Yohji Homme (1999)
by Yohji Yamamoto

Bittersweet lavender with a hint of soft leather and sandalwood. Sillage and longevity is as weak as a newborn baby, one of the weakest I have ever sampled. Which is a real shame as YOHJI HOMME smells fabulous! So don't be afraid and shower yourself in this, and spray some on your clothes. My 50ml tester will probably finish in two weeks; that's why this is strictly on rotation, for those special occasions only. I have to give this one a 'thumbs up' for the scent, but a 'neutral' if you factor in its miserly sillage and 'shortivity'.

I have to wholeheartedly agree with Vibert’s review below. I’d also like to add that I found it a little too harsh and synthetic for my tastes, hence my unsympathetic rating.

But hey, it’s one less fragrance to worry about…

[Original submission date: 25 May 2008]

This scent is so overrated and overpriced I cannot believe it. For $80 - 100 a bottle, I would think this would be something that would definately make the the ladies go mmmmm. Instead, this is a scent that makes the ladies hold their noses and say "Damn he stinks". It's that thick overbearing type of smell where you say to yourself, "I'll bet that guy thinks he actually smells good" and he would be wrong. I guess I am just not crazy about the strong alcohol smokey wood smelling perfumes. Now something inexpensive like Aqua Di Gio definately makes women say "Mmmmm" and you don't have to break the bank.

Aside from the unique bottle, you're not missing too much by this scent being discontinued.

It starts off strong, astringent and alcohol driven like vibert said... which to me didn't make for a great first impression. I like strong wake-up openings that are marked with citrus, violet (grey flannel) or sweet (lempicka au masculin) notes but Yohji's opening was without personality for me, I found it disappointingly un-interesting and equally fleeting.

When I got to the middle of the scent, although I experience VERY faint notes of coffee, cinnamon or anise, I never would've thought of it as a gourmand. The amount of subtlety of it all was a real turn off, the notes ended up combining into something that I fellt was muddled and confusing. I didn't really experience the sweetness I enjoy in other gourmands like Pure Coffee or Lempicka. Near the end of the progression I guess I can sense the rhum note but... so what?? Again it fails to do anything interesting to the fragrance... the most I get from this is very short smooth wood base.

No silage, no projection. And as a close-to-skin scent I didn't like it because it stayed harsh to my nose until it dissipated two hours later. No longevity. It's not a bad scent by far. I totally understand why some would like it but I personally don't feel it good enough to offset the fragrance's mediocre preformance.

It's unsurprising that this was discontinued. I worked my way through a bottle a few years ago. Got a compliment or two, but otherwise it never grabbed me. Just too flat. Rochas Man shares some notes with Yohji, but there at least the lavender picks things up a bit, not like champagne without the bubbles which is what Yohji was to me.

Yohji has a fascinating bittersweet opening, alcoholic and aldehyde(?) driven. I can't recall anything like it. It quickly tones down to a woody sweet accord with well-blended overtones of coffee, spice, and anise: a lot like a balsawood dowel soaked in coffee with sambuca.

Yohji continues in this vein for some time, though the dry woods grow more and more prominent. Eventually the woods come so far forward that Yohji veers away from gourmand and into dry leather. The coffee floats in and out, but never re-takes the helm.

I suspect anosmia here, because inside a hour Yohji disappears on me, without showing any further development. What I can percieve is very promising, but the quick exit leaves me unfulfilled.