With many of the men's skin care products out there branching off from fragrance lines, it's nice to see a company blaze its own trail. Out of the gate, Anthony Logistics has created a significant number products covering all aspects of men's "personal care" from bath bars to sun care to shave products. It's one of the more complete lines out there with products that you can buy "a la carte" or as part of a greater skin routine. Several of their products, including the Mud Scrub Exfoliating Bar, Glycerin Cleansing Bar and Shave Cream, are the best in their class. Unfortunately, among the diamonds of the Anthony Logistics line there are some real lumps of coal (including the Pre-Shave Oil and Cleansing Gel), so it's important to be selective when buying from this line.

The place that the Anthony Logistics line shines brightest is with their bath bars. I tried both their Mud Scrub Exfoliating Bar and the Glycerin Cleansing bar, and both easily rival any other bath bar or gel I've used to date.

The Mud Scrub Exfoliating Bar is great for people who don't use (or want a break from using) a wash cloth. The Mud Bar is made up of a great mix of dead sea mud and oatmeal flakes in a glycerin and aloe vera base. The first time I used this bar I was a little skeptical at how a mud bar could get me clean, and wasn't so sure how good flakes of oatmeal would feel when scrubbing in the shower. My skepticism was quickly washed away within moments of using this fantastic product. The Mud Scrub Bar obtains a perfect balance between scrub and clean, the dead sea mud isn't gritty and the oatmeal feels quite good scrubbing away the grit and grime. I really liked how much and how easily this bar foamed up and especially liked its crisp clean minty smell. The experience using the bar is invigorating and leaves you feeling clean and ready to face the day. The Mud Scrub Exfoliating Bar retails for $12, but don't let the price tag scare you away from this amazing product - it's worth every penny.

If you're looking for something a little less scrubby or a bath bar to switch off with, definitely be sure not to miss Anthony Logistics' Glycerin Cleansing Bar. The bar comes in both a Citrus Blend and a Spice Blend (I found the Spice Blend to be the better smelling of the two) and is as perfect as a bar of soap can get. What I really liked about the Glycerin Cleansing Bar was the incredibly rich and thick lather you get from it. As sudsy as you can get from Glycerin Cleansing Bar, it rinses away extremely well and leaves you feeling clean and refreshed. As with all of Anthony Logistics products the Bath Bar doesn't have any added fragrance, so it draws its scent from the ingredients, which is a perfect balance of spice and musk. In addition to being a "body bar," the Glycerin Cleansing Bar is gentle enough that you can use it as a cleanser for your face. One of the great things about the Glycerin Cleansing Bar is that it lasts quite a bit lot longer than most other Glycerin bars I've tried. Priced at $8, the Glycerin Cleansing Bar is another Anthony Logistics product worth every penny.

If your more a cleansing gel kind of person over a bath bar, I've got some bad news for you - the Anthony Logistics gels aren't anywhere as good as the bath bars. My biggest gripe about the Body Cleansing Gel is that I couldn't really get it to lather much. After enjoying the rich sudsy lather of the Glycerin Cleansing Bar it was a huge disappointment to hardly get the Cleansing Gel to suds. I tried almost everything to get it to lather without success. My wife suggested I try her shower puff, but I've got to be honest with you, and I think I speak for most men, showering with a shower puff just doesn't do it for me. The two scents of Body Cleansing Gel I tried were the Citrus Blend and the Eucalyptus Mint. Of the two scents (which are used in some of the other products), I'd recommend the Eucalyptus Mint, as the Citrus Blend smelled too much like an orange candy and just didn't appeal to me. Ether way I found these Cleansing Gels to be a huge disappointment and priced at $8 each I'd recommend skipping them all together.

