There was a mixup with one of my most recent purchases from B&M, and Will being the awesome guy that he is sent me a puck of one of his newest creations by way of apology.

Black Label - Lavender is a tallow based soap that Will has tweaked a little bit to make it easier for newer wet-shavers to work up a lather with, as well as make it more resistant to hard water.

The first time that I lathered it up, I went at it like I would any other B&M soap and very nearly killed the lather by adding WAY too much water into the mix. B&M is known for having really thirsty soaps, and this one breaks the mold. When loaded with a fairly dry brush, the soap comes off the puck very easliy; add a bit of water and elbow grease, and it started to look like I was lathering up a cream in my bowl (sans lathersplosion). Perhaps it's a technique issue, or maybe it's a result of the reformulation, but the lather did not end up quite as thick as the B&M I am accustomed to. This isn't too much of an issue because I don't ALWAYS need lather as thick as yogurt. The slickness seems on a par with any of his other creations, which is to say, its very good. The soap holds up very well through a full 3 pass shave, with plenty of secret sauce buried in the brush should any touch up's be needed.

Now for the scent. I should say that until recently, lavender never held any appeal to me. It always reminded me of the mumu wearing lady in that one shop in every tourist beach town that sells dreamcatchers, fairy figurines, tarot cards and smudge sticks. This soap doesn't have any of that going on. I don't know if any of you have ever been in a lavender field in late spring when everything is in full bloom, but this soap reminded me of that. The scent is clearly that of lavender, and nothing else but it doesn't smell purfumey. Instead it smells fresh and a bit green, like you ripped the lavender branches right off the bush and squeezed the flowers and stalks in your hand. According to Will, the reason that it smells so pure is because it is:

It smells very natural because it's literally straight lavender oil. I went to a lot of trouble to choose a very fine grade of the stuff and have been extremely pleased with the result.

The scent is present during the shave, but certainly isn't overpowering. Post shave feel is what you'd expect from a B&M product.

If you happen to be a fan of lavender, then this soap is for you. If you don't know if you like lavender, then this soap is the one you should try. If you think lavender smells wretched... then you probably haven't read this far anyway.

This one goes into production this week, and is expected to be shipping out by the end of the month. Why haven't you seen it on B&M's upcoming flavor schedule? Because it won't be available through his site, but instead only through select retailers like Maggard (as if you didn't have enough reasons to enjoy their "Edge" program).

I'm not giving any number ratings here, if you like lavender and B&M, you'll enjoy this soap.

TL;DR - Smell good, lather easy, buy from Maggard.