Virke

I wholeheartedly agree with the first reviewer here, although I like to refer to myself as a Scentaur...don't ask, it just popped into the brain one day and stuck. I've likely applied so many different fragrances to my skin in my lifetime I'm convinced that there's more linlool, SD alcohol and various marvellous perfume accords flowing through my veins than there is blood—now, if only I could sweat sandalwood... I'm a lover of all things wood—there's so much teak in my lounge my nails smell of tung oil from the constant polishing, and I'm convinced that wood just makes life warmer...wood has soul, and I consider it the most unselfish, altruistic material known to man, not in small part due to growing up with one of my favourite books, "The Giving Tree" by Shell Silverstein. I was a real tomboy (still am) and some of my best times as a kid were the rose-gold, blond summers spent as high as I could climb, in the branches of the olive trees, just hanging out with the sun and the clear breezes, just me and the sparrows in the grey-green leaves. As much as we surround ourselves with concrete and steel, we simply can't live without wood. Now if we'd just learn to respect it and not waste it... Virke is more aromatherapy than "a bottle of perfume" and it's pure and tart, juicy and bright..this is green, wet wood, wood you feel sorry for when you cut into it, not the wise, dried woods of temples and churches and ships, it's young, and I challenge you not to giggle when you first smell it. It almost tickles. Dare I state that it makes me...happy? Svensk scents are anti-depressants, and I'm forever on the prowl for anything to keep the black clouds at bay. Not to be a total dork, but wearing Virke is like an Ikea Moment, drinking tart, fizzy lingonberry juice while nibbling on odd ginger biscuits, surrounded by the smell of unvarnished Scandinavian pine, the joy of abandon...not caring how crap the furniture will look in your decidedly un-Scandinavian-style flat. I wear a mala prayer bead bracelet that is made of some of the best-smelling rosewood, and after years of soaking up whatever oils and scents I've worn, it' emits my favourite, calming scent. Wearing Virke has tipped the scales to a euphoric scent, and it's so full of essential oils it shines on my skin. It is indeed special, I've never smelled anything like it, and it takes real talent to create a juice this good using two simple accords.

I received my package of four deluxe samples from Svensk Parfym today: Virke, Prakt, Sadel, and Ljus. Thank you, Fragrantica, for the promotion that made shipping & handling free! Practically since I joined this site a year ago, I've been eyeballing Virke's raspberry goodness, so now that it was finally in my possession it was the first fragrance I tried. Spraying my wrists, I was greeted with the most refreshing scent of what must be the Swedish taiga. I've never actually been there, but I can picture it clearly: the pine and soft musk combine to present the coniferous forest on the shore of chilly inland lake, snow-capped mountains in the distance. Musk and I have a... contentious history, but we're getting along just fine here - I think it's because there are no flower notes (particularly white flowers) in this fragrance, so the musk is relaxing on my skin and not creating something too heady. Even now, I keep sniffing my wrists to get those beautiful pine notes, so refreshing in these warmer months. An hour later, though, I kept asking myself, "Where's the raspberry?" I thought there was a subtle underlying sweetness whenever I sniffed my wrist, but if I'd never read about this fragrance containing raspberry that wouldn't have been my guess. I was about to be mildly disappointed that I never got my fruity note, so I stopped sniffing, searching, *trying* to find it... and that's when it wafted up to my nose. The raspberry takes time to unfold, and it needs room to travel (you likely won't smell it directly on your skin); but it is so natural-smelling, more like a wild raspberry bush than a little package of raspberries at the supermarket. This is linear, but that's okay: all three notes stick around, and they're all good. I don't mind linear frags, though, anyway - often I'm sad when a gorgeous opening leaves and something I like less takes its place. All in all, I'm very happy with Virke! Edit: by the end of the fragrance's life on the skin (about 6 hours), raspberry is the dominant note. It's almost as if raspberry is the base note - pine and musk over raspberry (which is usually a top note in my experience), instead of raspberry over pine and musk. 2nd Edit: People at work can apparently smell this perfume in the hallway leading to the room where my office is at work. But they remarked that it's "refreshing."

I think this Id a pretty cool scent. It’s very basic - but only in that there’s not a lot of depth. The scent profile itself is quite unique. It’s a robust, semi sweet raspberry musk. I’m not getting much wood. Obviously if you’re considering this fragrance, you’re likely looking for a unique take on the note of raspberry. I know I was - and all paths lead me to this. I find it to be fairly unisex - maybe a little feminine - but totally appropriate for either sex. Overall, I find it to be unique, as I’ve not smelled a scent profile close to this. It’s fun and playful - but I could see some folks finding this to be daring - maybe even sexy. It’s certainly off the beaten path. While I don’t consider this to be a masterpiece fragrance - I find that it’s novelty is something I was missing from my collection. If we weren’t dealing with Covid, it would be a great scent to wear to summer concerts. I’m a fan - and this will close the book on my search for a unique unisex raspberry. Great stuff!

I'm a fraghead, and I have owned and tried 500+ fragrances, so when the wife exclaims "Damn thats good, what did you put on?" you know you've found something special. And Virke is special. Its not a very complex fragrance, but I havent tried anything else that smells quite like it. It opens with a strong blast of fizzy lemon and red berries, reminiscent of sparkling rosé wine, accompanied by some clean but heavy muscs, woods and a hefty dose of ambergris. The drydown though is where Virke really shines. You get that wonderfull raspberry/dry woods accord and the longer it sits on the skin the better and smother it gets. It has monster longlivety too. I accidentaly sprayed some on my jacket and it stuck for days. Final words. A linear fruity/woody (potential) compliment monster with stellar performance.

I wore this in a very large room where people were wairing to get serviced. I had a very long wait but when I finally got called by a female representative, the first thing she said was, "Oh, that was you!" She had smelled the fragrance I was wearing, Virke, and wondered who was wearing it. She loved it and said it reminded her of the nice smell of White Owl Cigars in the box that her Dad used to have. She wanted to know the name of my fragrance and said she wanted to get it for her husband. Meanwhile, another female eomployee next door also seconded the great smell. So, I believe Kirke has great sillage and longevity and will attract compliments. I think the dry wood part of this fragrance shone through, thus the reference to White Owl. Another great one from Henrick Lestreus!