Eisbaer

This is the story of a musician named Arthur Rosepetal. While World War II was raging, he was born in the United States and went to school in New York State. When he was eleven years old, a furnace exploded in that school. The fire killed several of his classmates, and he himself suffered severe burns all over his body. Still in the hospital, Arthur received his first own guitar and began to play on it. More and more taken by the folk music of the 60s, Arthur Rosepetal finally traveled to England in 1965 to record his own album.

Still in December of the same year appeared a very melancholic folk album named after him. Almost without exception, only his guitar and vocals can be heard on it. Unfortunately, the album did not sell very well and the very next year Arthur fell into deep depression, which did not improve for a long time. Very soon he returned to the USA, got married and became the father of a young son. Unfortunately, this son became seriously ill and died very young. Arthur's depression then worsened so much that he had to be hospitalized. The 1970s were not easy for him. His mental problems and his destitution made him suffer.

In the 1980s, Arthur Rosepetal became homeless. He was falsely diagnosed with schizophrenia disease, which put him in closed facilities several times and put him through hell. It wasn't until the early 1990s that he finally found a close friend who cared about him and addressed his problems. He organized a roof over Arthur's head. One day, while he was waiting for his friend on a bench, a group of punks started shooting at passers-by with air rifles. They hit Arthur on the left eye, whereupon he went blind on this very eye.

In the mid-1990s - the first time in many, many years - Arthur Rosepetal began writing songs and playing guitar again. However, unfortunately, it came to nothing more. Arthur Rosepetal became ill and died one day after his 56th birthday. What he leaves behind are melancholic compositions - sad melodies with serious and thoughtful song lyrics.

Why am I writing this story in a commentary on Amouage's fragrance "Lyric Man"? First of all: the story told is not a story, but fact. Arthur Rosepetal was a real person - only his real name was Jackson Carey Frank. in 2011 I got to know him, his music and his sad biography. His 1965 album "Jackson C. Frank" exudes tremendous beauty and melancholy. Just as the Amouage "Lyric Man" is able to do. I feel surrounded by the reddest, most beautiful and freshest rose petals - soapy, somewhat woody and fruity notes round out the fragrance. It enchants me, it takes away my speech. It makes me pause and be grateful for the things I have. That I have experienced and will still experience. The "Lyric Man" shows me my own strength - but also shows me the strengths of my fellow human beings, some of whom have so many more burdens to bear in life than I do and yet never give up. Just never give up on themselves.

Actually, I've been in love with the "Interlude Man" for years and swore for a long time, this would be the first Amouage fragrance, which would move in as a bottle with me. But then I smelled "Lyric Man" and it never let me go. Never before and never after have I heard such a wonderful and fresh rose scent. And never before have I been able to perceive sadness, melancholy and hope in one scent. I treated the 2ml sample with the utmost care, wearing the fragrance only on very special occasions - not only in company, but also when I was all alone and to myself. Then he works for me particularly strong. This summer was the time and I could no longer resist the "Lyric Man" and bought myself a 100ml bottle. So now he is the first Amouage that I can call my own and it feels incredibly good. I can well imagine that it must smell like this in heaven.

I wish Jackson C. Frank had been allowed to experience this fragrance. Perhaps it could have given him new courage as well, showing him his incredible strength and willpower. In my opinion, there is no bad time for "Lyric Man". He always cuts a good figure - in spring, summer, autumn and winter. In sad and upsetting, but definitely in funny and cheerful times as well. In heavy thunderstorms and in bright sunshine. To a morning coffee and to a good whisky in the evening. When it's needed, it's there - and for a very long time. For about ten hours, it stays true to my skin. The sillage is just right - perceptible, but not room filling. The deep red bottle resting on a pillar and the outer packaging printed with roses - beautiful. I love "Lyric Man" and he loves me.

"Like a rose trellis in the wind of winter
shaking out the dry petals to the ground
it takes a man from his woman to tear
the world destroyers down."

This is a poem written by Jackson C. Frank in his later years on an old typewriter. He had planned to compose a melody to it, but unfortunately never got around to it. I bow to this man. I have been working on my own life and my own happiness for some time. I'm also working on getting healthy and happy again. Amouage's "Lyric Man" accompanies me in this. And it only remains for me to say thank you.

