MajorTom

If a fragrance is rated with 8.7 points here, the expectation naturally rises enormously for that reason alone and I really expect an absolute industry highlight. That said, I want to have added that Birkholz not as a mass producer and thus sorted into the industrial corner, no, they call themselves a manufactory, that is, here is worked craftsmanship at the highest level.

Sir Santal, sandalwood for the well-groomed gentleman so. Let's see. The connoisseur of the manufacture Birkholz knows, before the spray head can be operated, a leather-covered cap must be removed. Just touching this cap is something special, especially and also in comparison to many partly quite noble and elaborately processed metal lids. From the first moment it is suggested, you are holding something special in your hand.

Sprayer served and greedily inhaled the prelude. Yes, a very pleasing composition from the start, which brings the manufactory Birkholz here to the start.

Positively expressed: an almost perfect blend of wood, pepper, leather and musk, harmoniously matched, elegant, no speaker, exceedingly pleasant, a modern and high-quality men's fragrance in my view. The slight floral note at the beginning (I assume due to the iris) brings a softness to the game, which is gradually replaced by the musk. Leather and wood form an excellent bond and make the fragrance an overall absolutely round experience.

Negative: How now, is there anything negative to write here? The point is, the more fragrances you know, the more naturally fall comparisons to other creations, the more you look for what is new and what you have never smelled so. Sir Santal brings up associations with Schwarzlose's Leder 6, which, in direct comparison, is given a very special touch by the presence of vanilla. And then Sir Santal reminds me very distantly also (the Birkholz people will stone me for this comparison) Penhaligon's Sartorial, which however represents the small and delicate, restrained brother from the Barber genre.

The durability is fully okay, on my skin good 8 hours, the sillage could m.E. Something stronger turn out. If you wear such a beautifully composed fragrance, then the environment should also have what of it, especially since here really compliments can be collected ... Overall, the scent progression (at least for me) is very linear, but this is no harm, because the composition of the individual ingredients is so successful that it would be almost a pity to force here with the crowbar a however stored course.

The flacon is unparalleled, nobly made, extremely high quality, Birkholz has obviously made an effort to pack a top product also adequately and present in the bathroom accordingly. This bottle is sure everyone likes to put on, it is simply an eye catcher.

Enough of the praise, we come back to bare facts.

A great arranged fragrance, no question. From certain weaknesses in the sillage times apart an all-round successful performance. This round something makes him in my view even wearable for the ladies, even if the name promises otherwise. I tend to see Sir Santal because of its spicy leatheriness in autumn and winter, for the summer for me just too heavy.

Will I buy it? No. First, because in the end result too little far away from leather 6 for me. Second, because the price tag is a big one, 276 hammers don't just go over the counter on the side. Thirdly, because the fragrance, although in sum perhaps one of the best ever, just doesn't have enough edge to it for me. Everyone will like you with Sir Santal, but I don't have to and don't want to be everybody's darling. In this respect, I have to take Cedar'n Pepper again more closely under the magnifying glass or the nose, that is for me the uncouth, big, cheeky and cheeky brother of Sir Santal, just not the crowd pleaser, but one who is conspicuous, who can also sometimes bump, but that also makes a charm.

Test recommendation for all ladies who want to let your sir smell good at home at Christmas (and of course also every day), test recommendation also for all kind who are looking for a fantastic fragrance, but also wants to be paid dearly.

Sometimes I'm really amazed at which niches which fragrances come from. And I am amazed that I, although really long devoted to the perfume industry, always discover new brands.

So it was with Birkholz, a name I had never come across before let alone been familiar with.

Who calls itself a manufactory, prepares me as a prospective customer already from the outset that I have to do it not with mainstream and mass production, but with hand-picked products. What is, so my guess, of course also reflected in corresponding prices, but more about that later.

First to the flacons. Although not the optical excitement is immediately clear, here someone has gone to work with a certain attention to detail. Noble impression, no wobbly closures, but with leather-covered caps, from the side great cinema, which further increases my desire to test the contents. The lovingly made sheathing of the bottle puts the crown on the noble character. This is what flacons look like that cut more than just a good figure in any bathroom and are able to delight the owner every day anew. Because the special is ultimately also that for which one is willing to reach a little deeper into the pocket.

Three Srühstöße (the sprayer does its job excellently) and immediately I realized, at least one less would have done it. Cedar and pepper have proper Bums and initially almost fog me by their strength and conciseness the senses. I think I detect hints of musk in between, as well as a slight hint of leather, but ultimately the pepper remains for me the very clear dominant element. It's what makes the scent special and distinctive, giving it a mix of aggressiveness, toughness and animalism that I find really hard to describe. I'm almost inclined to say, we have here the aggro-brother of the leather 6 of Schwarzlose, the latter is by vanilla in direct comparison downright "softened", this one comes simply with a hard-hitting announcement around the corner.

