Dreckig bleiben AtelierPMP - Perfume Mayr Plettenberg

...and the level of alcohol increased, the inhabitants of Bruckhausen opened their street windows and shouted insults at each other. Bruckhausen was a real dirty neighbourhood. Situated almost next to the river Rhine, a Thyssen steel plant prevented any breeze of fresh air from coming in. The chain smokers led a healthy life there - at least, they had a filter between their lungs and the breathing air. My friends lived in a house that had been bombed in WWII, and it was never completely reconstructed. Some doors in their apartment led into abyss, and in one room, one outer wall was missing. At night, we used to climb upstairs under the roof which was partly gone. When the blast furnace was run off, the sky was one bright red glow, and we could even see sparks. Dirt was everywhere. Waking up, I found lumps of it on my sleeping bag.

These are memories from the Eighties that my recent test of “Dreckig bleiben - Staying Dirty” evoked. The topic of this fragrance has the colour of anthracite. It belongs to wherever coal dust fills the air. I like tar, coal and domestic coal. I like the sweetish smell of brown coal fires, dirty and impure. People in the GDR used this in winter for their heating, but the smell is long gone. That sweetish aroma is not exactly hit by Dreckig bleiben. But it comes close. The opulence of this fragrance results from a very broad, sweetish resinous note that is almost floral. The darkest smoke notes are needed to balance this note which I usually would rather assign to a ladies' fragrance.

This setting covers the first part of the scent development. It is obviously designed to provoke a loud “Whoa!” by the aspired customer. Yes, I think Dreckig bleiben is intended to be a spontaneous buy.

But very soon the bright flames dim down to a dark glow. After two hours, there are ashes and woodiness: dry, puristic and almost posh compared to the blatant and blaring first part. This base note is remarkable: enhanced with a tiny bit of vanilla, this woody accord is really well done. It still smells ashen, and still like coal. And somehow, I even get a little bit like oud. What a pity the sillage is so week at this last part of the development!

What are we supposed to think about it? When loud fragrances suddenly become quiet I tend to consider such an artisanal shortcoming. I love perfumes that keep their tension over many hours. In this case however it may be regarded as a blessing that the opulence from the beginning gently fades away. In the long run, the sweet resins would be hard to bare.

I do not really believe that Dreckig bleiben will stay limited to only 999 flacons as announced. At least, it took half a year to turn up in my home town. It may also find its way to an international audience. In my local niche perfume shop, it obviously substitutes or complements Nasomatto's sinister Black Afgano. Just take a look at the similar bottle design!

Coal perfumes are rare. I still remember Jacomo's Anthracite pour Homme which I never bought. Not sure if I will buy Dreckig bleiben. I would have to look mean all day if I wore it!

Mayr Plettenberg also manage the brand Elternhaus. An interview with them was released at the German Parfumo blog: http://www.parfumo.de/blog/2013/05/03/dreckig-bleiben-die-geschichte-hinter-der-geschichte-eines-ausergewohnlichen-parfums/

Stay Dirty - A name that is as unusual as it is strange for a perfume. More a stance than just a name, Stay Dirty proclaims individuality and authenticity. Staying true to oneself, not bending under the pressure of the masses. Staying different. "Stay Dirty" is against conventions and a counterpoint to the myriad of countless new perfume releases that are thrown onto the market each year in completely overwhelming numbers. PMP - Perfumes Mayr Plettenberg, now well-known here in the forum as the collaboration of Stefanie Mayr and Daniel Plettenberg, who created "Stay Dirty" in collaboration with perfumer Mark Buxton, do it differently. They produce only 999 bottles of their unusual outsider fragrance and call it completely anarchistically "Stay Dirty." PMP thus relies on anti. Anti-mainstream, anti-superficiality, anti-going with the flow. That is punk. That is Never-Mind-the-Bollocks-punk in modern form.

