PAA Coop Soap and Splash Review: Fragrance Breakdown at Blue River
How you doing? I’m Tobin, out in the Pacific Northwest above Blue River Reservoir on Memorial Day with my beautiful bride and the two pups. This is actually the fourth location we’ve been at today. We started above the lake, went down to one of our favorite spots at the water, and the wind just came out of nowhere. Thirty to forty miles an hour, waves on the lake white and choppy. I don’t remember the last time I’ve seen Blue River like that. We tried a spot deeper in the woods after that. Still too much. So we came back up here above the lake, and here we are.
I’m here to review the latest release from Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements: Coop. As in D.B. Cooper. He may or may not have landed somewhere in those trees behind me. Probably didn’t. I’m full of nonsense today.
Quick disclosure before I go further. The soap and splash were sent to me by Douglas and Frances at Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements for review. I did not pay for them. The PAA links in the description are affiliate links. Small commission if you buy through them, doesn’t cost you anything extra. If you want more opinions on Coop, check out Glenn and Matthew’s reviews. I deliberately didn’t watch them first. I wanted to come in fresh.
Coop and the Jup Connection
Coop is inspired by Joop! Homme, the 1989 oriental fragrance - I’ll call it Jup throughout this review for short. Honest confession: I don’t recall ever experiencing the vintage Jup. Maybe I did and it didn’t register. I have nothing to compare this to. All I have is what’s in this tub right now, and I’m going in without the nostalgia some of you might bring to it.
The Fragrance
PAA’s notes for Coop:
Top: orange blossom, mandarin, lemon, bergamot, cinnamon
Heart: heliotrope, jasmine, lily of the valley
Base: vanilla, tonka bean, patchouli, sandalwood
Here’s what I’m getting from it.
Orange blossom hits first and stays present throughout the entire fragrance. Very light floral. This is NOT a floral fragrance - but that orange blossom thread runs from the opening all the way through the dry-down. Mandarin, I don’t outright detect it as mandarin, but it’s adding this juicy, citrus dimension to everything underneath. Lemon and bergamot come in as a crisp tartness on top of that. The opening is citrusy and energetic and unapologetic about what it is. I love it.
Cinnamon bridges the top and the heart with a dry, spicy warmth. There is a spiciness to this fragrance - not anything close to Spice Bot - but it’s there, and it works.
Into the heart: heliotrope brings an edible, almond-like sweetness. I want to be clear here. This is not a powdery fragrance. I’m not crazy about powdery or floral fragrances, and I would not classify this as either. That heliotrope is subtle and interesting without taking over. The jasmine is indolic, slightly animalic, gives the heart body and keeps it reading masculine, not feminine. Lily of the valley adds a green crispness. Bright and clean.
The base is where this really gets me. Vanilla is the star of the show. Not a light vanilla. A thick vanilla, woody and creamy. Tonka bean follows, warm and creamy. Then sandalwood. I’ll tell you, the sandalwood in this is beautiful and perfect. It’s the kind of sandalwood I hope for in a lot of fragrances - soft, milky, masculine. And then patchouli brings grit. It keeps the fragrance from slipping into feminine territory, which the sandalwood and vanilla could let it do without the patchouli anchoring things. Those two, sandalwood and patchouli, are the key components in this dry-down. You won’t notice them up at the top, but you will notice them as you move through the heart and into the base.
This is the ultimate summer fragrance. It was sunny and hot earlier today - the wife and I both felt overdressed. This is that kind of day’s fragrance.
The Setup
I’m loading with a stainless steel bowl and the Amber Aerolite 24mm synthetic from PAA. I use synthetics for outdoor shaves because starting with a wet bristle makes things easier when you’re not near a sink. Five spritzes of water on top of the soap, loaded for about ten seconds, applied the excess straight to the face. No pre-shave.
The lather came out thick, maybe a little wet for my taste. At home I’d dial it in tighter. Outdoors you work with what you have.
The razor is the Prismatic, also from PAA, with a first-use platinum Strangelet blade. If you want the full look at the Prismatic, I have a dedicated razor review of it in my playlist. Two passes today instead of the three I’d do at home - outdoor shaves have to move faster. The second pass felt noticeably better than the first, which is usually how it goes when the lather starts a little wet. Solid result for the field.
The soap, splash, brush, razor, and blade are all available at Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements. Link in the description.
The Scores
Gender: unisex. Absolutely unisex. I think a man or a woman can pull this off. It leans slightly masculine, but not by much.
Season: spring, summer, fall is where it lives. I think you could wear this throughout the entire year, but this is a warm-weather fragrance at its core.
Scent strength of the soap is about a four out of five. It gets a little stronger once you start whipping it up, but even then it’s around a four. Slightly below average. Scent strength of the splash is a five - right at average. This isn’t overly strong, but it’s right about there. Wear time: I’m getting about four to six hours of good wear. If you want the projection beast that Jup was known for, PAA makes an EDP. I haven’t tried it, but that’s the path if you want more longevity and throw.
Family fragrance score - one being I hate it, ten being I love it, five being I like it: my wife Alexis gives it a nine, Emily gives it an eight, and I give it a ten. I said I can’t recommend this one enough. I meant it.
Stick around for the B-roll. You’ll see the lake from earlier, the spot where Athena found a blue-bellied lizard, and some of what we’ve been up to out here today. Thanks for watching. Hope this helps.