Signature Pour Homme

It's not every day that I can truly say that I've fallen head-over-heels in love with a fragrance, and this is one of those glorious days. Zaharoff Signature Pour Homme is a bold and gorgeous modern take on the classic gentleman's fragrance. It carries on the deep woodsy aromatic characteristics of classics like Drakkar Noir, Davidoff Zino, and YSL Jazz, but adds a delightful rose to the traditional recipe, which drives its heart with strength and seductive appeal from the initial spray all the way to skin scent, many hours later. This is a fragrance that screams class and confident sophistication. The person who wears it could be perhaps aloof, perhaps charming, with an attractive air of mystique. Whatever the wearer's nature, this is sure to spark the curiosity of those who happen upon its scent's trail. My first impression is that Signature Pour Homme is very much like a classic fougere/barbershop fragrance, very classy, extremely refined with excellent, transparent ingredients that are all masterfully blended by maestro Claude Dir, known for his collaborations with Beyonce, Celine Dion, Britney Spears, Kim Kardashian, Kenneth Cole, and Perry Ellis, whose perfuming skills sit right at home with the adept alchemical genius of virtuosos Francis Kurkdjian, Thierry Wasser, Tom Ford, and Jacques Polge, IMO. Signature Pour Homme is composed so well that each note and layer, can be easily recognized as the aroma's nuances and textures unfold. One can easily get the impression that a lot of dilligence and careful consideration went into the creation of this perfume. It opens beautifully with a sweet and warm spicy announcement of myrrh, incense, and jammy, exquisite rose, all wrapped in a pleasant lavender, and carried into the drydown several minutes later by a gradual revelation of subtle earthy cypress and the unobtrusive further warmth of sandalwood and amber. As the floral sweetness of the rose begins to subside, the vetiver makes its presence known with a beautiful shady, earthy sharpness. The drydown is spectacular as the rose lightens to a mild yet ever-present note, while the vetiver, sandalwood, and amber take the wheel for the remainder of this fragrant trip. Overall, I think the rose at the heart of Pour Homme is the key to the fresh and striking modernity of this gem, and when so deftly nestled amongst the luxurious interplay of the myrrh, exotic incense, mellow lavender, earthy, edgy cypress and vetiver, finally the soft and subtly encompassing sandalwood and amber, make for an absolute masterpiece of a perfume that should have an illustrious position among any gentleman's collection. Aroma: Superb! (This is now my favorite modern gentleman's fragrance on the market) Sillage: Moderate to strong (this is very present, but not loud; it leaves a moderate scent trail to my nose, about 4 to 6 feet behind the wearer) Projection: Moderate to strong (about 4 feet around the wearer...but I would advise to be careful with spraying more than three times, it can become a bit overwhelming at close range, and I don't think it would be very discrete to overspray this) Longevity: Excellent! (I got about 5 hours of good projection, and another 7 hours as a good skin scent. I could still smell traces of it on my skin at up to 16 hours) Price: Worth every single penny! The best place to purchase Pour Homme is directly through the Zaharoff website. I got the 50ml for around $100 with tax. The box shipped to me in four business days, and was very nicely presented with a copper-embossed box, and a letter of thanks, signed personally by George Zaharoff (a very nice touch!) I really can't give this beautiful creation enough compliments, you should try it ASAP!

