Fern & Shadow Review: New Texas Artisan Shave Soap

How’s it going? One of the hardest things I’ve done this year is keep my mouth shut about Fern & Shadow.

If you haven’t heard the name, you’re about to. Matthew is the artisan behind it, and if you’re in the membership Discord, you know him. He’s been active there for about a year and a half. He and I have been talking about him starting this company for a long time, and I first got Vice Invespers and Right of Winter from him a couple of months ago. Since then, I’ve had seven splashes, an extrait, and six or more soaps sitting in my den, and Matthew has been asking me to keep it under wraps until he was ready.

Full disclosure up front: I did not pay for any of these products. Matthew sent them to me as a friend. I won’t profit from the sale of his products. I do have a 15% off discount code, Tobin, for his Etsy shop at checkout. That’s my only stake in this.

The Soap Base

Honest take: his soap base is above average. Not the best in the world, vegan or tallow, but extremely good for a first base. And I want to be fair about what that means. None of the artisans who have made a name for themselves in this community started with the bases the bases they have now. You start somewhere, and you keep improving.

I’ve had friends kick off companies over the years. Most didn’t go far. Some did, like my friend Andy with the Wet Shaving Store. I have never seen anyone have all their ducks in a row the way Matthew does. I’d classify his base as tier one. Not the absolute best, but absolutely solid and amazing for where he is right now.

Here’s the part that matters to me most: you can improve a soap base. Take something like the Cajun Blades Lather Booster or the Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements Cube 2.0, and you can boost any base’s slickness and glide. What you cannot improve is a lackluster fragrance. That’s where Matthew is absolutely killing it.

The Fragrances

I don’t put a lot of emphasis on soap base. A lot of guys do. Tallow versus vegan, high density, creamy this, that, I get it. I just don’t weigh it the way they do, partly because you can compensate for a mediocre base and partly because nothing can save a bad fragrance. No one has ever started on a better foot with fragrances than what Matthew is doing here. I mean that completely.

Sylvanus

Family fragrance score: 30 out of 30. Alexis gives it a 10. Emily gives it a 10. I give it a 10. Absolute banger.

On the sales page, Matthew lists it as a woodland gourmand. Alexis calls it a light gourmand, and I’d agree. There’s a sweetness to it, but it’s not something I would want to eat. Not a true gourmand in my book. The way I tell the difference is whether I’d eat it. I would not. But it is beautiful.

What he doesn’t mention on the sales page: it has a pine quality to it. A sylvan forest quality. Just perfect. That note puts it over the top. My next outdoor review is going to be Sylvanus, I want to get out into the deep forest with it. It deserves that setting.

Sunny Blight

This one is a play on Sunny Delight. The citrus that hits first reads as grapefruit, and if you like a citrus fragrance, absolute banger. The one thing I’ll note: Sunny Blight doesn’t last as long as the others. I’m getting 3 to 4 hours out of it, which is what I’d expect from a citrus-forward fragrance. It fades faster. The others go all day. That’s not a knock; that’s just what citrus does.

Barber’s Ghost

I don’t get as excited about barber shop scents as I used to. I’ve been buying them for years. The affection has waned. But this one is different.

Matthew says on the sales page that it’s similar to other barber shop scents you’ve tried, and yeah, but also not. I’m going off what he lists and what Alexis and I are picking up. Leather, definitely. There’s some kind of metallic, almost a carbon-type element in there. And then a very faint hint of rose, just enough to keep the leather and the metallic notes in check. A freaking banger of a barbershop. If you like the category and you like it with leather, this is yours.

Theassa

Matthew’s take on an aquatic. Beautiful. Perfect. There might even be a hint of coconut in there, some mineral notes going on. And I actually like the splash better than the extrait on this one. That’s how good it is.

The projection across his splash lineup is average to above average. The scent strength is there. Every single fragrance is doing its job.

The Labels

I am a fragrance person first. But the labels deserve mention. Some have that matte, no-gloss finish that just looks clean and sharp. Matthew is killing it with his label game. They match the quality of what’s inside.

What’s Available and What’s Coming

Check out Sylvanus, Sunny Blight, Barber’s Ghost, and Theassa on his Etsy shop in the tallow king base. Check the Etsy store for new releases.

There are also a couple of scents I have that aren’t on the shop yet. I’m not going to oversell them before Matthew’s ready, but one of them is a straight 10 for me. I’m expecting 25 or above out of 30 when I get my family in front of it. You’ll see.

Where to Find It

Fern & Shadow is on Etsy. Use code Tobin at checkout and save 15%.

Nothing is holding Matthew back but himself. Fern & Shadow is on Etsy, and the only crutch I see is that he doesn’t fully believe in his product yet. Once you try it, you’ll see what I’m seeing. The fragrances are going to sell themselves.

I’ve said it before: anyone can learn to make a decent shave soap if they practice and keep going. What you cannot teach is having a nose for what smells good and what’s going to be broadly appealing. Either you have it, or you don’t. Matthew has it. Matthew’s nose knows. That’s why you’re finding it in these products.

Matthew, you’re going to kill it. I wish you nothing but the best. It’s the little big things, my friends. Thanks for watching. I’ll see you in the next one.