Lavanille Shaving Soap (Excelsior Base)

Bought a synthetic brush just to use the soap and was so impressed by both the scent and the lather. If you’re into leather, don’t miss it.

Smells amazing, comes in unique dark black soap. Wife loves the smell!

I'm a big fan of fragrances, so I was really excited when I stumbled upon Barrister and Mann, with their unique-sounding shaving soap aromas. I spent some time deliberating, and eventually decided to get one of their more polarising products—Lavanille. Now, I'm not some kind of scent expert, but I consider myself a serious enthusiast, so I was looking forward to smelling it firsthand. My eager jar-opening when it was delivered to me released a strong whiff of a liquorice-y aroma over all others, and being a bit of a liquorice-hater, I was surprised. That said, I decided to try it for a shave, and see how the soap would smell diluted with water and given a chance to 'open up.' Truth be told, I'm a little disappointed—the smelling notes mentioned in the product description weren't quite what I got out of the soap. For me, the strongest smell is still like liquorice, with that sort of volatile sweetness you can smell in liquorice as well as fennel seeds. Behind that heavy sweetness was some of the other stuff described—a hint of lavender, a hint of vanilla, and an overall sense of something you...could call leathery? But nowhere near as centre-stage as I was hoping. Now, I admit that a comparison to perfumes is perhaps unjust in that they can hold layered notes much better, but I was still hoping for the kind of leather scent you'd get in Acqua di Parma's leather spray. Instead, I have some (admittedly very smooth and comfortable) shaving soap which above all smells like liquorice to me—which is fine for an exotic shave every now and again, but definitely a bit much for me for daily shaving, especially these days when COVID has us wearing masks and re-breathing under them. So, in summary: this is certainly a nice shaving soap, and the scent is relatively complex compared to many other brands I've tried, but I personally do not think that leather-and-vanilla is its core scent, so I suggest buying accordingly. It might be your thing, but I'm a little downcast after all the effort, research, and money I put into getting a B&M product shipped all the way to Singapore. Might try Fougère Gothique sometime, but hopefully I can visit Maggard sometime in the future and try before buying.

The scent is amazing and the performance is typical of B&M excellence.

When I first got into wet shaving, I did a lot of reading to determine what shaving soap I should start with. Barrister & Mann had a great reputation, and since I had just returned from Provence (the home of lavender), Lavanille was a no-brainer! I have no idea if the formulation has recently changed, as some reviews mention, but as I’ve experienced it, this is an amazing scent. If you like lavender and vanilla, you’ll enjoy this. Just make sure to have a synthetic brush (or a natural hair brush you don’t mind staining).