Tribute Attar (2009)
by Amouage

Genre: Leather

When Tribute was announced I wondered how much it would resemble its predecessor, Homage. After all both are attars centered on frankincense and rose Taifi, and how much range for variation could there be? Plenty, as it turns out. Tribute bears no resemblance to Homage whatsoever. In fact, it doesn’t smell a whole lot like anything else in the Amouage line, despite employing several house standard ingredients. Whereas Homage is all about rose - seasoned, to be sure, with oudh, citrus, and frankincense - Tribute’s rose is not immediately apparent to me. Instead, Tribute opens on a grimly mesmerizing accord of intensely smoky leather, frankincense, and dry, bitter saffron. It’s at once craggy, gaunt, and otherworldly. It’s also completely devoid of the decadent, plush, floral texture familiar from so many other Amouage scents.

Thought the saffron bows out fairly quickly, the smoke, charred leather and incense remain in place, supported as Tribute develops by a potent, dry, earthy vetiver. Once the vetiver materializes, Tribute begins to echo, (albeit at a distance,) the equally austere charred leather and vetiver accord at the heart of Vero Kern’s weird and magnificent Onda. What distinguishes Tribute from that worthy antecedent is the exquisite rose and jasmine accord that follows the vetiver to the surface. While rose is the star performer in several Amouage scents, including Lyric Man, Lyric Woman, and Homage, here it plays an ensemble role, weaving through Tribute’s structure to wrap all the smoke and ash in a luxuriant, soft floral blanket. The somber mood established at the start remains intact, but it is softened, elevated, and rendered more complex and full by the rich floral embroidery.

Tribute mellows very slowly on my skin, as the gradually dispelling smoke and tar reveal more of the floral components. After an hour or two of wear, Tribute acquires an added layer of complexity with the emergence of a deep, rounded pipe tobacco note. As the tobacco note swells, its inherent warmth transforms Tribute incrementally from austere to comforting. This transformation transpires over the course of perhaps eight hours, during which Tribute exhibits considerable strength, though like many attars and oils, it wears relatively close. While it does not fill the room, anyone who enters your personal space will perceive it quite clearly. The extended drydown of tobacco, vetiver, and animalic leather lingers for hours as a warm, tightly enveloping skin scent.

Whereas quite a few men have expressed anxiety over wearing the conspicuously floral Homage and Gold Men in public, Tribute offers no grounds for trepidation. In fact, Tribute is a far less “pretty” composition than Gold, Homage, or any other Amouage scent I know, and for that reason I particularly enjoy it. I certainly find it easier than several of the others to wear.

06 July, 2014

I loved the rose and Jasmine. It went on strong, but sadly for me, did not have longevity. So many perfumes just seem to soak in and vanish. I can usually count on Amouage to stay, but this sample did not.

22 March, 2014

Totally agree with Iivanita; Tribute is the yin to Homage's yang. Whereas Homage is the Sun, Tribute is a smoldering fire at night under the Moon.

14 March, 2014

Amazing, intense, supreme

frankincense, saffron, floral notes, Jasmine, Rose Taifi, leather, tobacco, cedarwood, patchouli, vetiver

The beginnning plunges straight into a gorgeous frankincense with saffron and a floral note; on my skin it takes a while for a nice rose to develop. Jasmine and an intense tobacco merge into a rich cedarwood note, whilst in the later stages a feshness emerges that is vetiver-driven, with patchouli giving it a slightly deeper and rougher edge for a moment. On my skin the incense is alway present, like the backbone of this great fragrance. The quality of the product components is amazing, the overall blending very smooth, and the overall end result is a unique scent. Very good silage an projection. I used a homeopathic amount only and got eight hours of longevity, a perfume-like performance.

23 October, 2013

Fit for a king

Rich, dense, luxurious and enveloping. The foremost notes in this stunner are tobacco, incense, leather, rose & jasmine. The initial smoky blast soon subsides, allowing the pretty florals to shine through more brightly. The density, smoke and leather notes in Tribute initially recall Puredistance M but in Tribute the floral notes are louder and the spices toned down; these differences become more obvious as time passes. As a result I find Tribute more exuberant and uplifting; carmine red rather than mahogany brown. A sultry Shalimar-ish musk is evident in the drydown and is magnified alluringly by increased body heat.

A little bit goes a long, long way so there is no need to buy the bigger bottle unless you plan on wearing little else, or like to announce your presence well in advance. A dab or two in the crooks of the elbows and behind the ears is ample. In fact, those tiny samples you can buy from the usual sources are good for several wearings if you don't overdo it.

My only reservation is that, even with a shy application, I find it a bit OTT in its outspoken opulence; too overtly beautiful for comfortable day-to-day wear by this non-Sultan (film-star looks notwithstanding). {Review based on a sample obtained in 2011}.

Pros: Potent, exotic, beguiling
Cons: Needs a wallet and crown to match

09 June, 2013

Sexy, buttery, easily wearable anytime anywhere. Its truly wonderful. Its got all the notes I love, rose, tobacco, incense, leather, vetiver and delivers it so masterfully blended its hard to work out were one note ends and another beings.

I've decided not to buy it though. I already have Cuir de Russe extrait and CdG Avignon and these two together sort of tick all the boxes in two fragrances that Tribute does in one. Plus I have a couple of rose soliflores (including Mukhallat Al Emirates) that keep me happy on that front.

In that context, I simply can't justify the eye-watering price. If money were no object, I'd have snapped it up.

If you love Cuir de Russe extrait but find it a bit too floral or feminine, this is like a more masculine equivalent.

12 May, 2013