Author: Paul Eide (Page 36 of 36)

Product Review: eShave Orange Sandalwood Collection

November 21, 2011 /

I got a box in the mail from eShave and it contained the Orange Sandalwood Collection, which was comprised of three crucial components for an enjoyable shaving experience: Pre-Shave Oil, Shave Cream and After Cream Soother.

The Pre-Shave Oil was really thick, like a balm, rather than a cream type that a lot of companies use, and it softened the skin immediately. After a minute or two of applying a layer of the oil and then rubbing it in, I literally felt like I could shave even without the shaving cream — my skin was loosened up and felt soft. The pre-shave could’ve easily been a moisturizer. I wasn’t surprised to learn that the Orange Sandalwood Pre-Shave Oil was named the Best Pre-Shave Oil of 2011 by Men’s Health Magazine. The only thing I didn’t like was the scent — Orange Sandalwood. It was too purfumey and was trying really hard to be equal parts aromatherapy and Pre-Shave Oil, when the latter was sufficient.

Speaking of thickness, the Shave Cream was exactly that — cream — not some crappy gel that would dry out the minute the air hit it. It was actually very similar to the shave cream offered by TwinLuxe that I reviewed a few weeks ago. Both were high quality and coated and protected your skin, greatly smoothing the act of shaving. Though I favored the TwinLuxe product, if you’re on a tight budget, the eShave version is $22 for a 4 oz. bottle, while Twin Luxe charges $34 for a 5 oz. bottle. Both are very high quality and are vastly superior to any gel-based shaving cream on the market.

The After Shave Soother was probably my favorite of the three products I received from eShave. It was at least the one that distinguished itself the most from other similar products. So many after shaves on the market are not sufficient with just one application — after you put it on once, some of them even dry your skin out even further and you’re forced to apply some lotion or an additional product. But the eShave version was thick without being gloppy and felt great. I only had to apply one coat and I was good; my skin wasn’t dried out 15 minutes later, it was still firm and moist. It just felt good.

But seriously, the Pre-Shave Oil is so versatile that you could even use that as an after shave soother or post shave cream. It will leave your skin looking a little glossy and moist, so you may not want to use it before you go out. But it’s easy to see why Men’s Health was so enamored with it. The Sandalwood scent was a little much at times, particularly with the Pre Shave Oil and After Shave Soother. I like Sandalwood as a scent (I actually have a bar of sandalwood soap next to my sink right now), but felt like it was somewhat overpowering and unnecessary for a product that was already solid even without the added scent. Overall, eShave’s shaving products put them on the top tier with any other big name product on the market.

Grooming

Product Review: TwinLuxe Grooming Products

November 7, 2011 /

One of the tensest moments in the seminal 80s classic movie “Predator” is the scene where Sergeant Mac Eliot shaves his face in the jungle, sans shaving cream, with a cheap plastic razor while awaiting an encounter with the Predator.

For years, that one scene impacted the way I shaved my face. If it felt any better than the way it looked, I assumed I wasn’t doing it right. The act of dragging cold metal across dry, fractured skin in an effort to remove facial hair is the manliest thing there is — how in the world could it be pleasurable? And if it was, was I even doing it right?  Hence, stumbling blindly through mediocre shaving products for years, and even knowing full well that I was doing it.

TwinLuxe is redesigning the concepts of shaving and men’s skin care together, at the same time, with a line of products to bring pleasure back to the shaving ritual. The TwinLuxe line is comprised of seven different skin care products. I received three of them: Smooth Shave Cream, Booster Serum and Renewing Face Wash & Scrub. The bottles themselves looked clean and sleek and hinted at the experience that was to come. There was a distinct order to applying the following products which I followed diligently.

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Grooming

Product Review: AXE Hold + Touch Styling Products

October 30, 2011 /

When I received the new AXE Hold + Touch hair styling products, I was skeptical. Too many times in the past I had fallen prey to styling products that you could squeeze out of a tube that simply didn’t work.

More often than not, these products had the consistency and holding power of Dep or LA Looks (for all you children of the 80s and 90s), and no matter how many layers you glopped on, the product wouldn’t hold — it would merely coat your hair, mat it down and make it look sweaty, like Colin Farrell’s portrayal of Don Johnson in Miami Vice. Or, Don Cheadle in any movie he has ever been in. And guess what guys? Chicks hate the sweaty, Vaseline hair look.

Anyway, it was impossible to style or spike your hair, or give it the appearance of body or texture with those aforementioned products. And generally, those products came in squeezable tubes — just like the AXE samples that were staring up at me from a recently opened UPS delivery parcel. “Yawn,” I thought.

After a Sunday morning workout in preparation of doing nothing but watching NFL football and drinking all day, I took a shower and decided to try the AXE Hold + Touch Paste for Fine Hair first of the three samples.

My hair is somewhere between thick and fine so I chose the Paste for Fine Hair first because, generally, pastes are pretty strong. But based on the texture of the Fine Hair product, I squeezed an excessive amount into my hands, rubbed them together and began to style my hair. As I applied it, I looked in the mirror and thought, “Yawn, how predictable; another inferior hair gel.”

