eo02

An extraordinarily complex and brilliant composition. It's taken me about three months to decide whether I even like it or not. I do. This is a powdery oriental of sorts, but the sweetness is restrained and sophisticated and entwined with resinous and herbal elements - there is the "Occident meets Orient" feeling here that I like about Nicole Farhi pour homme, only this is on a higher plane. Nothing about this perfume is loud. It opens without fanfare, like a true gentleman easing into the ballroom the citrus elegantly takes its rightful place without verbose pronouncements. No need to firework the budget on a few dazzling topnotes. What follows is a beautiful haze of masterfully blended notes, the citrus fruits, the green, spicy, foresty, floral, powdery and woody elements melt effortlessly into something quite unique - to my nose there is a milky, powdery coconut-like sensation at the intersection of all these aspects, which smells rich without feeling cloying, classy, but with a modern edge. As the long-time head of R&D for Haarman & Reimer, which then became Symrise, Egon Oelkers knows his materials and he certainly had fun with them here. Highly recommended!

Perfect, just perfect. It is described as high class colonial style type of fragrances, but in my opinion in this case the style is the idea only, and perfume develops in different way. I personally don’t prefer citrus-bergamot based kind of smell (as kolnische wasser foe example). This one is much much more. Citruses are extremely well balanced by amber, cinnamon and clove. The slight sweetness of vanilla plays amazingly with fir, incense and patchouli. This is easy to wear fragrance for everybody and all the time but if you are in love with nuances of good perfumes I'm sure it can drives you to the heaven.

I always adore sandal wood because of how much my skin love it , this perfume came just to a joy for my skin . Soft , classy , elegant and romantic perfume , not unique , not new but it is a new presentation for the sandal . It is nice the beginning to be fresh and revival with the fir and bergamot then i evolve to be softer , warmer and cozier by cardamon and sandal. I hope that Biehl make some categorization between male and female perfumes since i don't believe this can be worn by ladies .

As I said per EO 01, the secret behind Egon Oelkers creations for Biehl is to find in his mastery and skills. EO 02 is quite a classic woody oriental, with a grapefruit / citrus opening that evolves into a rich, woody and sweet vanillia, amber and cedar drydown (in this phase I also still get grapefruit). You could think this sounds like something that has been played many many times, and you're right! But just try for a moment to think about Beethoven's 5th Symphony conducted by a practicing orchestra conductor and now think about the same symphony conducted by Herbert Von Karajan? Do you see the point? The music and notes are still the same, but what really makes the difference is execution! Brilliant work. Rating: 7.5/10

What I get right away are some citrus, followed by a strong warm spicy cardamom (the main player here) that gives an impression of labdanum. That will be joined by a fir balsam note and a subtle artemisia note in the background. That's pretty much it until the base, where the vanilla makes a shy appearance and will combine with the green notes (keeping some freshness), supported by a subtle woody something. Only in the late drydown will a - subtle again - sandalwood note stand out a bit of the blend. Not similar to, but definitely stands on the same shelf with Dunhill Icon Elite. Ingredients are good, blending is good. But I sadly have to agree with a previous reviewer that everything here goes from soft to subtle, and that results in being disappointing, because the scent is really good (even if it's nothing new or unique). I'm not a beast hunter myself, but smelling a fragrance I've spent $50 on without sticking my nose on my skin for at least an hour seems a legitimate expectation in my book, especially in the so-called niche category. Because of the poor performance, I cannot recommend this one, and feel the pain of who paid the full retail price. Still, a like for me (based on smell only). Unisex leaning a bit masculine (due to freshness), but easy to wear for a woman. Spring/Fall days, 30+

It's just,, disappointing. Not boring; I love safe or polite tried and tested formulaes, which this definitely is. But it's the projction and strength. Was just not enough, not bold enough,, playful enough, heady or sweet enough. It wasn't captivating. Only intriguing and shy. I'm not asking for something like Pardon, which I detest,, just something with *some strength and character, be it simple or not. Puredistance M is what I am alluding to but that is a bit too much with it's leather. Also, the green theme Biehl seems to repeatedly promote is pretty frustrating, as it's in line with the billion other Niches that just won't stray away from the green/herbal game. I do think this is the best of this bunch however, smoothest I have tried and like the 'space-age barbershop' (where fir replaces lavendar). Opening is not 'sweet', but has some very fine sweet-enhanced undertones that lift the beginning of grapefruit citrus and lots of firry-woods. But the approach is of a very modern and elegant nature. But sadly they have not covered up the greener elements completely. Probably now I see it, it's the artemisa note stopping the scent from sweetening - artmeisia is a very bitter-green herb, but here they seem to have added only the tiniest drop,, nothing like Nur. It's not 'green green', it's very softened up and neither sweet nor bitter. It's basically a fir-enhanced, premium mintless-edition of Cool water (not that I am rating that scent at all!) - but rich and definitely Niche. Think Cool water and Bond's awful Brooklyn done 'properly' with the volume dialed down to 2. Cooling, yet comforting with the mild cardamom/grapefruit mix with clear fir welling up from the base. And that's how it remains! I was especially hoping for the vanilla, cinnamon and incense to play recognizable roles in this from the start, but sadly, no - they take their sweet time! Does 1 who wills to spend $180 on a bottle have this patience - rivals like Creed Himalaya while simple, are more bracing in their introductions; both sweet, safe and attractive from 1st spray, not the 3rd hour. Nice and I appreciate the effort in making it as polite and subtle with finest Quality materials as possible, but too 'meh'. Had the scent been largely done in 'reverse', with the great Oriental notes much more prominent from the start this almost certainly have been a 10. Or if it had been an extrait, sweetened up top with more vanilla for loudness. Pass, but I'll be really generous with rating it because it is very nice when it sweetens and shows up. Scent: 6/10. Quality: 10/10.

At first I thought this was not too different from many "manly" citrus green scents, but the notes in the opening manage to smell more like lavender, although the ingredient list does not include lavender. It must be the thyme and coriander with the citrus. I think this is quite masterful to create a blend that suggests a note that isn't even present but the 'idea' of it is there, and this really adds to the depth and unusual nature of the fragrance for me. I think if actual lavender had been added it might have been a bit too bitter or dry a note. As the scent dries down it warms up substantially with beautiful amber, sandalwood and the other lovely woods and musk. The spices really come out to play in the drydown and add to a very pleasing whole, beautifully composed fragrance. This is a very elegant scent and could be worn by a man or a woman. I think it would be really delicious on a man.

I really like this....mostly I'm getting warm spices with wood, which is basically my favorite kind of scent. This does remind me of Frank Los Angeles 2, which I like a little better (and already have a bottle of), so I don't really need more of this. But it's good stuff.

A fairly basic men's scent of citrus and bergamot that escapes being just like everything else by a wonderful blend of spices and woods. Dry down is an almost edible cinnamon musk combination. A great scent, layered and complex.

Very nice scent, with quality and class. Very, very agreeable.