80 th Anniversary

The most recent discussion, from July 2026, is a candid one about the learning curve: a buyer five shaves in still could not find the window between a lather too thick to spread and one that collapsed on the second pass, describing the bad attempts as shaving flypaper. The replies converge on the same diagnosis — the soap is thirsty but unforgiving of over-hydration, so bloom it, load the brush far longer than feels necessary, and add water a few drops at a time. Two days later the original poster reported that blooming and a much longer load had largely solved it.

A July 2026 shave-of-the-day writeup calls the soap "a beast," singling out slickness and what the reviewer describes as phenomenal hydration, and reading the scent as genuinely layered rather than one-note — bergamot up top against a warmer, darker base of ambergris, cedar, myrrh and vanilla. Notably, it is the puck he keeps reaching for rather than a novelty that got tried once.

The soap holds a straight 5.0 out of 5 across 5 user ratings logged between November and December 2025. Reviewers highlight a slick lather that builds dense enough to carry a three-pass shave, with one calling the scent engaging and masculine without being generic — his son in his twenties liked it enough to note it was not merely a "dad" scent.

Early verified reviews are uniformly glowing (5/5 across 4 reviews): one first-time Varesino buyer calls it excellent and very slick with a hydrated, soft post-shave feel, another praises a well-balanced scent between light citrus and a sweeter, vanilla-tinged base, and one buyer picked it up in person at Shave & Meet 2025, captivated enough to order the matching fragrance too.

In a dedicated review thread, one buyer who'd just switched to Bleu de Chanel as their signature fragrance says the soap arrived "almost a dead-on match" for it, rating the shave a straight 10/10 for slickness and cushion; another gives a fuller breakdown — "a refined woody fougère" opening on bright citrus into woody lavender with a warm, sweet-vanilla base — and calls the lather "rich, structured, protective" with excellent glide, though they admit it's hard to say how different it really is from the 70th Anniversary.

In a separate thread titled simply "Wow," one first-time buyer who was about to order Martin de Candre instead says trying the 80th changed his mind — surprised by how much thicker the lather built up than expected once he started painting it on, and coming away calling the soap fantastic.

The original launch thread is where the praise gets its sharpest qualification. One early buyer, writing up his first use, found the scent very strong off the puck but noted it almost vanished once he built the lather — and, more pointedly, said he could not really detect what the new PlantSil was supposed to add, reckoning the difference from the standard Beta 4.3 was slight at best. His caveat cuts both ways, since he also calls that same Beta 4.3 base the best soap he has ever used for lather, texture, protection and slickness. Another buyer landed on a mild preference for the 70th, finding vanilla more forward in the 80th than he had expected, and the thread never fully settles what the scent is modeled on — Bleu de Chanel is the popular answer, with at least one poster arguing for Dior Sauvage instead.

Verified buyers (5/5 across 4 reviews) call the scent "spectacular" and "worth more than it costs," praising how hydrated and refreshed the skin feels afterward; one who bought the full anniversary kit calls it an elegant, complex "masterpiece" suited to any season.

The same review thread finds equal enthusiasm for the balm: one reviewer calls it "equally impressive" to the soap, with a soothing, nourishing feel that leaves skin soft and refreshed without any greasiness, the scent lingering just enough to complement the soap without repeating it; another separately calls it hands-down the best alcohol-based aftershave they've used, matching the soap's slickness with just enough staying power to see a shave through without turning into a cologne.

It sits at 4.10 out of 5 across 10 votes, with a clear majority leaning enthusiastic (4 "love it," 3 "like it," 3 "ok") and zero dislikes or hates — a solid showing for a fragrance barely a year old, though both Cubebe and Morado rate higher, and Cubebe has drawn considerably more votes.

Reception isn't universal, though: in the same thread where buyers rave about the soap, one longtime fan of the line says the matching Parfum "just isn't working for me so far," specifically on performance rather than the scent itself, despite calling the 80th soap their new favorite.