So anyone who has heard of "Stay Dirty" is surely curious. Wondering how this anti-fragrance, this "finely tuned rejection of superficiality," might smell and what will be so special about it. Its reputation precedes it, and I can't help but raise my eyebrows in admiration at the fact that a young niche label carries the rejection of superficiality like a grand banner and positions itself against the average as well as the big players in the industry, while on the other hand, it has unleashed a marketing wave that I find astonishing. "Stay Dirty" appeals and seduces. The concept is grand. Everyone wants to be individual, unique, and self-sufficient and smell that way too. The concept works, and I suspect that not only I have almost clicked the "Buy now" button on the lovingly designed "Stay Dirty" homepage time and again without having smelled the fragrance first. "Stay Dirty" promises individuality and exclusivity and has obviously done everything right with it.

According to the description from PMP for "Stay Dirty," the fragrance is supposed to transport a cozy-light campfire atmosphere. You sit carefree with your best friends around a campfire by some river, probably somewhere in the industrial area of a medium-sized city, drinking beer from bottles that you have popped open not with a bottle opener but with a lighter, and chatting, laughing, making noise. "Stay Dirty" is supposed to smell like campfire and smoke. Like relaxed nonchalance. Something for individualists and free thinkers.

"Stay Dirty" starts with a beautiful accord of various citrus notes: mandarin, ginger, neroli, bergamot. Notes that are meant to proclaim lightness and a certain zesty carefree spirit. A truly wonderful opening accord that I find brilliantly composed. The notes are finely interwoven and so resinously soft that the opening of "Stay Dirty" already surprises. It falls surprisingly soft where I had expected more of a headnote bomb that roars like a punk when he bellows "God save the Queen." But no, "Stay Dirty" does not roar; it is cozy. There is nothing sharp-edged or loud here, but rather a bit herbaceous yet very warm and soft. Embedded in the resins of the heart notes, the top note makes no noise but appears round and harmonious in my nose. At most, I can smell the ginger emerging from the connection of the individual notes, which is zesty but also has a slightly woody quality. Here, a ginger root is just being freed from its woody, fibrous shell and exudes a healing, spicy-ethereal scent. All of this is not cologne-like, not airy and bright as day. No, the top note is heavy, rather dim, cozy like a large armchair, and from the very beginning so embedded in the resins of the heart note that it is clear: "Stay Dirty" is resin, resinous, resinous to the utmost! Gurjum and labdanum flow in a distinctly ambered softness, while the elemi resin together with the woody notes from the base is supposed to create the advertised smoky campfire atmosphere. But I do not find "Stay Dirty" distinctly smoky. Nor particularly woody. Smoky and woody nuances can be recognized, but they never push themselves to the forefront. Only in the base does the resinous dominance ease a bit and give the woody notes more space. Both the rather soft sandalwood and the slightly fresher cedar can be detected if you look for them. A non-sweet vanilla rounds it off, making the whole thing friendly and giving the base a calm and settled undertone.

Overall, "Stay Dirty" does not present itself as extravagant or loud. I even find the base quite conventional. Some comparisons have already been made to the unfortunately discontinued Gucci pour Homme I, which I can somewhat understand. "Stay Dirty" and GPH I are most similar in their base, although I find GPH I significantly spicier, more incense-like, and more oriental. "Stay Dirty," on the other hand, seems a bit softer and more reserved, and thus, unfortunately, also more ordinary for me. With all the marketing talk about individuality and authenticity, the anti-attitude, and the rejection of superficiality, I expected a much more uncompromising and experimental fragrance. I expected a fragrance as uncompromising as Bois d’Ascèse, which is supposed to smell similarly to "Stay Dirty" with its notes of smoke and campfire. In comparison to "Stay Dirty," Bois d’Ascèse implements the smoky theme much more powerfully. While Bois d’Ascèse as a fragrance makes a clear statement, polarizes, and fascinates with its uniqueness, what appeals to me about "Stay Dirty" is primarily the uniqueness of the marketing concept. The fragrance itself, although very beautiful and well-made, does not strike me as particularly unusual or particularly different.

