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OK, this morning I tested sample 1. I've put together a constructive review below, and will update with soap 2 tomorrow, then repeat with a boar brush over the weekend and update further 
WHAT IS IT, AND WHAT DOES IT DO?
OSP Sample Soap 1 (Essential Oil) & 2 (Fragrance Oil)
If we don't know what shave soap does by now, perhaps we should go back to canned goo
APPLICATION METHOD AND DESCRIPTION:
Well, there are two approaches for me, lather with a wet brush, or lather after blooming. I took the wet brush approach. 10-15 second loading time MAX with my Body Shop Synthetic brush (chosen for its consistency in performance), then bowl lathered from there, adding water until I got a nice shine on the lather, and it just about held its peaks.
SCENT:
1) The scent in the sample puck were quite difficult for my uneducated nose to determine. I thought I could detect a little lavender, but not an awful lot of anything obvious, there were hints however. Upon lathering, spicy notes emerged quite prominently. I'm still not sure what this soap would be labelled as in regard to name. It is a pleasant scent however, masculine in its spiciness, tamed with a tinge of something floral. Watch me be proven wrong there All that said, scent is the single most subjective thing about a soap you can measure, so whilst I may like, you may not. YMMV and all that razor related jazz.
2) This was the more subtle of the two scents, both from the puck itself and in the bowl/during the shave. Very similar base fragrance with much less of the spicy notes coming through. Definitely one for the shaver who prefers a gentle, subtle fragrance as opposed to something much more obvious.
Overall, I prefer sample 1 scent as I like the boldness of the aromas both pre and during the shave.
LATHERABILITY:
As stated, 10-15 second load on a wet brush, straight to the bowl, water added slowly until a workable lather was built. It didn't take as long to get to that small bubbled, creaminess than say MWF, but a bit longer than a TOBS cream for example. Perfectly acceptable time to build a lather and waft the scents under your schnozz. There was PLENTY of lather built with that small load time. The picture is the remaining lather after the third pass (only the lather remaining in the brush from whipping, the bowl still contained plenty):
Both sample 1 and sample 2 lather easily, both from a wet brush with short load times. I treated them exactly as I would any other soap, so it's good to know that the soaps behave 'as expected' when lathering.
PERFORMANCE:
This is a very important property for I imagine all wet shavers, and this soap doesn't disappoint. Slick between the fingers, and equally as slick under the blade (Merkur 39C & a fresh Astra Superior Stainless), there was no drama to write home about during the shave. Not once did I feel any drag, any dryness. Not once did I get any clog in the razor or any unpleasantries upon my face during the shave either. Happy days are here.
Both samples provide the same shave experience in terms of protection and post shave feel. Both are equally slick as they are non drying. I have no preference here (although I suspect that the base soap is the same, the only difference being the fragrance oils, I highly doubt that they could have a discernible affect on the performance).
POST SHAVE:
Something I find with some soaps is an intense drying effect, to the point my face feels like Han Solo in carbonite...itching to break free from the oppressive outer crust. Thankfully, I felt none of that using these soap. My face feels like I've had a good shave and applied plenty of moisturiser. No dryness, itching, tenderness...nothing. I've got 99 problems, but this soap isn't one.
As above, both samples provide an excellent post shave feel.
CONCLUSIVE COMMENTS:
Well, the one thing my template doesn't cover is the soap makeup. I suspect that based on the feel and sink related mess, that this is a vegan soap, there is none of that tallow 'soap scum' that you get with say MWF and the Palmolive stick (I may of course be wrong, in which case I lose 500 internet points that hold no cash value). The whole shave experience is pleasant from beginning to end, from building a lather, to the protection during the shave, to the top shelf 'post shave' finish.
Now both samples have been tested, there was only one metric that showed a distinct preference on my part, scent. I prefer the bolder scent of sample 1 (Essential Oil) over the much more subtle sample 2. I couldn't separate either in terms of performance, but push coming to shove, for the whole experience, Sample 1 is my favourite of the two, and would be the one I'd happily pass over some Imperial Credits of The Realm for.