Great changes in the scent progression I do not recognize, pepper from start to finish, underpinned with lots of wood, that's it. Well done and certainly for all who appreciate clear announcements, a very successful fragrance experience. I think it's great when a perfumer dares to do something and comes up with a result that is second to none. A noble fragrance, but also eccentric, who prefers to stay in the background, which should consider a purchase well.

Whereby, background. This is the big and to me completely baffling, because inexplicable weakness: the sillage. Had I after the Aufsprühen almost afraid of the comments in the office, so was already after an hour in terms of sillage no longer great what left. Compared to the durability, and this is second surprise, because I know no fragrance that drifts apart so much in terms of sillage and durability. Even after 7 to 8 hours, the scent is quite clearly audible at 10 cm.

What remains?

First, a great fragrance, in my view eccentric, exclusive, extravagant.

Then a super noble flacon, extremely high quality in look and feel.

Next, a decent durability at the same time disappointing Sillagewerten.

And finally, as already briefly touched on above, the price tag. Well, according to a manufacture, I expected nothing else, fair but I will also say, flacon and fragrance already offer a lot of value for money. Nevertheless, 250 stones for 100ml are not a special offer.

I am curious about more Birkhölzer, but will not strike here because of the weak sillage.

Test recommendation for the winter months, from my point of view rather for the male contemporaries. Nix for teens, Yummies or Preppies, but for men who can stand such a load of pepper also. Freely after the advertising slogan of a well-known mint candy: If he is too hot, you are too weak!

The summer of 2021 kind of didn't really happen from my perspective.

From a purely meteorological point of view, he was limited to a few, easily countable on two hands days, but then they were hot as a bull, otherwise he drew attention to himself rather by recurring rainfall.

From a purely mood-related point of view, it was a very strange summer for me, in which many wanted to somehow come back to normal, but did not manage it, the usual meetings with friends went somehow with the handbrake on, everything in the sign of Covid.

In this respect, you ask yourself as a writer of a review then also the question of whether it is in view of the current situation at all announced to judge a summer fragrance, but I find, despite all adversity, just the perfume world is part of a beautiful life with a piece and some successful fragrance can be quite a real mood lifter.

Who enters nowadays a Louis Vuitton Store, which stands at the smell bar an almost unmanageable selection of smells opposite and here the orientation to keep, does not fall completely easily. It is therefore recommended in advance to do some research, so as not to paralyze the nose after three minutes by too many alternatives.

This time it was the turn of Cactus Garden and although there are summer fragrances like the proverbial sand by the sea, it stands out in its own special way, which can certainly be considered a compliment to the perfumer. The fact is, we are talking about a completely independent fragrance, which I have also in a similar way so never smelled anywhere else, plus a high recognition effect and that is already worthy of all honor.

The prelude forms on my skin a mixture of lemon (but not the coarse from the citrus cleaner, but a very fine nuance), plus a few grass notes, combined with a sip of tea (but also the not black and heavy, but very subtle and perfectly fitting). A sensationally successful start in my opinion, light, fresh, elegant. A holiday landscape forms in my mind's eye, a mixture of Tuscan old town and waterfront somewhere on the boot. My thoughts slip away and I give them the same space as the fragrance to fully develop.

After about two hours, a hint of bergamot emerges, but not the kind you would know from Bergamotto di Calabria (Acqua di Parma) or Bergamoto 22 (Le Labo), for example. Gossamer, but still audible, she joins the existing ensemble and enriches the creation to a wonderful result.

Again, after two more hours, the drydown begins, with me, unfortunately, with a somewhat sweetish note, which I now do not find so great, but just with the development of a fragrance over time, that may look / smell completely different on other skin types as well.

What do we have here at the bottom line?
- Fragrance: An extremely successful interpretation of a summer fragrance, for me rather in the masculine corner (may one actually still say that times of LGBTQ?), wearable by boys and older (how are these actually correctly counter-gendered?), although I see basically people with a penchant for modernity as the typical wearer. The mixture of fresh, green and equally light components (some green representatives blow one away with their mustiness) has really class.
- Durability: Summer fragrances have almost all the same theme. They disappear as quickly as they came. With Cactus Garden, the shelf life can be by some brave sprays more quite drive up in the direction of 8-9 hours.
- Sillage: Virtually all LV fragrances is an initial immense sillage inherent, which can be extended, as just mentioned, by vigorous spraying neat. To what extent one wants to spray with such a high-priced part but generously, not to say lavishly around itself, everyone must know for themselves.
- Flacon: Fits in optics and feel perfectly to the brand. High-quality, heavy and a magnetic closure that clicks in. There is nothing to complain.
- Price: Of course, you can lead the question into the field, whether 100ml are really worth 225 stones. But honestly, who buys bags, belts, scarves, etc. from LV, for the price is not a real basis for discussion. The brand's high price policy also applies to perfumes. The value offered is okay from my point of view.