Music to Amouage "Lyric Man":

"Blues Run The Game" by Jackson C. Frank
"Milk And Honey" by Jackson C. Frank
"Cover Me With Roses" by Jackson C. Frank

It is always exciting to see what associations people share with certain scents. But it's understandable, because after all it can bring great joy as part of our common scent hobby. How beautiful is it alone when a scent reminds us of a distant place, a certain time or even a very concrete event? I've experienced this with many perfumes, but "Number One" by Hugo Boss is one of the strongest candidates for such a connection.

First of all: I can agree with the general tenor that the fragrance is an absolute grower and needs some time to get used to. At the beginning I was also a bit sceptical whether I really like it or whether it would go further. I had that with a whisky once: I found the Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban horrible in the first dram, after the second tasting it was fine, after the third tasting it was even really good and after the fourth glass at the latest it was clear that it would be bought again. And no, of course these glasses were not all drunk away one after another. Ahem. :-) Anyway, I felt the same with the "Number One". The more often I tried it, the more I liked it. And the liking has become a passionate love in the meantime. By the way, this procedure didn't take long - one or two weeks had passed and he became one of my favourites

The two main ingredients that immediately stand out for me are without doubt the fruity, clean freshness and honey. Yes, it does smell a little like furniture polish, but not necessarily in such a way that you wouldn't like the scent on you. For some people, this note reminds me more of WC stone, as I read - I am rather reminded of the furniture balm from Pronto, which I like to use to care for my wooden furniture. Hence the funny headline. I really like the sweet honey in combination with the freshness, I must say. It rounds off the overall picture perfectly. And even though "Number One" is now 35 years old, I think it has aged very well. He smells pleasantly classic and does not need to hide behind newer fresh scents. You can see the 80s in him - in a positive respect.

One particular reason why I not only like this fragrance, but love it: I can't explain exactly why, but "Number One" by Hugo Boss embodies radiant sunshine for me. For me it is a real holiday scent. I think it's because it reminds me of happy childhood days in the early 1990s, when my parents, siblings and I used to spend summer vacations with my relatives every now and then - for example at the Mecklenburg Lake District or down in Bavaria near the Alps. Almost all of my relatives lived or still live in rural to very rural areas and I always enjoyed it very much as a child when we all had breakfast together outside in the sunshine while the coffee machine was gurgling in the background and the portable radio was constantly playing songs from the 70s and 80s. I think the grapefruit, apple and lemon in "Number One" remind me subconsciously that my relatives always smelled very clean and very fresh in the house. Now in retrospect I think - sure, they will have cleaned up for the visit. :-) Also the pleasant smells of the wooded and green surroundings and the garden come back to my memory. That fits - after all, flowers and herbs can also be heard discreetly in the "Number One". And the honey? For me it fits perfectly with the association of the honey glass on the breakfast table.

For my partner and me, the summer vacation (which we always enjoy very much) always starts in the car. Put the luggage in the back, adjust the navigation, start an episode of "The three ???" and drive together comfortably along the country road towards the holiday. Maybe even to those relatives. Only this time the coffee machine gurgles for us, the radio plays the "hits of today" and the childlike carelessness is unfortunately missing. Nevertheless, I know for sure that "Number One" by Hugo Boss will be my holiday scent for the trip. Should it be cloudy outside, it doesn't matter. In the car the sun will shine anyway

If Hugo Boss "Number One" were music:

"Julia" by Chris Rea
"Far, Far Away" by Slade
"In The Summertime" by Mungo Jerry
"It Never Rains In Southern California" by Albert Hammond

"Encre Noire" is one of those blind purchases for which I am extremely grateful. Every person and especially every perfume wears its fragrances for very personal reasons. Everyday scents for the office, cuddly scents for the romantic evening or so-called clubbing scents for the loud party weekend. I wear most of my fragrances for myself, to be able to travel in time and pictures. I love it when fragrances can create images in my head and transport me to another place. I have been following the comments and statements on Lalique's "Encre Noire" on Parfumo for a very long time and was more and more curious about the fragrance with every entry until I couldn't stand it anymore and finally bought it in a 100ml bottle - without having tried it out beforehand. The best thing to remember is that a new love of fragrance can arise - but it can also be a huge pain in the ass. Therefore I would not necessarily recommend my approach. Because I admit that this black gold is anything but commonplace.

