Proraso Azur Lime aftershave balm

Gather around, children, and I'll regale you with a tale of tonight's shaving.

My go-to razor setup at the moment is my Edwin Jagger DE89, with Derby Extra blades. But that's not new.

You might remember that my favourite aftershave is American Crew's "Post Shave Cooling Lotion". I've been using this almost exclusively for about 5 years now, and I love it. It's wonderfully soothing, and it's a fairly thin balm so it's easy to avoid overly-thick application. It's also not as thin as a milk (such as "The Standard", by The Gentlemen's Refinery), which has a tendency to run through your fingers on the way to your face, not entirely unlike... milk.

Unfortunately American Crew's aftershave can be really difficult to find. So I popped a question to the team at FineShave, and Frank gave me some insight into what he uses. This spurred me to try the Proraso Aftershave line, and today I took delivery of a bottle of Azur Lime.

This is a really, really nice aftershave. Again, it's a balm (I don't have any splash-type aftershaves yet). It's a little thicker than the American Crew that I'm used to, but still not thick.

WOW does it cover a lot of distance. I used three, maybe four drops worth and it covered my whole face. This 100ml bottle is going to last forever, but it's still a bit pricey at $35, which makes me give it a 6/10 on the price scale.

It's a light citrusy scent, with a little bit of mint, and a slightly musky underbelly. It smells nice, but the scent wears off fairly quickly, so probably a 7/10 for scent.

I also happened to give myself a spectacularly awful shave, which this aftershave has completely addressed - no discomfort or 'hot areas', and only a little redness in the mirror. I think that's a 10/10 for effectiveness.

All in all, this is a serious contender for my new favourite, and I expect I'll buy another bottle when it's done! Recommended.