Barrister and Mann's new Omnibus base: discussion and reviews

[Flintstone65]

Never tried Lavanille. But I have and really like Hallows. I think anyone liking Hallows will almost certainly love Leviathan.

Dang it, Barbarian....I'm a Hallows fan boy, and now I HAVE to try Leviathan. You and @Hannah's Dad will both feature heavily in my excuse to the lady of the house! Dan is probably used to it by now. Seriously, this stuff sounds great, and I've been crushing hard on both Hallows and Petrichor.....Leviathan, here I come!

 

[Trem]

That's what I get from Leviathan, the soap, and to some extent the AS - more like wearing nice driving gloves while drinking your Starbucks.

Probably the most compelling scent description for this soap I've seen so far.

 

[MtView]

The a/s is very coffee forward at first but then it changes.

Several types of "leather" notes in fragrance profiles, to me. The more traditional is "Spanish leather," exemplified by GFT's soap/AS/EdT of the same name - sweet, spicy, sharp - almost "woodsy," the old "English leather" being almost a progenitor. It's a powerful fragrance, and very distinctive. CFG's Sherlock shares some of those notes, to me. Another is "saddle leather," the most scent-descriptive to me being A&E's Tertius. It's almost a pure fragrance, and if you've ever ridden a horse (minus the horse sweat ), immediately recognizable. Another is clothing - jacket, gloves, pants - and depending on the tanning process, very different fragrances, and usually much milder to my nose: you want your saddle to reek of leather, your clothes, maybe not so much. Leviathan is in that category, and almost the new "glove leather" scent, but considerably toned down and blended with other notes, coffee predominantly. That's what I get from Leviathan, the soap, and to some extent the AS - more like wearing nice driving gloves while drinking your Starbucks. The EdT, more like inhaling from the Guatemalan roast bin with your biker jacket hanging on the chair behind you....

Thanks for that explanation. The best I had found on Russian leather before was that it was a greener leather scent and that left me...nowhere.

 

[kingfisher]

Not surprised that the base has so much glycerin in it. His soaps have been glycerin heavy for a long time. I happen to like soaps that have quite of bit of glycerin; I think it usually makes for a richer, denser lather.
As a beta-tester for several soap companies back when they were first developing their bases, I advocated for more glycerin on several occasions.

What does surprise me, though, is having water as the number one ingredient. I know I have seen this in some other soap base but off the top of my head I can't place which one. Makes me think the soap would be very soft, but it sounds like he offset that by using a mix of potassium and sodium hydroxide in the recipe.
I'm sure it is an awesome soap base. When he comes out with LGC in this base it will be a must-buy for me.

 

[Hannah's Dad]

Not surprised that the base has so much glycerin in it. His soaps have been glycerin heavy for a long time. I happen to like soaps that have quite of bit of glycerin; I think it usually makes for a richer, denser lather.
As a beta-tester for several soap companies back when they were first developing their bases, I advocated for more glycerin on several occasions.

What does surprise me, though, is having water as the number one ingredient. I know I have seen this in some other soap base but off the top of my head I can't place which one. Makes me think the soap would be very soft, but it sounds like he offset that by using a mix of potassium and sodium hydroxide in the recipe.
I'm sure it is an awesome soap base. When he comes out with LGC in this base it will be a must-buy for me

It’s softer (still) than my Soft Heart Diamond — which has beer as the first ingredient. But perhaps the new base will harden with time.

 

[BradWorld]

It’s softer (still) than my Soft Heart Diamond — which has beer as the first ingredient. But perhaps the new base will harden with time.

I just shaved with the "Modified Hardened" Soft Heart 42, and its pretty hard stuff. Much harder than Excelsior. I am looking forward to trying this new base. I wonder how it stacks up to the base in my 42, which is very recent. I checked on Friday and B&M was sold out of the Leviathan. But its back available now. Gonna have to order some for the sake of science. (Or at least that is how I will justify buying another soap I dont need.)

 

[Barbarian80]

3 awesome shaves in with omnibus. If you're looking for high structure Instagram lather folks this is not your soap.

 

[BlueMaxx]

Is this anywhere close to The Full Measure of Man?

 

[haggis]

Gonna have to order some for the sake of science.

For science! The way forward is filled with uncertainty but in this, our brush with destiny, we must lather onward and persist.

 

[SgtCrppls]

Of note, there is an odd texture to the soap after I lathered it on the puck — several ‘chunks’ of dark ingredients (and a few lighter colored chunks) are present and loose on the surface. I’m assuming these chunks are an intended part of the ingredients; but it’s unusual nonetheless.
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Watch out Dan , those look like mouse droppings. Just kidding maybe they are coffee pieces.

