Van Cleef & Arpels pour Homme

40 reseñas

Mostrando las más recientes primero.

• jerry drake

  May 27, 2017

  

  I didn’t know this perfume. Recently bought, I had the good idea to spray it 5 times (neck and wrists). A bomb. Almost suffocated. Incredible power compared to Barbie perfumes today. It evolves surprisingly over time, leaving a first-class dry-down. The opening can be aggressive, but after an hour, it smells wonderful. A beast.

• davidrock

  September 8, 2017

  

  Congratulations Juan Pasiones, it’s the best review I’ve read here and underscores point by point what was written. It is one of my favorite perfumes and undoubtedly the one with the greatest longevity and sillage on me of all tested. It has a lot of body, and the rose, carnation, and leather are among the best I’ve ever smelled. It’s a pity they don’t make fragrances like that anymore, but luckily I can always reach for this masterpiece.

• Juanpasiones

  September 10, 2017

  

  Oh, Rose, Rose! As wonderful as the white goddess, your love condemns me to the sweet pain of suffering… (Sandro de America). Another great fragrance born in the same year as me: 1978. The talc-dusted, aged, mature rose is a seducing spell. Who would have imagined that the scent of roses could be so masculine? It’s not a garden rose in spring, but a bunch of roses and carnations cut and kept in a leather bag, like a mailman’s. It’s the scent of almost decomposed red flowers. This perfume is an acrobat, dressed in a black tuxedo on a tightrope, walking hesitantly almost to fall into the abyss of putrefaction, but it holds on, advancing little by little to solid ground, moving away from the black abyss to walk over fields of hay, mossy trees, and herb gardens. Van Cleef Pour Homme is like a good French film: it makes no concessions. Unlike commercial American cinema that makes everything easy, this film noir is a challenge, a crossroads for the intellect. It’s not just classic, but very special. It requires bearing and passion for perfumes of this level. Not everyone will know how to carry it, and I like that; it’s not a Hugo Boss for everyone. It emits class and elegance. If you try it and say it smells old, go! Take your pants and leave, or stay and open your mind to learn to love perfumes like this. When you understand and love it, you will know how to distinguish between a work of art and harmless water. Oh, such a wonderful rose! Every time I pass a garden and smell rose bushes, I can’t get out of my mind that I possess a dark bottle with thousands of them trapped, waiting impatiently to be released into the starry night.

• juancar677

  September 23, 2017

  

  There are many olfactory families like colors in the rainbow; not everyone likes everything. Every person is a world and their pH is another. Depending on the case and moment, one will like it or not. When I was young, I wouldn’t dare approach it, but now, on a night out, yes. It’s not cheap; it depends on where you buy it. Before the reformulation, it was expensive; today its real price hovers around 80 euros, but in certain perfumeries there are good discounts, like at Paco, and you can get it for 40. But mostly it comes down to taste. Van Cleef Pour Homme is to be savored with patience at night, at dinners and cocktail chats. It shines in that field, resulting in sensual and mysterious. It’s not a scent for everyone, especially if you like sweet and uncomplicated fragrances, because the complexity of notes will overwhelm and sit poorly. If the wearer doesn’t like it, probably others won’t either. But if you appreciate it, you can open an interesting fan in your surroundings. It’s a matter of taste.

• william aguirre

  September 28, 2017

  

  What a pleasant surprise! Smelling this fragrance transports you to the mid-80s and early 90s: dry, talc-like, dominant, with a prominent opening of talc and leather that captivates, in the same vein as Azzaro Pour Homme. There was always hesitation about using a Chypre in summer, but at 86°F (30°C) in my city, it’s not cloying or heavy; the main sensation is clean, soapy in a good way. Florals don’t dominate, but it has a good balance; it feels very masculine. If you’re over 35, you’ll love it; if you’re very young, test it first. Scent 9, Longevity 9, Projection 9.

• entredicho

  November 16, 2017

  

  Memories only smell when emotion reaches them. Van Cleef shook me with a professional hook that left me knocked out for days. I walked around anxious, trying to probe that junk drawer where the unsolvable things stay. Suddenly, I deconstructed my riddle and stammered a word: plasticine. I saw myself at three years old, molding multicolored dough in the yard, with that blue ‘baby’ paint-splattered toy. My caregiver looked at me smiling and gave me a loud kiss: ‘Handsome.’ I rubbed my face with the paint-smeared hand. I already knew then that there is only one mother. I could smell the miracle passing through the kitchen, on my way to the dining room. I loved that indescribable aroma that visited us once a week: lentil stew. No other place could cook a pot like that, like in my first school, the origin of my synesthesia. That mix of pencils, chalk, waxes, plasticine, childish sweat, soap, and my caregiver’s maternal scent unconsciously fixed the idea that life pulses through the nose. Now, always, I am a time traveler. It’s 1979, a year before Van Cleef Pour Homme was born. I am a child chasing a cat’s tail or emptying toy boxes to find a ‘knife sharpener’ flute, the beginning of a vocation chosen as a perfume that arrives without seeking it. Thus, this time machine has arrived for me: a hard blow that knocks me down and intoxicates me with ancestral essences, full of ambiguity, kind, and solitary, with a seductive heart of a black suit and a beautiful rose with thorns. It returns me to days of splendor on the street, the yard, the sand, the grass.

• uhm

  February 2, 2018

  

  I considered buying it blindly due to the price, without being able to test it first, but today I found it and went straight to smell it. I’m glad I didn’t buy it; it’s not for me, it smells like another era. The opening reminds me of Antaeus, but soon takes its own path. For a long time, I rated it as a green rose, but not that natural meadow green; it’s the green of old colognes like Paco Pour Homme or Loewe Esencia. The mix with the rose is curious, but it’s a waste to have it because I wouldn’t use it. Maybe it suffers interference from other perfumes, and in the deep dry-down, it takes an ugly tone, like from musk or leather, or as if the rose were wilting. It has typical soapy nuances found in certain roses. The intensity is good; it shouts enough to be noticed for hours.

• KID

  February 19, 2018

  

  Finally, I appreciate the reformulations, thanks to this very particular fragrance. Spectacular opening and a black bottle full of memories. It starts with a masculine black rose, with carnation, vetiver, cloves, leather, and lavender; as it dries, jasmine emerges. Following advice, I used 4 sprays: high projection, and after hours, it stays glued to the skin with eternal longevity. At 75°F (24°C), it’s for cool days; otherwise, max two sprays. It’s love or hate, nothing lukewarm or gray, very elegant. If you like oriental and spicy scents, this is wonderful. Rating: excellent. Just ask for caution with applications. Great buy. Greetings from Argentina.

• juancar677

  February 28, 2018

  

  For me, Van Cleef Pour Homme is the epitome of night luxury. It projects elegance and sensuality with brutal sillage and longevity. The olfactory pyramid is surprising: it evolves at every stage to get better. While roses and leather lead the story, other notes surround them beautifully, preventing it from being pigeonholed and offering round versatility. Forget summer nights.

• Evolutico

  March 9, 2018

  

  I was worried about the rose note when I bought it, as it’s not my favorite, but it turned out to be a pleasant surprise. The opening is classic, similar to Cartier Santos, but fades quickly to focus on the basil. Paired with carnation and jasmine, it wraps the rose alive: not a cut rose in a vase, but a rose on a spring bush. It has a soapy finish, like Paco Rabanne but subtler. Although I’m not entirely sure where it’s going, it’s worth collecting. It has nothing to do with Antaeus; they are two distinct styles in a dark bottle.

• Renshi

  April 22, 2018

  

  Dark and penetrating fragrance. As my dear Lex Ellis would say, it’s Patrick Bateman’s signature scent. By day a prestigious lawyer, and by night a serial killer. That combination is Pour Homme. A true masterpiece appreciated by true connoisseurs. The rest, go for One Million and company.

• Tovar

  August 19, 2018

  

  After six years and about 70 perfumes in my history, this is my favorite. The one that evolves the most throughout the hours. Masculine, elegant, strong, self-assured, unafraid to be noticed, on the contrary, controlling being the center of attention, mysterious, dark. Character strength with nobility and elegance. Not suitable for novices with fresh and sweet waters. Yes, you need security and character strength to sync the man’s personality with the perfume’s personality, so the fragrance becomes the expression of a strong, mysterious, and elegant masculinity. It’s for the man who has understood that it’s not about smelling pretty, but about expressing masculinity.

