To be honest, after trying many different kinds of soaps, I now will only give a soap a try if the ingredient list includes tallow + lanolin. I know not everyone cares or notices a difference, but I definitely do. It must be the wide variety in skin types. I took Accutane (an aggressive acne medication) many years ago as a teenager and I think it damaged my skin while using it, leaving it more sensitive and more prone to dryness even after all these years. I can definitely tell a difference with the tallow and lanolin soaps.
After that, it really comes down to the scent. I've been feeling lately like I've reached the point where I've smelled basically everything there is to offer, regardless of how clever the description is. I think the artisans (rightfully) are crafting their descriptions to entice you to buy their product but I don't notice a lot of uniqueness anymore. The most recent example I can think of is CRSW "Bergamot and Bay". I kept hearing everyone rave about the scent so I tried it, and guess what? It's the very close to being the same as WSP's "Tobacco" and Reef Point's "Tobacco and Bay" (to me). Good, yes, but I was expecting something I had not smelled before. Barrister and Mann is the one artisan whose scents do continue to surprise me, although in general I'm not a fan of most of them.
In the end, this is probably for the best. Even though I've stopped being surprised by the scents, I have found many that I truly like and I've definitely stopped throwing my money at every new artisan soap that comes out.
