So, I had some luck last year with a shower oil, but there was one significant issue - it had a distinct scent of its own. For working from home days, this wasn't a big deal, and I did like the convenience of applying the oil to my body at the end of my shower, letting it sit for a couple of minutes, and then rinsing off the excess. I noticed little difference in my chest, arms, and elbows between this and applying traditional moisturizer after showering. However, because of the scent of the shower oil, I ended up abandoning it after that first supply ran out and going back to the traditional routine. Of course, this also meant that certain parts of my body were getting as much moisturization as they could, since applying lotion is a more tedious process. A few days ago, though, I started a new moisturizing routine... I ordered some organic, fractionated coconut oil off of Amazon to try out as a shower oil. As it turns out, it seems to work just as well as that 'proprietary' shower oil blend - as a full-body moisturizer. However, people weren't kidding about the fragrance benefits. I've noticed a significant improvement in both longevity and projection over the last few days. I'm still, of course, applying an extra layer of face moisturizer to my face as well as body moisturizer with SPF to my head and neck after I shower, but I no longer have to take 15-20 minutes once a week (being generous with how often I actually did it) to apply body moisturizer to my entire body. Instead, I take an extra ≈3 minutes at the end of my shower to apply the fractionated coconut oil and the end result is both improved moisturization for my whole body plus increased fragrance performance. What about you guys? Do you use fractionated coconut oil as a moisturizer, or elsewhere in your fragrance routine?

Week 5: Finalizing the Build Hey guys, Joe A. here with another one for ya’! Welcome back to Shelf Control, where one man attempts to bring order to a fragrance collection that clearly stopped respecting boundaries! So now the brackets are up, the shelves are in, and the empty shelves are officially in position. In other words, the construction phase is largely done — which is both exciting and slightly terrifying, because now the wall is just standing there waiting for several hundred bottles to show up like it knows something I don’t!! For the shelves, I ended up going with birch panels instead of oak. And no, before anybody starts connecting dots, this was not an Aventus nod. I chose birch because the lighter white wood works beautifully with the blue tones in the room and keeps the whole space feeling clean, open and airy. Since I’m down here in Florida, I wanted the design to have a little bit of that bright, fresh, coastal feel without turning the room into a Tommy Bahama clearance rack. The shelves are roughly 4 feet long and 16 inches deep, mounted on heavy brackets, and you can clearly see the acrylic tiered displays fitting in nicely! Right now, everything looks clean, calm, and suspiciously under control, which means the bottles clearly haven’t arrived yet. The structure is there, the spacing is set, and the garage office wall finally looks like it was designed to become the Joe Average Fragrance Library! Next up is the big one: The Great Bottle Migration, when the collection starts moving from around the house into one central location. The stage is built. The shelves are ready. Now it’s time to see if Shelf Control can survive first contact with the actual collection. #EnjoytheJourney Week 6: The Great Bottle Migration (Part 1)!

Let me start by stating that as an enthusiast of all things Vampire, this fragrance to me is what I would imagine blood smelling from one emerging from a venue that serves spirits. Van Py Rhum by Lorenzo Pazzaglia is like rum being experienced with notes of vanilla and caramel standing by a fireplace. It’s so good and delicious at the same time. I’m about to head out to my cigar lounge and I’m at the two hour mark with this wear. Notes: TOP NOTES Rum Vanilla Bourbon vanillaTonka bean Tahitian vanilla HEART NOTES Caramel Patchouli VanillaWhite blossoms BASE NOTES Rum Indonesian patchouli VanillaOud Scent/ Projection/ Longevity: 10 I purchased this as a recommendation from King Unic from Instagram and from fellow member @John Linzmaier and his review here. As I really enjoy dark, smoky, and warm fragrances, this was a damn good blind buy made at Scent Split. Even at 81 degrees, this sweet fragrance works good and will be a great reverie until midnight when I close down my lounge.