• daviddve

  December 3, 2018

  

  Incredible fragrance, unique, it brings back too many memories. Although I’m 26, it takes me back to my childhood; I don’t know who wore it, but it clearly transports me to when I was a kid, and also to my trips to Europe, since I used to wear this perfume back then. It’s incredible because as soon as I put it on, I’m transported to those amazing trips. It’s dry and quite intrusive, but what’s wrong with such an aroma being intrusive? I received many compliments, even from young people. It’s very similar to TSAR, but the latter isn’t even half as spectacular. Van Cleef Arpels Pour Homme Scent 9/10 Sillage 10/10 Longevity 10/10 Age: 25 and up.

• Toni_300

  December 19, 2018

  

  Thanks to my friend Jerry Drake, who sent me a sample, I’ve been able to try it for days. I expected more rose in the heart; it doesn’t appear to me, at least at face value; it’s as if you feel the rose but it’s masked by the leather and green notes, becoming completely distorted. Curiously, what I’ve noticed the most is its dry-down and the notes it leaves: it smells a lot like incense. I had to read the composition to realize that incense isn’t listed, but I smell it a lot, in the final phase, like the one you smell in the sacristies of some churches, pure incense. It might be the blend of suede, leather, and musk, but it’s a note I haven’t liked too much; I’m not a huge fan of pure incense, and here I smell it a lot. It’s a classic fragrance but risky due to the multitude of notes and its spiciness; it lasts a long time on skin, but I wouldn’t buy it without smelling it first.

• sejano77

  January 4, 2019

  

  Old School fragrance. I tried it yesterday taking advantage of the cold, where it performs perfectly. It’s an old-school aroma (80s); masculine, bold, powerful; you don’t go unnoticed because it requires character to wear. Two sprays are more than enough to leave a good trail, and the longevity is superb. Recommended for ages 35-40 and for cold nights.

• blackmetalhorde

  January 14, 2019

  

  I like the opening, where I perceive it as more dark and somber; some spices are noticeable. Afterwards, I find it somewhat monotonous and linear, too much rose, too much soap, talcum powder, suffocating. It doesn’t smell masculine to me. Longevity and sillage are out of this world.

• jcgn

  February 16, 2019

  

  When someone mentions a rose in a men’s perfume, my memory unleashes a crushing black color, rigorous, that leaves a scar. Van Cleef & Arpels Pour Homme is a tribute to that rose and its pairing with leather, something from another era. This composition of strong musky leather, patchouli, and a dense rose wrap, coated in wild notes, stands firm and is monumental, at the antipodes of trendy scents. And yet, when someone senses I’m wearing Van Cleef without knowing what it is, I always receive a favorable judgment and suppress a smile of wounded pride in defense of this old scent, far from trends, that has triumphed again. It is a natural survivor, launched in 1978 at a brilliant moment, among the irreplaceable jewels of the seventies and the gems of the eighties, arriving today with uncommon force. Pour Homme is singularly potent, and its development, which on my skin resizes the leather and darkens the rose until it almost disappears, prolongs its longevity. The final stage might be too wild for me, dirtier and more animal than the ideal dictates. Because in my experience, once the black rose vanishes, the perfume, while retaining that color, turns brown, very brown; after delicacy come astringencies and drynesses, between dirty skins and sour smells. That’s why I think it seduces upon spraying and surprises afterward. The kindness of the almost powdery rose gives way to a putrid sea that confirms its complexity, moving between opposites. I don’t understand why it reminds me so much of Chanel Antaeus, given that the dirty touch of the latter doesn’t disproportionately increase its projection, but rather keeps its “contained” character until the end. Maybe they are fourth cousins, but that places them in very distant realms. Maybe Oscar de la Renta Pour Lui, in the dry-down phase, suggests more proximity. Van Cleef Pour Homme is a wonderful leather rose, with sharp profiles, that has crossed more than forty years with astonishment, retaining its vigor, and whose knowledge imposes itself on every good enthusiast. Magnificent perfume. Best regards.

