First up, we have Taylor of Old Bond Street’s Eton College Collection shaving cream.

What TOBS has to say about themselves:

“A beautiful masculine fragrance with dominant citrus lemon notes combined with fruity citrus notes of orange and mandarin. All this is blended with gentle floral notes that rest on a base of warm patchouli. Contains Lemon oil and Patchouli oil.”

As this scent is unfortunately not available in the soap format, I went with a jar of the cream. First the good. It smells nice. I’m not sure I agree with the “dominant lemon notes” appraisal, it certainly doesn’t seem like an excessively citrus-y scent; there’s a nice balance of the citrus, the florals, and the patchouli. It smells pretty much exactly how I’d expect a young British boy off to boarding-school might be striving for, nothing too stodgy like his father might wear, but still refined.

And now for the bad: In order to make out all the above, I had to stick my nose right into the bowl of the cream. It’s quite a weak scent, to the point that I’m unable to detect any scent when holding the bowl any more than a few inches away from my face. During the shave itself, I was only able to catch the occasional momentary whiff of it, which to my mind, kind of defeats the purpose.

For the shave itself, the lather is nice and thick, which of course you would expect from most creams. Likewise, you didn’t get much in the way of a foaming action. It took to the heat from the scuttle quite nicely. However, it wasn’t the slipperiest shave I’ve had, a bit middle of the road in that regard.

8/10 Scent Pleasantness

5/10 Scent Strength

8/10 Lather Quality (reflects new scoring as outlined here)

Overall, I give it a 6/10. It’s a decent typical cream shave, but the underpowered scent makes it one I’d not recommend for purchase.

Gear used: