Eau de Froehliche No. 2

The second perfume of the edition, that with the cat, opens with a fresh odour of anise and mint. The combination of mint with anise is not agrestic but juicy an luscious. The heart note is a delicous white rose, also yummy and mouth-watering, and you get almost a whiff of something boozy like vodka or something inky. After a while something developes, it is the frankincense that gives a quite spicy and peppery note. The incense just underlines the fresh rose, is not dominant, makes the fragrance cool, clear and elegant. In the fond guajac wood and musks join together to a slightly smoky, spicy and smooth musky composition.

It's taken me a long time to get around to reviewing this creation from Erik Kormann, but I'm happy to report that the juice has held up over the years (gasp!) since he kindly sent me a generous sample. What an interesting, even eccentric combination of scents are rolled together here: mint, anise, rose, bergamot... The composition is fresh and slightly floral but not in the Sephora wall abstract floral kind of way. Eau de Froehliche smells quite natural. The dominant scent here to my nose is definitely anise, so this creation might appeal to the Lolita Lempicka crowd, except that this is not as sweet. It's more of a greenish anise scent. In some ways it reminds me of a cross of some of the Guerlain Aqua Allegorica fragrances--the two mint versions and the anise. It definitely has the same sort of refreshing feeling. Not sure that I understand the cat connection here, but there is some musk!

the top note wasn't promising but when it dries and calms down it reminds me so much of Cereos no. 14 quite attractive and seductive. it has that star anise and anise note in general.