• Selene

  April 3, 2019

  

  Unstoppable, tenacious, narcotic. An aromatic leather chypre on the verge of defining the fashion of the 80s (Antaeus, Kouros, Un Homme Charles Jourdan). Sparkling notes of pepper and leather burst forth as soon as you apply it. In seconds, its herbal, green, and mossy fougere side comes to light. So much variety and nuance make it complex. Citrus notes struggle to stand out amidst so many effervescent elements, but they play their part and are felt in the composition. Lavender hides shyly behind marjoram and basil, marking its presence without being effusive. When the leather and pepper relax, a spiced rose with patchouli tints emerges forcefully from the heart, glowing with interesting richness. Coconut and musk give it a creamy, animalistic aspect. Sandalwood becomes more noticeable alongside the rose and leather as it develops. The quality of Pour Homme is mind-blowing, and the notes are excellently articulated. It launched in the same year as Polo, another with lots of leather and pepper, but Van Cleef has that armored rose note that is enchanting. Two intense scents that seem obsolete to the modern nose, but they deserve far more attention.

• juancar677

  April 21, 2019

  

  This great perfume is no longer in production.

• jcgn

  April 23, 2019

  

  In my review from months ago, I innocently proclaimed it a natural survivor since 1978. That was a bad omen. Once again, a perfume of this solidity is withdrawn from a market invaded by tepid waters and uniform character. I don’t find this sudden disappearance funny, but I prefer a sudden death to a disrespectful reformulation, which is the norm. Van Cleef & Arpels Pour Homme has disappeared with relative dignity. That’s not nothing. But I insist, it doesn’t make me happy. It was my blackest rose.

• chelo 1

  April 24, 2019

  

  Good afternoon, thanks Espartaco for your review, to which I barely need to add, just my experience. ‘Pour Homme’ by Van Cleef & Arpels is masculine, but I bought it for myself a year ago. If you look at the components, it’s perfectly unisex. It’s a chypre-leather, powdery, dark, mysterious, and of evident quality. It goes perfectly for a cold, dressed-up night with elegant clothing. Created in 1978, it stays true to itself. It probably shouldn’t please the majority, which is why they discontinued it. I was pleasantly surprised by its low price when I bought it on sale. Now, if you find it, it’s worth a fortune. Before it was unique, now it’s exclusive. Another great perfume out of play. What joy to have an almost full bottle! I’ll keep it as a treasure. A few drops are enough. The packaging is very elegant, in black, the color par excellence. Greetings.

• wildkatzen

  April 28, 2019

  

  Unstoppable, masculine, and wild; it claims territory wherever you step. It’s one of the few scents that still truly impress me; I imagine it on someone who lives between the forest and the city, or in extreme disciplines like bullfighting where you need guts. It’s one of those fragrances you’d buy multiple times in a lifetime. Juniper, lavender, leather, and a rose reminiscent of Cartier du Soir or Chanel Antaeus… nothing for the mass-market kids with tastes like Invictus or Cool Water. This Van Cleef is more like a fine aged liquor for connoisseurs who’ve moved past buying whatever gets shoved at them on TV. The opening is very prominent: juniper, lavender, oakmoss, and a red rose that flirts elegantly, smelling of a true, masculine rose. Then the woody notes, bergamot, and the rest unleash their spell, captivating anyone seeking a fragrance with character. By the way, it’s in the same league as Chanel Antaeus, Boucheron Pour Homme, or Paco Rabanne Homme…

• Espartaco

  May 1, 2019

  

