The Bearded Colonel razors review plus EXCLUSIVE discount code

Fed up paying over the odds for razors?

Many men may be left nodding their bearded noggins at that last question.

But an enterprising business is set to end scruffiness for thrifty punters with a new subscription service, which could blunt the profiteering of the big boys.The Bearded Colonel provides razors and blades at a frequency the shaver decides straight to their door.  

And the blades are said to be sharper and therefore far less irritating than more well-known brands.

I found them a joy to shave with and felt no razor burn or rash at all – especially after following The Colonel’s advice (as set out below) to the letter.

Called the ‘Gothic Arch’, it has been dubbed the “Rolls-Royce of razors”.

The five-ply blades, which feature an aloe vera moisturising strip, come in a handy tin and the sleek black handle is sturdy, well-designed and ergonomic.

TopReviews4U readers can also enjoy an exclusive £5 discount on their first month’s subscription, by using the coupon code TR4U.

The Colonel’s top shaving tips:

1.       Open and clean pores by saving after a shower or scrubbing your face with arm water

2.       Apply shaving cream against the grain, while skin is still wet

3.       Shave with the grain to avoid razor rash and skin irritation

4.       Rinse with warm water to clear out pores

5.       Splash with cold water to close pores and keep them clean

• For more information click here  

Winter skincare review with Bulldog Skincare for Men

Chapped lips and dry skin are just two of the more unwelcome features of a cold snap, like the one we’re currently enduring in the UK right now, writes TopReviews4U editor Paul Christian.

 

But, never fear, because man’s best friend, the ever-reliable Bulldog is at hand to banish those winter blues.

New products from the brand, renowned for using all-natural ingredients, include a new intensive 24hr moisturiser, lip balm and hand cream.

And they’re fantastic.

The intensive 24hr moisturiser (£10 for 50ml) is packed with eight essential oils rich in omega 3, 6 and 9.

It is non-greasy and absorbs quickly guarding against desiccating winter blasts.

The lip balm (£3 for 4g) is the star of the show for me. Waxy, durable and best-of-all, tasty – this is the best lip balm I’ve come across and a bargain for the price.

It contains candelilla wax, castor oil, mint, and shea butter to protect and reinvigorate dry lips.  

  

Bulldog’s new hand cream (£5 for 75ml) is also a winner and essential at this time of year, with vitamin E and jojoba offering nourishing respite.

Another favourite from the Bulldog Skincare for Men range is the body lotion (£4.50 for 200ml) is great for keeping skin supple after a morning shower or bath and exposure to icy chills.

• For more information click here

ANTS DJs all set to invade London's Electric Brixton

An insectoid house music invasion of the UK is set to take place next month, writes TopReviews4U editor Paul Christian.

The achingly cool ANTS concept, which promises to be the ‘next big thing’ in global dance music is heading for its first airing in London.

The Ibiza-incepted and Miami-moving concept will envelop London’s Electric Brixton on February 27 and mark the ANTS’ debut party in the capital.

On the bill will be underground house stars Andrea Oliva, Lauren Lane, Waze and Odyssey, Noir and Secondcity.  

After launching at Ushuaia, Ibiza in 2013, ANTS has evolved into one of the island’s most popular parties thanks to its bleeding-edge line-ups and impressive production.

With a reputation for unique, unforgettable experiences ANTS draws clubbers from around the world. 

ANTS has welcomed a plethora of artists including Sasha, Joris Voorn & Nic Fanciulli, Gorgon City, Hot Since 82, Kolsch, Maya Jane Coles and many more.

The ground-breaking Ushuaia residency has led to ANTS events in Miami, Dubai, Mexico’s BPM festival and Snowbombing. 

• Click here for tickets

 

Blue Lagoon Iceland Skin Care review

Iceland is renowned for breath-taking natural beauty, Vikings and sensible treatment of crooked bankers.

But it should also be seen as the go-to destination for beauty products if these fantastic Blue Lagoon creams and other assorted potions are anything to go by.

The company based on the land of ice and fire has delved deep into the earth for minerals and algae in making these great products, which include all manner of items like night and day creams, anti-ageing serums, mud masks, body lotions, gels and exfoliators.

I found them all to be smooth and non-greasy and as in tune with the body and face as Mother Earth herself.

Sourced and named after the stunning geothermal spa on the Atlantic island, these products transport you to the volcanic wilderness and relieve the stresses and strains on your skin that harsh city dwelling inflicts.

You can create a realistic spa regime from the comfort of your own home.

I particularly liked the softening ability of the mineral moisturising cream and as a man in my thirties I will certainly be adding the fantastic firming and repairing anti-ageing night cream to my skincare routine.

These items are fantastic and I'd urge you to seek them out.

But, don't worry, thanks to the internet unlike Norse travellers of old, you don't actually have to go to Iceland to get them.

• For more information click here

BOOK REVIEW: The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes – Stories From the Golden Age of Gaslight Crime

Fictional detectives don't came more famous than Sherlock Holmes.

The deerstalker be-hatted creation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is the seminal star of sleuthing.

And that is kind of the point of The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes – Stories From the Golden Age of Gaslight Crime, no-one, least of all the book's compiler Nick Rennison (pictured), is trying to claim otherwise.

But what this book does is highlight that Holmes was not the only or indeed the first of his kind.

As revealed in the anthology The Strand magazine was at the forefront of a newly-insatiable thirst for detective and mystery fiction, thanks to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's denizen of 221B Baker Street.

