Hey Posse, biehl parfumkunstwerke is on my radar today.
OK, let’s get the brand name under our belts: biehl parfumkunstwerke = biehl is for the founder Thorston Biel (by all accounts a very lovely man) and parfumkunstwerke means fragrant artworks. There is a fair amount of the stupid wankery rhetoric that surrounds art in the site and PR and it generally makes me want to hate the fragrance because to me it should be about smelling good, not telling me it smells extraordinary, out of this world, best perfumers blah blah blah. I know we get it from all sides but some companies advertising/brain washing/trick gets under my skin. I’m looking at you Le Labo, nu_be and a couple of others that shit me but I can’t remember (end rant)
eo03 by biehl parfumkunstwerke 2007
eo03 by Egon Oelkers
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, grapefruit, galbanum, cardamom, cilantro
Heart: Thyme, davana (artemisia), fir, rose, jasmine, clove
Base: Cedar wood atlas, patchouli, sandalwood, incense, vanilla, cinnamon, ambergris, musk
I picked up eo03 at one of the Fabulous Surrender To Chance 5ml Fridays, I gave it a spritz a few days ago and then got busy, completely forgetting to notice my frag so today we are basically doing a discovery day together.
Wow! it starts out green but verging on sweet and this weird duality lasts only a couple of seconds before a brittle, sizzling, citrus laden torn leaf comes through all woven through with pith and resin. A startling yet engaging opening that I really like. My skin throws a sugary grapefruit pastille into the works too.
Photo Stolen WikiCommons
Into the heart and I am awash in greenery and a spicy rose that flits around the edges of my sniffing. It’s so closely bound to the green/woody notes that what I really get is eo03 rather than notes. eo03 is as special as the marketing people at biehl parfumkunstwerke would have you think. The jasmine is a lovely breathy counterpoint to the green-ness and doesn’t really show itself till well into the heart. It’s a weirdo, a sweet green scent that also has a very funky backbeat holding the whole fragrance together.
I can’t decide if it’s creamy sandalwood or vanilla giving me this lovely smooth sheen that floats over and through the rest of eo03. What I can say is that the light and shade here feel perfectly harmonious, elegant, austere yet welcoming. Clean and animal at the end eo03 softens considerable after its first hour but then the hum that is left stays around for ages becoming less and less noticeable as it blends with and becomes a lovely whispered additive to me and my scent.
Photo Stolen Flickr
Often after trying a fragrance I’ll ask myself, do I want this, is it replicating something already in my collection and can I see myself wearing it in a few places. eo03 gets a solid yes on all points. I will be owning a full bottle of this baby, and soon.
First in Fragrance has €150/100ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $5/ml
If you liked this then jump on over to AustralianPerfumeJunkies too, there’s always something fun going on over there. We love visitors.
Do you ever get fed up with the marketing bullshit or can you ignore it and smell through?
Portia xx
How much sandalwood are we talkin’ here? That and the name are giving me pause, but as always, you make it sound sooooooo good!
There is some Sandalwood Tammy but it’s not a sandalwood cricket bat to hit you over the head. I don’t know, maybe a bit much? If you try it let me know.
Portia xx
Because I’ve tried and liked biehl’s EO2, I was intrigued, and confounded that the listed fragrantica notes for 03 seemed so similar to 02. Well, they’re exactly the same–which reminds me not to believe everything you read, at least on fragrantica. Per Surrender to Chance, notes are:
top notes of green leaves, orange blossom, pepper, peach, raspberry and neroli; middle notes of lily of the valley, Egyptian jasmine, tuberose, ylang-ylang, carnation and violet; and base notes of elemi, sandalwood, almond, amber and musk.
Still intrigued: “brittle, sizzling…woven through with pith and resin…jasmine a lovely breathy counterpoint to the green-ness…the light and shade perfectly harmonious…clean and animal …the hum that is left becomes a lovely whispered additive to me and my scent.” Wow, Portia. You make it sound like the way I feel listening to Bach, or Bill Evans. Your “art in words” is better than the brand’s own hype, without a doubt. portia wortkunstwerk anyone?
Amen, Gwen! Portia can really rock some descriptions, and would be a perfume copywriter extraordinaire!
Wow this sounds really cool – sweet, green, Jasmine, sandalwood? You’re hitting all the boxes here Portia, I may have to try this one. :). Perhaps I’ll have to make an STC order one of these days.
Sun Mi,
Surrender To Chance has been one of my fragrant lifelines. We don’t get a lot of the niche stuff that’s so available in more population rich centres so I have to order it in 2ml spritzers.
Portia xx
Howdy, Portia! Boy, you guys said it — this brand is a mouthful … and then some! But I think I have a sample around here somewhere and I’m going to dig it up if it kills me, ha! Thanks for putting this back on my radar, dear!
Hey Ann,
Good luck in your sample hunt. If it’s anything like my mess of samples you’ll need it.
Portia xx
I have their al02 (so I must have ignored any marketing annoyances) and I enjoy wearing it. I get some stewed/spiced fruit notes in it and usually wear it more in the fall and winter. I like the salamander in the photo.
Hey MaryK,
MMMM Stewed fruit always gives me a Serge Lutens rush. It makes a fragrance feel legit and luscious for me.
I’m so glad you like the salamander, I thought maybe this is the greenery he smells while wandering through moss.
Portia xx
Glorious review Portia ! weird, green and sweet – I need this!
I fell for the art/perfume project that was Kenzo UFO, but it was Patty and March’s review that really sold me. Yes, it lived up to the hype in both smell and beauty, but I made my mind up from the review and from draining a sample dry in a week.
Then again, if I had all the money in the world I’d snap up all of those pretty Agonist bottles regardless of how good or bad they smelled, because those are freakin’ beautiful!
OMG! Kizzers,
If I had all the money in the world……… What a wonderful thought. Fingers crossed you get a beautiful big bunch of money one day to spend joyfully on such luxury.
Those two girls Patty and March could make you want to buy a toad if they put their minds to it. I too have been caught up in their excitement, usually with excellent results. So glad yours went well.
Portia xx
I’ve come across this line on STC but have never bothered to explore any further. The brand’s name, with punctuation in the middle, and the numbered fragrances evoke nothing. The website reminds me of the Mike TV scene in Willy Wonka with an exclusive group wearing HAZMAT suits in a blindingly white, sterile room. Not very inviting to me (maybe I’m the “masses” they are trying to keep out?)So I rely on you guys to go in there and fetch the bar of chocolate and tell me if it’s worth eating ;-So thanks for your review. It actually sounds like something I’d try!
Hi there ElisaP,
It’s interesting that you are feeling like the uncool kid at a perfume party, the outsider, the know nothing. That’s EXACTLY how this brand made me feel till I tried their work. It’s solid.
Portia xx
First, biehl parfumkunstwerke is about the clunkiest name for a perfumery anyone can think of; Mr B. was greatly overestimating the average non-German’s interest in long long names. Second, I am positive that the marketing department of Etat Libre d’Orange is run by teenage boys, and I do not mean that as a compliment. Nevertheless, I have PB PC01 and about four bottles of ELO, so evidently I am ignoring the idiocy.
Annie,
Men remain teenage boys their whole lives on the inside.
As to names, yes, what a freaking mouthful.
Portia xx