Another Anthony Logistics product I really didn't like is the Facial Scrub, priced at $18. Part of my dislike comes from the fact that it smells very much like the Citrus Blend Cleansing Gel, more sweet than citrusy. What I really didn't like about the Facial Scrub were the jaggedy scrubbing "beads" in the scrub. All the packaging indicates that the beads are "spherical" but I think they're using the loosest definition of the word. I found the scrub to be sharp and scratchy in a base that felt slick and slimy. Think of washing your face with with granules of sugar in dishwashing liquid and you're close to the experience of the Facial Scrub. After scrubbing I found that the Facial Scrub didn't rinse away as clean as most of the other scrubs I've tried and the granules are particularly pesky to clean off your body (if you use it in the shower). If you decide to use the Facial Scrub, be prepared to use some sort of cleanser afterwards to feel clean. As with the Cleansing Gels I'd recommend you skip this Facial Scrub all together. There are so many good scrubs out there (like Nivea for Men Moisture Rich Exfoliating Face Scrub ), and this isn't one of them.

One of the things I found with the Anthony Logistics line is that it's really important to use just the right amount of their products. For me it took quite a while to figure out what that was for each product in the line. This holds especially true for the Algae Facial Cleanser. When I'm using a cleanser, I typically take the "less is more" approach, but with the Algae Facial Cleanser the result was a real mess. With about the size of dime's worth of the cleanser I found that it didn't really foam and I ended up chasing the product around in my hands as it slipped between my fingers. After some experimenting I found that using a good amount of the cleanser (at least the size of a half dollar) really made the difference and with enough of the product you can really get a nice foam. For me I found the Algae Facial Cleanser to be too moisture rich, since my face tends to be normal, and while the product is labeled for Normal to Dry Skin I think it's much better suited to dry skin. As with the Facial Scrub I didn't feel that the Algae Facial Cleanser rinsed away very clean, nor was it much of a refreshing experience. To its credit the Algae Facial Cleanser is very soothing and gentle, so if you've got very dry or sensitive skin, the Algae Cleanser, priced at $20, may be worth checking out.

Another Anthony Logistics product I really had to experiment with is the Shave Gel. I found that too little of the Shave Gel resulted in a harsh shave, and too much resulted in a clogged razor. It is frustrating to use a line that can be so unforgiving, and I really wished that the Logistics line wasn't so difficult when it comes to using the right amount. Once you figure out exactly how much to use, the Shave Gel is really nice - it's got a nice minty smell and it gives you that great fresh-shaved feeling. For the life of me, I can't understand why they felt the need to add little aloe beads to this gel. I often had to really work at them to get them to break down and on more than one occasion I looked like I had polka dots in my shave gel. Priced at $14, the Anthony Logistics Shave Gel is a nice product for fans of shave gels who are willing to take the time to find the right amount to use on their face (and who don't mind polka dots).

The shave product I liked legions more than the Shave Gel is the Shave Cream. For me the two are night and day. Where I struggled with the unforgiving Shave Gel I found that the Shave Cream was much more forgiving and lead to a great shave time and time again. For quite a while I've been looking for a shaving cream or gel that gives me a better shave than the trusty old Gillette Foamy, and now I've found it! This Shave Cream is rich and creamy and feels very soothing both when you put it on and after you shave it off. It's got a scent very close to the Spice Blend Glycerin Cleansing Bar, but it's very subtle and quickly dissipates after shaving. I've now added the Anthony Logistics Shave Cream to my daily routine and my skin has been thanking me as I've noticed a solid reduction in red bumps on my neck, fewer ingrown hairs, and I haven't had razor burn in quite a while. Priced at $14, the Anthony Logistics Shave Cream is a highly recommended product and quite possible one of the best shave creams I've tried yet. The only thing that irked me about the Shave Cream was that you get considerably less than the Shave Gel. Both products come in the same size tube but you get 8 ounces of the Shave Gel and only 6 ounces of the Shave Cream.

It took me a little while to get so excited over the Shave Cream, and this is mostly because when I first started to use it I was also trying the Pre-Shave Oil. When I warned you that there were some lumps of coal among the diamonds in this line, the product that typifies this the best is the Pre-Shave Oil - simply one of the worst products I've tried from any line to date. A while back I had the opportunity to try out the Clarins Men Pre-Shave Oil, and at the time I called it a luxury item; well I've been using it quite a bit and really come to like it. When the Anthony Logistics Pre-Shave Oil came I was really excited to give it a try, but my excitement got squelched the moment I tried this product.

