Homme Costume National 2009

Costume National Homme opens with a extremely brief and subtle shot of grapefruit and bergamot before the warm heart notes of cardamom and cinnamon spice melding with tobacco-like clove arrive. The early heart notes are quickly joined by a remarkable plum-like labdanum from the base which adds further depth to the already strong cinnamon and tobacco-like clove combination. Sandalwood and patchouli also from the base add just a slight bit of sweetness to the composition, but the clove, cinnamon and labdanum are the star players during the scent's relatively linear development. Projection and longevity are outstanding.

As soon as I saw Dominique Ropion as the parfumier of Costume National Homme I developed high expectations for the composition and I am happy to report that he has even exceeded those! This is a beautiful spicy composition using the cinnamon and cardamom and clove extremely well, and the plum-like labdanum fits in perfectly with the spice creating one of the deepest, smoothest tobacco-like accords I have sniffed to date. The closest scent I can think of to this one is Clive Christian X for Men (a scent currently in my Top 10), but Costume National Homme is lacking the strong jasmine present in that one, instead featuring its smooth tobacco-like bent. What Costume National Homme is also lacking is 90 percent of X for Men's cost, while still smelling 90+ percent as good and exceeding in the projection department. I would highly recommend this one regardless of cost, but the value here is absolutely outstanding at its $60 or less street price for a 100 ml edp bottle and should be noted accordingly. Costume National Homme is another outstanding composition by Ropion and earns a near-masterpiece rating of 4.5 stars out of 5 if not higher.