Top Notes 
Turkish rose
Xenophobic Thermostat
Heart Notes 
Spices
Blossoms
Base Notes 
Absinth
Cistus absolute
Bertel
236 Reviews
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Bertel
Top Review
35
Schwarz-who...?
My first encounter with the house "J.F.Schwarzlose" (thanks Caty!!). Schwarz-who...? That's what most people ask about a startup with such a historically cumbersome name, which is why the marketing machinery is working overtime - and producing devastating results:
What are we to think of a house that claims to deliver "creations that function like a mirror for modern Berlin," for "fragrance connoisseurs, enthusiasts, and individualists, they are sovereign and self-assured, without needing to be loud, cosmopolitan and zeitgeisty, original and authentic, beyond any mainstream attitude," and also feels the need to assert that these are "as eccentric, extravagant, and flamboyant as the city of Berlin"...?
That promotes the fragrance "Trance" with phrases like "Trance reflects the ambivalence of Berlin: Modernity and Tradition, Man or Woman... like the transformation from innocence to sin" (!!!)...?
That allows the above fragrance pyramid to be adorned with such unspeakable word bubbles:
"Origin & Sensuality: Virgin Turkish Rose
Transformation: Crystallized Petals & Powder
The Forbidden Essence: Absinthe & Balsam Resins"
In my opinion, such empty, hip, hollow, over-the-top zeitgeist marketing nonsense is utterly repulsive and off-putting. Two or three sizes smaller and, above all, oriented towards at least something somewhat real and tangible would have been just right...? This happens when an industrial and product designer (Boss, Joop, Lancaster, Beiersdorf), an IFF perfumer (Moschino, Ungaro, Lancôme), and a marketing and sales person (who wrote his thesis on "brand revitalization") dig up a Berlin traditional brand founded in 1856 and discontinued in 1976 and hype it in a contemporary way. It's probably a generational problem; I get angry pimples when someone opens their mouth so wide right at the founding of their small company and tries to make themselves important.
"Trance" is the reconstruction of an old Schwarzlose fragrance. And I must confess: I find it quite well done; I like it ;) A pleasant, somewhat sweet, yet powerful and beautifully rounded rose note opens, already supported by vanilla and powdery elements. In the heart, further floral aspects come into play, with a fairly prominent caramelized vanilla (a bit like Lutens' "Un Bois Vanille" without becoming too heavy and dark), but at this stage, the fragrance becomes much too overpoweringly sweet and powdery for my taste, yet it still retains its rounded and attractive rose note. I can barely detect the absinthe in the drydown; the resins and incense tend to be very subtle, with the powdery and slightly sweet vanilla still dominating as a bed for the rose - not unpleasant, quite pleasantly floral-rosy appealing, but unfortunately, like so much these days, very mainstream-gourmand.
By the way, I find the fragrance and its development much more appealing on test strips than on my skin, where it merely becomes a cheap-sweet artificial rosy fruit candy and unfortunately fails to develop properly, which is a shame (and certainly not the fault of the fragrance). Therefore, it will not find a place in my collection, but it is certainly worth trying for ladies who appreciate this direction ;)
What are we to think of a house that claims to deliver "creations that function like a mirror for modern Berlin," for "fragrance connoisseurs, enthusiasts, and individualists, they are sovereign and self-assured, without needing to be loud, cosmopolitan and zeitgeisty, original and authentic, beyond any mainstream attitude," and also feels the need to assert that these are "as eccentric, extravagant, and flamboyant as the city of Berlin"...?
That promotes the fragrance "Trance" with phrases like "Trance reflects the ambivalence of Berlin: Modernity and Tradition, Man or Woman... like the transformation from innocence to sin" (!!!)...?
That allows the above fragrance pyramid to be adorned with such unspeakable word bubbles:
"Origin & Sensuality: Virgin Turkish Rose
Transformation: Crystallized Petals & Powder
The Forbidden Essence: Absinthe & Balsam Resins"
In my opinion, such empty, hip, hollow, over-the-top zeitgeist marketing nonsense is utterly repulsive and off-putting. Two or three sizes smaller and, above all, oriented towards at least something somewhat real and tangible would have been just right...? This happens when an industrial and product designer (Boss, Joop, Lancaster, Beiersdorf), an IFF perfumer (Moschino, Ungaro, Lancôme), and a marketing and sales person (who wrote his thesis on "brand revitalization") dig up a Berlin traditional brand founded in 1856 and discontinued in 1976 and hype it in a contemporary way. It's probably a generational problem; I get angry pimples when someone opens their mouth so wide right at the founding of their small company and tries to make themselves important.
"Trance" is the reconstruction of an old Schwarzlose fragrance. And I must confess: I find it quite well done; I like it ;) A pleasant, somewhat sweet, yet powerful and beautifully rounded rose note opens, already supported by vanilla and powdery elements. In the heart, further floral aspects come into play, with a fairly prominent caramelized vanilla (a bit like Lutens' "Un Bois Vanille" without becoming too heavy and dark), but at this stage, the fragrance becomes much too overpoweringly sweet and powdery for my taste, yet it still retains its rounded and attractive rose note. I can barely detect the absinthe in the drydown; the resins and incense tend to be very subtle, with the powdery and slightly sweet vanilla still dominating as a bed for the rose - not unpleasant, quite pleasantly floral-rosy appealing, but unfortunately, like so much these days, very mainstream-gourmand.
By the way, I find the fragrance and its development much more appealing on test strips than on my skin, where it merely becomes a cheap-sweet artificial rosy fruit candy and unfortunately fails to develop properly, which is a shame (and certainly not the fault of the fragrance). Therefore, it will not find a place in my collection, but it is certainly worth trying for ladies who appreciate this direction ;)
9 Comments
Ka3n
Hermesh
NuiWhakakore
R3mt9
Chizza
Jacko
SonarID
123lole321
Sonnenwende
Przeginia
