Lapidus Pour Homme is, in no uncertain terms, Eddie Money in a bottle. I recently purchased a 2022 bottle from eBay, and compared it to my 2012 bottle, and I must add Lapidus PH to the list: this is a fragrance that benefits from "aging." Where once the fragrance smelled like one part Kouros to three parts Boss Number One, the split is now even. Letting the bottle sit half-empty and undisturbed for seven years amplified its musks, deepened its patchouli, and sweetened its amber tenfold.
It occurred to me when smelling the two strips that Lapidus Pour Homme has achieved a rare level of greatness in its old age. The interplay of its strident musks (civetone not least among them) is so similar to YSL's Kouros, itself a masterpiece, that it's hard for me to interpret the fragrance as anything less than a marvel. I'm always impressed by how Lapidus transitions from bright animalic musks to sweeter wildflower accents, ringed with rose and patchouli, and experience a quiet sense of bliss whenever I smell it, as I once did with Kouros. This fragrance has aged well, chemically and stylistically.
I recall that my "vintage" bottle, which came in marbled grey glass instead of matte grey painted glass, smelled weirdly imbalanced in the heart accord. There was a mutant honey note that welled up at around the two hour mark, and it hung around long enough to put me off the scent. I ended up giving that bottle away, but I'd be interested to smell another one from the nineties or early 2000s. My recollection is that the pineapple was more natural, and it would separate from the musks enough to smell like I'd splashed Mott's canned juice on my arm. This was good and bad; while the top accord was nice, it was sensitive to temperature, and occasionally smelled "buttery."
The 2022 formula still has a distinct fruitiness, but it's softer, smoother, more obviously synthetic. I don't know if there's been a reformulation since 2012, and imagine there has been, but whatever was done has not impacted the fragrance in any bad or questionable way. However, the 2012 bottle has seen its liquid get a few shades darker, and its woody notes are noticeably stronger than they were when I first got it. This feels like a bit of in-bottle maceration, but I'm sensing that the fragrance has slipped into its own "vintage" mode, and in five years it will be sought after. I'll report back if and when I find a true vintage bottle for comparison, and will do an in-depth comparison.