The bottle is cube-shaped and, at least in the 100ml version, also very massive and heavy. What I especially like is its simplicity - completely in black, "ENCRE NOIRE" is written in a type similar to railway lettering on the front and apart from the usual lettering on the bottom of the bottle there is no text at all. The black cap in a wooden décor completes the overall picture. The outer appearance is exactly to my taste, especially as I think it matches the contents perfectly. As many have already written, "Encre Noire" means "black ink", which is why the bottle was designed as an inkwell.

And the scent itself? Wood and earth, as a very short version, is absolutely correct. I do not smell moss, no green or "woody" components. I smell above all old, heavy wood - and yes, also a little ink. Some years ago, out of sheer joy, I often wrote texts in black ink with a quill pen - I cannot deny an olfactory similarity. Also, as a trained librarian, the smell of old books is not foreign to me, which I can also detect in "Encre Noire". Last but not least I feel a little bit reminded of Polaroid photos. Whenever I open our old photo album, I notice a similar smell. Unlike all the other woody scents I have tested and/or owned, "Encre Noire" contains no sweetness at all. On the contrary - it is exactly what I would describe as woody and spicy.

My impression about the fragrance: I love it very much. I definitely agree with the opinion that it would not necessarily (!) be something for the office or for going out. It is not for nothing that the question "Who wants to smell like this?" has come up several times here. The attempt of an answer: I want to smell like this - to wrap myself in this pleasant pure wood scent, which takes me into another world. At the peak of his career, the Salzburg composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart had an annual income of around 10,000 guilders, which would be around 125,000 euros today. His apartment in Vienna had its own billiard room; comparable to today, that would be a garage with a Ferrari in it. When I smell "Encre Noire", I see myself standing in the middle of this room, looking over Mozart's shoulder, watching him drink wine and compose one piece after another by candlelight. The many heavy wooden pieces of furniture, the countless books scattered on shelves and all over the room and, of course, the inkwell in which he repeatedly dips his pen - for me, that is "Encre Noire" in figurative terms.

Of course it does not necessarily have to be based on Mozart alone. We are also happy to include the Parisian domiciles of Frédéric Chopin. The apartment of the Brothers Grimm in Kassel. The bedroom of Ebenezer Scrooge. I could very well imagine that in the 18th and 19th centuries almost all buildings smelled like this. They have fascinated me since my childhood days. How I love to visit castles, palaces, old archives and libraries. Buildings can tell so many exciting stories. With "Encre Noire", Lalique has succeeded in creating a fragrance that takes me on a journey into other times. This is exactly why I love perfume.

If Lalique "Encre Noire" were music:

"Ave Verum Corpus" (KV 618) by W.A. Mozart
"Lacrimosa" (from III. sequence Requiem) by W.A. Mozart
"Nocturne Op. 15, No. 2 in F sharp major" by Frédéric Chopin

Transfiguration can be a beautiful thing. Were summers really sunnier as a child? Were they really whiter at Christmas? Was life really so much more carefree? I thought about it for a long time. As a child of the 1990s, I am very much of the opinion that we still regularly had white Christmases back then. Photos from that time can prove it. But as far as summers are concerned, they are certainly just as hot and sunny today as they were then. Nevertheless, I am of the opinion that the summertime of the 90s was a special one. Probably mostly because of the lack of internet. Meeting friends was arranged over the phone, if at all. Most of the time, however, people just met spontaneously - either in the backyard of the new housing estate, on the playground or on the basketball court. And when the ice cream man rang the bell on particularly hot days, there was a race to see who could reach his apartment first, talk his parents out of 50 pfennigs for a scoop of vanilla and then secure the front places in the queue in front of the ice cream van.