  Van Cleef & Arpels is probably one of the best men’s perfumes ever created. It has everything to be a legend that resists time, surrounded by outdated similars. When it launched, the gods agreed so that after thirty years it still smells as evocative and dramatic. It follows in the footsteps of the First, emblems to which low prices and poor communication haven’t taken away any prestige. Both show prestige, packaging, that pride of well-made products that remain modern. These can’t be called junk lightly; they’re classics, they’re emblems. And that in a world that launches twenty million perfumes a year is saying a lot. Trying Van Cleef Pour Homme again is falling under the spell of perfumery. Pour Homme is a work of art. And I say it as someone who hasn’t used it, and I don’t think I ever will in my life. Too dusty. Not powdery or talcum… dusty. That it’s not that nuance that prevents me from valuing it, because without feeling comfortable, I’m left mesmerized by this decadent and gloomy work of art that sits beside the great classics without asking permission, part of their lineage, the one of the shadows. Van Cleef has it all: aromatic nuances, smoky accents, spikes of herbal and spicy acidity, an animal current that lasts a breath. But the key is a dry, broken rose that makes the hair stand on end. It will never cease to surprise me the art of perfumery. Depending on the composition, you can savor a young, vegetal, proud, fresh, green rose soaked in dew; or one soaked in water, drunk, and agonizing. The Van Cleef rose is very dry, a cracked, withered flower, covered in dust that would make Count Dracula shudder. There’s no life; it’s openly melancholic; in drying, only remains a rose, spiced, spicy, dead, diabolical. I, who don’t subscribe to this flower or to powdery tissue fragrances, have to admit: ‘friend, you’re not my level, I don’t like you’. Van Cleef is decadent, haughty, threatening, dangerous, and selfish. More than a chypre, it’s a decomposition of a chypre, withered, aged, torn, ready to fight until the end. Dying while killing. PS: It doesn’t remind me of Antaeus, one of my favorite chypres. In Chanel, there’s an armored, animal rose, very refreshing with basil and myrrh. In Van Cleef, the whole genre is dry and withered. It could be the perfume of a mummy, but of some German or English chancellor or high official dead a century ago. Smelling it is thinking of cloudy skies, rain, wild lands, and decaying estates. The sunset of a lineage made into fragrance.

• juancar677

  May 3, 2019

  

  Extremely happy to have bought a bottle in January 2018 for 34 euros. Right now, they’re asking astronomical figures for this Van Cleef Pour Homme. I still have the bottle sealed in its box and don’t plan to use it until next autumn. This perfume, which seems to be an EDP, is one of the most masculine I’ve known. It’s powerful, and the best part is that it changes notes and sensations for a long time, with a bulletproof trail. Like the First from the same house, I’d qualify it as incomparable. Two masterpieces that seem to say goodbye without feeling old. Marketing rules. Perfumes from an era where femininity-masculinity was gold. Master perfumers created something unique. For me, it’s a night perfume without competitors, marking a before and after. Its leather-with-rose trend hasn’t been surpassed, not even with modern techniques. Unique personality and perfect performance. I promise to wear this creation until the last drop. Warning: despite its strength, cold reduces its development a bit. Autumn and spring are when it performs best.

• william aguirre

  May 11, 2019

  

  Almost disappointed to learn it’s discontinued; and I regret not buying more bottles when it was $22 online. Checking prices, it went up to over $100. You feel like when the girl who wasn’t popular but knew she was pretty flirted with you, and you, as an alpha male, didn’t pay attention; suddenly she shows up with a boyfriend and becomes unreachable. To my surprise, I found a 100 ml bottle for $35. Can you imagine the shock? Now I’ll take out the third I had as a relic and start using it again.

• juancar677

  September 16, 2019

  

  Fortunately, I have a 100 ml bottle bought in January 2018. It’s not versatile; it requires freshness and nighttime wear, but it’s so enjoyable that it’s worth it. Not much more to say, it’s a long olfactory journey, intriguing, captivating, provocative, a perfume with its own life, even though they’ve now skewed it. PS: The January 2018 bottle (batch 2016) doesn’t have the same performance as the September 2014 one. The note breakdown is different, so you can guess there was a reformulation. Don’t go paying an astronomical sum for something that is no longer the same.

• Ari Sudacov

  October 24, 2019

  

  There’s not much to say about this perfume. The only thing is that it’s the best men’s perfume in the history of perfumery. It’s everything others wanted to be and couldn’t. Floral, woody, and armored. Masculine, intense, elegant. With impressive projection and trail. With personality, ideal for night and winter. It’s the Bohemian Rhapsody of perfumes: from the 70s but still a beast today, and no one has surpassed it.

• simplyunique

  October 30, 2019

  

  Hello. I just got a batch from April 2017. This fragrance is a work of art. Thank you, Van Cleef & Arpels.

• Pplu

  November 16, 2019

  

  I’m going to kill you… I don’t see it as a work of art. I’ve always seen it in drugstores at ridiculous prices, under 20€, and no one would approach it. I bought it years ago because it reminded me of Antaeus (which is sublime for me), but even though they resemble each other, they have nothing to do with one another. I would never pay what they ask. It’s a good fragrance with brutal performance and a very noticeable, almost excessive scent, very different from what’s trendy today. That scent that won’t fade is what I can’t stand. For under 50€, it’s worth sniffing occasionally, but nothing more.