A really convincing overall package, who has already finished with the summer 21, which can at least mark the fragrance as a potential candidate for a hopefully outstanding summer 2022.

Penhaligonˋs - a name like a thunderbolt when it comes to fragrances.

And yet, the access to the various fragrance creations of the venerable English house is difficult for me. At the same time, you can not accuse the house as such to have lingered in the past, but were regularly launched new fragrances. For me, however, most of them too special or too little special, only Sartorial could inspire me so far.

Now then one of the oldest fragrances ever, Blenheim Bouquet. The prelude is surprising, not only for me, but also my environment. Immediately after spraying, the very first thing I hear is a spice, which is not found in the fragrance pyramid: Ginger. That I can not be so wrong with this perception, confirms the first person I meet three minutes later, whose statement: "did you just drink a ginger shot?"

This is off to a good start, I think to myself, and turn first to other things of everyday life. After a quarter of an hour, the ginger is gone and the scent makes a twist in the direction of fresh. From my point of view, it is neither really citrusy nor aquatic, but simply pleasant and soothing. The freshness, which is hard to describe, gives way another half hour later to a certain herbaceousness, which is by no means musty, but well tolerable. The greenness that comes along combines with the basic herbaceous tones to create a nice overall arrangement. Further great changes I can not diagnose after that, the green-herbaceous remains dominant with me until the fade.

This extremely classic fragrance reminds me a bit of Floris 89, also this yes an "old" fragrance from the last millennium, and even if both do not really have much in common, the basic DNA is present somewhere. Both also have the image of an opa fragrance, which I wouldn't see as a negative at all. Yes, Blenheim Bouquet is a classic, as it is no longer "built" today, but perhaps that is part of the fascination.

To the evaluation in detail:
Scent: Simply classic. For some, stale and old-fashioned, for others a reminiscence of the beginnings of the fragrance industry.
Sillage: at the beginning more than clear, after three hours just as clearly decreasing, after six hours no longer present.
Durability: about the same length, after five hours skin tight.
Flacon: brand-typical, without gimmickry, but beautifully made.

When and for whom?
I actually have difficulty imagining teens or twens in this fragrance cloud. Rather maybe from 40, but for this group wearable all year round. No excitement, but a classic that gives you the good feeling to have done everything right.
Test recommendation.

It's not so easy to keep track of all the Diors. As with other brands, flankers are launched and from the flankers then further flankers (Sport Very Cool Spray), until at the end of the day nothing more comes to mind. Thereby can be quite times also bull's-eye thereby, insofar a "sniffing through" is never quite wrong.

Today so Dior Sport in the familiar garb, wants to say, the bottle practically unchanged for years. Visually, I like the thing, stands out a bit from the uniformity, seen from therefore quite all right.

Pull off the cover, operate the sprayer, wait.

First impression: a very "light" and also "bright" fragrance, these two adjectives perhaps hit it best.

This light, so much I would like to anticipate here, meets in the further course then unfortunately also on sillage and durability, after two hours isses with me over with any sillage, durability another two hours and then is layer in the shaft.

And basically, this is a bit of a shame, because the fragrance itself has quite its charm. The top note comes quite tangy, very citrusy, yet none of these citro-mandarin bomber, but rather on the quiet tour. Not a rioter, but one that gently paws around the corner and spices up the citrusy prelude even a little bit. Pink pepper lists the fragrance pyramid for this, well, let's leave it at that. I can also perceive a tart note, which is probably due to the grapefruit. For me, an extremely harmonious combination. The addition of "Sport" in the name is probably also just to imply a certain sportiness and progressiveness of the wearer.

A good hour later, as already indicated, the sillage makes gradually the bend, changes the Erscheinung- or perhaps better smell image of Dior Sport away from the zitronelligen somehow to the "dry", I can not describe it differently or better. A scenario that takes a bit of getting used to, but which is then quickly replaced by the further transition in the direction of woody. This again I like extraordinarily well, a masculine and distinctive note, woody with still very slightly perceptible lemon. Again, see above, perceptible only at a distance of less than 50cm. Too bad.

Dior Sport is for me a rather young fragrance, which fits perfectly to younger people, who after steeling their muscles with the thingy in the locker room fog before it goes on the runway. A modern fragrance whose great weakness (at least for me so) remains its sad performance. Others can simply do that better and considering the price, I find that simply too little in return. Since even the blue Acqua di Parma's, anything but known for exuberant performance, are still a league higher to settle.

The fragrance itself very pleasing, an interesting composition of diverse components and thus certainly a test recommendation for anyone who is looking for a light summer fragrance. With the shallow sillage / durability you have to be able to live halt or beizeiten times nachsprühen.