Moonshine - A Gentleman's Cologne

Recently "Moonshine for Men"sent me a sample of their cologne ($72 for 3.4 oz) to review. The first thing that struck me about their cologne is it's utter manliness. It has a woody smell to it, as well as a little hint of leather and tabacco. The scent is hard to describe, but it can definitely be said that it seems to speak of a lifetime of experience. It expresses a steadfastness of character, and smells like something you would find Teddy Roosevelt wearing. It speaks of the outdoors, and of a man who has spent much time in them, but is not overpowering like many other colognes. Unfortunately, I only received a small vial, but as you can see, the box looks pretty dang manly as well. You will notice the wooden box, with a simple little bottle overthrown by a small burlap bag. The one downside to the cologne is it's cost, but for the awesome bottle, bag, box, and smell, it is definitely something I can see myself purchasing more than once in the future. In summary, it is a dang manly cologne that I would definitely recommend.

For any further information, you can visit a post 'featuring' them on one of my favorite blogs, The Art of Manliness or go to their website, moonshineformen.com.

Monarch Playing Cards

   Today finds me reviewing "Monarch Playing Cards" ($6.95) by Theory11. Theory11 has many other decks of playing cards, but seeing as these were on sale at Huckberry, I thought I would get them and do y'all a review.

   The Monarchs, like pretty much all somewhat decent cards nowadays, were printed at the United States Playing Card Company. The box, simply put, is beautiful. The gold embossings are stunning, and it is by far the best card box I have ever seen. It has two latin inscriptions on the box, "De Duobus Maliz, Minus Est Semper Eligenoum" ("Of two evils, the lesser must always be chosen" -Thomas Kempis) and, "Cerca Trova" (Seek and ye shall find). The box is not quite black like it may appear, but rather a dark shade of blue.

   The cards, although made with imported paper, I found a bit disappointing. I thought the cards to be lightly gold colored, like it appears in the Theory11's pictures, but the cards are simply black and white. The "Premium 909 Finish" on the cards is very nice, but it handle's just as well as the Ellusionist's much more inexpensive Bicycle Masters. The face of the cards is nice, I enjoy the look of the royalties and the ace and jokers are uniquely charming, but I really was (as you can well tell, I'm sure) disappointed by the backs of the cards.

   So, in summary, would I recommend these cards? Well, as I said in the first part of my review, the box is stunningly beautiful, and so it alone almost makes it worth the money. I will probably place a different deck in the box of the Monarch's, just because the case is so beautiful. However, they are expensive at $7 a deck, and I would recommend buying the previously mentioned Bicycle Master's instead.