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B&M Hallows / Soft Heart Base?

Fightingillini22

Fightingillini22

Master TSC Shave Member
Morning Cadre!

I'll admit I was a B&M hater. I did a sampler of them back in 2013 when I first started and didn't find performance to line up with the prices and hadn't purchased a B&M soap since the first Dickens release. Fast forward to 2020 and I gave a sample of Sunny Lane a shot as I was looking for a nice green scent and this time felt the scent and performance lived up to my expectations at the price point (although it seems in the 7 years I've been doing this, most artisan prices have started to hover around the B&M price point.)

As I'm looking for a nice autumn scent to bring into the den, I picked up a couple of the Southern Witchcrafts autumn scents which I'm looking forward to trying this week. I'm also curious as to people's experiences with both the B&M Hallows scent and his "soft heart" base, as neither are ones I've had any first hand experience with. I've seen people rant and rave about Hallows over on the other board, but would trust TSC members much more!

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I’ve got the Hallows soap and AS set. I’ve used it twice and set it aside to revisit later. My wife liked the scent, but I was kinda like ... meh. I didn’t think it was in my wheelhouse.
 
MilkCrate said:
I’ve got the Hallows soap and AS set. I’ve used it twice and set it aside to revisit later. My wife liked the scent, but I was kinda like ... meh. I didn’t think it was in my wheelhouse.
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That's my worry too as the profile doesn't exactly scream "autumn" to me on paper and that is kind of what I'm looking for right now...seems that some love it, others hate it.
 
Fightingillini22 said:
That's my worry too as the profile doesn't exactly scream "autumn" to me on paper and that is kind of what I'm looking for right now...seems that some love it, others hate it.
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I’ll break it out tomorrow and see if I can give you more info to work with.
 
It’s a scent that I really wanted to like. The description fits me to a tee. But there’s something about it that doesn’t fly with me. When I wear the cologne, a girl at work says my smell reminds her of church. I swear I smell frankincense, even though they don’t list it in their notes. I’ll use it a couple of times near Halloween, but it’s not a favorite.

I like their Fougere Gothique, just a little bit better, but it also missed its mark for me, and not what I was expecting.

At this point, I’m done with B&M.

I much prefer the scents from Southern Witchcrafts for good fall themed scents.
 
MilkCrate said:
I’ll break it out tomorrow and see if I can give you more info to work with.
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Very kind of you Tim!

Spider said:
It’s a scent that I really wanted to like. The description fits me to a tee. But there’s something about it that doesn’t fly with me. When I wear the cologne, a girl at work says my smell reminds her of church. I swear I smell frankincense, even though they don’t list it in their notes. I’ll use it a couple of times near Halloween, but it’s not a favorite.

I like their Fougere Gothique, just a little bit better, but it also missed its mark for me, and not what I was expecting.

At this point, I’m done with B&M.

I much prefer the scents from Southern Witchcrafts for good fall themed scents.
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That is what worries me - especially since I obviously won't be able to sample it as I'm sure it'll sell out in minutes when released.

I will say that I tried out SW Autumn Ash this morning and WOW what a fantastic scent! That one screams autumn in every which way.
 
Fightingillini22 said:
Very kind of you Tim!
That is what worries me - especially since I obviously won't be able to sample it as I'm sure it'll sell out in minutes when released.

I will say that I tried out SW Autumn Ash this morning and WOW what a fantastic scent! That one screams autumn in every which way.
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Ok, so I grabbed this soap/AS to give it a run this morning. Off the puck and during the lather, I get a darker spicy type scent. There is something else there, but I can’t identify it. It was not unpleasant, just different.

Wrapped everything up with the AS and that’s where the wheels fell off. I get a lot more scents from the AS than from the soap. Maybe the soap needs more lathers to really open up, not sure. But on the AS, to my simpleton nose it reeks. I get a dark, dank scent ... it smells like decay to me. Man I stink ... ugh. Yup this is not in my wheelhouse.
 
MilkCrate said:
Ok, so I grabbed this soap/AS to give it a run this morning. Off the puck and during the lather, I get a darker spicy type scent. There is something else there, but I can’t identify it. It was not unpleasant, just different.

Wrapped everything up with the AS and that’s where the wheels fell off. I get a lot more scents from the AS than from the soap. Maybe the soap needs more lathers to really open up, not sure. But on the AS, to my simpleton nose it reeks. I get a dark, dank scent ... it smells like decay to me. Man I stink ... ugh. Yup this is not in my wheelhouse.
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Thanks for taking them out this morning and getting back to this thread! I think between your "meh" reaction to the soap, disgust with the splash, and @Spider 's general displeasure across the board, it's a pass for me. Seems like everyone and their mother talks about Hallows but it just didn't quite look like my wheelhouse on paper.

The two samples I have from SW are phenomenal so now it comes down to which one to pick! @Spider do you have either of the splashes for Autumn Ash or Samhain? Any thoughts there?
 
Fightingillini22 said:
@Spider do you have either of the splashes for Autumn Ash or Samhain? Any thoughts there?
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I have nearly all of their soaps. But I don't generally like to buy soap/AS sets. But there are a few soaps of theirs that I liked enough to buy the matching AS. But I also chose those AS based on scents that would work across nearly all of their scents. So while not the same scent, it still compliments. I think I have 3 AS (maybe 4 can't remember). My favorite 2 AS are Alchemist and Autumn Ash because they will work with any of the soaps.

Samhain, I bought the soap, just because. Samhain is my favorite holiday, and it was one of the few SW soaps I didn't have. But it is my least favorite, because I'm not terribly fond of pumpkin. If you love the smell of pumpkin.... then go all in!
 
Spider said:
I have nearly all of their soaps. But I don't generally like to buy soap/AS sets. But there are a few soaps of theirs that I liked enough to buy the matching AS. But I also chose those AS based on scents that would work across nearly all of their scents. So while not the same scent, it still compliments. I think I have 3 AS (maybe 4 can't remember). My favorite 2 AS are Alchemist and Autumn Ash because they will work with any of the soaps.

Samhain, I bought the soap, just because. Samhain is my favorite holiday, and it was one of the few SW soaps I didn't have. But it is my least favorite, because I'm not terribly fond of pumpkin. If you love the smell of pumpkin.... then go all in!
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I don't typically purchase the matching splash with most soaps either, but these two have me seriously considering it as they're both just so good. I normally would be all over the pumpkin but there's something about the Autumn Ash that keeps drawing me back in. Might have to do a couple side-by-side lathers to try and break the tie...
 
Fightingillini22 said:
I normally would be all over the pumpkin but there's something about the Autumn Ash that keeps drawing me back in. Might have to do a couple side-by-side lathers to try and break the tie...
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I don’t understand.... breaking the tie???
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Spider said:
I don’t understand.... breaking the tie???
View attachment 32426View attachment 32427
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Contemplating the joys of having both soap vs the wrath of Kristen when both show up on our doorstep

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