 

[Keto]

3 awesome shaves in with omnibus. If you're looking for high structure Instagram lather folks this is not your soap.

Not really looking for high structure lather.
How soft is Omnibus?

 

[SgtCrppls]

Yes, John, the Stirling mutton base is tops in my den for its luxurious post-shave qualities. And, to me, it lathers like Tabac in that no real effort is needed to generate loads of slick, silky lather.

If you recommend it that highly I will have to try Stirling Mutton.

 

[Barbarian80]

Not really looking for high structure lather.
How soft is Omnibus?

It's not a triple milled soap but it's not even close to a croap either. Maybe slightly harder than excelsior but not by much.

 

[Hannah's Dad]

I decided to do a soap shave-off this morning — my #1 soap Stirling (Mutton tallow) Varen vs. B&M (Omnibus) Leviathan. A heavyweight fight on a Sunday morning.

I removed all possible variables, so each soap had it’s own synthetic brush and it’s own side of a fresh Feather blade. My Wolfman 1.25 provided the 3 pass shave. I shaved the left side with Varen, and the right with Leviathan.

Both soaps are very, very easy to lather. A damp synthetic brush loaded directly on each puck produced plenty of soap to face lather all 3 passes.

Adding water to the tips during the face lather allowed me to cover both sides of my face with each soap. Both provide very luxurious lathers; the Varen was just a bit ‘puffier’ of a lather whereas the Leviathan provided a ’tighter’ coverage, with a bit more glue-like consistency than with the Varen.

During the shave, I could detect no clear winner in terms of slickness — both are just awesome in that regard, and a close, comfortable shave resulted.

Face feel after each pass indicated Varen to have an ever-so-slightly smoother result; however, I am left-handed and must account for that bias on the left side.

Shave result? Both sides were BBS (as expected with a Wolf/Feather combo). Both sides felt very comfortable. No irritation. No burning. No redness. The Leviathan scent did overpower the Varen during the shave, but since I love both scents that mattered little.

In rinsing the lathers from each brush, the Leviathan was noticeably ‘stickier’ — again the glue analogy holds true here. As I pulled the soap between my hands, the Leviathan seemed almost elastic. A remarkable quality of this base, and it explains why the lather adheres so closely to the face.

Post shave feel immediately after the shave? An absolute dead heat. Each side felt soft, supple and healthy. Much to my dismay, there was no clear winner.

I am now 7 hours post-shave, and I may detect that my right side (Leviathan) is just slightly — and I mean slightly — ‘drier’ than my left. I don’t mean that my skin is dry (it is not) — but the Varen side might be just a tad more ‘moist.’ As I rub my face and then sniff my hands, I can only detect the Varen scent.

So what’s the decision of this fight? Darned if I can pick a winner. These soaps are both just stellar in performance and post-shave. They appear to have very different ingredients, but the end result is (at least for my skin) virtually identical. I suppose it could come down to value and, as is often the case with Stirling, you simply get more soap for less money. But I won’t declare a winner based on value (it’s never going to be a fair fight).

If Will (of B&M) declares his new Omnibus base to possess the best post-shave feel he’s ever had, I have no evidence to refute him. It’s a fantastic base and my skin simply loves it. If Will brings Cheshire back in this base, I’ll be an eager buyer for sure. But after this morning’s shave and as I pen this review, what I can also say definitively is that Stirling’s mutton base is just as great. Are we blessed with talented artisans, or what?!

 

[ohansen]

@Hannah's Dad The Stirling does it's job without a synthetic polymer (plastic) ingredient

 

[SterFry]

@Hannah's Dad The Stirling does it's job without a synthetic polymer (plastic) ingredient

Is that supposed to be bad? We're not eating the soap...

 

[Keto]

It's not a triple milled soap but it's not even close to a croap either. Maybe slightly harder than excelsior but not by much.

That not bad then,to me, the Excelsior I have is pretty firm .

 

[Hannah's Dad]

@Hannah's Dad The Stirling does it's job without a synthetic polymer (plastic) ingredient

I’m not really bothered by that. It’s popular with cosmetics, apparently.

 

[ohansen]

I’m not really bothered by that. It’s popular with cosmetics, apparently.

Actually, most if not all women cosmetics brands, even the CVS level of products are moving away from silicon and polymer based ingredients. They're forever ingredients that don't decompose, at all!

 

[Hannah's Dad]

Actually, most if not all women cosmetics brands, even the CVS level of products are moving away from silicon and polymer based ingredients. They're forever ingredients that don't decompose, at all!

In other words, if I use Leviathan for the rest of my life, I’ll become an ‘incorruptible’, like Padre Pio? I’m in!