Wholly Kaw Fougere Mania - Siero Base! Excellent!

Scent is probably the most subjective part of the whole wet shaving world. I guess that's part of the magic, particularly when you're buying online scent unsmelled!  That said, I'd rather take my chances with artisans like Wholly Kaw who I believe blend their own scents (If they don't then they have someone custom blending for them) then go with the "dependability" of the off the shelf scent blends available from the suppliers of raw materials like Essential Wholesale & Labs.  There is a scent blend that I first smelled with a MLS Jurate  - its described as:

Named after the Goddess Jūratė from a very popular Lithuanian folktale, it is said she lived under the Baltic Sea in a beautiful amber castle. Jūratė ruled the sea and all of the sea-life.
There was a young fisherman named Kastytis that was disturbing the peace as he was catching many of her fish. Jūratė decided to punish him to restore the peace of her sea, but she fell in love with the handsome young fisherman. They lived together blissfully in her amber castle, until Perkūnas, the thunder-god, found out that the immortal goddess had fallen in love with a mortal man. He became furious and struck her castle. It exploded into millions of pieces. Jūratė rescued Kastytis from drowning in the storm, but Jūratė was chained to the ruins on the seafloor by Perkūnas. According to legend Jūratė mourns the loss of him to this day. It is said that one could hear her sad voice in a stormy sea and that it is her tears of amber that come ashore after a storm on the Baltic Sea. In an ode to Jūratė and Kastytis’ love story, we decided to wrap the warm, rich scent of amber in a blend of woody cedar, hay, sandalwood, with touches of vanilla, rum and cinnamon. It is a deliciously warm, deep scent sure the please both the men and the ladies.

Then I recognized the exact same scent in Soap Commander Fortitude which is described as :

FORTITUDE. The inner strength and grit of a man is developed in harsh times. This deep, complex fragrance pays tribute to that mental and emotional stamina with bold strains of warm hay, tobacco, and rum. This scent will remind you of a sophisticated gentleman's den....a place to reflect, regroup, set goals, and Take Charge. This was our highly successful Winter selection from 2015 and we decided to bring it into the core line for you to enjoy all year long.

It turned up next in The Holy Black Elixir and I think I may have smelled it in one other soap.  It was nice enough the first time but it wasn't so good that everybody should make it.   I came to despise the scent and, for me it represents what can go wrong with using commercial blends.  The same thing has happened with bay rum - most soap makers have a bay rum in their lineup but many use whatever that ubiquitous, generic bay rum scent is - Bay Rum Blend #14??  The best bay rum scents on the market have a flair and are not just that awful blend that says "I don't really care about bay rum but I have to have one in my lineup so here is one that required zero effort on my part..enjoy".  As far as I'm concerned if you're not going to do the scent (bay rum) justice and put your own interpretation on it then why bother?  

Back to Wholly Kaw - I have almost all of their scents in various bases and while I won't say I love them all (Cuero Oscuro) I love most of them and enjoy almost all of them.  I'll have to go sniff Spice Vitae to remind myself as I'm nose confusing it right now with Twice as Spice which is really nice.  I respect Wholly Kaw for pushing the envelope and taking some chances with scent.  Thats how home runs are hit.  And if you're wondering, Rebelle is beautiful 

I used Fougere Mania again today, and it’s a great soap!

I see that WK came out with a new Tempest in the Siero Base!  I am excited about that, and ordered it and the matching aftershave today (I broke my rule about not buying soaps in the heat...had to be done)!  Has anyone used it yet?

Vr

Matt

I used tempest this am. Lovely scent and mild scent strength, which I think is good with this sort of scent. And what can I say about the siero that hasn’t already been said....just absolutely amazing.

Excellent!  Thanks!

Vr

Matt

Following the Wholly Kaw love for Dragon's Blood, I see two different Siero 2021 bases:

• Tallow
  Potassium Stearate, Sodium Stearate, Aqua, Donkey Milk, Water Buffalo Milk, Donkey Milk Whey, Water Buffalo Milk Whey, Glycerin, Potassium Tallowate, Sodium Tallowate, Potassium Ricinoleate, Sodium Ricinoleate, Potassium Shea Butterate, Sodium Shea Butterate, Garcinia Indica (Kokum) Butter, Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Butter, Hydrolyzed Linseed, Linoleic Acid, Linolenic Acid, Humulus Lupulus (Hops) Extract, Lanolin, Fragrance, Phenoxyethanol, Caprylyl Glycol, Sorbic Acid
  
• Vegan
  Potassium Stearate, Sodium Stearate, Aqua, Glycerin, Potassium Ricinoleate, Sodium Ricinoleate, Potassium Mango Stearate, Sodium Mango Stearate, Potassium Shea Butterate, Sodium Shea Butterate, Garcinia Indica (Kokum) Butter, Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Butter, Hydrolyzed Sodium Hyaluronate, Sodium Hyaluronate, Polyquaternium-10, Linoleic Acid, Linolenic Acid, Humulus Lupulus (Hops) Extract, Soybean Glycerides, Shea Butter Unsaponifiables, Phenoxyethanol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Fragrance
  

Not easy to understand the differences.
A visual comparison It's my way to focus.


Never triend.
Not Tallow. Not Vegan.

But reading the INCI, I like more the Vegan.
In details:
• more Glycerin
• deep acting butters
• higher position
• Acid Hyaluronic (derivates)

What does your skin feel about?