Men's Grooming Tips And Advice

I can’t believe how long I have had Dolce And Gabbana: The One scent, and I haven’t written a review for it. It’s one of the scent’s which I regard as a favourite, although that list is a fairly long one! 😉

I got this when it was released in 2008 although I can’t remember exactly when, I assume it would have been around Christmas time as a present. Since then I’ve gone on to use that bottle over the years, and then another, and after that decided a while back that I’d buy up some of my favourites in a larger bottle form, and got this 100ml bottle, which I’ve still not needed to open!

The fragrance itself is one of those real masculine styles of scents. It’s punchy, musky and woody, and is one for the evenings in the Autumn or Winter. You can tell just by looking at this colour of the fragrance the style of scent which this is going to be, the golden orange colours of a dark small, and it doesn’t disappoint.

It is almost the complete opposite of The One Geltleman, a scent from D&G which came after the success of this one, and is another favourite.

Although it’s now getting on in life, it’s still a really good fragrance to own, and is quite a classic, old school musky scent, but manages to stay refined and elegant. Check out more of my men’s aftershave reviews over here, and let me know what you think of The One.

Best season to wear – Autumn/Winter
Scent type – Woody, Spicy
Age Recommendation – 21+
Best Worn – Evening, Casual, Formal

Top Notes – Grapefruit, Coriander, Basil

Middle Notes – Cardamon, Ginger, Orange Blossom

Base Notes – Cedar Wood, Ambergris, Tobacco

Other Dolce And Gabbana Fragrances

• Dolce And Gabbana Light Blue
• D&G Masculine
• Dolce And Gabbana The One Gentleman

I am a little familiar with Trussardi, and I’ve had the original Trussardi Uomo for men for a couple of years, and really like it. The new fragrance, which is called The Red, brings similar Italian style with more added spice.

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Since it’s the Summer I go for the clean cut look for my face. If you’ve been a long time reader of my blog then you’ll know that in the past few years I decided to go for a beard in the winter months, and then keep it clean in the Summertime.

If you’ve ever done this, you’ll know that shaving can become such a chore when you’ve done the beard regime which is obviously less often.

Having said that, I really like having ultra smooth skin, so try to shave as often as I need to, and not get too lazy when it comes to grooming.

I always wet shave, I can’t imagine doing anything else. I’ve always thought that you get a far better finish, and it’s always a much nicer experience when having a wet shave. Wilkinson Sword asked me to try out their brand new Hydro 5 razor and put it through it’s paces, so I did.

First of all as the name suggests it’s a razor which has 5 blades, which gives a really close shave. One of the most important factors for using these razors is how well it works on your skin. It glides over the skin with ease and feels really nice.

This can be attributed to the technology behind the blade, which is a water activated gel reservoir, which they say delivers 40% less friction than a lubrication strip.

The back of the reservoir also has a handy flip-trimmer, which is there for hard to reach places, or to get that extra precision on smaller areas.

After shaving there was no irritation, and my skin is smooth. I am really happy with the results of the shave from the Hydro 5, it is a really good razor which gives a really nice shave. You can check it out over on the Wilkinson Sword website here. Let me know what you think, and check out more of my men’s grooming tips and see what works for you.

Written in collaboration with Wilkinson Sword

The ability to be modern, yet also timeless, is one of the stories which Salvatore Ferragamo wants to tell in it’s latest scent, Uomo Salvatore Ferragamo. The luxury Italian fashion house sent over the brand new scent for me to check out.

It’s said to inspire the contemporary man, which is described as a modern gentleman with typical Italian, full of charisma, creativity and style wherever he goes.

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Coming from Jersey by the way of Australia is Cash and Bash, an independent hair and skin care brand all about premium ingredients which are both natural and earth friendly. The guys sent over a couple of their cool products to try out.

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I have not tried anything from LAB Series for quite some time, so when House Of Fraser said they wanted my thoughts on a couple of products I had to say yes. The two products in question were the Multi Action Face Wash and PR LS All In One Face Treatment.

