The Art Of Shaving (“TAOS”) has been expanding their scent offerings so I decided to try their Bergamot & Neroli shaving cream. Here are my impressions of the scent and the performance.
A Little Scent History
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It wasn’t too long ago that TAOS limited itself to four scents: Sandalwood, Lavender, Lemon, and Unscented. A few years ago they added a seasonal Peppermint “candy cane” scent around the gift-giving holidays. They also tried an “Ocean Kelp” line. When The Kingsman: The Secret Service movie came out they launched a limited edition “Kingsman” scent (which has since been relaunched as Bourbon).
Apparently those experiments were successful because TAOS has since added several additional scent lines including a Bergamot Neroli line. I decided to pick up a tube of Bergamot Neroli to try.
The Art Of Shaving Bergamot Neroli Shaving Cream
Ingredients: Water/Aqua, Palmitic Acid, Myristic Acid, Stearic Acid, Coconut Acid, Glycerin, Potassium Hydroxide, Fragrance/Parfum, Triethanolamine, Citrus Aurantium, Bergamia (Bergamot) Fruit Oil, Citrus Aurantium Amara (Bitter Orange) Flower Oil, Phenoxyethanol, Sodium Hydroxide, Tetrasodium Edta, Disodium Edta, Methylisothaiazolinone.
TAOS describes the scent as:
“The Bergamot Neroli shaving cream contains a distinct blend of an uplifting, cold pressed citrus, rounded with the sweet floral and fragrant bitter orange tree blossom.”
What does Bergamot & Neroli smell like? Me, I get much more of a floral scent, followed by some citrus. There are a number of “Bergamot Neroli” shave products I can compare it to, such as Don Marco from Italian Barber (which I find more “tarty” than the TAOS product), Tcheon Fung Sing, and Mondial (from both of which I get more of a sweet citrus scent).
The The Art Of Shaving Bergamot Neroli shaving cream lathers up quickly (even in my hard water) and voluminously, with a consistency of a cross between a meringue and yogurt. It is quite tolerant of different water hydration ratios for me–I think this could be used brushless pretty easily by massaging a little more of it than usual into a wet face with wet hands.
And I think the cream’s performance is pretty solid! In my experience TAOS shave creams generally perform as well as many of the top-shelf British brands. Both lubrication/glide and cushion/protection are excellent. TAOS creams are on Sharpologist’s “best shave creams” list for a reason.
TAOS gets knocked about in the wet shaving enthusiast community sometimes for being the “corporate sell-out” but their relatively wide availability and the number of brick and mortar outlets give them the advantage of being a “gateway drug” of old-school shaving.
You can get The Art Of Shaving Bergamot Neroli shave cream in a tube or a tub along with several other grooming products in the scent, including a pre-shave oil and a shave balm. Take a whiff of it if you’re near one of their outlets: if you like floral/citrus scents I think you’ll enjoy this one, too.
Have you tried a Bergamot Neroli scent in a shave product? What do you think about it? Leave a comment below!
I enjoyed AoS Sandalwood Shaving Cream but as everyone mentioned, it’s a bit expensive. I was in my local Burlington store today (a discount clothing chain) and was surprised to find two 5 oz. (150 ml) jars of Bergamot Neroli Cream for $3.99 each. I bought both without even taking a sniff. Now that I’m home, I opened a jar and sampled. I think I’m going to like this scent. It’s definitely different from most of my other creams and soaps but I’m sure that it’s going to be a good performer.
AOS was my “gateway drug” into wet shaving. I enjoyed their Sandalwood and Peppermint products for about 3 years before I branched out and tried other brands. They make good solid products. Sadly they are overpriced, but they do have to pay for a brick and mortar presentation.
AOS shaving soaps and creams perform very well but are very overpriced.
Just used AOS sandalwood shaving cream, now I understand why people think it’s so good. It made me want to try the Vetiver. Thanks for your reviews and hard work!
As one who was initially introduced to traditional shaving through AOS, it’s nice to see them get some positive recognition. While I have no experience with this scent, I have used several other of their creams. And you are correct, AOS cream can be used, very successfully, without a brush. I used it that way for several years.
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