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Grooming, Lifestyle, Stuff to Buy

Product Review: Axe Fixers Line

October 10, 2011 /

In baseball in a critical situation, sometimes you need to put in a pinch hitter to change the flow and momentum of a game. Say you’re the Red Sox in the late 80’s and you’re down by a run in the ninth with men on second and third with two outs. Jody Reed enters the game and promptly slaps a pitch off the Green Monster for a double, scoring two runs, giving the BoSox the lead. The Axe Fixers line is like a young Jody Reed, leading the AL in doubles in 1990, completely changing the game.

The Axe Fixers line is a collection of shower gels and deodorant body sprays that are “designed to help guys revitalize the senses to fix their mind and change the game.” The collection is comprised of six fragrances:

– Axe Cool Metal
– Thai Massage
– Axe Rise
– Axe Shock
– Axe Snake Peel
– Axe Fever

The two most recent additions to the line, “Thai Massage” and “Cool Metal”, were the fragrances that I used to adorn my body. “Cool Metal” was a little more generic in terms of scent and feel; the scent itself reminded me of the “Original” scent of body wash from Old Spice. It also contains a strong dose of menthol which you could feel open up both the pores on your skin, and your nose and sinuses as well. It also contained quartz which may sound strange in a body wash, but it complemented the menthol nicely. “Cool Metal” was definitely more middle of the road than some of the other fragrances, more like a safe bet for someone making a transition from a similar body wash, definitely less exotic than the rest of the collection.

Speaking of exotic, “Thai Massage” was certainly that. Billed as containing “Tigergrass Oil and Bali Sea Salt” just the smell itself was more potent and practically whisked you away upon opening the lid. One thing I liked about “Thai Massage” that differed from Cool Metal were these tiny little yellow capsules in the gel. When you popped them open individually, a new scent was released, in addition to the primary scent. Ultimately “Thai Massage” had four different scents in one gel that were merged together- Tigeergrass Oil, Bali Sea Salt, Ginger and Sandalwood. I found the smells to be very relaxing and complemented each other nicely.

As far as the washing experience itself, both scents rinsed clean off with minimal scrubbing and didn’t leave behind any slimy residue. But it did leave behind a scent that was at least strong enough for my “special lady” that particular evening to smell. Her exact response was, “Wow you smell really fresh, compared to usual. What gives?”

In closing, “Cool Metal” was less exotic, more of a classic scent; something your dad may use. “Thai Massage” was my personal favorite and I swear I was more relaxed after using it.

Consider the “game changed.”

Grooming, Lifestyle

Product Review: Old Spice Fresh Collection

June 9, 2011 /

When braving the untamed wilderness of manhood there are many pitfalls and natural predators. The greatest of all? Your own body odor. The only thing worse than smelling bad is not knowing you smell bad. So for us guys who are too busy, unconcerned or stupid to realize it, Old Spice has your back (and underarms, and banus) thanks to the Old Spice Fresh Collection.

The Original Scent of Old Spice “High Endurance” body wash or deodorant has been a staple of many a man’s self-cleaning regiment for years. Mainly because of the great smell; for years chicks have been complementing me on my “cologne” and for years it’s been nothing but Old Spice deodorant, baby. And though Old Spice has been around for years, it isn’t just for your old man, man. Because it isn’t made for faceless/nameless guys who want to smell like a bar of soap. It’s for men whose identity screams “I know the Heimlich and can deliver a baby; and I did both before noon today, damn it!”

The collection of scents, comprised of some of the best odors on the planet, are “inspired by the freshest places on earth”. And though these places are uncommon and difficult to get to, Old Spice has made it easy (and cheap) to take the essence of these places and cram them into your nose holes. Five places from around the world are featured as both a body wash and a deodorant; Fiji, Matterhorn, Denali, Cyprus and Komodo.

Because I was a fan of the “High Endurance” line of the body wash and deodorant, my favorite was Matterhorn because it was like the original scent, except, just like the amplifiers for the band “Spinal Tap”, Matterhorn “goes up to eleven.” When you need that “little extra push over the cliff” both scent and feel were potent, but not “over the top.”

My least favorite scent in the Old Spice Fresh Collection was Komodo; it was just too subtle and didn’t deliver the strong punch to the nostrils that I enjoy. But that’s what Old Spice did right with all five of the aforementioned scents; if you want something a little more subtle than Matterhorn all five of the scents are easily distinguished and noticeably different, just like the men who use them.

Denali was my second favorite, marketed as smelling like “wilderness, open air and freedom.” Sure, it sounds ridiculous but is it any more ridiculous than a congressman with the last name of “Weiner” sending pictures of his unit to unsuspecting babes? If that can happen, then why can’t a deodorant/body wash actually smell like those things?

One more thing worth noting is the cost of any of the available scents. At $4.29 for a stick of deodorant or $3.99 for a bottle of body wash it’s cheaper than other leading brand names like Right Guard or Axe.

So “Axe” yourself a question; do you want to smell like a man, man? With Father’s Day right around the corner, pick up a bottle from the Old Spice Fresh Collection and watch your father inhale the initial scent and wistfully remember that time he slayed the local babes on the island of Cyprus. Your mom wasn’t his first.

Grooming

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