Shaving Product Review - Tallow + Steel "Kyoto"
Value (Cost, Packaging and Performance)
Lather (Density, Glide and Feel)
Post-shave (Healing, Moisture and Feel)
Scent (Quality, Strength and Longevity)
One of the 2018 releases is this Tallow + Steel Kyoto #soap and #aftershave Limited Edition combo!
Unleash your inner zen, as you’re transported to lush-green mountains, ancient temples and sublime gardens with this Japanese-inspired scent.
Kyoto is a city preserved in time - a place where the eastern mountain breeze rushes through narrow streets, the tang of merchant shops and tea-houses infuse the air, and towering bamboo groves can be heard creaking in the wind, beckoning you to enter.
Honoring traditional Japanese craftsmanship and quality, Kyoto is a blend of rare Japanese essential oils, hand delivered across the Pacific to Tallow + Steel headquarters. Kyoto proudly features real steam-distilled oil of yuzu – an exotic Japanese fruit hailed for its uniquely bright, aromatic, sweetness.
Long-time readers may remember the two very extensive articles on the new line last year, the first being Meet the All-new Tallow + Steel Products with the follow-up Tallow + Steel 2017 - First Impressions which covers the reformulations and performance (besides other aspects) so I won't repeat much of that here. There were a lot of new things to talk about for the 2018 products, which were released on June 15, 2018 - that I covered in my insanely in-depth review of Kyoto from this summer. Be sure to check out the final impressions at the bottom!
Just to recap, Kyoto has notes of yuzu (76%), hiba (12%), hinoki (4%), sugi (4%), shiso (2%) and sencha / nori (2%). If the Japanese names don't help, here's how it was described:
With yuzu as the foundation of the blend, the zesty citrus is combined with vegetal marine notes from a homemade extract of Japanese sencha (green tea) and nori (seaweed). It further progresses into a green woodsy blend of flora native to Japan: Sugi (Japanese cedar), Hinoki (Japanese cypress), Hiba (Japanese cypress), and Shiso (perilla).
So, boiled down, the notes are yuzu, cypress, cedar, perilla, green tea and seaweed. Without being coy, the scent isn't quite an Oriental fragrance and not quite a Chypre either... Though it is perhaps closest to the latter; citrus open, green middle and woody notes on the base. Again, check out the in-depth review of Kyoto for a deeper dive and a lot more detail.
Hardware for today consisted of the #TimelessRazor #TRBR38 in bronze with a #PolSilver blade on shave six... I hadn't intended on using this razor this morning but alas, the first stroke with my black Frankenrazor revealed there was no blade to be found within. Ooops. The brush is a #LeoFrilot piece with that awesome 3D ribbony resin and a matching Blood knot as some call it, in 24mm. Finally, the #GTP scuttle.
A lovely, fairly mellow shave today. It's always nice firing up some #TallowAndSteel software, and Kyoto is no exception.