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Ladies who lunch often enjoy a spot of sorbet to cleanse the palate, and so it was today with my shave. With all this wonder and glee from using the brushless Cremo Cream with a brush, maybe it's good to check in with an ol' reliable and make sure I'm not falling for the oldest reviewer's trap in the game -- the dreaded “I Fall In Love Too Easily” gusher. Oh, it's an ugly one. You're surprised by an intriguing product, or you've just come off a string of clunkers, and you suddenly find yourself with a thumping heart and breathless prose that will make you cringe a few days later when you come to your senses.

So today I shaved with my old school rig -- Taylor lavender shaving cream, Vulfix #2235 brush, and Merkur HD razor loaded with a Merkur Platinum blade.

Lavender is my oldest wetshaving friend. I think it was a tub of Art Of Shaving's lavender cream that first tipped me that there was something better in the world than Edge gel. So whenever I smell lavender, it reminds of the first wetshaving baby steps I ever took.

Now I use Taylor's lavender cream, which is of much better quality. The AOS lavender cream is fine stuff -- miles ahead of the mass market gels and foams -- but the Taylor is better still. Denser, richer, slicker, and purpler. Yes, purpler. Call me crazy but I love the Taylor's purple color. It turns white when you lather, but it looks cool in the tub when you crack it open in the morning.

My shave with this tried and true stalwart cream was excellent, as always. Smooth, close, comfortable. But I have to say, I think the shaves I got from brush-lathered Cremo Cream were better. My skin was slicker, the shaves were closer, the shaving itself was more efficient, and my face tingled afterward like I'd just had a great straight razor shave.

I'm going to alternate my go-to creams like Taylor rose, Trumper violet, and Proraso with the Cremo, to make sure I'm not imagining things. But so far, I'm even more impressed by the Cremo's shave after comparing it with what I've been shaving with.