Ever since I first encountered the Stephane Humbert Lucas 777 line of perfume at Esxence in 2013 I have very slowly and deliberately taken my time to understand each one. Many perfume collections would fall apart underneath this much scrutiny. M. Humbert Lucas, working for himself, has authored a body of olfactory art that almost demands you spend time with it to allow it to fully reveal all that is present in each perfume. Therefore even though it has been almost a year and a half I am still getting to the last couple of entries from the line. Most recently I’ve spent time with 2022 Generation Homme and like every one of the 777 perfumes there was much to enjoy.
One of the reasons that I held off on 2022 Generation Homme is that on a strip this was the oudiest of the entire collection. On a strip it never seemed to open up. When I finally sprayed some on my skin it was like there was an entire experience hidden from detection. The oud was there but there was also an array of spices surrounding a yuzu. These offer a fresh crisp contrast to the very complex oud mixture M. Humbert Lucas uses.
Stephane Humbert Lucas
2022 Generation Homme opens with yuzu floating like a shimmery veil over an intense oud. Very often many see yuzu as a stand-in for grapefruit but when it is appropriately allowed to have a personality in a fragrance it is more like a hybrid of lemon and grapefruit. It has a snappy brightness that neither lemon nor grapefruit have on their own. M. Humbert Lucas takes that and adds even more snap with mint coming along for the ride. It is just a touch of mint but it is present and adds an important effect underneath the yuzu. The final addition to the top notes is a very green blackcurrant bud. This is used at such a level that it has a urine-like characteristic. On its own it would be offputting. Placed in the middle ground between the yuzu-mint and the oud it works surprisingly well. The rough sticky green smell forms a bridge to the more sulfurous aspects of the yuzu and the more medicinal qualities of good oud. This is not an easy part of the development as it sort of pushes forward many of the more challenging aspects of both the yuzu and the oud. It took me some time to learn to roll with it instead of struggling to make it something it wasn’t. 2022 Genration Homme finishes on a peru balsam matched with a second source of oud. This oud has less of the medicinal and more of the woody nuances. Matched with the peru balsam is ends this on a final woody platform.
2022 Generation Homme has 16-18 hour longevity and above average sillage.
2022 Generation Homme is one of the hidden gems within the entire 777 line. I think it is imperative that it is worn on skin to truly experience it completely. It took that for me to finally realize how good it was and bring it out from Under the Radar.
Disclosure: This review was based on a samples provided by Stephane Humbert Lucas and Osswald NYC.
–Mark Behnke
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