Barrister's Reserve: preview thoughts

Following my still-stumbling third Mongoose shave this morning, I decided to try the sample of Barrister's Reserve AS that came with my friend's Night Music order (still waiting on my own order to arrive). I recall Barrister_N_Mann teasing that this is a new after-shave formula of remarkable qualities, possibly so remarkable that it can't even be made in-house. Such mystery! Given how little we know about it so far, here's what I'm noticing (though to be fair, this is still within the first hour of splashing it on):

The scent is sort of, hrm, sharp at first. My friend gets a "bug spray" vibe, in the Citronella sense, though I didn't get that at all. I'd say sharp and a little keening is a fair way to put it, though not objectionable, but also for me not immediately alluring. It maybe reminded me in olfactory personality, if not actual notes, of Pinaud Clubman. But this sharp aspect fades within 5-10 seconds into a classical musk dry down: it reminds me a bit of the musk at the base of Acqua di Parma Colonia, for instance. This is now the element that's lingering.

Although there's definitely some sting from the alcohol, this passed quickly and my skin felt, well, soothed, almost right away. At the moment, despite a stumbling shave over yesterday's irritation, I'm not feeling any razor burn, and my skin is not at all dry. In fact I feel a bit of a slightly sticky layer, probably from glycerine or another component. It's not as sticky as Kyovu can be, but then, that stickiness in Kyovu treats my skin well.

So far, so good! As I'm neutral on the scent, I'm mostly curious about how this holds up in skin care right now. I'll see how things feel later in the day.

Thanks, Will, for giving us a chance to try this out.

To me all I can smell initially is alcohol. Once that evaporates then I get a nice clean smell that reminds me of something my barber used on me. The skin care is amazing. I don't get the tacky feeling and I used a lot this morning to try and get it. Maybe I just remember how tacky some other versions of this where and that makes this one seem tack-free.

Indeed, checking again, tacky would be the wrong word. Instead I can tell there's a film on my face, but I don't mean that in a bad way; it feels fine, even a bit smoothing and protective.

Also, sniffed my Pinaud just now, and indeed there's more than a passing similarity. Nothing wrong with that!

(My bad with the original subject line: it's Barrister's Reserve, not Barrister Reserve.)

I've been wanting to try it and I thought Maggard would have sent me some with my Night Music order but that wasn't the case. Are there different scents or just the one? Does it have menthol in it?

Not sure what Will's plans for scents are, but I did not detect any menthol.

No menthol in it, no. Maggard didn't receive any of them. Instead, we shipped 100 samples each to 20 people in the community to distribute them as they see fit. Additionally, Italian Barber, Shaving Station, and The Stray Whisker (Canada, Britain/EU, and Australia) each received 500 to distribute to their respective customer bases.

I had hoped to get a sample from Italian Barber in my Night Music order but I guess not - I think Will posted that IB had got the samples too late to put in with the NM. I'm not sure what I have to do to get one. Order more B&M product on the hopes that he puts in some sample aftershave I guess but I'm stocked for the time being and I don't think I'll be making a purchase purely to get a sample.
Mark

Same here Marko. I got Night Music from IB and did not receive a sample of the "Classic Splash" as I've seen in other people's pics. Bummer as I was hoping to try it.

An update, now that it's been a good six hours since I splashed this new splash on: this stuff is great! I have other alcohol splashes that aren't particularly drying and seem to do some healing (Speick, B&M Tonique), but this is an alcohol splash that seems to have smoothed and protected my skin all afternoon, in addition to soothing (very quickly) the little bit of irritation I'd created with the Mongoose. There's still a little bit of visible irritation on my neck, but less than I'd usually expect. Happily, the Barrister's Reserve isn't sticky or tacky the way the Kyovu can be. I obviously don't know what ingredients Will has put together here, but a soothing, smoothing, non-drying alcohol splash seems to me a pretty remarkable thing. I'm looking forward to using more soon and seeing how it continues to perform.

Meantime, very promising! And now I too am very curious about what other scents we might see...

Gents, I have a feeling that if you contact Joe about it, he'd be happy to send them to you for the mere cost of postage.

onethinline All things can be improved. I'm looking into some additional soothing and redness-reducing ingredients and will be visiting the formulary lab at the end of the month to put the feedback I've obtained to use in perfecting the design. I'm glad you like it as it is, though. Incidentally, Kyovu is going to be temporarily taken off the market soon to rectify many of the problems you've mentioned.