Yohji Homme

People who have never tried Yohji Homme should be aware that its near-mythical reputation is based on the original version, composed by Jean-Michel Duriez at Patou. Olivier Pescheux had to work around new IFRA restrictions and did not have access to all the original's bases, so the 2013 reissue of Yohji Homme is more of a careful reconstruction than a reformulation. The differences in ingredients are apparent from the start. The vintage opens as a classic aromatic fougère, with a blast of lavender and a pronounced anise accord. The current version mostly lacks the anise and leans towards thyme instead of lavender, giving the scent a more herbal facet all the way to the drydown. As the opening fougère notes fade into the background, Yohji Homme presents its signature accord. The fragrance (especially the vintage) is somewhat of a changeling, shapeshifting from minute to minute, moving your focus from its major components (coffee, rum, licorice) to its minor ones (herbs, spices, woods, leather) and back every time you take a new sniff. From the heart onwards, the notes in the two versions are more or less the same, but the textures notably diverge. Vintage Yohji achieves a near-perfect blend, giving you the impression of smellling a genetically engineered hybrid of coffee bean and aniseed, infused with rum and coated in licorice, served on a sheet of smooth leather. The dry, barren composition pulls the fragrance towards the cold, but at the same time the gourmand notes give it incredible warmth, putting the fragrance in a place of permanent tension. This is what made the original Yohji Homme so brilliant. Unfortunately, this juxtaposition is almost completely absent in 2013 Yohji. The reissue assembles the same notes and blends them well, but it doesn't achieve the original's smooth austerity. It has a warmer, livelier character, a mixture of gourmand notes on a carpet of bustling woods and greenery. The texture is more powdery and evokes ground coffee and fine potpourri, giving the fragrance an ever-so-slightly saccharine touch, as several reviewers have already noted. Overall, 2013 Yohji is about as faithful a reconstruction as we could get, given the circumstances. It may lack the compositional refinement that made the original one of the best masculines ever, but it's still an outstanding fragrance. Needless to say that neither version of Yohji Homme is a crowd-pleaser. This is a seriously mature, avant-garde composition - if you're just looking for a nice gourmand, you'd probably be happier with other fragrances that share part of Yohji's DNA (e.g. Rochas Man, Lolita Lempicka). But if you're open to something more complex and refined, this reissue of Yohji Homme is a great start.

really good reconstruction. It is different, I grant you that, but well done non the less. The biggest difference for me is the rum note which on the new version is at the heart of this scent and slowly disappears to a musky base, where as in the old version the rum and spices follow through the scent from the heart into a woody base. To me the musk dry down gives this a similar vibe to YSL Body Kouros, although slightly fresher and more in a fougere style. Both the original and reformulation are bottle worthy, and when they linger in the air they smell really similar, difference is detected up close. Low to medium sillage but long lasting. Just like Yohjis clothing you wear it for yourself.

My friend bought a bottle for me from UK, and I was very excited because I would test the new formulation after so many years. I have 2 back-up bottles from the year 2005. This is my favorite fragrance since I met this wonderful juice. IMO the new formulation is different from the vintage juice. The old one always changes my mood, I love it so much that I can not describe. For the first day of trying the new formulation, I am not impressed. I was very happy for the re-release but I am a little bit disappointed. I will update my opinions after a couple of more wearings.

To me, this is a fantastic scent. It is ultra spicy and zesty. Its quite a unique smell as well. The opening could be too much for some - it's definitely one of the spiciest fragrances I own - however, it dries down to such a beautiful and soft, semi-sweet smell. Quite comforting. I'm really enjoying this scent. 8/10

Licorice and leather together in perfect harmony. Love!! Bought it as a good masculine for women, but it was love at first sniff for my husband, who has now commandeered the bottle. I've never seen him this enthralled by a fragrance!

Love this stuff. My 2013 bottle lists an oak moss extract in it. High quality and original blend. I put it everytime i want to stand out or when i am tired a little of my beloved Chanel Allure Edtition Blanche.

As far as I am concerned, this is must own. Complex and yet so soft. Stands out from the crowd, but at the same time feels like a classic of old. Without question one of the best frag's I've come across.

The original was the best fragrance I have ever smelled. I can not wait to buy the new one.

Yohji Homme is a nice spicy scent for men. I get a very light sweet bergamot at the beginning, when it dries down I think that it’s obviously a sweet spicy rum-leather-cedar scent, a little leathery, a vintage aroma which reminds me my grandpa, something like an old smell of an old barber shop. The same thoughts creates me the Chanel Antaeus, which I tried. Generally reminds me an old good quality men's fragrance. Both the longevity and the sillage are moderate with two sprays but with two more.. it stays about 6 hours on skin and the sillage is definitely better with 4 sprays. The dominant note is rum and the most distinguished notes from above are juniper, licorice, leather, cedar and bergamot but I do not get any coffee note at all. I wish it had an ADP version.. I highly reccomend it for summer, spring and warm autumn days, a beautiful unique vintage mens scent!

