Clone, Dupe, or Homage? What's the Difference?
Welcome back to the fragrance 101 series. Today I want to break down three terms that get mixed up all the time: clone, dupe, and homage. They may sound similar. They are not the same thing.
If you’ve been around the wet shaving community for any length of time, you’ve heard all three. And honestly, we get them wrong constantly. I’ve seen some of my favorite soap artisans use “clone” when what they actually made is a homage or a dupe. I’ve done it myself. Language is fluid. Scent terminology even more so. On the East Coast they say supper; on the West Coast we say dinner. Same meal, different word.
I want to anchor us to how the actual fine fragrance world defines these terms. We’ll start with the niche and designer houses, then bring it into the wet shaving artisan world. One reference fragrance to hold everything together: Aventus by the house of Creed. If you don’t know it yet, you will. It’s a landmark. And for what it’s worth, the major fragrance houses hate all three of these terms. A good clone, dupe, or homage eats directly into their margins. That tells you something about the power of the original.
The Clone
A clone is a deliberate attempt to match another scent exactly. Not “inspired by.” An exact match. Anything less than 95% proximity to the original doesn’t qualify as a clone. Same opening, same heart, same dry down. The perfumer reverse engineers the original to create a mirror image.
The nuance: clones often use less expensive synthetic aroma chemicals, which means they can lack a little depth up close on the skin. But if you smelled a good clone next to the original in the air, the goal is that you’d say “they smell exactly the same.” That’s the bar.
The classic example in the Aventus world is Armaf Club de Nuit. A virtual mirror image of Creed Aventus at a fraction of the cost. If you want to understand what Aventus smells like before spending what a bottle of Creed costs, this is the education.
The Dupe
Dupe is short for duplicate. A dupe isn’t trying to copy the formula. It’s trying to recreate the overall vibe, getting you 80 to 90 percent of the way there. Same theme, same mood, but with noticeable differences. Smell them side by side and you’d think “this reminds me of it,” not “this is it.”
A dupe is like a movie remake. Same story, different execution.
For Aventus, a good market example is Zara’s Vibrant Leather. It gives you the same general feeling even if the note breakdown isn’t a strict one-to-one copy. It’s all about price and accessibility.
The Homage
Some of my favorite fragrances are homages. An homage is inspired by the idea or style of another fragrance, but it’s intentionally its own thing. It doesn’t want to be a copy. It wants to honor the spirit of the original while taking a creative new direction.
If you smelled an homage next to its inspiration, you’d think “I see where this came from, but this stands completely on its own.” Think of a modern filmmaker working in the style of Hitchcock without remaking his actual movies.
Two famous Aventus homages: Nishane Hacivat (I had to write down the pronunciation before filming, I’m not going to pretend I didn’t) and Montale Cedrat Boise. Both took that Aventus DNA, the bright fruit over dark woods, and went somewhere entirely different with it. Nishane keeps the pineapple but strips out the smoke, replacing it with a dense earthy oakmoss. Montale swaps the pineapple for sharp lemon and blackcurrant, then dries down into this beautiful creamy vanilla leather. Both honor Aventus. Neither is trying to copy it. They’re their own thing entirely.
Wet Shaving Picks
For us as wet shavers, here’s where I land.
For a clone, in my opinion the best is Doppelganger from Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements. You can get that as an EDP as well as the shave soap and splash. If you want to get as close to Aventus as possible in lather form, that’s your starting point.
For a dupe, my recommendation is undoubtedly Executive Man from Stirling. They offer it as an EDT as well as the shave soap and splash. Same vibe as Aventus, a lot more accessible, solid all the way around.
For an homage, my personal favorite is Grant from Strike Gold. This is where the artistry really comes into play, because Grant is actually two fragrances in one: Aventus and Baccarat Rouge. I’ve done a full review on it and I’ll have a link in the description if you want to go deeper. Available in a shave soap, aftershave, and EDP. It’s an absolute banger.
One last thing. If you really want to evaluate how close any of these get to Aventus, get the splash or, better yet, the concentrated juice. EDT, EDP, extract. The higher the concentration, the truer the profile. Always.
Quick Recap
Clone matches the scent. Dupe matches the vibe. Homage matches the inspiration. Three different approaches, three different intentions.
Understanding this completely changes how I look at artisan splashes and soaps in the den. You start noticing the artistic choices. You understand the history behind the scent. You can tie a soap to the story it’s honoring, and that’s what it’s really all about. Fragrance is a journey.
It’s the little big things. Thanks for joining me, and I’ll see you in the next one.