I love those memories. As the years went by, I gradually realized that I was transfigured. My parents, for example, found the 90s very stressful and nerve-wracking. I think a little bit that anyone who can claim to have had a wonderful childhood is transfigured. Unfortunately, the word is rather negative. But I think transfiguration is a wonderful thing - it is one of the greatest functions our brain has: Preserve the positive and sort out the bad in the best possible way. This ability enables us to travel in time. Journeys into those phases of life that we unconsciously carry within us every day - and how beautiful it is when we specifically remember those beautiful experiences that we once had. Especially since we can trigger this optimally: Through photographs and films, through music - and through smells. This is where "CK Be" by Calvin Klein from 1996 comes into play. Randomly selected? No, quite deliberately. "CK Be" is one of those fragrances that have the trigger effect mentioned above. It catapults me back to the summertime of the '90s.

I perceive "CK Be" as a very fresh scent. Two or three sprayers from the deep black bottle and immediately iced mint water opens up with a light tangerine in the background. After about two to three minutes, the juniper berry comes out and the fragrance develops in a deep woody direction. However, we are not talking here about fresh juniper berries served as a still life on a noble dining table - rather, the impression is created as if a bottle of gin had broken in the building materials and wood department in the Hornbach. :-) However, this is not meant negatively at all, because this combination really has something independent and extremely pleasant. I like the freshness of mint, which is always preserved, best. This makes the "CK Be" very tangy and light. Now there is of course the question: You didn't wear it as a child, did you? The answer is yes and no. My brother (almost five years older) used to wear a light eau de toilette every now and then when he was a sportsman. The whole range of AXE was there, "Cool Water" by Davidoff was there - and so was "CK Be". I didn't consciously apply it, that's true - but I stole a small sprayer every now and then when nobody was looking (as perfumes probably did as children). This was probably never noticed, because even back then the "CK Be" was of the very quietest kind: It doesn't last half an hour on the skin, a sillage doesn't even exist shortly after spraying it on.

However, the factors mentioned do not bother me in this case, because Calvin Klein's "CK Be" is not a fragrance for me to wear. It serves me as a little half-hour time travel into my past. It causes a headache for me. My brother belonged to the soccer faction at that time, I tended much more towards basketball. When I smell CK Be today, I think of playgrounds and football fields where football and basketball are played. I think of scorching hot summer days, of my tattoos, of my yellow and black Gum Watch from Crazy Planet (who else knows it?), of the ringing of the bell of the ice cream van with Bugs Bunny printed on the front. Speaking of Bugs Bunny: The "CK Be" also brings back memories of the movie "Space Jam". And of course memories of my brother. Running around together on the sports fields and in the backyard, countless abrasions, his ghetto blaster, with which he used to play ball games. :-) But also on the quieter summer evenings, when we as a family sat outside for a barbecue or when my brother and I built whole towns out of Lego bricks together in the children's room. I love it when scents manage to bring the most diverse images into my memory. Unfortunately, as I said, the experience of "CK Be" lasts only a very short time. But I forgive him for that. I am very happy that he still exists today and I am always happy when he lets me travel in time for a few minutes.

If Calvin Klein were "CK Be" music:

"Fly Like An Eagle" by Seal
"Ready Or Not" by Fugees
"Lonely" by Nana
"Don't Let Go" by En Vogue

I still remember my first thought when I smelled Aventus for the first time in 2015: I am in love! I'm in love What a composition! This wonderful citric freshness and this touch of leather! And my God: What a perfect wedding between fruity pineapple and smoky birch! I would like to explain in more detail why I thought at the time that I understood the supposedly brilliant idea behind Aventus perfectly. The majority of Aventus wearers love the fruity component, which is primarily represented by the pineapple. At the same time, others feel rather put off by the sharp aftershave note, mostly embodied by the smoky birch. My idea at the time, however, was that this was exactly what was intended. I suspected the genius of the fragrance composition behind this interesting mixture. Aventus was a character with his chest outstretched while at the same time being modest and down-to-earth. Like a gentleman who grabs his beloved firmly by the arm only to give her lips the most devoted Kiss of Roses. Aventus was in my eyes the perfect combination of tradition (aftershave) and modernity (fruit). When I smelled it, I inevitably thought of a contemporary young man in his mid/late 20s, meeting his friends for a basketball game in the park... and, at the same time, my now 50-year-old uncle who, after shaving his face extensively, treats himself to a tasty load of 4711 and then puts his signet ring on his finger. I thought the Creed Aventus was supposed to be an olfactory provocation. Through this fragrance, the wearer could communicate that he or she had combined youthfulness and maturity in a perfect symbiosis and now wanted to express this through this perfume.

