I was really intrigued by Wills description of his new Excelsior soap base, so I bought a tub of Vespers. Anybody tried this new base? What are your thoughts?
Anyone tried Barrister & Mann Excelsior base?
- Thread starter SonofdavidS
- Start date
Hannah's Dad
I Can See Better Than Bigfoot.
I have a sample of Vespers en route. I’ll lend my impressions.
Ordered a puck when it was released. I’ll report back after I use it.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Ordered as well, will probably on Monday.
The shaving landscape for 2019 is looking promising for amazing soaps with B&M leading the way again! Can't wait for yall's reports on the Excelsior base.
Ordered & shipped but still a few days away - in the mean time I’m living vicariously through you gents!
Good stuff! Can't wait to see some lather shots.
Hannah's Dad
I Can See Better Than Bigfoot.
I’ve seen a really informative Youtube video of Will and the folks at WCS explain the reserve base and how to create the best lather. He calls it a ‘low structure soap’ (as opposed to a ‘high scructure soap’). Thoroughly enjoyable video ... even my wife was drawn into the discussion. Will really knows his stuff, and exudes passion for his art.
This was my SOTD. The text is a copy paste from what I wrote on some facebook groups.
SOTD: Blue Xmas
Soap: B&M New Base - Vespers
Razor: ATT SE1 with Schick Proline Blade
Brush: Savile Row LE
Fragrance: PDM Layton
First try with the new B&M Formula. I will obviously need 10 or more shaves to get a final assessment but my initial thoughts are that this formula is indeed much closer in performance to the original White Label (including the magical post shave of that formulation), while also being EXTREMELY thirsty, even for Today's soaps standards. I'm very pleased with this and I hope this replaces the Glissant formula, as it seems as an upgrade in most shave aspects (while I Love glissant).
SOTD: Blue Xmas
Soap: B&M New Base - Vespers
Razor: ATT SE1 with Schick Proline Blade
Brush: Savile Row LE
Fragrance: PDM Layton
First try with the new B&M Formula. I will obviously need 10 or more shaves to get a final assessment but my initial thoughts are that this formula is indeed much closer in performance to the original White Label (including the magical post shave of that formulation), while also being EXTREMELY thirsty, even for Today's soaps standards. I'm very pleased with this and I hope this replaces the Glissant formula, as it seems as an upgrade in most shave aspects (while I Love glissant).
Would you please describe the scent?
I tried a sample today. Vespers smells extremely Christmas: fir and resin and all that stuff. Sniff a christmasy wreathy piney scent af yankee candle and you got vespers.
Performance wise I couldn’t dial in the lather. Like, at all. It never really exploded in Lather no matter how much water I added. It went a little bit of Lather to being a sheeny kind-of Thing, and then it flattened into an overwatered mess. I scooped some from the shaving container and spread it thin on my skin to lather up, but it never really got there.
I’ll have to try it again, but I’m not very confident in it. It might be my water, or it might be not enough soap...
Performance wise I couldn’t dial in the lather. Like, at all. It never really exploded in Lather no matter how much water I added. It went a little bit of Lather to being a sheeny kind-of Thing, and then it flattened into an overwatered mess. I scooped some from the shaving container and spread it thin on my skin to lather up, but it never really got there.
I’ll have to try it again, but I’m not very confident in it. It might be my water, or it might be not enough soap...
That's weird. I scooped a tiny bit out of my sample and put it into my bowl and almost without trying, I had a ton of thick, creamy, shiny lather. And I really wasn't even trying that hard, as the lather was more for getting a sense of the soap's scent (which I found to be nice, but probably not "gonna buy a full tub of soap nice"). That being said, I have high hopes for this new base.
Is vespers the only excelsior soap? The website is confusing.
Yes, Vespers is the only one right now. I used it tonight. I'll have to try it quite a bit more under different conditions before I'm ready to make a final assessment, but tonight I purposely used a blade that was waaay past its freshness date and I - effortlessly - got one of the best shaves in memory. Amazingly close, smooth, and with zero irritation. I finished it off with the Vespers AS, but before I applied it I checked my skin for moisture and general feel. I can tell you that I really didn't need any post shave treatment, but I wanted to try the AS (which is light and versatile enough to wear in any season, and they also offer an EdT). One consideration is that here in NYC we've got excellent water, so that was not an issue in lather formation. The lather Vespers produced was not especially peaky, but it was rich and protective in a class of its own. I can only easily compare it to the Declaration Grooming Icarus base, but that is somewhat "gummy" (though also an exceptional performer) where Excelsior is "velvety". As far as I'm concerned Will Carius has knocked it out of the ballpark and over the state line.
