EauSavage

I am probably the most blazing Antaeus torch in my big city and after connections between Quorum and Antaeus were made here as well as on other sites, my interest was aroused. There is also a fundamental love of 'the good old things' and an innate reluctance to mainstream and wimpy behaviour. Scents are allowed to be odd and striking for me and I read about Powerhouse everywhere. My interest was now wide awake. I also found Quorum's unbroken popularity exciting, and the fact that in the 80s it was said to have been smelling on every corner in Spain, which, by the way, suggested that it was suitable for summer. And with the price I could not resist.

Whoever gets jittery like me when the words Antaeus or Powerhouse are mentioned in fragrance descriptions should read on. The scents and their course have long since been perfectly dissected by finer noses before me. Only tobacco and leather I perceive less strongly and the moss is clearly there, but not as intense.

(A word about the packaging: I found boxes in the same design in the pictures, sometimes without, sometimes with 'Puig' on the front. I ordered for a little more money 'with', I got it without, the manufacturer is on the bottom of the box. All good, don't be irritated ;-)

All right, here we go: The prelude is not a refreshing citrus kick, as you might expect from lemon, grapefruit and bergamot, but rather massive and heavy and slightly muggy, as if someone were to lay a warm, wet towel on your face. And before you can still breathe out, do it directly *BAM*, because there is already plenty of pointed cumin and the tart Artemisia
But this flattens out almost every second and after ten minutes at the latest the first flowers of the heart note are already blooming on the caraway bed, the force of the top notes disappears and it becomes magnificently piquant floral.

After about half an hour - the top notes are not yet completely gone, the heart notes are still orientating, this Spanish brew actually whispers 'Hello Antaeus! Even if the scents are different, these upright pan-fried flowers with lots of spice create a certain olfactory similarity.
Here's a story: I had worn Antaeus for about four or five hours on a warm day and then on the right lower leg, which I had released in anticipation of the delivery of Quorum (I always have to spray directly with new scents), I had just added Quorum. After an hour a neighbour ran into me and we chatted a bit and I thought "You ask her", held out her quorum arm and said "Smell it! And she smelled and she said, "Mmm, yummy, very nice!" And then I gave her my Antaeus arm. "Nice too!" And then I said "Which do you like better" and she tapped my quorum hand
I must have grinned so mischievously that she smelled a trap, and without being asked she smelled it several times alternately, and then asked: "Is it the same scent, right?" In the end we agreed that both "are somehow similar".

But not really: For me, the similarity is roughly rather sufficient for association. Antaeus is different, more powerful and headstrong at all times, his beguiling dark rose is absent here and Quorum never has its spicy, deep blackness. On the contrary, there is a very light sweet but charming soap in Quorum, which Antaeus would only turn up his nose at, before he continues to bubble away cool. And the further Quorum goes into the drydown, the more friendly he becomes. Leather and tobacco are the foundation on which the amber motivated sweet incense falls into mossy arms.

Those who seek Antaeus here will not find him. But those who love Antaeus will love Quorum. But one thing is clear: Antaeus has more fragrance class, that's a different league.

A word on the subject 'Powerhouse': In this house there are now energy saving lamps and in some rooms they are dimmed. Quorum is also a victim of the great reformulation that brought new versions of old fragrances from 2013. In this respect, the descriptions up to this time and a transitional period during which old stocks were still being sold are certainly accurate. But the sledgehammer described by recent comments was not delivered to me. A perfume-loving neighbour could not smell me before the end of the first hour, when I had been sprayed with Quorumler at less than 1 meter, and after the second hour I myself could no longer perceive my own scent cloud. Quorum on the skin lasts for a long time, of course, but at the end of a working day it's time to press nose on skin to be able to remember what you'd put on in the morning.
Quorum and powerhouse - for me that's only possible because he comes from a time when fragrances didn't care about discretion and yes, you can smell it on him - he was probably one of those once. And he also smells unfashionable, but that's what makes him so charming for me

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Should my comment have sounded rather reserved up to this point, folks, listen up: Quorum is a great scent!

I've received several compliments for him. There was once said neighbor. Then the mentioned neighbour I asked to get an impression of the projection. This elderly gentleman, like his wife, is a lifelong perfume lover with a large collection of the finest drops, Guerlain's favourite scent being vetiver. When I asked him to smell my arm, he said: "Oh, a good scent!"
And then there's my mid-fifties neighbor, to whom I handed over packages I had accepted on his behalf, a few minutes after I had scented myself lavishly with Quorum. He has style and taste and he likes it eccentric, he is a Black Afgano fan himself. Then he spontaneously said to me "You smell good! What is that?"