Maybe Aventus would have become my signature fragrance from 2015 onwards if there hadn't been several problems in the last five years. First, by far the most boring reason: I couldn't afford it for a long time. In between I tested several doubles - among them Zara's Vibrant Leather and Reyane Tradition's Insurrection II Pure. Apart from the fact that both could only lose in terms of shelf life and sillage by a wide margin compared to my bottling at that time - much more important was the problem that both Dupés concentrated far too much on the pineapple and far too little on the aftershave note. Accordingly, the whole thing slipped considerably into complacency. But now I had read a lot and learned about the big discussion about the different batches. I was hit by the blow. The majority really wanted even more sweetness, even more pineapple and fought over the fruitiest and most long-lasting batches? Fascinating enough. But much more fascinating: Why the discussion at all? Why are there batches that are fruitier than others? Why does Aventus from bottle A hold up close for an hour, while bottle B irradiates a radius of twenty meters for ten hours? Why does Creed not have a stable quality in the fragrance composition? Why is a price of almost 200 Euro per 50ml bottle nevertheless charged?

And the longer and more intensely I dealt with these questions in recent years, the more I became aware: I had completely misjudged Aventus and misunderstood his intentions over all this time. My interpretation was a mistake. From the very beginning, it was not at all about a provocative scent mixture with which the wearer could have conveyed a message. Obviously it was only about pleasantness. It was about addressing the masses. It was about not causing a stir. I am sure this is one of the reasons why Aventus is now sometimes criticised so strongly. Many perfumers have tested the fragrance relatively late and some of them have asked themselves the legitimate question after testing: So that's it? Is that why all the hype? Because of this pleasing scent mixture? Of course, the price has remained the same, as have the variations in quality. I am not touching on the subject of reformulation, that would go beyond the scope here. Just this much: I recently had a new bottling of Aventus sent to me and the blow hit me a second time. The provocative smoky birch tree has completely fizzled out and only the pineapple has remained, together with a touch of leather and a very distant citric freshness. Durability and sillage have not only been scaled down - they are comparatively virtually non-existent. Of course, I can't say now which batch the sample was taken from. But if even the Vibrant Leather lasts much longer, then something must have gone terribly wrong at Creed.

Just to be clear: The scent is of course a matter of taste; I adore the composition of "my" then version. But the development that Aventus has had to go through in the last years makes me very sad. I have to say, however, that I am much less annoyed than surprised by the fluctuations in quality. I would never claim that Creed is not (any longer) capable of producing high quality and high value fragrances. That would not be remotely true for me. The circumstances simply amaze me - and they deter me considerably from buying a Creed bottle. I find both the Erolfa and the Royal Oud to be great scents. But these considerable variations in quality mean that I no longer dare to buy an entire bottle. I allow each perfume its own luck with its own "individual" bottling. Everyone wants their Aventus to be different anyway, as you can see from all of us who describe our impressions here. However, I have a really queasy feeling when I imagine how the ladies and gentlemen at Creed rub their hands despite all the discussions, simply because the ruble is rolling. Whether Aventus is pleasing or not, it doesn't matter - he will be sold. Whether Aventus lasts long or not, it doesn't matter - it will be sold. Whether Aventus smells like roof tiles or pineapple tomorrow, it doesn't matter - it will be sold.

On the whole, there is only one thing that can be said for my part: The Creed Aventus has left a strong impression on me - but much more confusion.

If Creed Aventus were music:

"8th Wonder" by Marc Martel
"If You Can't Beat Them" by Queen
"Waves" by Mr Probz

PS: A little anecdote. In summer 2015 I bought a Freddie Mercury T-shirt and it was my favourite piece of clothing for a long time. That same summer, the Aventus from the first sample was my standard fragrance. Unfortunately, I have become very fat in the last five years and have not been able to fit into this T-shirt for a long time. It is estimated that it was freshly washed for the last time around the turn of the year 2016/2017 and has been kept in the closet since then. A few days ago it fell into my hands again during sorting and my mouth was literally open when I noticed that the neckline of the T-shirt clearly smelled of Aventus. Over all these years the scent had not left the clothes. I thought about this for a long time.