The other day I was lucky enough to receive some samples of the biehl parfumkunstwerke line of fragrances.  They recently have been made available in the US market and I had yet to have any introduction to them, so I was excited to check them out.  My plan was to provide a review on biehl parfumkunstwerke’s gs03 which is their newest release, but for some reason I was strangely drawn to sample gs02 (released in 2007) instead.  Maybe notes like castoreum and descriptors like “erotic” had something to do with it!

WHAT I SMELL:  gs02 opens with an herbal orange/citrus note which is clean and somewhat astringent.  Quickly, gs02 begins to develop a bit of a sour note and in the background there lurks some castoreum, which gives the fragrance a bit of dirtiness…but it remains in the background.  I keep waiting for the leather, but it’s not quick to make its appearance and when it does, it too lurks in the background unwilling to really pounce.  After about 15 minutes, gs02 becomes more woody and after almost 30 minutes, the fragrance warms and becomes more radiant.  It’s funny, gs02 blends seamlessly and it’s incredibly restrained which makes this a wonderfully mysterious and hypnotic scent.

From the biehl parfumkunstwerke website:

charisma. determination. arrogance can be erotic after all.

head: aromatic, spicy.
the liveliness and elegance of absinth, Campari, orange, thyme, angelica roots

heart: leather perfectly combined with castoreum, rounded off very erotically with

base: ambergris, tonka been, vanilla

WHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME:  A sly fox.

THREE ADJECTIVES THAT DESCRIBE gs02:  sexy, subtle, confident

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT gs02:  That Smell (I couldn’t find any others)

BOTTOM LINE:  gs02 is lovely and a bit sexy, but very subtle.  I believe this would be a good fit if you need a great office scent that would translate well into the after work happy hour.

• Bone Rating: 3.5 out of 5 possible bones
• Scent:  Leather
• Nose:  Geza Schon
• Classification: Unisex – but leans masculine
• Expense:  $195 for 100ml EdP

Sample provided by Hypoluxe, official distributor of biehl parfumkunstwerke products.