Unlike the Clarins Pre-Shave Oil, which comes in a pump, the Anthony Logistics Pre-Shave Oil comes in a little vial with a screw top lid. I have no idea what they were thinking putting oil in a screw top vial. I found that if you get oil on the cap (which is inevitable) and you have wet hands (think shaving, think water), you'll have a heck of a time getting the cap off. Once you've managed to get the cap off, it's awkward trying to pour out the right amount and then try to get the cap back on. Unfortunately this isn't half the misery with the Pre-Shave Oil; when I actually got it on my face, it was a sticky, goopy, unpleasant experience that felt a lot like putting a mix of olive and castor oil on my face. What kills me about the Pre-Shave Oil is that after going through all the rigamaroll to apply it on my face, it didn't give me any better shave than without it, and what's worse, it made my typically normal skin oily. Priced at $18, the Pre-Shave Oil is a product to absolutely avoid. Be warned that the Pre-Shave Oil is a part of the Anthony Logistics "The Prefect Shave Kit" so if you were looking to get this line as a gift and were interested in the shave products be sure to pick them up individually and skip the worst product in the line!

As with the Pre-Shave Oil, I found that the Astringent After Shave did more harm than good. Many men get used to the feeling of an after shave or toner splash after shaving, but what you're really doing is taking your face at its most sensitive and stripping all the oils and moisture it needs for the day. For me, the result of doing this was that my face ended up producing a lot more oil throughout the day and my normally "normal" skin turned oily. I actually got a break out from the After Shave, something I rarely get. I saw a marked improvement after I stopped using it. I won't knock Anthony Logistics for this as this "bad toner" experience has now been replicated with several other lines. With all the things you CAN buy in a line, sometimes it's good to think about IF you should buy a particular product. The $18 you'd spend on this product is so much better allocated with the amazing Cleansing Bars or Shave Cream verses a product you really don't need.

Another Anthony Logistics product to skip is the Razor Burn Repair. If you're getting regular razor burn you really need to take a look at your skin care routine. I've found that I can completely eliminate razor burn by using a good cleanser in the shower, a scrub a couple of times a week and a good shave cream (like the Anthony Logistics Shave Cream). Also I use the Gillette Mach 3 Turbo razor and I change the blades once a week. Again, I won't knock the Anthony Logistic product, all in all it was nice and soothing, but it's not really a good way of dealing with razor burn problems, and priced at $22, it would be better to invest that in a good razor with frequent blade changes than getting this product.

Unfortunately I got the Anthony Logistics products towards the end of the sunny season here in Portland, so I only got a small chance to try out the line of Sun Care products. The two products I did get to try out were the Facial Moisturizer and After Sun Soothing Cream. The Facial Moisturizer has a SPF 15 sun screen in it, which is nice for daily use, but not strong enough for any extended exposure to the sun. The tough thing with the Facial Moisturizer is that it's VERY moisture rich - even the smallest amount made my face "too moist" on days where I didn't get sun exposure. Again I didn't find that SPF 15 was enough protection for extended sun exposure, so I did get a little bit of a burn when I was outside on a sunny day watching a football game. This did, however, give me a chance to try out the After Sun Soothing Cream, which is also very moisture rich and very soothing. With winter on the horizon, it won't be long before I start snowboarding again, and I'm going to give the Anthony Logistics Sun Care products another try. I suspect that they will do very well protecting against the combination of dry air and sun.

Anthony Logistics is an extremely likable men's line with some really stellar products: the Glycerin Cleansing Bar and Mud Scrub Exfoliating bars are fantastic and I absolutely love the Shave Cream. The line does take a little getting used to and finding the right amount to use can be the difference between a great experience and a bad one. From the products I tried it seems like Anthony Logistics is best suited for people with dry skin or anyone who spends a good amount of time in the elements (be it the sun or the cold).

You can find Anthony Logistics online at Sephora.com and Anthony.com.