Barrister & Mann Seville - my opinion

I was for a long time giving Will, the maker of B&M soaps, a hard time, when I recevied the first soaps from B&M.

The scents were werid, too advanced for me in a shaving soap, while I spray myself with quite unique challenging niche fragrances, shaving soap for me should have a more traditional vibe to them.

The white plastic tubs seemed a bit flimsy, and the soap was dark brown (Lavanille and Nocture, I think it was)

I have since that changed my mind and made an almost 180 degree. Yes, some people know I'm quite fickle by nature. One day I like this, the next day I like that. Sorry, that's just part of being who I am.

What I didn't know is that Will actually took my opinion to heart, and decided I was right in that the older white tubs were not living up to what people would call a luxurious presentation.

So he changed the pots to a new more sturdy harder rustic plastic and had new artwork made to place on the front lid.
I have to give my thumbs up for the new containers and the excellent looking presentation - B&M shaving soap presentation is now in the same diamond league as Cold River Soap Works Select and Saponoficio Varesino shaving soaps IMHO

I'm going to give you my opinion on B&M Seville shaving soap.

A classic barbershop scent with lemon, lavender, bergamot, rosemary, patchouli and oakmoss.
A more classic conservative scent among the B&M soaps, but what a great relaxing scent it still is.

I can't quite figure out, if I have a fragrance that smells like Seville in my frag collection, but I just seem to think I have one, but can't quite put my finger on which one it is.

I own two verisons of Seville.
One is the older white tub from 2015 and the other is the new one in the new sturdy whiter more elegant hard containers with the great looking artwork of a bull on the front lid.
Do I have to tell, which presentation I prefer between the two ?

The new one of course. It's fantastic looking and the solid feel of the container, when you screw it on and off is just great.

So why do I review two B&M soaps, that are the same, just in two different containers ?

Because they are not the same. The new Seville is the new glissant formula.
It sort of reminds me a bit of the 3 B&M's I own from the old Black Label series, just a little bit better.

I have shaved 3 times with the old Seville, and 3 times with the new Seville. Changing from one version to another for each new shave.
I have used 3 brushes for the review. Each brush is used 1 time with each soap.

Brush 1: Semogue 1305
Brush 2: Stirling KONG 26 mm
Brush 3: Thäter 2-band Bulb 30 mm

Razors used:

Razor 1: Above The Tie SE1 with Feather Professional (3 passes + touch up)
Razor combo 2: Plisson Palladium Fusion (1.st pass) and Pils Mach 3 (2.nd pass)


I face lathered for all my shaves.

Lather building:
The new container is just slightly smaller in diameter, than the old one, but both containers are very easy to load the brush in, even with the 30 mm bulb badger.
The lather from B&M soaps just explode into a rich pasty lather on my face, no matter what formula of the seville I use.

Lather quality:
Both Seville Versions gave me a thick dense solid lather.
No drying out, both Sevilla formulas can take a LOT of water, you can continue building up the lather on your face. It does not seem to thin out on my face.

Performance:
Honestly I have always felt the older white B&M formula gave a me an excellent shave each and every time, but I somehow felt it lacked just a tiny bit in the protection department.
I felt my top performing soaps just gave me that extra littel bit of extra comfort, protection and glide - for instance CRSW v2, I Coloniali, Nuavia, Savonniere du Moulin, Czech & Speak, Tabula Rasa to mention a few of my top soaps. The new B&M Glissant formula eems to provide me with just a littel bit better protection and glide and comfort during the shave.
We are talking minor details, but I feel the newer Seville is that litle step above the old formula. Better cushion, better glide, more slickness and better post shave feel. The old formula is still one heck of good shaving soap, but this new Glissant soap takes the cake for me.

Post shave feel:
Because the new Glissant formula provides better comfor during the shave, it also seem to give me a better post shave feel.
Mind you, the old Sevilla is still a great shaving soap, the new Sevilla Glissant just gives me that extra little bit better protection.
More so than I felt CRSW v2 did compared to CRSW v1.

The new B&M Glissant soap is now offcially among my top shaving soaps.

I hope I will never feel the need to only shave with unscented shaving soaps, but if so, B&M Glissant Unscented, if it were made, would be my first choice along with C.R.S.W. v2 Unscented.
The performance of the B&M Glissant is so good, that I have to elevate it into my absolute top performing soaps now.

I'm glad you like it, Claus. Thanks for the excellent review.

Excellent review, now I am impatiently waiting for Leviathan in Glissant base!

love my white label seville. I'll eventually get it in glissant...

I'm glad you like it, Claus. Thanks for the excellent review.

You're welcome, Will.

Hey guys, pardon me for my ignorance, but what is this "glissant" of which you refer to. I realize there are 2 different recipes for this particular soap, and "Florissant" seems to be the differ. But as Ricky told Lucy......'splain yourself please!!!!!!! Truly, I would like to know. I see it was also mentioned in the B&M AMA. Semper-fi. Mike

Hey guys, pardon me for my ignorance, but what is this "glissant"  of which you refer to.  I realize there are 2 different recipes for this particular soap, and "Florissant" seems to be the differ.  But as Ricky told Lucy......'splain yourself please!!!!!!! Truly,  I would like to know.  I see it was also mentioned in the B&M AMA.  Semper-fi.   Mike

Hey there Mike,

The original formula that I developed came to be known colloquially as "White Label" due to its distinctive packaging, which later became the industry standard. About two years ago, after hearing reports of difficulty with hard water, residual slickness, and a few other things, I decided to overhaul the formula and upgrade it. Spent a year working on the design, christened it "Glissant," and debuted with the Le Grand Chypre soap last November. For allergy reasons, the inclusion of sweet almond oil was changed after that release and was replaced with high-oleic safflower oil. We've been slowly changing over all of our non-budget (Latha) soaps over the course of the last year, and all of the non-Latha soaps that we release going forward will be made in the Glissant base.

Thank you kindly for the timely response, Will. I've been looking at your product and doing my due diligence before making my purchase. Shaving, for me, and many others, is a personal thing and I am trying to perhaps get a bit more into the realm of a "better" soap. When you say "non-budget", what does that pertain to? Also, were a person, like myself, who hasn't ever had a B&M soap or AS, which one of your soaps and AS's would you suggest to ensure a lifetime client? Again, thank you kindly. Semper-fi, Mike

Thank you kindly for the timely response, Will.  I've been looking at your product and doing my due diligence before making my purchase.  Shaving, for me, and many others,  is a personal thing and I am trying to perhaps get a bit more into the realm of a "better" soap. When you say "non-budget", what does that pertain to? Also, were a person, like myself, who hasn't ever had a B&M soap or AS,  which one of your soaps and AS's would you suggest to ensure a lifetime client?  Again, thank you kindly.  Semper-fi,   Mike

We have three (soon to be two) different bases in production right now: White Label and Glissant, with Glissant slowly replacing White Label, comprise our flagship line, and are home to our stranger, more unusual scents. Latha is our budget line, lanolin-free and designed as an everyday workhorse, and is home to our easier-going, more mainstream scents.

Between everything, I'd suggest that Seville soap, Latha Oceana soap and aftershave, and any of our three Barrister's Reserve aftershaves (which can be found at www.barristersreserve.com) would be an excellent choice. Without knowing more about your scent preferences, it's tough for me to predict beyond that.

Thank you Will. I will look forward to my B&M shaving experience!!!! Semper-fi. Mike