The scent of a shave

I love some of my more complex scented soaps, such as those from Barrister_N_Mann and DapperDragon and use them a lot.  A shave with the former's Cheshire or the latter's Black Dragon sends me into a different place.  I also tend to pair them with more complex EdTs or colognes.  However, sometimes I just want a straight-up simple scent, something familiar and comforting.  For example, my shave today was basically lemon and consisted of a lemon scented pre-shave, RazoRock's Caprician Lemon Shaving Soap, a homemade lemon scented witch hazel, and Caswell-Massey's Verbena, both talcum and cologne and both of which are a strong lemon-like scent (at least they are to me).  Other single scent shaves I really like are orange, rose, and lavender.

My questions to you folks, and especially some of our artisans here, is do you ever want a shave with just a straight-up scent as opposed to one that is more complex?  Secondly, do you want any scent (complex or simple) to take you to a certain place or do you just think, 'I like that scent', no matter what it happens to be?  As I pointed out, for today's shave I was looking for something both familiar and comforting and a lemon scent did that for me.

Obviously, there is no one right or wrong answer to each of my questions.  I'm just curious if there are others who think as I do on the subject.

I'm with you on that. Sometimes I like fragrances that are simple, and specifically soapy clean in scent profile.

Sometimes a straight up single note is very pleasant. Unfortunately, they're somewhat hard to find because many artisans can't leave well enough alone. Even old standbys like sandalwood, lavender, and lime too often have other scents added. Or maybe my nose is just a simpleton.

I enjoy more complex scents but every now and again I'll dive into a tub of straight lavender scented soap or grapefruit and such


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I enjoy single note florals very much. Not all the time, but once in a while they are very nice. My favorites are lily of the valley, lilac and rose.

Lim with you on the lemon I don't mind complex scents and for a while I really enjoyed the soaps that just smell like themselves ... I.e. Tobac, Mitchell's wool fat, speik... But for the most part I like my lemons on a nice summer day

Freddy, I like most anything if the scent is done well; complex or simple.

Most of my soaps tend to have 2 or 3 + scents which I don't mind in the slightest as they are extremely well combined.

I absolutely like to use a one-note soap, or a simple blend sometimes.

I like both single note and more complex scents, depending on my mood. There definitely are some scents that take me to a different place and time, for that matter. Our sense of smell has a strong connection to our memory. It can be a very intense experience sometimes.

I like both single note and more complex scents, depending on my mood.  There definitely are some scents that take me to a different place and time, for that matter.  Our sense of smell has a strong connection to our memory.  It can be a very intense experience sometimes.

Same way I feel. For something simple TOBS isn't the greatest cream out there, but I do like the grapefruit. Artificial smelling or not.