How about a little music for the season?

 

Merry Christmas from Uncle Albert

Merry Christmas Wet-shavers!

Edit: Recipe modified for safety!  I reduced the percentage of Essential Oils due to safety concerns.

As an extra special gift for the holiday season, I’ve decided to give something back to the community that has given me so much. I present to you the Open Shave License (OSL) and a little something extra.

Open Shave License:
Any recipe presented under this license is to be considered freely available to the general public and anyone using the recipe is entitled to change and or modify the recipe in full or in part as they see fit. The recipe is free for both private and commercial use. It is to be understood that any person or entity presenting a recipe under the Open Shave License (OSL) requests that any new recipes derived from the original recipe bear some form of acknowledgement to its origin.

And now, without further ado, I present to you:

Uncle Albert’s Amazing Solid Cream Shaving Cake — Atreides Scent

(This recipe presented under the OSL)
4oz. Life of the Party(tm) Natural Clear Olive Oil Soap (Special Suspension Formula)
5 drops Lemon EO
5 drops Jasmine EO
2 drops Lime EO
6 drops Clove EO
3 drops Allspice EO
3 drops Anise EO
4 drops Lavender EO
3 drops Cedarwood EO
7 drops Sandalwood/Vanilla FO
35 drops Almond Oil
1/2 teaspoon Aztec Secret Indian Healing Clay (Bentonite)

Mix the oils in a small cup.
Melt the soap base thoroughly.
Stir in clay until well dispersed.
Stir in oil mixture.
Pour into mold.
Wait impatiently for soap to harden.
Remove from mold.
Place puck in mug.
Lather.
Shave.
Enjoy!

 

Review:St. Charles Shave Mediterranean Citrus Splash

Reviewing a free thing can be tricky. It’s easy to invent great value in something that cost you nothing and has few redeemable qualities; That’s why I’ve waited so long to review this great product, wanting to ensure that I gave it a fair shake. Several months ago, I was the fortunate winner of an e-mail contest hosted by Sue from Saint Charles Shave. For being the 10th respondent, I was gifted with a free 4oz. bottle of Mediterranean Citrus Aftershave Splash.

The first thing that struck me when I opened the box was that the bottle was honest to goodness glass. Over the years, some of the more notable brands of aftershave have ditched the glass bottle paradigm, opting to ignore the sensuous sensibilities of their customers to drive cost down, along with the perceived value of their product (I’m looking at you Old Spice). It’s great to see that Sue has paid attention to her customers and given them something they can appreciate on many levels. The heavy glass bottle is a simple rectangle with beveled edges, and feels chunky–comforting qualities when one is handling glass with wet hands. The label is a simple clear decal with the name of the product along with the quantity. It’s subtle packaging, and that’s exactly what I want in my aftershave–well, either that, or something over-the-top unique that really serves as an eye-catcher.

I really like the smell of Mediterranean Citrus. I’m not sure what citrus fruits grow in the Mediterranean, but it’s groves must smell really nice. The first note that really hit me was a sort of mango or maybe passion-fruit. It has a sort of floral smell to it too… like maybe the blossoms from the fruit trees. It had a very light hint of menthol. The scent is quite “cool” and is reminiscent of a lighter Aqua Velva plus a bit of orange Pez(tm).

Being a fan of the high-alcohol content, glycerine-free, Pinaud after-shaves, I was surprised by the slick/sticky/almost-but-not-quite-thick nature of the lightly golden splash. Having read other reviews, I knew not to use too much– which is very possible if you’re used to using the thinner aftershaves on the market.

This aftershave performs spectacularly. It has just enough menthol to provide that cooling sensation that so many Aqua Velva fans crave with a slightly less overpowering blast of fruit scent. It goes on smooth and provides a nice moisturizing finish to your shave.

I keep comparing Mediterranean Citrus to Aqua Velva for a reason. I get the sense that Sue was striving to make something similar, but not exactly like the Menthol Awesomesauce, pulling out those elements that make Aqua Velva a great product and adding those things that make it an even greater product.

So there you have it, Saint Charles Shave’s Mediterranean Citrus is an excellent aftershave splash, and well worth giving a try.

 

Thanks for the Cuppa!

I’d like to take a brief moment to say “Thanks” to TWGW. She gave me an awesome anniversary gift for our 6th. She found an online survey about the Senseo coffee pod machine, and after filling it out, discovered that we qualified for a free one! Granted, we did have to pay $15 shipping and handling, but otherwise, it was a $70 coffee maker for free.

It arrived Thursday, along with a box of assorted pods, a canister for keeping them in, and 3 $20 off coupons to give to my friends. For those not in the know, the Senseo coffee machine uses individual “pods” to make coffee, one 4oz. cup at a time. Actually, if you use 2 pods you can make a full 8oz. mug of coffee. The beauty is that it makes your cup in about 30 seconds with a nice frothy surface.

While I drink my coffee black, I found that it made for a slightly weak java, not necessarily a bad thing, mind you. I’ve heard complaints that 1 pod makes coffee too weak, and 2 pods is too strong, but I’m happy with it. I’ve only used the decaf and the “Paris” sample so far, but I was generally pleased with it’s quality. I am by no means a coffee connoisseur, but I found it to be a quite passable cup of brew. I was surprised to find that 4oz was actually a good sized portion, just enough to satisfy my craving for a little of the magic bean. At only one (half)cup of coffee per pod, I can see where it could get a little expensive, but the expense is countered by the convenience of a perfectly sized and well brewed portion of coffee, with very little cleanup.

I’ve read where some people are making their own pods, and I’ve seen where you can buy reusable pods, though I suspect that’s a messy option. I have a drip coffee maker that makes one travel sized mug of coffee and uses a small metal basket filter, and cleaning it is a royal pain. While I like conservation, and think we should reduce waste in general, I can’t overlook the convenience in this simple design. Thanks again, honey, I love it.

 

WYSINWYG

“Wussy in a wig?” What’s that? It’s an acronym for What You See Is Not What You Get. There were several reasons for my move to wordpress.com from blogspot.com— the WYSIWYG editor was not one of them. While wordpress does a lot of things very well, handling the entry and editing of posts is not a strong point with the service. I have had intermittent issues with the editor randomly losing wordwrap, aligning text incorrectly and just overall frustration with the lack of certain features. (‘font size’ should be a standard feature in any editor.) My frustration led me to find w.bloggar. This diminutive piece of software is a great little tool. It works with several different hosts, including wordpress and blogspot, to allow you to type up your posts outside of the web front-end and upload and even publish them at your leisure. It will directly upload your post without you ever having to touch the dashboard on wordpress. While by no means perfect, it does answer several of the little knit-picky things that might bother you with online tools. I’ve only just begun to start using it, but already I’ve discovered some neat features including the ability to set multiple categories for your post. One feature that seems to be missing, however, is the ability to edit tags. One nice thing about this program is that it’s portable. You just unzip the file and drop it on your thumbdrive and you can carry your post editing tool with you. The initial setup was a little tricky, but after a quick perusal of the interwebs, I found some tips on how to configure it. Perhaps the greatest of all features on w.bloggar is it’s price-tag. Free.