Mama Bear’s British Leather is, from what I can recall, a fairly decent re-creation of English Leather, the classic cologne scent (it’s been a while since I’ve smelled that). As per usual, my nose isn’t up to picking out unique scents amongst an aroma this complex, but they say that it is a “mix of bergamot, lemon, orange with notes or rose, honey, orris and ferns” with base notes of “cedarwood, leather, vetiver, musk and vanilla.” I see no reason not to believe them there. It’s a reasonably nice scent, and I’d bump it up a couple points if you’re a big fan of the cologne.

Strength-wise it doesn’t really cut it though. It’s easy to pick out when smelling the soap itself, but when lathered up and applied to the face, there’s pretty much nothing.

As for the lather, here’s the Mama Bear boilerplate review: Lathers up nice and thick to begin with; be sure to add a decent amount of water to get enough glide, but not too quickly as it’s easy to over-shoot the mark and be left with something too runny; if you’re using a scuttle, the heat will cause the lather to break down between passes, but a few extra drops of water and a quick stir will fix that up nicely. Gives a perfectly nice shave.

8/10 Scent Pleasantness

6/10 Scent Strength

7/10 Lather Quality (reflects new scoring as outlined here)

6/10 overall. The scent really isn’t strong enough to enhance the shaving experience.

Cost: $9.99 for a bowl worth. For some reason the samples aren’t currently available, although I suspect that’s an oversight that will be rectified once they get back from vacation in a few days.

Gear used:

Ingredients: Coconut Oil, Palm Oil, Castor Oil, Safflower, Glycerine (kosher, of vegetable origin), Purified Water, Sodium Hydroxide (saponifying agent), Sorbitol (moisturizer), Sorbitan oleate (emulsifier), Soybean protein (conditioner), Wheat protein and fragrance either natural or synthetic.