Subtle Art Soap Co Ice Queen and the Gillette Red Tip

Hi there, welcome back to Fred Shaves for another shave. My sinuses are getting better, still a little clogged, but the Ice Queen is about to help with that. The nose is still sore, so I’m leaving the stubble mustache for now and just shaving the beard. That’s how it rolls.

The Gear

Soap is Ice Queen from Subtle Art Soap Co, their soap-based four butter (V4B) formula built on kokum, mango, shea, and Shorea. The brush is my Sawdust Creation Studios Sunset brush, made by Muffet. It’s a 26mm V20 Fanchurian fan-shaped knot that came preloaded with soap. Look at those colors. Really beautiful piece.

Razor is the gold-plated Gillette Red Tip from Razor Emporium. The blade inside is a Gillette 7 O’Clock Black on its third use.

Building the Lather

Spraying water on my face and starting to work the lather. This soap has a beautiful scent. From memory, it’s a little citrusy, with some florals in there, and I think a bit of musk. I went through all the notes properly in my first video on this soap, so check that one if you want the full breakdown. The menthol isn’t super strong right at the start, but it’s very fresh and quite cold. I really enjoy it.

Everyone who’s used Subtle Art already knows the performance story. Very, very good soaps. On this channel, I like to really load the lather with water. Push it to the limits. The Sunset brush is quite strong, which I appreciate. It holds a lot of soap and takes a lot of water. By the time I’m done, the lather on my face is close to dripping, but it doesn’t break. That’s the sweet spot.

Once the water goes in, the menthol builds noticeably. My face is getting cold now. Very enjoyable.

Quick aside: Norway beat Brazil on Sunday in the round of 16 at the World Cup. The quarterfinal against England is this Saturday. I haven’t been this invested in a World Championship since 1998. Nobody expected us to go this far. Norway has a really solid team right now. Everyone plays for each other. The team matters more than the individuals. That’s what makes it work. Going to be a really exciting match.

The Shave

Red Tip shaves like a dream. It’s my favorite of the Super Speed variants. Red Tip, Blue Tip, regular Super Speed. Red Tip is the most efficient of the three. Not aggressive at all. Just super smooth, a very nice shaver.

The Fanchurian knot on the Sunset brush is excellent. Strong and dense. One of my better brushes, no question.

On the against-the-grain pass, the blade is starting to feel a little dull. Third shave, so I’m retiring it after this one. I usually get at least four good shaves from the 7 O’Clock Blacks, but this particular package has been running three. No idea why. Makes no sense, but that’s what I’m getting from this batch.

Residual slickness from the soap and splash is insane. Really elite stuff in every aspect.

Post-Shave

Cold water rinse, and the menthol splash kicks in nicely. The Ice Queen matching splash is alcohol-based, with witch hazel as the first ingredient, alcohol second, and menthol high up the list. Good burn, good kick. Very nice.

The shave came out very smooth and close. A couple of spots under the chin reopened from yesterday’s shave, which was already a very close one. Just how it goes sometimes.

Still leaving the upper lip alone. The skin around the nose needs to heal fully. A few people have told me to keep the mustache through the summer. Not going to happen.

Thanks for watching. Please subscribe to the channel, and until my next video, goodbye.