APOM pour Homme
Maison Francis Kurkdjian (2009)

phew.

Sugared orange blossom. Quite off putting. I cannot imagine any functional male wearing this and since its not a particularly nice smell then no lady either. Scrubber.

Fragrance: 5/10
Projection: 7/10
Longevity: 7.5/10

Feels like a good quality summer floral fragrance, neroli and orange blossom mainly..drifts into washing powder territory at times but in the end the natural smelling orange blossom gives it a realistic feel and keeps it feeling fairly artisan. Somedays I really like it and others days I'm a bit meh, it does seem to be fairly linear if you forget that the basenotes are some sort of amber accord rather than the sweet smell of blossom. All in all I think this may suit a person that enjoys countryside breaks and gardening.

Maison Francis Kurkdjian APOM pour Homme (2009) is one of several fragrances that debuted the house itself, and is an acronym that stands for "A Part of Me", since this was at the time marketed as his signature pair of masculine and feminine fragrances. In fact, the brand always touts each and every creation as being personal in some way to Mr. Kurkdjian, but they really make sure to assert that with APOM. The fragrance is deceptively simple, clean, yet warm and rich, with an immaculate blending for which the perfumer himself and his house is known, but is certainly not one of the more beloved by fans in the range. I think the primary reason for APOM pour Homme in particular not being more popular is it utilizes some of Francis Kurkdjian's favorite notes: neroli, amber, and musk, all of which are not terribly masculine to the mainstream nose, which confuses those investigating the brand if MFK is their introduction to niche perfume. Kurkdjian bends and plys these notes with supporting players until the whole of the perfume is one rounded journey from white florals into smooth spice, wood, and oriental warmth underpinned by musk, and is unfashionably powdery to the 21st century.

APOM pour Homme opens with a beautiful gender-neutral orange blossom, infused with a bit of ylang-ylang and jasmine hedione to give it a shine, but soon quickly mixes in with a blend of cardamom, opoponax, heliotrope, and what seems like a touch of orris to my nose. The blending here is such that it takes me great pain to discern these notes and I could in fact be smelling ghost notes since MFK is a house that fully embraces synthetics, so who really knows what is conjuring these smells? The base is amber over cedar, coumarin, vanilla, and musk, with a bit of late-stage powderiness that I'm going to blame on the detected heliotrope and/or orris but again, could be an aromachemical. The name of the game here is smooth, smooth, and more smooth, with a creamy texture perfect for cold weather and intimate liasons, yet also conjuring a bit of the barbershop somehow, even with a total lack of lavender. This could almost be a semi-oriental fougère if not for this absence of lavender. You'll get 8 hours easily with respectable but still moderately-close performance, which is for the best. Usage recommendations could go many ways with APOM pour Homme, but I feel this is best used in winter or cooler summer evenings regardless of context.

Romantic, classy, but not resolutely masculine despite the "pour homme" tagging, I can understand the slight division among perfume aficionados on the merits of APOM pour Homme. Maison Francis Kurkdjian releases in the earliest years were generally more challenging than what the house would become known for, as MFK eventually headed down a more mass-appeal route with the positive reception of the Aqua and Oud lines with the buying public, reaching breakout success with Baccarat Rouge 540 (2014). Still, APOM pour Homme and the accompanying Lumière Noire pour Homme (2009) do indeed feel more like the personal expressions all the perfumes claim to be, because they are uncompromisingly of Francis Kurkdjian's style, and boat loads more interesting (even if many from this house are excellent). If powdery, musky, and rounded semi-oriental but otherwise clean ambers with a white floral twist sound like something that would interest you, then APOM pour Homme may be worth checking out. I've already chosen to make APOM a part of me because I love neroli and powdery barbershop scents also sit well with me, so smashing them together seems like a no-brainer, just mind the niche price tag. Thumbs up.

Nothing mysterious here. Flowers over cedarwood. Smells exactly how you'd imagine it would. Safe, inoffensive. Good quality. Projection is average, longevity is good.

Smells like clean floral dryer sheets.

Orange sugar powder in a paper wax straw. No.

A very pleasing, sweet and fresh masculine scent, APOM is a blast of florals that is refined and yet playful at the same time.

This one plays tricks on my nose as it changes from sweet and floral to masculine and woody, always making me wonder if I truly like it as much as I think I do. In the end, it's a very pleasing scent that I may just have to assume is solely for my enjoyment and not for any other purpose.

Performance is outstanding with all day projection.

Revisiting this at a much later date than the original review above, it is quite pleasant at times but very persistent and annoying at others. Also, it's less masculine than I remember, too much white florals.

Still has great performance.