Neon Moon (The Wet Shaving Store x HC&C) Review by Tobin’s Throwbacks

How are we doing? I’m doing great and I can’t get over just how much I love my new camera. It can record all the way up to 8K, but unfortunately, YouTube and the app I use for editing my videos don’t really support anything over 4K. So, I’m going to try and keep these videos to what they call ultra-high-def or maybe just standard high definition. Right now, we’re recording in ultra-high-def, and if you’re playing at least 1080p, I hope that ocean is just popping. We are at Neptune State Park, which is on the Pacific Ocean, just south of Yachats. This is day two of our vacation. The first video I recorded was Ule Ham, and this is the second video. And this is my full review of Neon Moon, a collaboration between the Wet Shaving Store, Andy Amaya, and Hendrick’s Classics, Pete Hendrick. The name of the fragrance is inspired by the song “Neon Moon” by Brooks and Dunn. The fragrance has absolutely nothing to do with the song or even the name, but I do love this label.

Let’s talk about the fragrance in just a second. Kick these shades off. At the end of the shave, I’ll have a b-roll showing you a 360 of my surroundings and proving to you that it’s not a green screen and that I am really here. That’s a question that I get at least a couple of times a month. I’ll get a question whether or not it’s a green screen or if my Shave of the Day photos are AI-generated. They are not. Everything I do is absolutely real. The only thing would be whether or not I’m using lighting to my advantage. Let’s get this going.

I have had Neon Moon for quite a while now. When I first received the Buimo Tattoo Club that Shave Dad collaboration is when I first received this. So, I’ve been using this off and on for the last month or more. Got a handful of shaves in on it. I have the matching splash I’ll be using at the end of the shave, of course. The fragrance, and one of the reasons why I wanted to do it here. So, this is one of those fragrances that you’re either going to love or you’re not going to like it. So, I’m going to do my best to describe to you guys what it smells like and then the occasions that I feel like this would be best suited.

If you’re familiar with Tide laundry detergent, you might have an idea of what this smells like. It has an ozonic fragrance to it. If you saw my Yule Ham or if I’ve uploaded it already, I forgot my shave bowls, so I’m using these plastic cereal bowls. Don’t want to overdo my water here. My G5C from AP Shave Co. Oceanic notes, there’s a lemony-ness to the fragrance. It very much smells like fresh laundry detergent. While I enjoy the fragrance, this is a fragrance that I wouldn’t wear all the time. The wife gives it a seven. Emily also gives it a seven. If you’re familiar with my content, you know that I always give you guys their take. I’ve had them smell this many times and I’ve shaved with it at least five times.

This is a very invigorating fragrance, perfect for the morning, be great for like the office. I don’t know that I would wear it on a night out. The girls with their rating, that’s what I was talking about, had a stupid thought, a brain fart there. I lost where I was going. So, the girls, a zero would be “hate it”, five would be “like it”, and 10 would be “absolutely love it”. So, with both of my girls giving this a seven, that is a great score for me. I really, really like it. I do. I just don’t know of how many occasions there would be for me personally to wear it. I think early in the morning is perfect, wearing it to work is perfect. I’m usually a nighttime shaver. The biggest exception is when I do these videos. Other than that, I generally come home from work and I shower and shave. I’m not a morning shaver. Did I say I just finished applying the Tube 2.0 pre-shave from Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements? That’s the cube and a travel container. I have a mirror right down here. This will be my third use of the G5C. It is low tide (the ocean). The tide is starting to come back in.

Look at that. Pete’s base is absolutely fantastic. This will be available on February 23rd. Right now, as I’m recording this, it’s February 10th, so this will be released two weeks from today. A plane flying overhead. Did you guys see that? If you love a fresh oceanic type fragrance, this is absolutely right up your alley. It is a very premium-smelling fragrance. I’ve gotten about 6 to 8 hours of good wear out of it, to where the fragrance is still detectable on the skin.

I’ll be using that to rinse my Muhle. I brought two razors with me, both Muhle’s. And it has a first-use platinum Stranglett. Look at that backdrop. I love it. My new camera is the Samsung Galaxy S24, and I couldn’t be happier with it. I’m going to have to add more water before the second pass. I’m still working on developing a scoring system. I want it to be scientific and something that I can apply time and time again, and the type of system that if I were to look back on a year from now or two years from now, I’d still be happy with it.