WHAT IS IT, AND WHAT DOES IT DO?
OSP Sample Soap 1 (Essential Oil) & 2 (Fragrance Oil)
If we don't know what shave soap does by now, perhaps we should go back to canned goo
APPLICATION METHOD AND DESCRIPTION:
Well, there are two approaches for me, lather with a wet brush, or lather after blooming. I took the wet brush approach. 10-15 second loading time MAX with my Body Shop Synthetic brush (chosen for its consistency in performance), then bowl lathered from there, adding water until I got a nice shine on the lather, and it just about held its peaks.
SCENT:
1) The scent in the sample puck were quite difficult for my uneducated nose to determine. I thought I could detect a little lavender, but not an awful lot of anything obvious, there were hints however. Upon lathering, spicy notes emerged quite prominently. I'm still not sure what this soap would be labelled as in regard to name. It is a pleasant scent however, masculine in its spiciness, tamed with a tinge of something floral. Watch me be proven wrong there
All that said, scent is the single most subjective thing about a soap you can measure, so whilst I may like, you may not. YMMV and all that razor related jazz.2) This was the more subtle of the two scents, both from the puck itself and in the bowl/during the shave. Very similar base fragrance with much less of the spicy notes coming through. Definitely one for the shaver who prefers a gentle, subtle fragrance as opposed to something much more obvious.
Overall, I prefer sample 1 scent as I like the boldness of the aromas both pre and during the shave.
LATHERABILITY:
As stated, 10-15 second load on a wet brush, straight to the bowl, water added slowly until a workable lather was built. It didn't take as long to get to that small bubbled, creaminess than say MWF, but a bit longer than a TOBS cream for example. Perfectly acceptable time to build a lather and waft the scents under your schnozz. There was PLENTY of lather built with that small load time. The picture is the remaining lather after the third pass (only the lather remaining in the brush from whipping, the bowl still contained plenty):
Both sample 1 and sample 2 lather easily, both from a wet brush with short load times. I treated them exactly as I would any other soap, so it's good to know that the soaps behave 'as expected' when lathering.
PERFORMANCE:
This is a very important property for I imagine all wet shavers, and this soap doesn't disappoint. Slick between the fingers, and equally as slick under the blade (Merkur 39C & a fresh Astra Superior Stainless), there was no drama to write home about during the shave. Not once did I feel any drag, any dryness. Not once did I get any clog in the razor or any unpleasantries upon my face during the shave either. Happy days are here.
Both samples provide the same shave experience in terms of protection and post shave feel. Both are equally slick as they are non drying. I have no preference here (although I suspect that the base soap is the same, the only difference being the fragrance oils, I highly doubt that they could have a discernible affect on the performance).
POST SHAVE:
Something I find with some soaps is an intense drying effect, to the point my face feels like Han Solo in carbonite...itching to break free from the oppressive outer crust. Thankfully, I felt none of that using these soap. My face feels like I've had a good shave and applied plenty of moisturiser. No dryness, itching, tenderness...nothing. I've got 99 problems, but this soap isn't one.
As above, both samples provide an excellent post shave feel.
CONCLUSIVE COMMENTS:
Well, the one thing my template doesn't cover is the soap makeup. I suspect that based on the feel and sink related mess, that this is a vegan soap, there is none of that tallow 'soap scum' that you get with say MWF and the Palmolive stick (I may of course be wrong, in which case I lose 500 internet points that hold no cash value). The whole shave experience is pleasant from beginning to end, from building a lather, to the protection during the shave, to the top shelf 'post shave' finish.
Now both samples have been tested, there was only one metric that showed a distinct preference on my part, scent. I prefer the bolder scent of sample 1 (Essential Oil) over the much more subtle sample 2. I couldn't separate either in terms of performance, but push coming to shove, for the whole experience, Sample 1 is my favourite of the two, and would be the one I'd happily pass over some Imperial Credits of The Realm for.
