Dolce & Gabbana – Devotion Pour Homme – Aromatic Coffee

When life gives you lemons, Dolce & Gabbana (D&G) and Olivier Cresp make perfume. Well, something like that. They’ve certainly utilised a lot of lemons in the perfumes I’m going to discuss today. I wanted to focus on Devotion Pour Homme (DPH), Dolce and Gabbana’s new masculine fragrance. However, I’ll briefly touch on the 2023 release, Devotion for Women, as it warrants discussion. Additionally, I’ll compare the two Devotions to their Akro (Olivier Cresp’s niche brand) cousins, Bake and Awake. There is a clear lineage between the fragrances.  

I’ve reviewed a few dud fragrances over the last month, so it’s nice to sample something good. And surprisingly, it comes from D&G. It’s not a brand at the apex of my designer list. However, perhaps I shouldn’t have been so surprised by Devotion Pour Homme. Cresp and the brand teamed up to bring us an excellent women’s scent (Devotion EDP) a couple of years ago.

I prefer Devotion for Women to its sister scent, Bake. They both feature a lemon note, and they’re both sugary. However, Cresp, as is his wont, goes full-on gourmand in Bake. Bake’s lemon note drifts screechingly high, and the vanilla and sugar wallop in the base takes me even higher. To call it moreish would be an understatement. Devotion EDP, although still sweet, strikes the right balance. A cursory glance at Devotion’s note pyramid (candied lemon, vanilla, panna cotta, etc.) would lead one to believe it has been devised by a dentist looking to drum up some business for themselves. It’s meant to evoke an Italian dessert and looks like a cavity waiting to happen, but the breezy orange blossom note somehow curtails its gourmand aspirations.

So, as Cresp had done so well with the women’s scent, I was excited to try the masculine counterpart. I admit my heart sank when I first saw the note pyramid. The new Devotion for Men features a coffee note. And, if you asked me to list my favourite perfume notes, coffee wouldn’t be very high on the list. But they’ve used it wonderfully well here in DPH. It’s bitter with a dark edge, and surprisingly, for a men’s fragrance, it’s not sickly sweet. In the background, lemon adds an air of luminosity, providing a nice contrast to the darker coffee note. The lemon ushers in an almost sparkly opening that initially borders on watery aquatic but thankfully veers away from such unsettling territory. 

The base of DPH primarily consists of a well-judged patchouli note, neither too chocolatey nor earthy, with maybe a hint of tobacco and leatheriness for support. Indeed, I pick up a suggestion of mossy, dry, woody notes, too, with the addition of warming tonka to round it out. The supporting notes work wonders, lending DPH an air of polished barbershop refinement. The coffee note, though prominent, doesn’t dominate as much as I anticipated. From my fragrance database flick-throughs, DPH has proved a divisive fragrance; this is generally a good thing. It means it’s doing something different. Will it act as a wake-up call for other mainstream brands to explore new ideas? Hopefully! 

Truthfully, it’s not a new idea for Cresp, though. He explored a similar caffeinated theme with Awake for his niche brand, Akro. Awake features a nutty, creamy coffee note. Indeed, Awake smells brighter and more intense, with the coffee note feeling fuller and denser. It diverges in the base from DPH with its aromatic vetiver note. After some time, the coffee note in Awake takes on a chalky sensation, as if the coffee has been ground to a fine powder. It’s more steadfast in its depiction of coffee. DPH smells grittier and drier with a more subtle sillage. Its woodier, mossier barbershop-like touches make it a better option for my taste.

Before I wrap up, the long-forgotten gem, Attitude from Armani, coincidentally created by Olivier Cresp, should enter the conversation. It features notes of coffee, patchouli, lemon, cardamom, and lavender. Indeed, it is very similar in build to Awake and DPH. It’s more patchouli-forward than both, though. But like Devotion Pour Homme and Pour Femme, the balance feels right. It’s always been one of my favourites from Armani. The coffee note smells much more muted here than even DPH.

If you’re after stronger, more in-your-face fragrances, consider opting for Bake and Awake. Their renderings of cake and coffee take on a more realistic, life-like form. I prefer the balance and restraint shown in the D&G fragrances, though. It’s almost as if Cresp has taken his two Akro prototypes and refined them perfectly to my taste. I welcome the subtlety. Indeed, in the masculine segment, particularly where performance and power are king, subtlety is no bad thing.

What are your thoughts on these scents? Do you prefer the Akro scents or the D&G Perfumes?

Note: The sample of Devotion Pour Homme came as a gift with purchase. All images are my own, other than the first image (D&G)