Zaharoff Signature Pour Homme opens with a moderate projection of sweet resins, woody, and incense notes, the opening feels pleasant, elegant, mature, formal, and refined. The oud, cypress, and sandalwood blend well, they add different tones but they come up as aromatic woods, dry and sweet. The oud found in this fragrance is dark dry oud, not animalic or pungent. The myrrh is a prominent note, resinous, sweet, and aromatic; the pepper and lavender are just a touch. The incense is also a prominent note, it gives the fragrance a church-like accord although. As the fragrance commences to dry-down, a touch of green vetiver and patchouli enter the blend, noticeable but not above other notes. The fragrance is relatively linear, most of the notes come up as soon as the fragrance is applied. Once Zaharoff Signature Pour Homme has reached its full dry-down, it can be summarized as a sweet resinous, incense, and woody fragrance with spicy, green, and soft floral accords. The fragrance feels bold, churchy, classy, slightly dark, earthy, elegant, exotic, expensive, slightly floral, formal, high-quality, intense, masculine, mature, mysterious, nicely-blended, nocturnal, resinous, refined, rich, smoky, sophisticated, special, spiritual, sweet, unique, versatile, warm, woody and very pleasant. BATCH REVIEWED: 2020. WOW RATING: 10/10. This is an outstanding masculine fragrance; the combination of notes is impressive. DISLIKE RATING: 3/10. The oud, myrrh, and incense are intense. UNIQUENESS: 9/10. The notes and resulting scent are very unique. MASS APPEAL: 6/10. Oud, myrrh, and incense are not crowd-pleasing notes. PROJECTION: 5/10. Very good, about 5 feet around the wearer. SILLAGE: /10. Very good, about 5 feet behind the wearer. APPLICATION: 4 atomizations will suffice. LONGEVITY: 4/10. About 4 hours, with consistent projection. SEASONS: Winter, spring, fall, colder days, and climate-controlled environments. OCCASIONS: Formal events, office, business, casual, holidays, clubbing. This is an office-friendly fragrance. VERSATILITY: 8/10. Despite the incense and myrrh, this is a very versatile fragrance. GENDER: Masculine, the spices, woods, and incense/myrrh, give it is masculine character. AGES: 30 and above. RECOMMENDATION: Zaharoff Signature Pour Homme can be found for $130-$150, the quality and resulting blend of notes creates an outstanding, classy, elegant, and impressive fragrance ideal for mature men. This is a great buy. BLIND-BUY: Yes, but only if you are familiar with the incense and myrrh tones. SIMILAR: these are examples of fragrances in the same genre. Amouage Memoir Men EDP, is a dark fragrance, with outstanding performance; Chanel Les Exclusifs Sycomore EDP, this is a “church” type of fragrance of high quality and moderate performance; Frederic Malle Portrait of A Lady is a fragrance that includes incense but also lots of patchouli which gives it a strong old-school vibe; John Varvatos Dark Rebel Rider is a dark with incense, tobacco and leather notes, but moderate to low performance; Louis Vuitton Ombre Nomade EDP is a fantastic dark, incense, masculine fragrance but with poor performance; Xerjoff More Than Words is an oud, sweetly fruity, floral, and ambergris fragrance. SUMMARY: A sweet resinous, incense, and woody fragrance with spicy, green, and soft floral accords. The fragrance feels bold, churchy, classy, slightly dark, earthy, elegant, exotic, expensive, slightly floral, formal, high-quality, intense, masculine, mature, mysterious, nicely-blended, nocturnal, resinous, refined, rich, smoky, sophisticated, special, spiritual, sweet, unique, versatile, warm, woody and very pleasant.

This is my signature scent, and one of my absolute favorite fragrances. This is the fragrance i'm most connected to in my unnecessarily large collection. Generally: Clean, woody, spicy, smokey, and balsamic. It opens with clean lavender, woods, spices, and a slightly fruity note. It opens up beautifully, and it always lowers my shoulders and calms me down. Oud, sandalwood, myrrh, frankincense, and a distant iris enters the scent not too long after the opening. A sandalwood that is present from the very opening is also becoming more prominent. There is a pine and/or fir note a bit into the mid, that gives me images of a fresh Christmas tree scent. As if a Christmas tree is in the corner of the room. Drying down it settles into a warm woods and incense scent, with a little ambery balsamic undertone. I wouldn't say it's sweet, but there is a sweetness to it even in the dry-down. Where: Anywhere, really. I wear it to bed, to work, going out, with family, and when i'm by myself. I find it's a perfectly versatile fragrance, and can be worn anywhere. When: All year, but best for autumn, winter, and spring. It can easily be worn in summer, but isn't a "summer fragrance" type of fragrance. Limit the sprays, and it's good, even in high heat. Who: I'd say it's for men over 25 years old. It's very masculine, and it's not a sugar bomb so i don't see a lot of teenagers wearing it, or a lot of women (although it's not unwearable for a woman). Score: 9.5/10. To me, this is the scent of the man i aspire to be. A clean proper gentleman. All grown up and confident. Serious, but with a playful side. And most of all, warm at heart, and with open arms. This to me is the fragrance i wear with family and my closest friends. It is the scent i want the people i love to remember me by. And that is a powerful emotional connection to a fragrance, in my opinion. The only thing keeping this from being the perfect 10/10 fragrance for me, is that in the very last hour or two, it can smell a little sour on me. This is an unfortunate skin chemistry problem i have with oud all oud, so i can't blame the fragrance. But that bumps my Personal score down to a 9.5/10.

