Reflections on Homage

After a 0.25 ml sample, after a second bigger sample, I bit the bullet and got a full 12 ml attar.

It was a little dismaying to notice that the smell of the bottle is rather different from that of the sample. Not in a bad way or good way. I'll try to explain. These observations are being made on a fragrance which for obvious reasons isn't made in any sprayable form, and using similarly small quantities of the juice - I am mentioning this in order to take that possibility out of the way. I've also tried both sources enough times before opining below.

The sample[s] [from TPC] had the citrus [orange] and the oud notes a little louder. That made it a tad, just a tad disharmonious and louder in the beginning, with the advantages of:

- seeming more masculine (at least wearable by a man in discreet quantity)

- having more of a multifaceted evolution... it was really one of the most enticingly kaleidoscopic things I've sniffed


Now to the bottle: it ALSO smells great but a little different... more unified, more harmonious, but also more linear. The note which is predominant here from the beginning is the rose... one of the most beautiful rose notes imaginable. No citrus(y) burst, no slightly pungent oud-ness. Very different but on a par quality-wise with Windsor.

I'd lie to say that the full bottle version I have now is worse in any way... but it smells noticeably more feminine, to the point I'm a little afraid to wear it other than for myself. There is a slight "Joy by Patou" - at a superior level of quality - aura to it... so in what regards wearability/masculinity I'd have preferred the fragrance as I knew it from the sample. This one on the other hand smells just perfect in itself, as a work of art, as if there would be nothing possible to improve on it.

I wonder whether this has to do with natural extracts, different years "crops" or something....

As Sculpture adequately suggests, quantity is deceiving in this case. From one ml sample I got +- 50 uses, without economizing... still have a little.

This 12 ml attar offers a lot more usage than the median 100 ml EdT.

Mimi, that sounds like the *samples* I have/had... my first impression was "soap" (what you call "[after]shave") - expensive, luxurious soap, yet soap.

The *bottle* truly has rose predominating... one finally understands what the big deal about the "whole field of Taifi roses" and the rest of the propaganda sheet is about.

However, honestly I would want to have a "soapier," more citrusy, more masculine bottle... in terms of wearability by a man.

Mimi, not sure what the "real" Homage is... probably both versions... I can only speculate there may be some difference between the 2008 and 2009 crops.

I suspect I've got a 2009 bottle. [Darkish-reddish (beautiful) woody-looking box... wasn't the first generation in white boxes?]

Does it have that initial citrusy-woody burst or does it start almost linearly with semi-sweet roses? Thanks... ( :

Mr. Reasonable, thanks for yours.

The whole purpose of my post was to distinguish between the two "versions" of Homage I've experienced -- in depth and paying a lot of attention. If I wasn't clear, I'll try to synthesize further:

1) cleaner, soapier, citrusier, woodier, more vivid, more evolving, less rosy, more masculine

2) softer, darker, more consistent, less evolving, rose-dominated, almost no citrus, gentle, more feminine... perhaps superior in an abstract, artistic way, but not so easy to wear for a guy (imho)

It seems our Mimi tried the first one... still not sure about you but I suspect you too... as you have the original, white box... thanks a bunch for your descriptions nevertheless... ( :

I am 100% positive Luca Turin talked about the original "limited" edition.

Now, unless I am mistaken Amouage Homage came out in [at least] two "editions" :

- the white box (limited edition, as it was called at the time, ~2008), with the name Homage actually put on the box;

- a further edition in a faux-woody-darker box [2009 or later], with the name Homage only present on the wrapping cellophane.

The sample-offering sites such as The Perfumed Court must have had the older edition, at least until recently. LuckyScent was out-of-stock completely for a while so, today, it is likely they've got the new version and the new version only.

If my instinct is right these two editions correspond to the two fragrant versions I have talked about. I am not certain though, I am speculating.

What I am not speculating about: the difference between the two forms of Homage [that I know of] is NOT trivial, beautiful as they both are. The first one is clearly and successfully unisex - something which is not macho, but almost "beyond sexuality" in potential usage. (Hillaire's review of it is my favorite review of any perfume ever, together with Dullah's review of Windsor.) The second one (the one I have a whole bottle of) veers quite strongly to the feminine side. It smells fantastic but not like what I expected. It's something more to smell than to smell on myself.

Part of it could be that Tribute did not exist yet in 2008... so Homage would have been thought as unisex then, and as the feminine counterpart of Tribute now. Or there may be just, as some say, some undeliberate variance in the nuances of the raw materials/oils etc.

Thanks for reading (-:.

I am not always so obnoxiously hair-splitting.... but I feel this particular perfume deserves this kind of attention.

PS To my (not awfully educated) nose there're no aldehydes whatsoever in Homage, either version. In terms of naturalness, I found it unspeakably superior to Amouage EdP's and possibly better than most Creeds (which I'll still love).

Today I experienced once again: I put just a little more than usual from the sample on my right wrist and as little as possible from the bottle (which is not easy... I reiterate it even more strongly, these 12 ml provide a lot more applications than 150 ml of EdP - not even to mention EdT - especially as I privilege discretion in all applications) on my left wrist.

I am not retracting altogether my picky analysis from before but I have to be honest to my fellow basenoters: if the quantities are well-matched (for some reason quantity counts A LOT when it comes to attars), the differences are clearly subtler than claimed by me in previous postings.

Thank God. I was just *about* to order a "white box Homage" as well... which would have been not only excessive but also a little freaky... (-:

Larwiz, no problem, the price is big, no question about it. Worth it, not worth it, it's an individual decision.

Just wanted to say that SculptureOS did not exaggerate one bit about how much usage one gets. It's actually impossible to put too little of it on, while it's very easy to put too much.

Can't wait to wear this in the winter... somehow I suspect I'll like it (even) more.