I don’t know. I’ll end up sharing that whole process with you guys in a Rambles and Rants video. But under that, I won’t give you any details on it now. But under that, I would feel very comfortable with giving this a seven or an eight. One of the things I’ll be looking at with that system is uniqueness. How unique is the fragrance? What is the probability of you or myself having a fragrance like it in your den? Or the likelihood of you finding another fragrance like it?

They really don’t get much more unique than this one. A fragrance that this kind of reminds me of that you can no longer find and it’s different. It’s still vastly different. Just reminds me of is the Kraken from Mickey Lee Soapworks. Now they’re different. The Kraken has a bunch of different notes in it. It was Mickey Lee Soapworks’ barbershop. I’ll put a photo of it right up here. I have it. I love it. It’s one of the ones that I use every now and then because I want it to last forever. So, in terms of uniqueness, an absolute ten. And I’m also going to be applying that to the label that is found on the soap or splash or perfume, whatever. And so, I feel like this label is very unique and the fragrance is very unique. And anymore, that is something because of my collection, right? Of 200 soaps, I don’t know if I’ll achieve that, but I’ll be happy if I can get it down to 250. But anymore, that is something that I definitely look for when buying a new set. How unique is it? Do I have another fragrance like it? Do I have a label that is anywhere similar?

It’s my understanding that Andy Amaya at The Wet Shaving Store created that label, and I love it. There’s nothing else in my den remotely like it. And that can absolutely be said about the fragrance. It is a waker-upper. It’s very well-blended. There’s really not a whole lot of change in the dry-down. It’s minimal. Did I say I have a mirror right down here? I do. I have you guys hanging in an old bushy thing. That’s actually this part of it is dead. See that in the B-roll here in a minute.

Available Friday, February 26th

So, if you’re looking for a unique fresh oceanic with hints of citrus, this fragrance is right up your alley. If you don’t like the sound of laundry detergent, you might not want to buy this. But I’m here to tell you that while it does smell like fresh laundry detergent, it’s wearable. If it wasn’t wearable, I would say it. And that’s one of the things that you guys may know that I love about Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements is that they take things that you wouldn’t think would be wearable or applicable to wet shaving, and they make it wearable.

Now, if you saw my Yule Ham video, Yule Ham being wearable is highly debatable for me. I don’t think Ule Ham is wearable, but I still do marvel at the fact that Doug and Fran were able to create a fragrance that smells like a Christmas ham. And here with this fragrance, Neon Moon, it’s the exact same thing, except for this is wearable. I think a lot of women will love this on you because you’re going to smell fresh and clean, clean and inviting. Women will love this fragrance on you. Will all? I don’t know, but I think that this very much will be the kind of fragrance that you can expect a woman to want to get closer to.

And for me personally, that is one of the things that fragrances are all about. I want a fragrance that my wife enjoys, and that when she smells it, whether she realizes it consciously or subconsciously, it makes her want to get closer to me. And if you’re a single guy, you want a fragrance that gets you noticed and then does the same thing. And that’s one of the reasons why I personally, when it comes to wearing perfume or cologne, I don’t like there to be too much projection.

I don’t want there’s two different thinkings with fragrances, with parfums and splashes, right? And that is to where you walk in a room and you announce yourself with your smell that people can just smell you from 20 feet away. Um, and so you announce yourself. I’m not of that thinking or of that logic. I want a fragrance that someone has to discover on me, that when they get within my bubble of two or three feet, they can smell it. And the hope is that they like it, and then they want to get close to you.

And if you’re a single guy and you’re going out to the club or whatever, I think it’s to your advantage to have it close to the skin. That way, when you do get the attention of someone they draw close to you. This fragrance would fall into that discovery category, too, where there’s only a couple of feet of projection. It’s very close to the skin. There is a decent sillage, meaning that when you walk, it leaves a little trail behind you. Think of a boat going through the water and how it leaves a wake behind you. That’s sillage. And that is the kind of thing too, that as you walk by someone, they discover you. They don’t notice it as you’re approaching. They notice it after you pass. And that’s the kind of thing that will get them to turn their head and be like, “Damn, you smell good.”