• wildkatzen

  August 21, 2020

  

  Carrying the rain, I took my Van Cleef out again, and it remains my signature for autumn, winter, or nighttime. Antaeus is where they touch, but Trussardi Uomo has nothing to do with it. Cartier’s La Rosa du Soir gets closer, though its rose is more powdery and lacks the juniper that gives freshness; in Van Cleef, the rose is purer and more woody.

• byrgertidesson

  August 30, 2020

  

  A huge perfume bargain. I must admit I love perfumes for older men with a barbershop touch. Only there’s a problem with this beauty… it doesn’t fit what I want to project or my personality. I bought it because it’s a VERY good fragrance with excellent projection and longevity, though strictly for autumn/winter because it’s a dense lotion that suggests to my psyche a father’s hug or memories of when grandpa shaved and put on all his arsenal of ointments (now after shaves). I spray it to evoke those memories rather than for my own use. I don’t think I’ll ever use it because even as an old man I imagine fragrances of another style… more of an adventurous grandpa than a tender, conscious grandpa. 9/10.

• Sauron89

  January 29, 2021

  

  A brutal perfume. Among my top 5 of all time. It has vintage and timeless aroma. The citrus opening is sharp but lasts seconds; then comes a party of rose, carnation, and jasmine over an earthy and woody base with spicy touches. Every time I use it (counted occasions, mostly formal and in winter), I feel imposing, elegant, and very confident. Compliments by the dozens! Even from young people (the age group I belong to, with my 31 years, haha). In projection and trail: a beast, with 2 sprays you get noticed, with 3 you impose yourself, and with 4 you’re a god walking among mortals. In any of those scenarios, you’ll be perfumed for more than 12 hours, surely. It’s a pity it has been discontinued. I have the luck of having gotten a sealed 100ml batch from 2017 last week with cellophane, at an excessively low price for what it is ($60 in Buenos Aires). And there were many bottles left. I plan to buy more; this is a perfume without which my life wouldn’t be the same. A masterpiece that even the mentioned niches don’t touch in quality.

• Dodo

  September 4, 2021

  

  I need to know where the perfumer’s grave is and bring him flowers (roses) if he’s dead, or a trophy for the best perfume in history… This fragrance fell in love with me at first sniff. It spoke to me of a hot, pink soap paste, vintage and masculine, that over time gets dirty, becomes sweaty, spicy, and testosterone-laden… It’s in my all-time top 10. I read that a perfume serves to feel clean and to seduce; this does both: it starts clean and soapy, then gets dirty and sweaty in a manly way. Something particular happened to me: after sleeping with my girlfriend, the next day my white shirt still smelled of the fragrance. When I woke up, my wife took my shirt, brought it to her face, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. She looked at me with a complacent smile and said she loved the smell of my sweat; clearly the shirt smelled of Van Cleef & Arpels. She never said she liked the perfume, but the smell of my sweat. This is the reinterpretation of a sweaty man, in the best way possible. It might not sound politically correct or seem grotesque, but that’s how things are, human and animal nature communicates with scent, automatic tastes… It’s not for everyone and must be used with moderation: less is more. I usually use one and nothing else on the stomach, talking about the spray. That way you get delicious puffs and an aura of masculinity, excellent longevity and quality. If you want, reapply every 3-4 hours without overdoing it. If you like exclusive vintage and seductive masculines, you must try it.