Nose Note #413 It's very bitter aromatic, a little boozy (rumy), and the licorice note is easy to pick out. It's unique, it's interesting, but it's not entirely pleasant. Not in the start, not further down the alley. It's a solid mens perfume that has BIG VIBES from the 90s and 00s, but personally I don't enjoy it that much. And it's actually somewhat similar to J'ose Eisenberg, but J'ose is a little darker, a little sweeter and has a slight coffee note. Personally: 7/10 As a good piece of perfumery: 7.5/10

Distinctly smells like licorice - the exotic black candy that some people dare not to call actual candy. Some green aromatic and woody notes. Interesting fragrance, somewhat flexible. Perhaps a bit too sweet for summer, but not for mid-seasons. I haven't smelled a similar perfume - this smell decently original for me. A pleasant, spicy-herbal-soapy-sweet smell. Like licorice, can be hit or miss for many people. But I enjoy it. Performance is somewhat average.

100ml batch 311A seems dated and confused. while rich and not unpleasant, it harkens to a much earlier period of "cutting edge" fashion design. this would be a perfect scent to wear at a museum couture retrospective. it makes itself known with a mixed "spicey" attack. all the notes seem to appear at once. elbowing each out of the way with every inhalation. not sure whether it is worth the effort to seek it out. but, i do like it for its "artistic" statement.

I'm far from a fan of the top notes, which smell annoying and like, really cheap perfume. After about half an hour or less, the scent morphs into something with more depth. A bit of leather, of bit of rum, with a slight hint of cedar, but all are submerged in the overwhelming licorice. Longevity and projection are great. I find it more suitable for cooler days or nights, as it might be a bit cloying in hotter weather.

Disappointingly synthetic men's cologne that barely registers on the gourmand scale, despite what some reviews have claimed. The opening is sharp, herbal and citrusy, with tinges of dusty lavender. If I try really hard I can pick up on whips of licorice and a sense of warm huskiness from the 'coffee' note, but these are most definitely fleeting and in the background. It has none of the edibility I was expecting and the coffee note is a mere suggestion, not at all realistic or prominent. Within barely 15 minutes the composition muddles into a generic men's cologne scent dominated by a scratchy cedar and sage. It feels watery and lifeless and barely projects. For such a cheap and uninteresting reformulation, the cost is quite steep; €60 for a 50ml bottle. It's not worth it IMO. "Rochas Man" is a similarly cheap, sugary lavender scent, but at least it doesn't cost too much, if you want an alternative.

A disappointment. Having heard for years about this fragrance, but never seen it, I blind bought a sealed bottle. The notes that are listed above do not mention the strong marine note; there may be "coffee" and "rum" in here but I can't smell it over all the helional. It's an interesting aquatic, and seems well-composed, but I'm let down by the lack of ambition, here.

The top is quite fascinating, but the heart is sweet, rum, and licorice. Too gourmand for me.

i have just purchased this..i sprayed the old formulation or'original' edt on my right hand and the new one on my left hand...at 4.00 pm and now is 6 p.m the smell is still going strong..the smell is a bit different only in the beginning where the original is sharp with sweet notes jump ahead whilst the new one is a bit settled and more rounded, the spices start to scream i am here, after a few minutes then the sweetness that of the original appear....after two hours it smells almost the same..where the original is like someone with a higher note singing where the sweetness prevail whilst the new one is a bit lower notes where the spices and the sweetness is balanced....but it is very difficult to notice the different only if you stick your nose to the place where you spray it. to me i love both..but i feel the new one has more silage than the old one longevity wise i am not sure, it is only about two hours and still going strong and used during summer with high humidity.

I tried a sample on skin today and I instantly liked it very much, probably because it is so far off the standard woody-amber mishmash from nowadays. The boozy rum, roasty coffe and salty licorice I don't get, instead it seems that all these groumand-notes fuse to some kind of sweet chocolate aroma note (not real chocolate, but like a chocolate lolly). All this in a rather powdery fougère context. Now I'm a sweet tooth and to me this is nicely balanced, to others this might be too sweet for a "homme" scent. But it is definitely in the male realm. Although I like it, I probably wouldn't buy a bottle. But it was a very nice experience to smell something non-familiar but still well crafted.

Too sweet and feminine for my taste. I tried to pawn it off to my better half, and attempted to convince her it was unisex. Unfortunately she figured out it was a male fragrance despite its feminine vibe (should of hid the box!). She refuses to wear a fragrance that men wear. Sold it on ebay for a small loss. I'll love my wife forever, but she is set in her ways when it comes to perfumes. Don't get me wrong she loves my masculine colognes... but on me, not on herself. Hey, there are benefits to that (wink). I think Yohji is more for metrosexual men. On the right guy or women I could see it work. I'm not one of them.

i just got a 100ml vintage bottle. It was a blind buy. well, i didn’t expect it to smell like this. initial sniff was very nice, but definitely my most sweet/powdery scent. performance wise i expected more to be honest. i was thinking, maybe it lost some power due to shelving all these years. can anybody confirm that? or is it really this thin? for example: i can’t really make out any leather in this. however... i think i’ll give Yohji Homme some more wearings. i could imagine i’m gonna like it soon...