I think that Neon Moon falls into that category as well. Looking to see where I set my stuff. I only brought my one stool with me, my collapsible one from Bass Pro Shops that Lucas, our son, got me for Christmas a couple of years ago. I think two years ago. Two Christmases ago. The Everlasting Alum Block from Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements. I love that block. If you guys are ever on the fence or thinking about it, that is a damn fine shaver. Slightly more aggressive, right around medium aggression. Put an aggressive blade in it, it’s like a six-and-a-half. Put something more mild in it, five, four, and two. I love it. It’s slightly more aggressive, and slightly more efficient than the R89 or DE89 from Edwin Jagger. It’s perfect. It’s a great daily driver. I always say this in my outdoor videos. Say it again.

Normally, I would let the Alum sit for two or three minutes while I clean my gear here. But for the effort of time in this video, I’ll just apply it and then go straight to my splash. Very lemony off the top, citrusy. A good lemon. It’s good stuff, man. It really is. I’m just trying to be very honest with you guys. I don’t want to create FOMO, and it doesn’t do me or the artisan any good if I overhype something and then you buy it and you don’t like it. So, that’s why I just want to caution what it smells like, because this is the kind of fragrance that some guys aren’t going to want to wear. But I think that overall, most guys will enjoy this fragrance. And what I enjoy most about it, if I had to sum it up, it’s that uniqueness. This is so unique that there’s nothing else like it in my den. And considering I have over 300 soap sets, I think that is saying a lot. So, hope that all makes sense and that it invades my feelings. I don’t have any notes. I didn’t bring any notes with me, so I’m just going off of what I remember and the limited information I have.

Once again, this drops on February 23rd. Giant crow or raven flying overhead. Hopefully, it comes into the screen. That last shave that I did with Year of the Dragon, he never did. No, he went that way. Has anything flown over my head behind me? I like it when I edit the video, I sometimes see things that I didn’t notice when I was doing the shave. In that last shave review, Year of the Dragon, I didn’t notice that some people walked by on the road. You may not even have noticed it, but I noticed it when I was editing it. My go-to post-shave balm is Mysterium Serum from Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements. Shoot, I didn’t say it at the beginning of the video. It was kind of implied. I did not pay for the soap and splash. Everything else in the video, except for the shave brush, my mama gave that to me. Thank you again, Mama. But the soap and splash, I did not pay for. That was sent to me for review by Pete Hendrick and Andy Amaya at the Wet Shaving Store. Thank you, Andy. Thank you, Pete. If you’re familiar with my content, you know that I don’t really consider these free because the effort that goes into it. And so what I do really appreciate is the tip of the cap, them appreciating what I do and supporting my channel, so I can afford to buy soaps. I’m blessed. I got my sugar mama, my wife, I’ve got a good job.

But the fact that they are sending me stuff before it’s released and valuing my opinion, valuing the effort that I use, is that tip of the cap that really means a lot to me. Don’t get me wrong. The monetary value is appreciated. It absolutely is. But for me, the monetary value isn’t the icing on the cake. That’s not the little big thing. The little big thing for me is Pete and Andy saying, “I see you. I appreciate what you’re doing. I value what you’re doing. And because of that, I want to be a part of it. And I want my products to be a part of it as well.”

Want to thank you for joining me out here at Neptune State Park on the Pacific Coast, just south of Yachats, Oregon. This is one of my second homes. I did Tokyo Rose not far from here. Lavender Planet is not far from here. That was also with Jefferson Square from Mickey Lee Soapworks. Man, what else have I done from the coast? Oh, well, anyway, now I’m going to ramble and take up your time when I don’t need to. Stick around for the b-roll. You’ll see a 360. I’m at 21 minutes. I’m pretty happy with that. Damn, I got a beautiful woman. I’m watching her. She’s a little closer now. And uh, I count my blessings every day, one by one. And I’m just a lucky son of a, let me tell you what. And I appreciate you guys watching. I really do. I appreciate the camaraderie and the comments. I’m so fortunate. Well, now she’s out of view. I was going to show off my sugar mama to you. Take care, guys. I’ll see you next time. Thank you, Andy. Thank you, Pete. Welcome to the B-roll. How did that shave go?

I can’t tell you guys how fortunate and blessed I feel to live in the Pacific Northwest. This right here is just one more of the many treasures that this area, this corner of the country, has to offer. Absolutely beautiful February day. My wife and Luna probably won’t be able to see her because of the sun, but they’re down yonder. My setup, record these, of course, before the shave. You’re familiar with my content. You know that. Well, again, thank you guys for joining me out here. Absolutely beautiful. You guys take care. Thanks once again for joining me at Neptune State Park!