I love Cella Extra Bio. It's my current favorite cream. I wouldn't call it a beginner soap. It's probably going to be king for me!
I would say your in the ball park, Greenhorns usually don't want to spend a lot of money when first trying wet shaving and those soaps give them a chance to try with reasonable protection. I like the picture you opened the thread up in.
This is pretty interesting. When I first started Prorasso was mentioned a lot but I couldn't find it locally so for several years I used barbasol or edge gel. Then for some reason I decided to get a decent brush (wee Scot) lol and a Simpsons special and the Simpson case. Then I went straight to artisan soaps. Then I got some bigger brushes, horse hair, from @Jayaruh and also tried PAA and several other artisan soaps. My wife got me a set of Proraso green several years ago and I only used it a few times. In the meantime I have bought more brushes but have gone back to the international drugstore for things I've always wanted to try like Speick, La Toja, Cella etc. The funny thing is these were talked about a lot way back when. And now I'm into those. I think Cella is top of the heap for me. There are a few Stirling products I can't live without, and I still need to try MDC. But basically, I'm off the artisan merry-go-round and back to the international ststandards. The Proraso green splash and pre-shave are contants for me and i am looking forward to the reformulated Blue and Blue pre-shave. And I am actually pretty excited about that! YMMV
I agree with Cella, Proraso and Arko, not so much with the others. I don't care for them! Cella is really nice.