Thread: Declaration Grooming - Icarus Base

I have Shore and Contemplation on their way. Very excited for their arrival!

DG goods received. My first impression is pretty much on par with the others. I used the Shore this morning. As I have said prior I suck at scent description so I'm not going to even try. Both Contemplation and Shore off the puck, the scent is faint. I did not find that lathering made much difference. If I was to give a scent description it would be faint at best and pretty much washed away with the water rinsing off after the shave. I smelled nothing from the shave after walking out of the bathroom, which is a disappointment. As far as performance goes, it is a top performer. The lather is rich and dense and gets a 9 (out of 10), slickness 9, residual slickness 9, post shave 9.5.

A great performer, I just wish the scent was stronger as I do like them both. For me, it was almost like an unscented soap following the shave.

I agree with you on the faint scent Rich.. When I first received the soap and opened jar i thought it was quite a powerful scent, but after using it a couple of days I realized the DG has a scent unique only to itself,and that was all I could smell.. I did not use the DG today but when i took the top off of the jar and left it out for a few hours before returning the smell was hardly noticeable in the bathroom.. A little bummed about that myself, reminds me of the AOS soaps.. Great performer but very faint scent.. Still goes on the top shelf though... Peace all!

TCM, yes a top performer for sure!! I am disappointed that the scent is so faint as I really do love the performance of this soap. It does suck for me as I enjoy the "aroma therapy" aspect of my morning shave routine as much as the performance. Any insight on the AS splash? I did not get any as I will confirm that I like the scent before layering up on similar scented products.

I don't feel I will reach for DG Icarus over other top performers which have the "whole package". Time will tell and I have yet to try the Contemplation.

Hi Rich... As far as performance goes the AS is very nice.. Gives a long lasting cooling sensation and keeps the skin moisturized for the whole day... Like yourself i have a hard time explainingn scents, wife says it smells a little like berry cough syrup but quickly fades to a floral scent.. If you PM your address i would be more than happy to fill a couple old sample bullets and send them to you... Btw, the AS splash scent does not last long as i can only smell it for a few hours after application.. Take care, Scott W

Well, since there seems to be some debate as to which is better, the Icarus or the Bison base, I have ordered a tub of the Icarus Contemplation and the Bison TSM Fougere. We will see which I like better from a scent and performance perspective once they arrive next week.

Originally Posted by RayClem

Well, since there seems to be some debate as to which is better, the Icarus or the Bison base, I have ordered a tub of the Icarus Contemplation and the Bison TSM Fougere. We will see which I like better from a scent and performance perspective once they arrive next week.

I have the Bison in yuzu/rose/patchouli scent and love it! I would say the scent strength of Y/R/P is a 6 and Icarus is a 2. As far as performance differnence they are both fantastic. The Icarus is a bit more slick and the post save is far better than the bison IMO. Both are great I just wish Icarus had a stronger/longer lasting scent.

Interested to hear your take on both.

I shaved with the Contemplation scented soap today. Exact same review as the Shore. Exceptional performance, nice scent but way too faint, almost undetectable for me.

I am still waiting on mine, but if the very light scent noted by many is typical of the current Icarus soaps, it is no wonder that many people note the underlying animal funkiness when first opening the containers.

I know that some essential and fragrance oils are rather expensive, so perhaps DG is minimizing the scent, trying to keep the Icarus soaps from becoming so expensive that people are reluctant to purchase them. Both my Icarus Contemplation and Bison TSM Fougere were $25 each. That is well above the price point of many excellent competitors, so DG needs to proivide superb soaps both in scent and performance.

Below is a response from Scott Stewart, Owner | Declaration Grooming

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Hey Richard -

You're the first person to mention a light scent on any of the new soaps, so that is interesting. They have cured for a few weeks (to let the animalic scent of the base air out) and I suspect that the scent is currently light due to some sublimation from the outside of the puck as a result.

I would suspect, but not guarantee, that as you work past the outside of the puck the scent strength will increase accordingly.

If this is an unacceptable guess on my part then just let me know how you would like to proceed.

Thanks,

Scott Stewart
Owner | Declaration Grooming
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