Description
Dedicated to and conceived by the late Robert Herrmann; a dear friend in fragrance, a ‘heart’ of the West Coast and online fragrance communities, and an inspired writer for online magazine CaFleureBon.com. We miss you <3
This design is a dream-like fantasy fragrance inspired by the lovely, freshwater Lake Biwa in Japan, and the ethereal, luminous quality of Biwa pearls. Biwa, the perfume, has a soft, and very Japanese feel with the added Western touch that Robert’s favorite note, aldehydes, provide. The opening of aldehydes, with the merest touch of mint and green cypress give the fragrance a shining, ‘pearly’- opalescence along with a natural, ‘lake side setting’ that continues throughout the design. For the heart, I created a rice powder and a steamed jasmine rice accord; each given a creamier feel with a light hand of vanilla. The drydown is a soft bed of hinoki, cedarwood, and pine. The entire fragrance for me has the feeling of ascension: of flying ever skyward toward the celestial realm through clouds, pastel colored by the setting twilight sun.
*All of the profits from the sale of Biwa will be donated to Robert’s husband, Ron. Biwa is a gift of love to the memory of our dear friend and a loving tribute to his ‘perfumed’ imagination. I am honored to have been asked by Robert to create his dream perfume.
jorge5lonnie –
This is a very comfortable scent. I get candy corn with white chocolate in the beginning, its a very nice scent for cooler weather, it put’s me at ease.😊
Savannah Prokop (verified owner) –
If pearls had a scent, this would be it. Biwa is ethereal and luminous yet comforting and warm. The rice powder is slightly creamy, but the aldehydes provide a fresh and almost effervescent quality. The hinoki is very grounding but it’s not too strong. Overall, Biwa is a great everyday fragrance.
anadevice (verified owner) –
Opens as an elegant aquatic, fresh but very gentle. A cool mist carries hints of sweet, delicate wildflowers, swirling with the warm steam of jasmine rice to form a sheer, soothing haze across the calm water. The pale, milky green of tall, grasses appear, blending with the crisp, herbal notes of lakeside botanicals. The warmth of balsamic hinoki and fresh cedar emerges but remains quite subtle, highlighting the comforting nuttiness of the rice, and giving a glimpse into the nearby woodlands.
I wasn’t sure this would be my style since aquatics and aldehydes rarely play well with my skin, but this is seamlessly blended and so soothing — I fell in love with DSH after trying their marine aquatic Odesa, and this has a similar feel — a realistic atmospheric that still somehow feels like it belongs on my skin. Also, instead of bright, fizzy sparkles, the aldehydes create a floating, gauzy mist that makes me think of idyllic fantasy lands — I’m picturing the cover of The Mists of Avalon with a Japanese twist.
I always have a hard time giving up my cozy scents as winter ends, so I’m delighted to find such a lovely comfort scent for warm weather — Biwa transports you to a peaceful lake on a cool, spring morning; the smell of pristine water and dewy botanicals veiled in a soft, shimmering mist as the rising sun begins to warm the surrounding woodlands.
Kairi (verified owner) –
I actually bought this to try on behalf of a number of friend who love rice powder and jasmine rice scents.
This is definitely a rice powder and jasmine rice scent!! It’s not for me, but it is beautiful in it’s execution. I’m not able to detect the Aldehydes (this note was stronger when I tried it immediately after delivery), and I think the soft exotic woods is in the background to ground the lighter notes and keep the scent from being too powdery.
This is a lovely scent, I don’t think it’s for me, but for all rice powder and jasmine rice lovers, I would recommend giving this a try!!
carter –
The mint is so unexpected and refreshing here! Despite the soft and slightly sweet feel of the fragrance overall, it’s less mint ice cream and more of a crisp wild note. Reviews invoking spa steam are right on the money as far as the jasmine rice notes are concerned, but the wood and mint take things outside, like you’ve just stepped out of a forest sauna. There are many kinds of wild mint where I live, and this reminds me of running or playing in a field in the evening, smelling the scent of those crushed leaves. Biwa is that plus a bubble bath, and I find it very soothing 🙂
nacreous_waves (verified owner) –
This one really struck me. I have only interacted with it in the form of a 1ml EDP sample vial, but it stays on my mind. I intend to purchase a full bottle of the EDP eventually so I can spray a delicate veil of this over myself. I read above from Dawn that there is a lake in Japan called Biwa, and freshwater pearls with this namesake as well. But also I see that this is another name for the loquat tree and its fruit in Japan. There is a shimmering combination of all of the above that floats in my mind when I smell this.
Enticing aldehydes (unable to technically characterize them) lead me into a delicate haze that connects the other anchor points of this scent together for a long while. There is something complexly sweet in the periphery, perhaps my mental association with loquats. I haven’t picked up rice specifically — almost certainly because I am only testing as a 1 ml sample — but I could see a gentle perfumed steam… perhaps coming off the surface of a lake or rice paddy in the morning (or twilight), if not a fresh bowl of rice. Lots of floaty, gauzy, airy clouds implied in this scent, but it still has a lovely presence and groundedness in another way.
After hearing the story of its creation and in whose honor this was crafted, I am even more moved by the experience. I am relatively new to perfume appreciation, but hopefully this helps someone a small bit with their decision.