Stay Dirty - stay different. Here, one stays different in coziness. No punk is occupying a house or scraping a few odd chords on the guitar anymore. The modern punk sits with a beer with his friends, listens to electronic music, and quietly discusses clever topics by a slowly smoldering campfire by the river, somewhere in the industrial area of a medium-sized city. The modern punk stays dirty, but not too loud!

And here it is again, the feeling of almost exaggerated expectations that a, in my opinion, sensational perfume name evokes in me and surely in many others as well.

Well, some might say that this either means failure is already pre-programmed, or that I am being drawn into nitpicking at a high level regarding the scent. To be honest, the truth lies somewhere in between.

A not insignificant aspect of why I am quite disillusioned regarding "Staying Dirty" certainly lies in what people in general, and I personally, perceive as dirty.
For me, a spoonful of sand does not make a mud pit, and some others already feel like pigs with a coffee stain on their blouse.

I don't want to think any further about the question of what kind of dirt the scent is supposed to represent. I chalk the naming up to the ELdO marketing phenomenon. A more or less scandalous name primarily brings one thing: attention. The rest is hopefully taken care of by the consumer's brain.

Unfortunately, I could not, did not want to, and did not manage to test the scent completely detached from its name, and accordingly, my judgment reflects that.

In the first minutes of the scent's development, I feel downright deceived, or rather, freshly washed. Citrus notes dance around my olfactory bulb, and I immediately wonder if the "Not" was forgotten in the name.

After a few minutes, a resinous sweet and subtly smoky heart begins to create something like a darkening of the scent impression, which succeeds quite well, but I am left waiting in vain for dirt, or even vulgar filth. The projection noticeably retreats here.

In the drydown, Staying Dirty becomes completely close to the skin, yet without developing any kind of physicality. Balsamic-spicy and accompanied by a fine dry vanilla note, the scent then fades away.

Kids, let's get to the point, this scent is well made and quite elegant, and the dirt aspect should be practiced again. Especially since there are plenty of olfactory examples that allow the wearer to smell dirty or disreputable. Rien by ELdO, Kouros by YSL, Lui by Mazzolari, Garage by CdG, or Knize 10 excellently fulfill the need for an impure scent aura that Staying Dirty evokes in me with its sensational name, but does not satisfy.

All in all, the scent, like its ambitious price, is less for modern punks, in my opinion, but much more for the now mega-hip target group that prefers to show up in Hamburg's Schanzenviertel and finds products and stores with quirky German names great. What a coincidence that the boutique Elternhaus is located right there.

Conclusion: Lying in the dirt doesn't mean wallowing in it.

As with everyone else, the marketing raised high expectations for me as well.
Whether with or without marketing, viewed/smelled neutrally, as far as I can, this perfume is an interesting scent that is now flowing from the niche corner towards the mainstream.
I perceive the fragrance as relatively light from beginning to end.
After the first fruity-sparkling opening, it quickly moves in a resinous direction.
After a good half hour, a smoky note develops, through which soft, almost delicate vanilla penetrates.
Creamy-woody.
Not a loud scent.
The longevity of the perfume is mediocre.
I find the scent very close to the skin.
Not bad!
But also not really thrilling...or innovative...
let alone rebellious.
For me, the appropriate advertising slogan would be:
A finely tuned statement against superficiality!
Of course, I too am influenced by marketing for perfumes and let myself be seduced.
But those who dig so deep into the value box should, in my opinion, offer more.
Positive marketing, like a thrilling ride along the cliffs, always with a view of the sea, is certainly easier to create.
With the provocative, rebellious, and cool slogan rejecting superficiality, the marketing people from the parent company have leaned very far out of the window.
A rejection of superficiality means character, courage, the ability to critique, forming and representing one's own opinion and political stance, realizing dreams...
The scent does not have character for me.
Mark Buxton did not have courage.
More ambivalence, contradiction, less vanilla!
The old Bel Ami characteristically goes much more in the freaky direction.
Stay dirty.
An old slogan from the Hamburg punk and squat scene.
Anyone who knows this scene might really feel taken for a ride at this point.
Rightly so!
Because I believe that the people who really dig this image (without wanting to offend anyone!) have little understanding of the actual message of the marketing.
Or they don't care.
But fortunately, this is left to everyone’s own discretion...
I see a bunch of hip people with piercings, tattoos, and real rips in their pants, who would run away at the sound of a police siren.

