Amouage

AMOUAGE Awesome Foursome

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 18 Comments

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Gabriella

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Hello Everyone,
This is my first Guest Post for AustralianPerfumeJunkies and I will be back regularly.

AWESOME FOURSOME: A QUARTET OF AMOUAGE

For many years, the beauty of this wondrous Amouage line eluded me, not through a deliberate choice mind you, but because I initially dismissed it as more about marketing than lovely juice (how wrong I was!) and because I was having other adventures in perfume land, it never really registered on my radar. Even an eager SA at Selfridges when I was living in London last year couldn’t tempt me by waving a scented card of Ciel – one of the line’s white florals –under my nose. I was determined to discover things that weren’t available to sniff in Sydney – Balmains, Dior’s La Collection Privée etc – that it barely registered. Thankfully, things didn’t remain the same, Amouage finally came to my nose by virtue of a happy accident. In order to round out a sample order some months ago, at the last minute, I added one of their samples. I haven’t looked back since.

Created in 1983 by the Sultan of Oman, Amouage was to revive the ancient art of Omani perfumery. The house uses the traditional materials of Middle Eastern perfumery, such as frankincense and myrrh, to create traditional Middle Eastern- style scents but with a decidedly French vibe and very luxurious feel.

But what about the reviews?

DIA POUR FEMME

Photo stolen from Fragrantica

Dia was created to be the daytime companion to one of Amouage’s most revered and popular scents, the aldehyde-laden white floral, Gold. While certainly a lot softer and gentler than her bigger sister, Dia is no less sophisticated or elegant. If Gold is all silk ball gowns, diamonds and killer heels, then Dia is all about a refined wool sheath dress, pearls and leather ballet flats.

Dia includes notes of fig, cyclamen, bergamot, tarragon, sage, violet leaves, bush peach blossoms, rose oil, orange flower, peony, orris, white musk, incense, vanilla, heliotrope, cedarwood, sandalwood and gaiac wood.
It opens with a rush of warm fig and herbs before quickly developing into a luscious heady floral bouquet of peony and orange and then settles into soft gauzy woods. Dia’s great beauty is its duality: it manages to be both cool and warm, both chic and comforting at the same time. My only complaint is that it lasts barely two hours on me. Longer lasting and a full bottle would indeed grace my perfume collection.
For more reviews of Dia Pour Femme please see I Smell Therefore I Am and Suzanne’s Perfume Journal

MEMOIR WOMAN

Photo stolen from Fragrantica

The lovechild of YSL Opium and Serge Lutens Arabie is what I first thought upon sniffing Memoir Woman. The perfume is rich and heavy in feel with such a cacophony of notes that it took me a few subsequent wearings to get my head around it.

Memoir Woman features notes of absinth, cardamom, mandarin orange, pink pepper, wormwood, clove, incense, pepper, jasmine, rose, white flowers, musk, french labdanum, oak moss, styrax and leather.
Memoir is classified as chypre but has a decidedly oriental feel due to its heady mix of spices. It opens with a medicinal blast of absinth and pink pepper before the other spices slowly come to the fore, folding over and over in a billowing wave. The richness of spices segues into a warm panorama of rose, frankincense and white flowers.
For me, Memoir Woman is the epitome of Amouage’s heritage and markedly opulent vibe. Wearing this takes me one on of the strongest olfactory journeys ever: I’m wandering round a Middle-Eastern market at twilight all swathed in rich fabrics, kohl rimmed and mysterious.
For more reviews of Memoir Woman please see Now Smell This and Olfactoria’s Travels

HONOUR WOMAN

Photo stolen from Fragrantica

Being a white floral lover, I was pretty sure I’d love Honour Woman and be whacking down the credit card to buy one of those pretty white bottles quick smart.