Concerning the scent, it's light and very beautiful. Read the description, where they evoke a scene of crepuscular winter quiet, muffling gentle sounds and hinting at lighthearted activity in the distant background. It's very apt. They call it the "ultimate comfort scent" and I'd agree.
IMO, Excelsior is a great, new step for the company, and it's very exciting.
Hannah's Dad
I Can See Better Than Bigfoot.
I tried the Vespers sample this morning. Scooped a dime-sized chunk into a wood bowl, dipped my synthetic in warm water and swirled the soap. I have pretty hard water. It did not form quite as easily as I thought it would; the Reserve base seems quicker to me, even with the ‘glue’ phase. I face-lathered as usual and I required more water to get to that slick, ‘sticky’ mode. I fired up my RFB on a Kai blade, and was rewarded with a very close 2-pass shave.
The Kai was on its 10th shave (quite an epiphany for me moving forward), so I didn’t push for a AGT pass.
The performance didn’t ‘wow’ me (as much as the Reserve soaps have). But, as with anything, perhaps high expectations were a factor. It did produce a comfortable shave, of course.
The scent screams ‘Christmas/Holidays’, and the aftershave left me with a mostly pine/candle scent. I’m not sure this is a scent that I want to linger past the shave. The epitome of ‘seasonal’, I think.
Overall, I couldn’t discern any significant performance differences with this base (other than a seemingly slower load time). Post-shave feel might be ever-so-slighly tighter/dryer than with the Reserve base.
I’ll use this sample a few more times before claiming a final verdict; however, after first impressions — my lathering technique and face prefer the Reserve Base.
The Kai was on its 10th shave (quite an epiphany for me moving forward), so I didn’t push for a AGT pass.
The performance didn’t ‘wow’ me (as much as the Reserve soaps have). But, as with anything, perhaps high expectations were a factor. It did produce a comfortable shave, of course.
The scent screams ‘Christmas/Holidays’, and the aftershave left me with a mostly pine/candle scent. I’m not sure this is a scent that I want to linger past the shave. The epitome of ‘seasonal’, I think.
Overall, I couldn’t discern any significant performance differences with this base (other than a seemingly slower load time). Post-shave feel might be ever-so-slighly tighter/dryer than with the Reserve base.
I’ll use this sample a few more times before claiming a final verdict; however, after first impressions — my lathering technique and face prefer the Reserve Base.
Last edited:
I would like to start by stating that I am not the best at describing these things, but here are my observations.
This soap was super easy to load. I definitely loaded way too much (scuttle latherer here). Easy to build the lather. For me, it did not require a "ton" of water as others mentioned the soap being extremely thirsty. It was one of the best shaves I've had. I did not go into it having any sort of crazy expectations either. After 3 passes, I went over my face with alum block and that confirmed that the shave was super smooth.
Not sure what the plan is for this base, but it would be wonderful to have Seville in this base.
This soap was super easy to load. I definitely loaded way too much (scuttle latherer here). Easy to build the lather. For me, it did not require a "ton" of water as others mentioned the soap being extremely thirsty. It was one of the best shaves I've had. I did not go into it having any sort of crazy expectations either. After 3 passes, I went over my face with alum block and that confirmed that the shave was super smooth.
Not sure what the plan is for this base, but it would be wonderful to have Seville in this base.
Hannah's Dad
I Can See Better Than Bigfoot.
Your impressions of the scent?
I got shiny Lather but it never got thick. It just shined and then dissipated. I palm lathered. I might need more soap though since I’m using the big badger brushes.
For me it smelled great and was very slick compared to the Glissant soap I’ve been using. For me it seemed to use the same amount of water but the slickness was considerably better than the Nocturne soap I used for the last 4 days. Smells like Xmas alright. Post shave was fantastic too.
It could have just been luck though as it was my first shave with it. Haha.
FYi- I use my Chubby 1 Best, bloom the soap a bit, lightly squeeze the water out of brush, load like crazy then build the lather on my face by dipping brush tips about 4 times in water. I have a water softener too.
Just a reminder pic of the kind of lather I get with Reserve. Love the Reserve & looking forward to more reviews here of Excelsior. Has anyone's lather of this new base been similar to these pics?
Similar threads