I don't want to do anyone wrong.
I am reflecting my personal feelings about the scent and the advertising.
And I think that anyone who wears "Stay dirty" has lost the punk within themselves.

I can't even remember when it started, maybe around 10 or 11. I just helped my mother, first cleaning shoes. And let's be honest, is there anything better than cleaning shoes? Exactly. Then it continued with mopping the parquet, cleaning tiles, scrubbing the toilet. It only became creepy for my mother when I was about 16; she talked about obsession, which is of course nonsense, I just like things to be clean. And an unclean toilet is also unhygienic; you should at least clean it daily.

But let me tell you what the absolute best thing is? Cleaning windows! It's awesome, right?! And do you know why? It's the glass cleaner in the spray bottle that already has spirits in it. I think that was my first high as a child; it leaves a mark, and you stay loyal to it. And should I let you in on a secret? Glass cleaner is a secret weapon! You can clean everything with it. Seriously, try it out. I use it to clean all the wood in the apartment. Resin stains come off super easily. And last weekend, I was grilling, and my jacket smelled like smoke; guess what helped? Exactly, glass cleaner.

Okay, I might have overdone it a bit recently, but the vanilla pods were also completely black, so I just went over them quickly. They were still black afterward, but they didn't smell as intense anymore. That's good too.

So, now I have to get going; the windows won't clean themselves. What a relief!

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Staying dirty is a brilliant name at first, and it's unfortunate that the scent doesn't match it, but I somewhat understand the marketing; staying clean probably doesn't sell as well, it does sound a bit bland (but for this description, I'll still rename it).

Stay Clean starts relatively fresh with somewhat indistinguishable citrus fruits and a portion of sharp, spicy ginger. Elemi is resinous but also recognizable as lemony; there are woody notes too. And it already has a bit of a smoky scent. The citrus notes combined with the sharp ginger and the resins have a slightly piercing, almost alcoholic quality. This smell totally reminds me of glass cleaner (the good one from Frosch with spirits already in it), and I briefly doubted my nose, but thankfully I'm not alone (see Bosworth's statement). I'm not a cleaning pro, but I find this surprisingly good in combination with the woody notes and the smoke. As it develops, the resins become a bit more pronounced (especially labdanum, which one could imaginatively attribute a slightly dirty note to, but doesn't have to). Only towards the base does a somewhat subdued vanilla come in. The scent becomes a bit sweeter, but it stays within limits. The smoke is recognizable from beginning to end, but never in the foreground. That's my impression while testing.

When wearing it, meaning perceived from a bit more distance, the scent presents itself differently: now the vanilla is recognizable from the start, and it is also a bit sweeter. The vanilla slightly overshadows the other notes; they are still recognizable, but not as distinct. The scent thus feels a little washed out to me. Simply put, it could be described as smoked resin vanilla. After 2 hours, my perceptions aligned again.

For me, despite the vanilla, it's a good scent, which I want to explicitly deny any dirt or darkness. I find it very friendly and, due to the fresh notes, not limited to winter at all. It's not a scent I would wear particularly often, which is why I want to praise Atelier PMP: they offer a 15ml bottle, which is a reasonable size.

Thanks to Mourant.