https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbWHtRzOz3M

One thing I’ve noticed about myself as a fragrance collector is that I’m rarely trying to own an entire house, but at the same time, I also don’t really like owning just one fragrance from a house. If a brand interests me enough to add it to the collection, I usually want to explore it a little deeper. With most houses, I end up with two or three fragrances—the ones I believe represent the best of what that house does. I spend a lot of time testing, sampling, reading, comparing, and researching before deciding what actually deserves a spot in my collection. I’m always looking for the best of the line, not just another bottle. There are about a handful of niche/artisan houses where I own, or have wanted to own, essentially the entire lineup. Those are the exceptions. For a house to get me to that point, I have to believe there is something consistently interesting about the perfumer’s style and that the collection offers enough variety to justify going that deep. As my collection has grown, I’ve become much more selective. Early on, it was easy to chase releases, hype, or completeness. Now I would rather identify the two or three fragrances from a house that really stand out than own ten bottles just because they share the same name on the label. But I also like having enough from a house to actually understand it. One bottle can tell me I like a fragrance. Two or three can start telling me whether I like the house. That’s a big part of collecting for me now: testing, researching, comparing, and curating. I still want to experience as much perfumery as I can, but experiencing a fragrance and needing to own it are two completely different things. For me, the fun is finding those few bottles from each house that make me say, this is where this house really shines.

Emper is one of those Middle Eastern fragrance companies that has been around much longer than a lot of people realize. The company says it was established in Dubai in 2006, and today it sells fragrances in more than 120 countries. Unlike some of the smaller clone labels that appear almost overnight, Emper is a fairly substantial fragrance manufacturer with its own production facility in National Industries Park, Jebel Ali, Dubai. Emper also isn't just one name. Under the House of Emper you will see brands and collections such as Emper, Le Chameau, Al Fares, and Privé. That is important because people will sometimes own several fragrances from these names without realizing they are coming from the same larger company. Is Emper a clone house? I would put Emper firmly in the Middle Eastern inspired-fragrance/clone category, although not every fragrance they make is necessarily intended to be a direct clone. This is similar to what we see with Lattafa, Fragrance World, Paris Corner, and some of the other large UAE manufacturers. They produce a huge catalog covering everything from recognizable interpretations of popular designer and niche fragrances to more loosely inspired compositions and fragrances marketed as their own creations. That doesn't automatically make the fragrances bad. I judge clone houses by a different standard than I judge an original niche or artisan perfumer. My question is: How good is the interpretation for the money? And with Emper, there are some surprisingly good answers. The quality Overall, I would put Emper somewhere in the middle of the Middle Eastern clone market. They are not consistently at the refinement level of the better Afnan releases, and I wouldn't place them at the top of the category with the best examples from French Avenue or some of Lattafa's better premium releases. But I also wouldn't put them at the bottom. A lot of Emper fragrances are inexpensive, reasonably well blended, and very wearable. The biggest thing you have to understand is the catalog is enormous. Fragrantica currently lists well over 100 Emper fragrances, with releases going back to 2012 in its database. When a company produces that many fragrances, you should expect some winners, some average releases, and some fragrances that feel very inexpensive.