Hommage à L'Homme
Lalique (2011)

This fragrance is a combination of violet and violet leaves, making it a great option if you're looking for a strong violet scent. The floral notes are balanced out by a slight woodiness and an ozonic quality that comes from the violet leaf. While there is some oud present, it comes across to me as more of a musky wood scent. It lacks the intense fecal or barnyard scent that some oud fragrances have, allowing it to blend better with the lighter notes.

The performance of this fragrance is moderate, so you may need to reapply in the midday to maintain the scent. If you're intrigued by ozonic woody florals, I recommend giving this fragrance a try. It may share some similarities with Dior Fahrenheit, but it has a distinct scent of its own.

The term 'grapey violet' is completely appropriate for this, at least out of the gate. Tamer than Farenheit and a great fragrance. The bottle design makes the fragrance smell even better. The violet sticks around as more woods enter the picture. Never sweet; Hommage a L'Homme presents as a dry mature masterpiece that ducks in and out of noticeability. There is a subtle sort of power to this that provides longevity without loudness. This does exude class and sophistication for the money. Thumbs up.

I feel like Hommage a L'homme eludes some noses, as if there is this expectation of ambroxan bombast and olfactory-bulb numbing turgidity. There is something to be said for nuance, and the whole raison d'etre of this particular composition is that it is a tribute, and thus requires a bit of propriety.

Be that as it may, this is no shrinking violet—there is some weight to the violet due the support of saffron, pepper, and oud (open to interpretation), and while not listed as one of the notes, tobacco (could the aromachem tabanon been used here?). The effect might seem gossamer to the nose, but is on the contrary substantial, as wafts ebb and flow.

I love scents that have this quality; not nagging and persistent, just recurrent with movement, rustling, or breeze.

9.5/10

I'm with those who perceive this as a dry, woody (more than oudy) tobacco scent. Grapey violets are there close to the skin, but not in the sillage–at least, not on me–lending a bit of pipe-tobacco sweetness to what's otherwise more of an unsmoked cigarette vibe. I'm liking it off the bat, and at the price this is going for, a FB might just be a no-brainer.

Hommage à L'homme is a tribute to the dashing elegance of violet and its re-imagining as a bold male signature. Wonderful, classic and inventive, it is... The homage opens with a petrol nuance of sweet violet leaf, a tarty bergamot and a leathery saffron, that gives way to a pepper-pimento exchange and a violet floral pungency, only to be piquantly held in check by a warm decorative oud and a honeyed musk of cistus. The overall effect is a violetly cool talc of warm rich resins, pulsating with soft sultry and dark steely edges. This is a beautiful ode to masculine panache, and a fitting commemorative for the man whose grace is innate and beauty, seasoned and sophisticate.

Lalique is the Anti-CK. Everything they make seems to have that utterly French, intellectual *and* romantic melancholy deepness about it. Nothing banal or light-hearted about it.

Hommage gives off a sweet and sour, boozy blast of blueberry/blackberry schnapps. Big and high sillage. When you're wearing it, it says hello all the time and it makes itself known everywhere in the room. The drydown is not pleasant to my nose, and therefore it is not a welcome fact that it hangs onto my skin for days, even after washing.

But the bottle. And the box. Such tasteful, attractive design. I'm keeping you, Hommage.