LAB Series has a really easy system for their products; They’re labelled for the job which they do. These two carry the CLEAN and TREAT statements, which make it really easy for an guy to understand if you’re not too familiar with products, which can get overwhelming since there’s so many.

The face wash is really good, it’s fairly unscented and works well. You don’t need a whole lot of this for your face, so it should last a fair while. When I first used this I used too much, you will too, as you really only need a small amount for full face coverage.

It’s a scrub, and so exfoliates, cleanses and conditions the skin. For a scrub, I would usually only use this 3-4 times a week, I’ve always thought that a scrub type of wash shouldn’t be used everyday, however this is not too abrasive so could be fine for light daily use.

Next up is the PR LS All In One Face Treatment. This is like a daily moisturiser, however LAB Series say this is an all in one face treatment. It soothes, moisturises, repairs and mattifying for your skin.

This can be used daily, and should be used after shaving, since I already use an aftershave balm, I will use this well after I have used the aftershave balm, or possibly even miss shave days.

The Pro LS All-In-One Face Treatment costs £28 for a 100ml tube, with the face wash coming in a 100ml size too for £18.50.

This is a great product, and if you’re looking to try for your grooming routine, this is worth considering.

Thanks to House Of Fraser for sending over these products

Regular readers of my blog will know my love of Dermalogica products, so when they got in touch about their latest masque, I had to give it a try. Dermalogica were running a special masterclass in Fenwick with a face mapping skin analysis, sadly I could not make it down but they were happy to send over the brand new Charcoal Rescue Masque for me to try.

Since I shaved my beard off I have been using facial products more and more to get my skin back to being used to not having a beard, including scrubs and moisturiser. I always profess the use of an aftershave balm, it really helps a guys skin stay smooth and free from irritation.

Masques are something which I use less, but I have used them in the past with good results, so it was great to try this one from Dermalogica. Masques are used to detoxify and brighten the skin, and are good if your skin is looking or feeling a bit tired. They say it has Activated Binchotan Charcoal that powerfully absorbs impurities while Sulphur promotes cellturner for dramatically brighter skin.

I tried the masque which is really easy to use. You use apply it on your face, leave it for 7 – 10 minutes and then wash it off with warm hands. After 7 or 8 minutes you can really feel the masque on your skin, and once I removed it off it certainly does feel different, it feels more refreshed.

I have only used this once so far I cannot write about the long term looks of my skin yet, but it is definitely off to a good start. I’ll probably use this once or twice a week maximum, so I will update this post then. I’ll combine it with my Dermalogica face scrub which I have, as well as a moisturiser.

I really like Floris scents, and if you’re a regular reader of my blog you’ll know the love I have for Floris Santal, which is definitely one of my favourite fragrances which I currently own. If you aren’t familiar with Floris, they are a British perfume house, founded in 1730 in London and have a range of men’s and women’s perfumes, as well as scents for the home.

They also offer fragrance customisation, along with a bespoke perfume design service, where you can design your own scent from the ground up. So when my friends over at Floris told me about this fragrance, I had to check it out.

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I recently got the GANT Pour Homme Eau De Toilette scent from GANT, and is the first scent I have had from the brand. The first thing you notice about this is the bottle, which is a very dark blue colour, with the glass having a thatched style of pattern throughout the bottle.

It has minimal GANT branding to the front of the bottle, with the top and atomiser being a smooth matte black colour.

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Ralph Lauren have launched their latest fragrance for Spring/Summer 2016, Polo Blue. I have a few of the Ralph Lauren scents, and they are very pleasant. A while back I got a scent from the Ralph Lauren Big Pony Collection, number 2, which was quite a sweet style of smell.

This brand new offering is Eau De Parfum rather than the usual Eau De Toilette which you’d be used to seeing, which means it’s a stronger formulation of a scent.

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