• FanDeDuneVintage

  September 15, 2021

  

  Van Cleef & Arpels Pour Homme manifests as an emulsion of resolute, dense, dark, energetic, beautifully sinister masculinity. When vaporized, it wastes itself with such gallant ferocity that it could knock you down with a polite blow, from which it then helps you up saying, ‘Are you okay? I didn’t intend to hurt you.’ In this mossy, intricate garden, full of greens, spices, flowers, and berries, a melancholic, talc-dusted rose frolics, camouflaging with the surroundings, transmuting its femininity to enhance masculinity… And it does so without ceasing to be a rose, with thorns and soft petals, marking its duality between fragile and lacerating, tender and insolent. As a canvas, a bed of boiling leather, musk, sandalwood, labdanum, and amber is laid. Seems like a lugubrious and inhospitable landscape, right? But still, you burn with the desire to enter. It’s a work of an elegant, cultivated gentleman, incompatible with the vulgar, firm in his assertiveness and measured temperament, celebrating life without ostentatious pyrotechnics. It’s a darkly joyful composition, pleasantly somber, exquisitely rough. A fascinating powerhouse, with trail and projection almost impudent, 12-hour durability. Despite its complexity and low usability, it’s delicious, addictive, pleasurable. Its quality is exemplary, it distills prestige and distinction. It’s almost a living liquid being in a sophisticated bottle. Its place among the great Pour Homme of the past is deserved. I consider it a blessing to have this bottle. Using it on the skin rewinds memories and reviews unforgettable experiences that fill the present with color. Rating: 10/10

• Aecio

  November 1, 2021

  

  Let’s say God exists. A Gnostic God, immaterial, inaccessible. It would be absurd to ask what He smells like. But we can certainly fantasize about lesser deities. In my experience, I would assign two to the androgynous myth: the feminine Jaipur by Boucheron and the masculine Van Cleef & Arpels Pour Homme. I’ll write about the first another day. I smelled VC&A PH for the first time on a rainy Day of the Dead. I had read about it but didn’t know what to expect. I thought few scenarios were better for that first encounter: not because of the roses in the graves or the cypress trees, nor because of my black leather jacket, despite all that being here. It was ideal because they are usually introspective days, for reflection. I’ll start by saying it doesn’t seem tectic to me, I see it as more diurnal than nocturnal. It smells like a dense, humid, and silent forest. It’s challenging at first, like choosing a new path. But as we go deeper into the thicket, we get familiar with the vegetation, adjust our pace to the roots. Heather mixes with aromatic herbs, scrub, and green vapors from a stream. It’s all green, but dark green. There is gravity and natural magnificence, like a millennial oak forest. When I spray it, I feel back in Arcadia, connected to those forests of offerings and prayers, a source of abundance and mortal trap. For an urbanite like me, a luxury I’ll treasure until the last drop. May these scents have no place in contemporary perfumery…

• iorelk

  January 23, 2023

  

  I was reading about Ted Lapidus, very strong. Turns out someone wrote that Ted Lapidus is for kids compared to this, rather, it’s something that scares, it smells like Count Dracula.

• Juancho Tatiesa

  June 1, 2023

  

  I had it for the 80s, what a good era by God!

• cacher

  June 22, 2023

  

  Overwhelming, manly, and absolute. Its trail is immense, the longevity goes beyond limits, and the blend of leather, roses, and woody base has gotten compliments from everywhere. As cons, low versatility: only cold nights (where it has no rival) and mature, formal crowds. Nothing youthful or for parties; it’s more for an intimate, fiery dinner with your partner. It became my favorite and I don’t think I’m the only one dreaming of seeing it again; perhaps its discontinuation enhances its legacy as a well-kept secret, alien to time and commercial trends. It’s unique, but the best part is the memories that come when I apply it.

• nneestorr

  January 27, 2024

  

  Addictive moss, does it remind you of Antaeus? It does to me, but Pour Homme is better for me: perhaps less refined, but with a more masculine and powerful imprint; a great classic. I wore it today and people told me I smelled like a dandy XD.

• TheXgameX

  August 18, 2024

  

  Another one I tried in a decant. I wore it for a week and confirmed its potency. It smells super retro, maximally masculine, with that rose that screams the 80s (logical, since it’s from the late 70s) and notes that feel like an old apothecary, old medicine in the opening and mid-stage. I haven’t tried Antaeus, but something curious happened with another fragrance: when I first smelled Kouros, the first thing I thought of was this. Obviously, over time I noticed the differences. I don’t remember if it has Lyral or Lilial, but watch out there. I recommend it only to those who love vintage, in cold weather (in summer you’ll nauseate everyone) and well-dressed. It walks the line between casual and elegant, like a confident man, rolled-up sleeves and a natural epic mustache (nothing like little kids with mustaches and caps pretending to be dads).