Aubusson Homme
Eau de Toilette, Aubusson (1992)

1992 was a time when the Almighty Aquatic was on many a skin and was just 4yrs before the launch of the greatest Aquatic in fragrance history, Armani's Acqua di Gio (1996). Thankfully in the early 1990s a few maybe obscure fragrance houses didn't care much about that. Hence the launch of Homme by French house Aubusson. This is simply a masculine beast with tons, and I mean TONS of different notes to take u through the day and night which is exactly what this juice does. I'm not good at identifying notes individually, all I know is that this fragrance is right up my alley in genre and style. The edgy looking bottle takes center stage on my shelf next to other classic heavyweights. This is a winner and I actually paid $13.00!! Can u believe it? Neither could I until I saw it for myself. I'll never ever understand fragrance prices so I'll leave it at that. This was launched a few years after the pilot release of Futuros (1987);another classic that's unknown to many and I now own both and I'm quite happy about that.

9/10

Aubusson Homme by Aubusson (1992) is the second masculine fragrance by the obscure house. Seeing as the winds of change were upon the men's fragrance landscape by 1992, a dark carnation leather chypre was likely not the path forward, meaning the erstwhile Futuros by Aubusson (1987) was put out to pasture by the brand and all its stock sent to airport duty-free shops and the dusty shelves of mom-and-pop perfume shops in malls or retail strips that could buy it at drastically-reduced wholesale prices, in order to make way for this scent. On the plus side, nobody really knew who Aubusson was outside of those shops, so in the internet age, Futuros and basically all discontinued items from this brand would remain hidden treasures for "gurus" online to gatekeep and gloat about for years to come, until the switch flipped towards scalping everything and suddenly hype-mongering was the modus operandi. Like Futuros, Aubusson Homme would be subject to some of that decades later, but I feel like never to the same extent, since it shared its form with the later Man.Aubusson by Aubusson (2000), giving it a bit of camouflage in contrast to the wild recognizable bottle of Futuros.

Now I'm not saying the blade-shaped sculptural bottle of Aubusson Homme isn't wild itself, just that the investment seemingly spent on it was recouped by launching Man.Aubusson and nearly every future men's fragrance by the house in that same bottle, making it more of the de-facto Aubusson bottle than a standout like Futuros was. The scent inside this edgy bottle is certainly a stand-out though, once again straddling two forms just like Futuros did, although this time choosing those forms to be rich ambery oriental and sharp, spicy-woody chypre. One again being non-committal to a stylistic channel was likely the doom of Aubusson Homme, as it comes out of the sprayer full of aldehydes, mandarin, cinnamon, and clove, but then has a tug-of-war with much-drier elements like artemisia, cyclamen, and fir. The labdanum and sandalwood assert the oriental facets, while this "90's freshness" is grafted on with a gentle juniper and geranium tandem that is supported by oakmoss to keep a sort of faux-incense sort of smoky bite when all in with the cloves and terpenous patchouli. Performance is 80's strong, which belies the 90's freshness somewhat.

Aubusson Homme sits inside of a triangle, with Balenciaga pour Homme (1990), Witness by Jacques Bogart (1990), and Jazz by Yves Saint Laurent (1988) at each of the three points. At times woody-spicy-smoky, and at other times fresh, with that slight pang of virility from the heavier ambery and musky elements kept just under thumb, Aubusson Homme is once again a man of compromises just like Futuros was, except this time with more vibrato in his voice. I imagine this did better, since the bottle shape was carried over ad infinitum ad nauseum, even if none of the other fragrances housed in that bottle would bear much relation to it. Still, another fragrance that didn't really escape its own decade, Aubusson is a fine example of something that feels "niche" in the backdrop of what was popular at the time, and indeed even today. People who had and loved this probably felt just as "in the know" as people who fight over high-priced survivors of the stuff today, with the usual YouTube claptraps screaming "masterpiece" and "beastmode" in the most shrill way possible, much like the Earl of Lemongrab from Adventure Time. If you can get this cool little curiosity for a good price, do it; if you can't, then just buy a bottle of vibe-adjacent Pasha de Cartier (1992) and thank me later. Thumbs up

Aubusson Pour Homme's opening of slightly aldehydic mandarin and cinnamon-spiced juniper leads into an aromatic and floral core, feeling as cozy and colorful as the Coogi sweaters and Cross Colours denim. that were popular during the year of its release. It fuels so much nostalgia in me while wearing it, recalling my freshman year in high school when songs like "Would I Lie to You?" by Charles and Eddie and "That's What Love Can Do" by Boy Krazy were in heavy rotation on the radio. Apparently, this style of men's fragrance was really popular at the time, spurring these flashbacks.

It's worth noting that the dry down is quite similar to that of the heavily-hyped (I feel partially responsible for this circa 2020) Balenciaga Pour Homme, as all the festive spices and aromatics simmer down into a patchouli and labdanum rich base. I almost find Aubusson to be a more of a standout due to its stellar opening and mid-phases, and the absence of honey allows for a more terpenic (read: coniferous-citrusy) airiness. It's thankfully nowhere near the unobtainium that the former has become, and its apple-pie in the evergreen forest vibe is a joy to wear.

A very interesting cologne that just didn't survive the 1990's.To be quite honest it confounds me why because Aubusson Homme is deep.It's fresh and really spicy,leathery,fruity,floral,woody, and slightly green.

A lot of clove and cinnamon in this as some geranium florals fly through this spice giving a romantic side to it.Something sweet and tart after the spice,smells like...granny smith apple.Leather sits smack dab in the middle of between the spicy side and the green side so don't expect the leather to dominate this fragrance.The green side to this is mostly sandalwood,leafy notes,very lights hints of moss,juniper,and patchouli.Interesting enough though the apple transfers over to the green side and gets rubbed by the sandalwood.In all fairness though I'd label Aubusson Homme as a woody and spicy fragrance.

Definitely a casual wear and evening fragrance.Low projection for 8-10 hours.Great fragrance and a neat bottle!

Intriguing if slightly suspect, Aubusson Homme is something of a curate's egg among fragrances, its pleasant and enticing aspects being offset by far less pleasant elements. Two squirts to the wrist will afford an opening medley in which pine is certainly present but strangely mixed with the rather medicinal odour of old-fashioned herbal cough candy. Hence the associations with mint and clove. Lurking in the background, however, is a smell that strikes my nose as that curious and insufferable fusion of ginger, incense and mustard made infamous by the original Carlo Corinto (another curate's egg among fragrances) and still more so by the likes of One Man Show and Krizia Uomo (both not so much curate's eggs as priests utterly disgraced and defrocked for their acts of depravity against the nostrils of the innocent). Softer, balsamic elements strangely announce their entry into this odd assortment of smells during the later phases of the fragrance, rescuing it to some extent. As I say, intriguing, if a touch weird, and wearable in certain moods of gravitas, daring or eccentricity.

This is a complex scent to talk about... It's fresh but at the same time cloying, I smell a very strong mint note mixed with a load of clove and woods! It's very 80's (pretty potent) and a bit old fashioned. It's like a distant relative of Jacomo de Jacomo.