I'm sorry but I'm going to have to go slightly against all the rave reviews for the B&M soaps we all recently received. Don't get me wrong, it's a great soap, lathers as good as (but no better) than any other soap I own but to me, the marketing hype doesn't quite live up to reality. To quote from their website:
"Vetiver has an undeserved reputation as a dark, earthy, dirty wood smell, like being smacked in the face with a mud pie. But many of the great masterpieces of vetiver perfumery employ methods to lighten and brighten the note and Barrister & Mann decided to try our hand at the same trick.
We blended a healthy dose of lemon essential oil with Haitian vetiver and elegant, creamy New Caledonia sandalwood absolute to create a light, clean, fresh vetiver scent well-suited to cooler weather. Refined and gentlemanly, Vetyver Santal harkens back to classic fragrances from the Golden Age."
Well I certainly got the mud and especially the lemon scents when opening the lid. I was hoping that the sandalwood would come out when I lathered up. Sorry, no sandalwood, at least to my nose. Oh well, can't have everything, even the things you are sometimes promised. As a tallow based soap it performed as I expected, that is, a lovely creamy full lather with very little effort. Shaving with it was a delight, no complaints there.
I'm a big sandalwood fan so to not get any sandalwood scent with a soap that sort of promised it was a slight let down. I'm also a big tallow fan and it did not disappoint there but what it did point out to me is that a GOOD non tallow based soap like the Shaver Heaven range is every bit as good for considerably less money. YMMV of course but to me it there is a split hair between B&M and Shaver Heaven with my recently acquired tub of Soap Commander running a close but definite third.
"Vetiver has an undeserved reputation as a dark, earthy, dirty wood smell, like being smacked in the face with a mud pie. But many of the great masterpieces of vetiver perfumery employ methods to lighten and brighten the note and Barrister & Mann decided to try our hand at the same trick.
We blended a healthy dose of lemon essential oil with Haitian vetiver and elegant, creamy New Caledonia sandalwood absolute to create a light, clean, fresh vetiver scent well-suited to cooler weather. Refined and gentlemanly, Vetyver Santal harkens back to classic fragrances from the Golden Age."
Well I certainly got the mud and especially the lemon scents when opening the lid. I was hoping that the sandalwood would come out when I lathered up. Sorry, no sandalwood, at least to my nose. Oh well, can't have everything, even the things you are sometimes promised. As a tallow based soap it performed as I expected, that is, a lovely creamy full lather with very little effort. Shaving with it was a delight, no complaints there.
I'm a big sandalwood fan so to not get any sandalwood scent with a soap that sort of promised it was a slight let down. I'm also a big tallow fan and it did not disappoint there but what it did point out to me is that a GOOD non tallow based soap like the Shaver Heaven range is every bit as good for considerably less money. YMMV of course but to me it there is a split hair between B&M and Shaver Heaven with my recently acquired tub of Soap Commander running a close but definite third.
I still think SC is also a really good soap. Spoiled for choice... Oh dear, first world problems!!