But Conan Doyle's inability or unwillingness to to write a Holmes story for every issue of the magazine in the 1890s opened the door for others.

There were copycat Holmes' as well as more eclectic sleuths, including those who battled supernatural enemies, 'New Women' crimebusters and even Catholic Priests-turned PIs.

There was lawyer-turned detective Martin Hewitt, by Arthur Morrison – a character that smacked of Holmes thanks to illustrations by Sydney Paget, who also drew the deducing consulting detective.

Female crime solvers were aplenty, including another Strand regular – Lois Cayley – a creation of Grant Allen.

While none of the rivals matched Sherlock's stratospheric success they all contributed to the burgeoning crime and mystery genre and many other magazines embraced detective fiction.

And it was not just London or UK sleuths.

The anthology features tales from three US writers and a story featuring Eugene Valmont, a French detective exiled in London, who was created by Robert Barr.

The Gallic gendarme appeared in The Windsor Magazine and Pearson's Magazine in the 1890-1914 period, which was something of a golden age for the genre.

William Hope Hodgson's Carnacki is also in the book, battling paranormal foes.

But, despite the fantastical and often far-fetched plots, these detective stories give a very real insight into the era in which they were set and vividly illustrate how the ability to read had mushroomed to a wider population in the late nineteenth century.

• The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes – Stories From the Golden Age of Gaslight Crime is published by No Exit Press (@noexitpress) and priced at £9.99.
  For more information click here

BOOK REVIEW: The Rivals of Dracula - Stories from The Golden Age of Gothic Horror

Think of vampires, you think of Dracula – at least you would have done before TV shows like True Blood brought the genre hurtling into the modern era.

But it is because of the success of Dracula that an obscure, mainly Slavic, piece of folklore has endured so long.

But Bram Stoker's bloodsucking blueblood was not the first exsanguinating fiend to stalk the fictional landscape.

Nick Rennison, pictured below, illuminates a dank corner of vampire lore before and contemporary to Stoker's opus, with fangtastic fables from so-called 'penny dreadfuls' and short stories consumed by a voracious, newly-literate 18th century audience.

Rennison's ability to contextualise and then let the obscure writers do the talking in this terrific anthology is a real triumph.

It blends fact, fiction, history and legend in a darkly spellbinding 287 pages, which touches on themes such as sexuality, hysteria and primal fear.

 

The book features virtually unheard of delights like MR James' Count Magus, Richard Marsh's The Mask and Frank Norris' Grettir at Thornhall-stead.

The many faces of the vampires in the anthology show archetypal fanged eastern European noble is not the only embodiment of a supernatural idea, which goes back to ancient history.

Count Magus explores the dangers of meddling with and prying into history, a theme which Dracula also used with the conflation of Dracula with Vlad Tepes, or Vlad the Impaler as he is infamously known.

Vampire legend is shown in the context of Norse mythology in Grettir at Thornhall-stead as an undead Icelander fights with Viking heroes in the days of the sagas.

The calm and calculating Count Dracula is also a million miles from the homicidal maniac portrayed in The Mask.

This book is a must for anyone with a penchant for the supernatural and a thirst for Gothic horror.

• The Rivals of Dracula – Stories from the Golden Age of Gothic Horror is published by No Exit Press (@noexitpress) and priced at £9.99 (also available as an ebook). For more information click here

We Are WHSE presents: Cream Ibiza - Vandit Records, with Paul van Dyk, John '00' Fleming, Giuseppe Ottaviani and others

A bill featuring the likes of Paul van Dyk, John '00' Fleming, Guiseppe Ottaviani and Solarstone is difficult to avoid for trance fan like me, writes TopReviews4U editor Paul Christian.

• Scroll down for videos and more pictures

I'd never seen J00F play before and really love the driving progressive and psytrance sound he has made his own for many years at the forefront of cutting edge electronic music.
But, leaving aside his fantastic set, I must turn to the rather odd venue.

Southwark's Great Suffolk Street Warehouse, or We Are WHSE as it calls itself by virtue of repeated lighting effects, was bizarre.

I have been to clubs in disused or repurposed Victorian railway arches before, but they had always had a door and were actually inside.

This venue was essentially like The Arches in EastEnders and I expected at any moment to see Phil Mitchell sliding out from under a car, brandishing a monkey wrench.

 

I still haven't decided whether this was a fantastic or truly terrible place to host events.

What was fantastic was the atmosphere generated by John '00' Fleming, who provided the highlight, as well as a certain Mr van Dyk's pulsating peak-time performance, which began with his own seminal trance banger For An Angel.

Fleming ended his early set with the incredible RITMO remix of The Prodigy's Smack My Bitch Up, to a stunning light show.

It was clear that the main 'room' or Arch One as it is literally and aptly known had been lavished with the greater care.

The second arch suffered from a lack of lighting and low volume, and the basic mixing desk looked sparse and unprofessional, rather than stripped back and retro.

Other bugbears were the queueing and toilets.

We waited 30 minutes for a cloakroom berth for one coat, which meant a large slab of the action was missed entirely.

And the toilets were basically portable cabins and open stand-up festival urinals.

 

In fact the entire operation was like a cheap (almost) indoor festival, complete with infuriating drinks token system – which meant waiting in line again.

 

But I can't grumble too much as the music was spectacular and more than made up for the terrible/awesome/not really sure venue.