Quorum has a firm, strong and warm temperament, pleasant and inviting. You can't smell its price, I would always recommend it to a friend who would like to smell good and who would always give class and character to the world. Super! Br />

Like this! Always! And Guerlain. It was the cuddly patchouli in Heritage EdP and Habit Rouge EdT and especially its ripe vanilla that awakened my longing for a gourmand hug. And this woman who had sent me stark naked into cold, dark nights of heartache. Yes, right and thank you, my dear Bob (Dylan): "When all else fails I make it a matter of self-respect", but when the pain became greater than the defiance again: Then this broken man was just an oh-so lovesick little youth and just wanted to sit on my lap again!

So, in preparation for what felt like the eternal ice age, I went to my perfumery in my wounded heart to visit my fragrance mum, "What could also be for you is Dior Homme. This has just been renewed, but I still have a bottle of the original. I think it's much nicer than the new one!"
On my arm there was a small isolated field free of scents and on it Mama Pieper gave me some sprayers and as always a small test bottle, which I did not open at all. With a short impression of beautiful lavender and something else I went there and sniffed again and again. There was powder, 'hmm-but-beautiful!' and a little powder gives my revered Pour Monsieur EdP that noble, sophisticated grace, I was open and excited and there was already melted amber butter and something pleasantly spicy. Wow! And then... and then a thousand tiny dark cocoa beans exploded on my skin! There I was, in my lap. You'll be fine, okay, a little bit, but still!
At this point I had already opened this website and wanted to read up on the legendary fragrance, which I had ignored for almost a decade, but this refined, wicked magic in my nose, I had to go right back, I wanted this 'one bottle from the original'!
Waiting for the drydown? No way! This can only end magically and after all, the base notes listed here were just too much appreciated and what Dior Homme would do with them could only be magic, I had no doubt about that and I wasn't disappointed. The long finish is a masterfully woven patchouli carpet with striking veticule patterns and fine but strong leather fringes and over all this noble fabric hovers this Parisian powdery glow like a very fine, very light glitter dust until the end. Hach! The true delight!

In a word: Dior Homme is dense and intense. When I bought it, I was still intoxicated by the tiny scent island my perfume counsellor had sprayed on me and after buying it I showered my forearm in Dior Homme. That was an overdose, the first false purchase visions the direct result. After several weeks with many cloudy days and breaks in between, Dior Homme has finally conquered me. I appreciate balmy summer evenings as the compatible heat limit for this fragrance and it probably marks my personal gourmandism limit, but what I want to say is: it always works, but if Dior Homme is too much, too sweet or too feminine (keyword lipstick), I recommend: take a small dose and give it time and let it surprise you. As superficial as it may appear, it is as complex as it is

My private winter is far from over, but I am looking forward to the official cool autumn evenings and cold winter days, because there Dior Homme will caress and warm me. And maybe someone else as well!

This quote from Samuel Goldwyn was not lost on me when I was considering how to open my first comment here. The first sprayer Habit Rouge, that's the earthquake and I shake violently, every time, over and over again. This opening is a pure, saturated blaze of colour, it's total Technicolor for the nose!

It is not listed here in the fragrance pyramid, but there is one note that makes me - still! - disturbs its glaring dominance. I love citrus and the green lemon and bitter orange in the top note can't be. There is something rose-like, I am sure it is the geraniol. Elsewhere rosewood is listed for the top note, that fits, it is bright and floral, surely the dandy so often associated with Habit Rouge finds his origin here.
This opening quake fades away quickly and after the first quarter of an hour small aftershocks are slowly coming to an end and soon you dare to go out on the street again and this in the literal sense of the word: Habit Rouge freshly sprayed, so I stay with myself for a while before I open the door.

From there it goes in a long fade into the heart note and now the magic begins for me: the red roses that irritated me before mix with the warm, good-natured and noble, old-money Guerlain patchouli, which I love so much as the base note in Guerlain's Heritage EdP. From now on Habit Rouge has reached its sexy phase. And how it quietly smells and sparkles! A tickling scratching of red fingernails. It's magic™!

It doesn't take long for the base notes to start waving very quietly from a distance. It starts with the leather, which now smells fresh and will later become rich and ripe, and very quietly the vanilla vanguard mixes in. Now at the latest I want to wallow in Habit Rouge.

And then comes the climax, a long, wonderful end: Please take a seat on the noble vanilla sofa covered with butter-soft leather and soaked in rich resin that will wrap you up warmly. The benzoin also brings a tiny touch of nougat. The patchouli has gone out the door, but there is still a slight oriental breeze blowing through the open window next to the sofa.

But Habit Rouge is so much more than resinous, leathery vanilla in the finale, it's not just cosy or set. There is still a somehow timeless, completely unalt-fashionable and awake liveliness flickering, a playful, erotically resonant aura, there is something else! I think in front of the stately leather sofa ... there on the old solid wood floorboards ... yes, I could swear there are still some rose petals lying around. Or are they red knickers?