Leder 6 Fetisch J.F. Schwarzlose Berlin 2015
33
Top Review
KitKatClub
One of the mysteries of Berlin that stubbornly persists - at least for those not from the capital - is the KitKatClub in Mitte (it used to be somewhere else, too). Back when there were TV formats like 'Liebe Sünde' or 'Wa(h)re Liebe', which now seem charmingly innocent, reports sometimes came from there, showing people in gas masks and latex suits hitting each other and crawling on all fours to the pounding 'Umpf! Umpf! Umpf!'. From the perspective of West German provinces, this appeared disturbingly dangerous yet fascinatingly cosmopolitan at the time. And I remember wondering if these latex people occasionally stepped outside for a soda and, aside from hitting and crawling, perhaps secretly had building savings contracts.
The brand J.F. Schwarzlose Berlin and its products - and especially this one: Leder 6 / Fetisch - play with the fascination of 'Berlin', the only world city that Germany has, which is so poor yet so sexy. One expects unusual, rough, uncompromising scents that either excite or completely repel, because: dit is Berlin, right? And then comes a fragrance that somehow is not different at all - and even less polarizing. Instead, it is surprisingly unscandalous and disappointingly not KitKatClub at all, but rather a lot of Wilmersdorfer Straße (for those unfamiliar with Berlin: a thoroughly mediocre pedestrian zone in Charlottenburg): very average, very little exciting, almost offensively normal - and somehow more like soda and building savings contracts than full-body latex to the pounding 'Umpf! Umpf! Umpf!'.
It has leather, yes - but who doesn't have that today? The same goes for styrax and incense. Only the milk seems capable of contributing a surprising momentum, but what it probably means by 'milk' is hardly more than a chord of vanilla - and overall, Leder 6 / Fetisch is quite close to gourmand in many respects. The saffron adds a lively bitterness, and the mentioned vanilla milk chord runs like a fine yet dominant thread through its resinous, burnt base note. All of this is nicely and high-quality made and completely wearable - and that might be what some find sobering about this perfume, which smells much more like vanilla-scented candles from Charlottenburg than like experimental techno and dirty niche porn from Mitte. But the label promises 'KitKatClub', and sometimes that is enough.
Conclusion: a sheep in wolf's clothing. But a very sweet one.
The brand J.F. Schwarzlose Berlin and its products - and especially this one: Leder 6 / Fetisch - play with the fascination of 'Berlin', the only world city that Germany has, which is so poor yet so sexy. One expects unusual, rough, uncompromising scents that either excite or completely repel, because: dit is Berlin, right? And then comes a fragrance that somehow is not different at all - and even less polarizing. Instead, it is surprisingly unscandalous and disappointingly not KitKatClub at all, but rather a lot of Wilmersdorfer Straße (for those unfamiliar with Berlin: a thoroughly mediocre pedestrian zone in Charlottenburg): very average, very little exciting, almost offensively normal - and somehow more like soda and building savings contracts than full-body latex to the pounding 'Umpf! Umpf! Umpf!'.
It has leather, yes - but who doesn't have that today? The same goes for styrax and incense. Only the milk seems capable of contributing a surprising momentum, but what it probably means by 'milk' is hardly more than a chord of vanilla - and overall, Leder 6 / Fetisch is quite close to gourmand in many respects. The saffron adds a lively bitterness, and the mentioned vanilla milk chord runs like a fine yet dominant thread through its resinous, burnt base note. All of this is nicely and high-quality made and completely wearable - and that might be what some find sobering about this perfume, which smells much more like vanilla-scented candles from Charlottenburg than like experimental techno and dirty niche porn from Mitte. But the label promises 'KitKatClub', and sometimes that is enough.
Conclusion: a sheep in wolf's clothing. But a very sweet one.
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6 Comments
The vanilla actually fits quite well into the KitKat. If everything already smells like described above, what else fits? Maybe wood, but is that contrasting enough? The best whiskies that also taste leathery/smoky all have one thing in common: the vanillin from the oak barrel, and it fits wonderfully. I remember smelling that in a club once and found it very… uh, attractive.