Fleur Alpine The Nose Behind 2025

Solid, third flower-centered release from Herbert. Intense, but also boring floral gourmand - progression. One of the better 'Nose Behind's for a very specialized target group at a good €€€ price.

Two years after the last release, Herbert Stricker has fulfilled one of his dreams with Fleur Alpine: to preserve the alpine orchid "Nigritella" in perfume form, bringing the flower into the here and now even outside of South Tyrol. To achieve this, he chose not just any perfumer, but one who also knows the flower: the Swiss Andreas Wilhelm.

That the scent has captivated Herbert should be clear - but what about an 'average Joe' who just wants to test the latest TNB release and see how "Herbert Stricker" and "gourmand floral scent" fit together? ;-)

- After spraying:
Fleur Alpine starts with an intense, enveloping sea of flowers and a hint of sweetness (strawberry and/or is that already the chocolate?) in the background. A certain freshness makes it appear very clean. Essentially, a floral-fresh-sweet clean man opening.
In the background, there is a note that I personally find rather unpleasant. Based on the pyramid, it must be the cumin. This contributes at times a slightly urinous, sweaty note. Fortunately, you have to really sniff to catch a whiff of it. Thankfully, it remains rather 'closed'.

- After 30 minutes:
By now, it has become clear that the sweetness in the scent comes from the chocolate. It is very present, easily noticeable, but has a synthetic touch.
The chocolate note reminds me of that from Symphonium.

The cumin has thankfully almost completely disappeared - thank God.

The FA radiates quite well. I don't even need to get close to my arm - even 20cm above, you can perceive it strongly!

- 1 hour after spraying:
Sweet floral bloom with slightly fermented rose combined with synthetic-sweet chocolate and a minimal wood twist. By the way: "Wood" is actually nowhere to be found in Fleur Alpine. It is supposed to be a homage to a flower... ;-)

- 1.5 hours:
Straightforward, boring progression. The sweetness is now pushing a bit more forward and has reached the peak of synthetic sweetness. This piercing synthetic combined with a sea of flowers makes up the hour and a half to the second hour of the scent.

- After 3 hours:
Longevity and sillage have (significantly) decreased. But: It still radiates a bit. So, we can't yet talk about it being "over". Pleasantly, the chocolate sweetness, which is pushed synthetically, has noticeably decreased in the last hour. This benefits the overall scent progression, as it now smells much more balanced.

Overall, however, the drydown is rather uncreative: everything just becomes "fainter", remaining true to the original notes. This is probably absolutely intentional, as it is meant to represent this alpine flower for as long as possible :D

- After 4 hours:
'Synthetic strikes back', but unfortunately not so great. An hour ago, I thought I could prepare for "Now nothing more is coming, it will get quieter, just everything fainter", but the last 60 minutes took an unpleasant turn - due to the synthetic sweetness.

"Light floral notes with chocolate synthetic" could be summarized.

- From hour 6 until the end (about 9-10 hours):
NOW is the time when all remaining ingredients become just fainter. Calm returns, no more developments.
What you have to give credit to the scent: Very (!) many perfumes end up transitioning into a kind of "sweet wood base". But that is not the case with Fleur Alpine. I can still smell flowers on the spray spot on my arm all the way to the very last twitch. Very interesting, because atypical.

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Conclusion:
I have tested all (though... I skipped the "Killing Fresh | The Nose Behind!") Nose Behinds. Some are indeed more mass-appealing in the niche - many are not. Fleur Alpine will also only appeal to a more niche target group. You really have to be into this flower-synthetic-chocolate sweetness. Or simply be a mega fan of the orchid.

For me, the "flower from the Alps" is nothing. This is not only because I see it more for women than for men, but also simply because I don't know on what occasions I would empty the large 100ml bottle.
Overspray should be avoided with this TNB, otherwise the room will turn into a sea of flowers. The very intrusive kind.

What is worth noting, however, is: Even if it is just a decent average for me, it is one of the better The Nose Behind releases. And what particularly pleases me: That Herbert was able to realize another (scent) dream. It’s actually a really nice story behind the perfume, isn’t it!?