Shaved with this for the first time this morning. It was amazing! I’m not a big scent guy, but really enjoyed this one. Performance was as good as it gets. Thick, luxurious lather that provided a superb, ultra-slippery, protective shave. Is it better than the regular bison base? Hard to say at this point, as that one is also fantastic.
Contemplation is my favorite scent out of the 3 new ones. I’ve actually come to the conclusion I like the Icarus base a little more than the bison tallow base.
I have tried about 40 different soaps in the last year and Contemplation has performed the best for me. At first I did not care for the scent but I really like it now that I have shaved with it 12 times.
I’m typing with one hand while holding a tub of Contemplation to my nose. It is a scent that is hard to describe. At first I did not like it because it didn’t smell like many of my other more traditional soaps. However, after a dozen shaves, I like it. The smell has some citrus brightness with fresh mowed grass or sun dried hay. No animatic smell.
I just took a long sniff of mine and while I’m bad at describing scents, I would say A. Feitar above is spot on. It’s a pleasant, not strong, scent. By the way, DG suggests leaving it open before the first use to allow any animal smells out. I didn’t detect any animal smells, but left it open for 48 hours before first use.
It's a petrichor type scent, as described by Scott himself at the Maggard meet up. I like it...a lot.