World of Yesterday for the World of Tomorrow (Claude Dir, 2018) Bottle Design: George Zaharoff Scentrack: Part Time – Lies in the Eyes of Love Nowadays it is very hard to find a balanced simplicity. Everything is extreme, intense, on steroids and devoid of any sense. “The louder, the better” is the current motto. Then I sniffed Signature pour Homme, and instantly I was translocated in the past, probably something I smelt as a child during mid 80s in Europe. It was somehow a part of my already open olfactory map, yet somehow novel, and this is the best way to describe Zaharoff Signature pour Homme. Signature opens with lavender as a backbone of classic European perfumery, accompanied by gentle cardamom. There is a hefty dose of fruitiness, probably pear, which gives a contemporary touch to the composition. This phase strongly reminded of my favorite Frapin 1270. While 1270 is saturated with different fruits and firmly goes to gourmand territory, Signature pour Homme just shyly tiptoes and goes further to Oriental phase. Then the combination of pepper and pimento (reminiscent of another Frapin – Caravelle Epicee) gives an introduction to the oriental woods. These woods are ancient, dark, relaxing. A perfect juxtaposition to modern way of life. Cedar, and sandalwood are darkened with just a touch of liturgical oud and frankincense. Still, the composition is not dense and dark like usual niche releases. It is somehow airy, yet substantial. Old and somehow modern at the same time. This formula is like an olfactive onion with so many peels, waiting to be sensed. One cannot find here major note overdose. Everything is precisely balanced and tweaked to create a new entity. I believe I got the idea behind this creation – to create a true modern classic. Take the part of our perfumery heritage and paired it with modern tendencies. To unconsciously enjoy the achievements of generations before and boldly step forward. Thanks to the generosity of George Zaharoff, I had an opportunity to finally test Signature pour Homme. He even sent me a sample overseas. Thanks George!! Rating: 8.5/10

Sample Testing - can't accurately comment on performance/longevity - opinion is strictly about smell. Zaharoff Signature Pour Homme The small sample vial/dabber I got of this turned out to be such a tease. An effective one at that. If there is one word that I could use to describe how this fragrance hits me without being hyperbolic - it would be "satisfied". Yes, that's right. My nose was satisfied. Like having finished a full course meal with a glass of Pinot Noir. Nothing more, nothing less. A lot of scents on the market seek to focus on one aspect of the meal. Rare are the attempts to give the wearer as much as they possibly can. This scent does just that. The way it starts is not the way it finishes. It smells different from a distance than it does up close. It has classic elements and modern touches. It's both airy and multi-layered. Lavender. Some slight animalic touches. Woody. Resinous. And cypress/fir balsam (which I haven't seen talked about much below - my nose picks up a stage in this fragrance that reminds me of Bottega Veneta Pour Homme). And I can tell there's more my nose has to discover because in one day's wearing, I would get wafts of subtle fruitiness as well. To be frank, a full bottle purchase has been earned. When the day comes for me to downsize my collection, this scent can easily take the part of 3-4 of the scents I currently own. I've always been a fan of "all-around" scents. That is, scents that try to give you all that it possibly can within the confines set. Nowadays, releases seem stripped down in an attempt to save aspects for future "flanker" releases. I despise this. What happened to the idea of putting EVERYTHING you had into ONE fragrance release (within the theme set for it, of course). Forget saving shit for later - throw everything in but the kitchen sink NOW damn it! I know that Zaharoff released flankers but I won't NEED to try them because I can sense that they put in as much as they could into the original. 9/10 YT Channel - The Scentrovert