Big, big love
Costume National Homme Parfum is a spice bomb of epic proportions. I will caution you: if you don’t like spicy fragrances, STAY AWAY.
However, if you are a lover of spices like myself, Costume National Homme Parfum might just be heaven for you.
The fragrance opens up with a blast of grapefruit and the distinctive, licoricey twang of green cardamom pods. While I’m not a big fan of cardamom in food other than as an accent note (it always makes my tongue dry out), I absolutely love the smell of cardamom. This has one of the most realistic and zingy cardamom notes I’ve encountered so far, and so I was in love from first spray.
Soon, a massive wave of red-hot cinnamon rolls in, accompanied by a brace of earthy vetiver and patchouli. As the fragrance dries down, a distinct note of creamy sandalwood begins to emerge, adding a lush, smooth texture to the fragrance and rounding out the harsh edges. There’s also an irissy tone almost reminiscent of the drydown of Dior Homme Parfum, though it’s faint, only serving to give the fragrance a lustrous lacquer.
Finally, after hours and hours of wear, you’re left with a combination of buttery sandalwood, patchouli, musk, and labdanum flecked with spices.
The scent profile of this fragrance is absolutely wonderful. At once it reminds me of Christmas potpourri, ambery fragrances from the 70s, and the souks of Morocco, but smoothed over, modernized, and tastefully packaged.
I vastly prefer this over the original eau de parfum, which I tried a number of times but never could convince myself to enjoy.
The eau de parfum and Costume National Homme Parfum are quite similar in terms of scent, but the differences all come down to the levels of certain ingredients.
The original was similarly spicy, but absolutely dominated by cloves. Cloves and I have a difficult relationship; I do enjoy some fragrances with cloves in them, such as Portrait of a Lady and Musc Ravageur, both by Frederic Malle, but on the whole I really don’t particularly enjoy cloves, either in fragrance or in food. The original also had a funky, herbal thyme note which clashed with the other notes in an unappealing manner, in my opinion.
The parfum significantly tones down on the cloves. While cloves are still present in the mix, they are no longer the star of the show. Cardamom and cinnamon fill in for them instead. Additionally, the thyme note has been entirely removed, the greenness it brought having been replaced with vetiver and the anisic bite of the cardamom.
These changes, in my view, dramatically improve upon the original fragrance. The materials here also seem much higher quality, particularly the sandalwood, giving the parfum a roundness, smoothness, and balance which I did not find in the original.
When I wear this fragrance, I envision a well-groomed man in his late 20s or early 30s, perhaps wearing a dark olive green suit. He is well traveled, worldly, and balanced, completely in his element. I think that it would be the perfect fragrance for a poet, philosopher, writer, scholar, or artsy types.
In a few words, Costume National Homme Parfum is: rich, smooth, spicy, creamy, woody, dark green, exotic, and festive.
Performance is absolute beastly. 2-3 sprays max. 1 if you're wearing it to the office. Longevity is 12-14 hours for me and usually lasts through two showers.
If you didn't like the original but like the idea of the original, give this a try. You just might fall in love.
9.5/10
Top Notes 
Cardamom
Bergamot
Grapefruit
Heart Notes 
Cinnamon
Vetiver
Patchouli
Base Notes 
Labdanum
Musk
Sandalwood
Deadnose
Mossoak
Bentobox
Ccpalaci
ChicoRoch1
