It's 76 degrees here in Silicon Valley and the warmth hitting my skin is projecting Khamrah Waha from Lataffa layered with Heretic Parfum's Pistil Whip. This cucumber, citrusy aquatic juice is tag teamed in with light floral notes allowing my fragrant presence to be noticed. A 30 minute walk outside with the warm air hitting your skin brings the compliments, believe me.

Genre Parfums is one of those American fragrance houses that I think deserves more attention than it gets outside of the fragrance community. Genre is based out of Louisiana and has built a pretty loyal following over the years. They do inspirations, hybrids, and original fragrances, and that distinction is important to me. I don’t have a problem with clones—I own and have owned plenty of them—but I always think we should acknowledge the fragrance that inspired them. Give the original its credit. What separates Genre from a lot of clone houses for me is that they don’t feel like they’re simply trying to pump out the newest popular fragrance as cheaply and quickly as possible. There seems to be more of an enthusiast mentality behind the brand. Their inspirations can be very good, but some of the most interesting stuff Genre does is when they start playing around with an idea rather than simply reproducing it. Their hybrids and original compositions give the house more personality than your typical clone operation. And that’s really where my opinion of clone houses has changed over the years. I’ve owned hundreds of clones and inexpensive fragrances. At one point I was constantly chasing the next bargain and trying to see how close something could get to a $200, $300 or $400 fragrance for a fraction of the money. Eventually you realize that “close” isn’t always the same thing as good perfumery. Genre is one of the American houses that I think sits in a better position than that. You’re still getting the fun of discovering interpretations of expensive niche and designer fragrances without spending niche money, but you’re also dealing with a house that has developed its own community and identity. That doesn’t mean every Genre is going to replace the original. For me, a clone should be judged as a clone. If it’s inspired by another fragrance, I want to know how well it captures the idea, how good the materials smell, how it performs, and whether Genre brought anything interesting to the table. I’m not going to pretend owning the inspiration means I own the original fragrance. They’re two different things.