Hey I only see your thread now. What a great beard you have man, Chewbacca would bow down and pay respect!

"- I couldn't STAND the feeling of a smooth face. For whatever reason, it gives me the heebie jeebies..."
We may have a common ancestor somewhere, I so totally agree with you, it is the creepiest, most horribly disgusting feeling I have known. Especially my upper lip. As a schoolboy, when I still had to shave, feeling the shaved skin literally made my stomach churn. Like a scraped pigskin, or a freshly scaled fish, it is not a texture I have anything good to say about. Yuckkk..! Thankfully, the last such encounter was 30 years ago.

"-My chest hair and beard fully connect. If I don't shave the neck, there's full connection..."
What a blessing, awesome. Why not embrace it, let it grow. Maybe just trim instead of shaving, gradually let some of it out - and see where it goes. Mine is grey now, so it is less conspicuous, but I just love the way it feels. Chewbacca!

"- Moustache: Seems to grow faster than the rest, and it curles in on itself, which can be quite annoying. Should I be trimming the moustache to keep it in line with the length of the rest, or letting it go alltogether?"
Another blessing. Stop trimming and set it free. The longer it gets, the easier, and the more manageable it will become. The inbetween state is rather annoying, but just bear with it, it gets better.
Your whole beard screams to be set free and grow bigger/bushier/longer. Remsio is the extreme example, but go take a look at his thread and videos, and be inspired.
You can always prune back, but you will never know until you've explored - for once in every man's life I think he owes it to himslef to go there and check it out. Go for it!