Birkholz
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
The citrus assault is immediate and almost aggressive—a three-point punch of bergamot, orange, and tangerine that crackles with neroli-like brightness. The green tea arrives almost simultaneously, introducing an herbal astringency that cuts through potential sweetness before it materialises.
The floral core gradually surfaces around the 90-minute mark, revealing tuberose's creamy indolic character flowering against magnolia's soapy aldehydic edge. The brine becomes noticeably present here, creating an unsettling tension—like smelling flowers at the seaside, a slightly wrong combination that fascinates rather than comforts.
The citrus retreats substantially, revealing the woody-musky skeleton beneath. Gaiac wood dominates with its tobacco-leather character whilst the sandalwood provides creamy warmth; the deer musk lingers as a gentle animalic pulse against increasingly dry, peppery wood notes. The brine persists, giving the entire dry down a curiously salty, almost mineral finish.
Amber Intense arrives not as a sultry oriental but as something more architectural—a fragrance that treats floral opulence as a structural problem requiring citrus engineering. Dmitry Bortnikoff constructs something genuinely unusual here: a tuberose-and-ylang-ylang heart that could easily tip into creamy excess instead sits razor-sharp against a citrus opening that refuses to fade politely into the background. The bergamot and orange don't announce themselves as traditional top notes; they remain present as a kind of tart counterweight, preventing the magnolia and lily of the valley from becoming too honeyed.
What distinguishes this from the thousand other floral-citrus compositions is the brine in the base—that saline, slightly iodised note that gives the fragrance an almost mineral quality, as though the florals are blooming in salt air rather than a conservatory. Paired with gaiac wood's smoky leather undertones and Indian sandalwood's creamy vanilla whisper, the composition develops an unexpected sophistication. The Siberian deer musk adds an animalic warmth that's distinctly present without ever becoming musky-perfumey; it reads more as skin-musk, intimate and slightly strange.
Add fragrances to your collection and unlock your personalised scent DNA, note map, and shareable identity card.
3.8/5 (213)