Birkholz - this is not a wooden perfume ingredient, but the name of the Berlin perfume manufacturer and the family behind it. Nasyr and Katrin Birkholz as well as their sons Philip and Sven Birkholz form the pillars of the company, which was founded in 2017 and pursues the goal of combining individuality and excellent quality in specially produced fragrances.
With
Portraits of Portofino I am testing my first fragrance from the brand and expectations are high, as this fragrance has the highest ratings of all Birkholz fragrances on Parfumo.
Portofino, or "Portus Delphini" in Latin, is a fishing village located on the Italian Riviera south-east of Genoa. The marina, pastel-colored houses, luxury boutiques and fish restaurants characterize the place, which the ancient Romans already called the "dolphin harbor" because the marine mammals were so common in the bright blue waters in front of the village.
Although I am not a fan of citrusy freshies and the fragrance is clearly marketed in this direction and is praised with the following words : "The seemingly unreal portrait of Portofino's harbor gives pause for thought. For a brief moment of the journey, the picturesque landscape between the citric and aquatic elegance of the fragrances seems to merge with the deep blue of the coast." i still let myself be tempted to sample the fragrance, as I simply have to force myself to give perfumes a chance that don't really suit my taste in terms of scent.
Well, the opening was more in line with the reasons why I don't like Freshys. This partly overdosed freshness kick from various citric notes is simply not for me, even in midsummer. I find it boring and it feels like I've already experienced this start from twelve hundred other fragrances. Strangely enough, I had apple notes in my nose but they don't seem to be present at all. However, what distinguishes the fragrance and gives it more individuality is the further progression in a creamy, floral direction and the aggressiveness from the citrus notes is replaced by softness. The finish is also pleasing, there is no longer any hint of the classic freshy scent here, as amber, musk, woody notes, ginger and patchouli form a high-quality and gentle finish, which tends to go in a woody direction. Across all three phases, the fragrance makes a very qualitative impression. Thankfully, there is no hint of synthetic shower gel vibes. Although the fragrance is categorized as unisex by the manufacturer, I see the scent notes more on a male neck than on a woman. The user numbers on Parfumo confirm my feelings, as 89 percent of users are male.
Longevity is generally a problem with Freshys and is also noticeable with this fragrance. I was able to detect four sprays on my neck for four hours. That's not bad at all for an EdP Freshy, but generally considered rather mediocre.
I have to dedicate a special hymn of praise to the bottle and the packaging in general. When the parcel carrier handed me a black box labeled Birkholz, I thought: ,,okay even the boxes designed in our own style, not bad". But when I opened it, the true extent of the love and passion for the job was revealed. The individual samples and fragrances were neatly placed inside each other with almost military precision. Even the 3ml sample bottles are of extremely high quality and were stored in a specially made cloth bag with a Birkholz label. There was even a hand-signed card in the box from the employee who put my order together by hand. That's what I call attention to detail, and it's a real credit to a small fragrance house. The larger bottles are also beautiful and of very high quality. The heavy weight of the bottle alone says a lot about the quality and the workmanship is flawless. The deep blue color and the golden cap match the character of the maritime fragrance beautifully. I would therefore like to take this opportunity to express my respect: this was the best unwrapping experience I have ever had with a perfume order.
Of course, so much attention to detail comes at a price. 225 euros for 100 ml won't make much difference to a yacht owner staying in the harbor of Portofino, but for my normal wallet, the sum is like a liver hook. There are fragrances over 200 euros that I would actually buy for this price, but
Portraits of Portofino is not one of them. It lacks the uniqueness and good performance that I expect in this price segment.
Even though I already knew in advance that this Freshy probably wouldn't knock my socks off, although according to the reviews it gets a lot of love, I'm not greatly disappointed, on the contrary, I'm looking forward to the other samples from the order, as I was at least very impressed by the quality. A little tip for anyone potentially interested: Birkholz offers introductory sets with 3ml samples in very high-quality glass bottles. I think that's great, because that way you don't run the risk of wasting over 200 euros if you don't like the fragrance.
Top Notes 
Mandarin orange
Bergamot
Lemon
Heart Notes 
White blossoms
Jasmine
Magnolia
Base Notes 
Musk
Amber
Ginger
Woody notes
Patchouli
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