Found this sample of Enchouku, a Barrett clone of Tom Ford’s Plum Japonais I’ve never tried. The fragrance breaks down like this: Top: cinnamon and saffron Heart: Japanese plum, plum blossom, liquor, cypress, camellia Base: Oud, benzoin, fir, vanilla I really like this fragrance. It’s warm and woody and really smells different than any fragrance I have. Tom Ford’s scent is discontinued so I’ll never have the opportunity to try it. Have a good weekend everyone. Anyone family with the OG from Tom Ford?

I am probably going to piss off some clone warriors with this one, but so be it. I can say this because I have been there. I chased everything. I owned hundreds of dupes and clones. I chased every new “95% identical” release, every beast-mode version and every $30 alternative that supposedly made the original obsolete. But I also chased every inexpensive designer brand I could find. Rack-store bargains, discounted designers, cheapies that somebody on YouTube said were hidden gems — if it was inexpensive and getting attention, I wanted to try it. Then I started doing the same thing with niche. I chased niche brands, affordable niche, hyped niche and whatever house everybody happened to be talking about that month. For a long time, the hobby became about the next bottle. And eventually I had to ask myself a question: Do I actually love perfumery, or do I just love collecting bottles? Because those are not necessarily the same thing. There is absolutely nothing wrong with buying affordable fragrances. There is nothing wrong with clones either. Some are excellent, some perform better than the original, and some are incredible values. But if your entire collection is built around copies of fragrances you have never even smelled, I have a hard time calling that a deep appreciation of perfumery. Especially when those same people turn around and say: “Why would anybody pay $300 for the original?” “The clone is better.” “It smells exactly the same.” “The original is a ripoff.” How do you know? You never smelled it. Watching a YouTube reviewer tell you something is 95% accurate does not mean you have experienced the original. And this is one of my biggest problems with clone culture. Somewhere along the way, price and performance became the only measurements of quality. If a fragrance costs $25 and lasts 12 hours, it is automatically considered better than a $250 fragrance that lasts seven. That makes absolutely no sense to me anymore. Perfumery is more than projection and longevity.

Reached into my Dua inventory and selected another great scent, His Ideal: Private Platinum, a dupe of L’Homme Ideal Platinum by Guerlain( a fragrance I’m unfamiliar with.) Top: grapefruit and Bergamot; Middle: almond and neroli; Base: musk and vetiver. I find this to be a very pleasant fragrance but not overly remarkable.

Xerjoff is one of those houses that sits somewhere between true niche perfumery and luxury department-store niche. The presentation is extravagant, the bottles look expensive, the catalog is enormous, and the brand has enough recognizable names to attract people who are just beginning to explore niche fragrances. You can walk into a high-end department store, smell Naxos, Torino21 or Erba Pura, and immediately feel like you have stepped beyond the normal designer counter. That accessibility is both one of Xerjoff’s greatest strengths and one of its biggest weaknesses. The house has several collections, including Shooting Stars, Join the Club, the V Collection and Casamorati, along with collaborations and special editions. The official catalog currently includes familiar names such as Naxos, Erba Pura, Torino21, Alexandria II, Renaissance and Uden. At its best, Xerjoff can make fragrances that smell rich, polished, distinctive and genuinely luxurious. At its worst, the house can feel like an oversized luxury catalog where beautiful bottles, high prices and social-media popularity sometimes do more work than the actual fragrance. THE GOOD Xerjoff generally gives you a strong luxury experience. The bottles are some of the best-looking in perfumery, the packaging feels expensive, and most of the fragrances have enough richness and presence to separate them from the average designer release. The house also has impressive range. Xerjoff can do bright citrus, green aromatics, tobacco, honey, vanilla, oud, florals, musks and heavy amber fragrances. This is not a house where everything smells like a variation of the same basic formula. Some of the fresher fragrances are especially good. Torino21 is bright, green, minty and energetic without smelling like a basic department-store fresh fragrance. Renaissance gives you a sparkling citrus opening with enough body underneath it to prevent it from becoming ordinary citrus water. Uden is smooth, citrusy and slightly creamy, with an easy luxury character that remains very wearable.

Received my newest scent from Dua, their dupe of Oud Sapphire by Boadicea The Victorious they’re calling Sandalwood Sapphire. Blending Ambrette, Saffron, Black Pepper, Leather, Oud, Osmanthus, Sandalwood, Orris and Styrax into an opulent and rich fragrance that’s unforgettable. I’ve never tried the OG because it’s over $900 a bottle so I can only imagine how over the top it must be, but if this is close it’s a real find. I bought it last week and it is already sold out. Like many original or hybrid fragrances Dua produces, this is another captivating experience.