Porsche Design Essence (2008)
by Porsche

I agree with wise Hirch. This one is a major disappointment for me. Why? Because of its unrealized potential. What promising ingredients! A really excellent line-up on paper. It should have an aromatic, zesty green opening, a spicy and perky-green middle, a resinous base, and lovely whiffs of pine throughout. Instead, all we have is another cool-fresh scent in the current middle-of the road style. BORING! The only element I can really distinguish is the patchouli… oh joy. It is slightly sweet and tangy. The whole thing is blah and more than a little vacuous, like many current releases.

I was instantly disappointed at first sniff. The much touted arctical just smelled like a generic fresh molecule to me, I suppose if I thought about it I hadn't smelled that exact variant on generic fresh before, but don't expect a revelation. With this is a powerful synthetic smelling corrainder and a slightly more natural juniper, some very standard smelling resinous woods with a piney slant, a peppery thing and some incense (quite good but lost in the rest). It is very powerful and endures like a plastic bag on a rubbish heap.

I think this may do ok selling to those who aspire to own porsche cars. It is brash, unsubtle, clean and invokes images of skiing down hills wearing sunglasses which cost 1000 Euros but filter the light no better than the 4 Euro variety.

I think the purpose is to raise the brand profile of porsche design, put a product in finacial reach of those who can't usually afford their stuff. It smells like a part of their marketing department, rather than a serious attempt at a quality perfume. In my opinion.