Last Pass: Van Yulay and Shave Dad's Dark Coffee Collab
Hey everybody. John Bonham here, also known as Cape Cod Wet Shaving. Good to see you again. First impression of Last Pass, the new collaboration between Van Yulay and Shave Dad.
Disclosure up front: Monica at Van Yulay sent me the soap and splash for review. The razor and the brush I bought myself.
Last Pass
The set is available at Van Yulay. Soap is $23.99, splash is $13.99.
Before you assume anything about what a coffee soap smells like, let me head that off. Most coffee soaps go creamy. Sweet. Maybe a mocha angle. Shave Mercantile Mochaccino, for instance, is a coffee soap I like a lot. Creamy, medium, kind of sweet. Good soap. That’s not what Last Pass is doing.
Last Pass goes dark. Dry. No sweetness. The scent notes break down like this: top is freshly ground espresso beans and roasted coffee; middle is Dark French Roast; base is smoked roasted wood accord. Think about opening a fresh bag of ground espresso and shoving your nose in. That’s what this smells like. It’s wonderful. And the burned wood accord is what really sets it apart. That’s not something you see often in a coffee soap, and it earned its place here.
I’m picky about coffee soaps, same way I’m picky about bay rums. Smell one generic bay rum, you’ve pretty much smelled them all: bay and clove, done. I’ll generally pass unless something’s different. McDuff’s Rum Runner is a good example of one that isn’t generic. It leans into a prohibition-era rum angle and does something with it. Coffee soaps are the same story. Generic coffee? I’ll probably pass, no offense to the artisan. Last Pass is not generic. The wood note moves it into its own territory. I have one other coffee soap that I consider my favorite, and I believe this is its equal. That’s about the strongest thing I can say.
Lathering It Up
While I was lathering, a really nice nutty vibe came off the soap. That’s a note I love in darker coffees: a rich, roasted nuttiness underneath the espresso. Showed up right away while building the lather in the bowl. Great sign.
Side note: it’s about 10 PM as I’m filming this and I’m still on the coffee. At least one big mug a day for the past seven years. Quit drinking, quit smoking, and coffee was just what came next. Found out later black coffee is genuinely good for you, very good for the liver in particular. Good timing on that front. Good night to be reviewing a coffee soap.
Wet shaving is, in general, a messy affair. Water everywhere, soap on the brush, soap going over the sides of the bowl. And I cannot stand getting soap on my hands. Just can’t do it. OCD kicks in. That’s just how I’m wired. The lather came together well anyway.
Monica does her pours with an icing bag. Interesting technique. She’s the only artisan I’ve seen do that. And with this set she’ll have a full spread: EDP (in three sizes), after shave balm, beard oil, lotion, whipped body butter, body wash, and the splash in 3.3 oz glass or 4 oz plastic. I usually go for the glass flask from her.
The splash is non-alcohol, loaded with good stuff. Aloe vera, witch hazel, Vitamin E, emu oil. And the toasted wood note carries through into the splash. She said it comes out big time in there, and I believe it.
For the soap: she puts everything in it. Tallow, babassu, manteca, argan and emu oils, shea and kokum butters, calendula extracts. The list goes on. Good gravy. The post-shave feel from her base is always excellent, and this shave was no exception.
The Hardware
First time using the Parker Variant. I had wanted this razor as soon as I saw it. Solid brass, very heavy. The knurling is excellent, very barber pole. Heavy razors are my kind of thing. The weight does most of the work for you, and that’s exactly what happened.
Quick note on how this one ended up in my hands: Howie has been really generous supporting us on Shave Masters, so I wanted to actually buy something from him rather than just use whatever he sent. So we all went and bought the Variant. He called Doug afterward and said, “Why didn’t you just say something? We would’ve sent it.” Doug told him it was because Howie keeps sending razors for the show and they hadn’t bought one in ages. That’s just how Howie is. Good dude.
I keep a lot of my Parker razors in the box because the boxes are genuinely beautiful. The 89R, which is the gold and silver one that comes with both an open comb and a closed comb plate, stays in the box for exactly that reason. At this point I’m just rambling, but I do not like dead silence in my videos.
Blade in there is a Treet Falcon, third or fourth use. Still performing fine.
Brush is a Pink Wolf synthetic from Amazon, about $15 or $16, made in India. Never tried this brand before. Swirly resin handle, nice design. They’ve got a few options on there, including an ox blood looking one I’m planning to grab next. The splay on this one for a $16 brush was really good.
The Shave
Two passes and touch-ups, same as always. Monica’s base is chef’s kiss. Outstanding. Mild to medium on the Variant, the weight of the razor handling most of the work, and the soap doing everything it needed to do. Great shave.
The final word on this fragrance: if you like coffee soaps, you will like this. Hands down. 100%. Deep, dry, roasted, no sweetness. Just smokiness and coffee. That burned wood accord comes out even more in the splash. It’s a phenomenal set.
If you’ve been sleeping on Monica’s soaps, don’t.
For Jerry
Want to take a second here. Keep Jerry in your thoughts as he goes through his health stuff. I actually talked to him on the phone recently. We were just catching up and talking about this set.
He reaches out every now and then, and it’s always a pleasure. One of the most laid-back, no-nonsense guys I know. I did a dedication shave for him once and called him the day before to let him know. Asked if I should use the hashtag with the full version of “F cancer.” He said, “Nah, nah, don’t do that.” That’s Jerry. He knows people care about him. He just doesn’t want the big fuss. His wife is hilarious too, always laughing in the background when we talk.
Great fragrance, bud. Hope you’re doing well. Thanks for watching, gang. I hope you’re having a good Friday. Happy shaving.