new name, offering this software combo on November 23, 2017 as the first new product (besides the now renamed original line). Henceforth, since I like to mirror my hashtags to reflect common social media names used by various artisans and companies, I'll be using #declarationgrooming going forward.

The scent for Try This Soap is based on highly regarded, yet uncommon notes as per TryThatSoap.com along with some additional notes to round out the accord. Officially, it offers notes of yuzu citrus, black currant, oak, howood, teak wood, black pepper and thyme. Essentially it's a fruity scent with underlying woods and spices; more so the former. On open you definitely get the citrusy yuzu and sweeter black currant. These burn off a bit quickly, bringing you into the middle where the black pepper and thyme help to transition into the base of woods. Overall, the accord is bright and woodsy with a fruity intro.

The first problem is that citrus is a volatile note; it doesn't last long and rarely past the top. And here, you can smell it mainly just in the soap... As the second problem is such that the aftershave has got a healthy dose of menthol, which masks said top notes. By the time the menthol subsides, these top notes are mostly history. Furthermore, both the soap and aftershave have a lighter medium scent strength. This doesn't help counter the menthol either. Longevity is average; 2-3 hours or so. I still get traces as a skin scent beyond that, but it's mostly unidentifiable. The soap smells quite nice, but the aftershave left me wanting. I question the inclusion of menthol; or at least the quantity.

Hardware for today consisted of my raw aluminum colored #StandardRazors razor (with a black base swapped in) fitted with a #PolSilver blade on shave four. The #LowbornSupply brush is in a lovely mix of a glittery black and pearlescent white resin (which is a bit hard to see clearly in the photo) and features a 24mm Tuxedo knot. It loaded the soft, somewhat gooey soap with aplomb and made a fine, dense and creamy lather in the #GTP scuttle, which served to keep it nice and warm.

The scent of Try This Soap is nice... But it's hampered by a combination of the scent strength and longevity not being enough - and the menthol (in the aftershave) too much. You can't appreciate all the notes, except in the soap - where scents tend not to shine brightest. On the surface, the individual notes do sound exquisite, but it's hard to appreciate them in Try This Soap. The performance as far as the soap and aftershave bases go, is of course beyond reproach. Typical quality from Declaration Grooming that you know and love. If you're a serious fan (or one of those collector types) then you'll probably grab this combo anyway... But for everyone else, I'd consider carefully.