VIP Club - Pure Woody Mercedes-Benz 2014

Well-informed perfume lovers have known for a long time: for a few years now, Mercedes-Benz has also been among the car manufacturers trying to establish themselves in the perfume market with a more or less unique scent. After all, the brand with the star and moon prices cannot afford to fall behind Bentley, Bugatti, Ferrari, Jaguar, Lamborghini, Maserati, Porsche, and now even Volkswagen.
In 2012, Mercedes-Benz for Men was released, followed by 12 more fragrances to date, including three for women.
There are a total of five men’s fragrances in the exclusive VIP Club line. The Swabians (or was it a licensee?) apparently invested a lot of money and hired a well-known perfumer for each individual Eau de Toilette. So far, I haven't seen any of them in retail; even at the huge Mercedes-Benz dealership in Düsseldorf, there were no displays (and the MB homepage doesn’t provide any information either). At least some online perfumeries have the VIP Club fragrances in their offerings. However, sampling them might be a bit tricky - but fortunately, there are reviews!

After already testing the purple Addictive Oriental from the line, it’s now time for Pure Woody in the neat petroleum-colored bottle. The perfumer here is Harry Frémont. While he may not be the most famous in his field, he has celebrated significant successes with fragrances like CK One for Calvin Klein, Very Valentino for Men, Tuscan Leather for Tom Ford, or Polo Sport for Ralph Lauren. To date, 122 creations are credited to him. Diligent, diligent - but in my opinion, he could have exercised more care with Pure Woody.

The scent kicks off sportily with a fresh spiciness, although the apple notes dominate a bit too much for my taste. The promised ginger unfortunately takes a back seat. I had feared this, as fragrances with apple on the ingredient list are usually not my thing; they tend to smell too generic or cheap, reminiscent of shower gels from the drugstore.

A little later, Pure Woody drifts more towards the sweet side, partly with some warm spicy notes that give it more substance. I like this much better, but somehow a sweaty component, possibly reminiscent of cumin, has crept in. As a result, the Eau de Toilette comes off a bit harsher and more mature, but also somewhat uneven.

Towards the end, it becomes agreeably soft with amber notes or whatever, but one wonders how it came to be called Woody. No, there’s nothing woody about it at all. Even in the pyramid, it’s not even hinted at. Nevertheless, one gets the impression that instead of a Mercedes Benz, one has been presented with an aging Opel Astra in the base version scent-wise.

Yes, spicy fresh may apply to Pure Woody - but many fragrances from the drugstore can do that just as well, only at a significantly lower price (and they might even offer more longevity and projection with a similar synthetic composition). Those who expect more from a Mercedes star than possibly five Parfumo stars might find this appealing. Rational people should probably not take Pure Woody seriously!