 It features notes of pepper, rhubarb, coriander, jasmine, tuberose, gardenia, lily of the valley, carnation, vetiver, frankincense, amber, opoponax and leather.
On first whiff, I was a little worried this was going to be an upscale version of a department store fruity floral. Honour Woman opens with a tart rhubarb note but thankfully the presence of pepper and coriander prevent it from becoming too mainstream in vibe. As the fragrance develops, the rhubarb is joined by a creamy soft gardenia note to create a very warm composition before soft incense and amber join the fray. Don’t get me wrong, Honour Woman is well executed and sophisticated like the other Amouages, but I’ve yet to fall completely under its spell.
 For more reviews of Honour Woman please see Olfactoria’s Travels and The Candy Perfume Boy

JUBILATION XXV WOMAN

Photo stolen from Fragrantica

That lucky sample I acquired all those months ago and my overall love of the line is the divine Jubilation 25, created in 2007 to celebrate Amouage’s 25thanniversary. Not only is it aptly named for that occasion, but because it literally had me jumping for joy at first sniff.

 Jubilation 25 features notes of tarragon, lemon, ylang ylang, rock rose, frankincense, davana, labdanum ciste, patchouli, amber, vetiver, musk and, myrrh.
It is such an impressive chypre produced at a time when pretty much everything in this genre is dead and buried. The beauty of the scent is that it manages to combine all the classic elements of chypres past, paying homage to their memories in a thoroughly modern way. It opens with a beautiful rich accord of tarragon, lemon and ylang ylang before segueing to a symphonic rose note that’s achingly bright. The herbal rose goodness wafts and whispers before the composition moves seamlessly to a classic woody and herbal chypre drydown.
Like all good chypres, Jubilation 25 made me sit a little straighter, pull my shoulders back and hold my head higher. Even when sampling in my PJs over a coffee or after a long day’s work over a glass of wine, I am suddenly terribly chic and sophisticated. Jubilation 25 makes me feel like the woman I aspire to be.
For more reviews of Jubilation 25 please see Now Smell This and Perfume Shrine

Thank you so much for reading, I hope you’ve enjoyed my thoughts on four of the Amouage line.

What Amouage scents have you tried? Have your experiences been similar or different to mine? I’d love to read what your thoughts are.
M XOX

SUNDAY QUICKSNIFF REVIEW #7

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 4 Comments

Hey Hey Scent Hogs,

These are quick looks at a few of the fragrances I wore this week for my own fragrance pleasure. The Sunday QuickSniff Review page is opened on Monday morning and every time I spritz and am near the computer I’ll give a 3 sentence review with a rating out of 5 each for, well, see the key after the reviews. Often these are samples I’ve bought or had sent to me by friends, or a FB that I may fully review later, or have done before and want to remind you of its existence.

BELOVED by AMOUAGE 2012. This opens sensationally on me. A big fat old fashioned sparkling spicy floral with depth and character, you can smell the deep drumming of the animalic, vanilla and amberish undercurrents. It’s so sexy as it starts pounding out its syncopated ululation, flowers, animals, herbs, wood, flowers, balsam, spices, cat. Unfortunately after less than an hour it becomes the merest whisper of a skin scent on me (this is my 4th spritz in a day) but everyone else that I’ve read reviews from gets hours and hours, GRRRRR.  S=***** L=** D=****

KENZO FLOWER EdT by KENZO 2000. I received this bottle from Annie, THANKS!! Usually fresh, aqueous fragrances aren’t my thing, but maybe my nose is evolving because this is dynamite!! On my skin the hawthorn is cool GREEN and the resin, vanilla and musk ironically completely overtake any flowers that might have been there making me think of torn leaves and broken branches. A thoroughly delicious, light, bright, sparkling fragrance that has deceptive sillage and longevity too. FragranceShop has 50ml Tester for $38 S=**** L=**** D=****

BADGLEY MISCHKA Parfum 2006. OMFG!! On my skin this opens so SWEET, AARRGH. The peach and red berries are gut wrenchingly, tooth achingly, pant for oxygen sweet and almost had me running to the shower but I pushed through and WOW am I glad I did. This is a serenade, a love song and a poem; it calms down after 5 minutes into an amazing warm and delicious, slightly foody floral chypre that dies down to hours and hours of almost masculine, sexy woods, resins and musky caramel YUM. FragranceNet has 15ml for under $20 S=**** L=***** D=****

SUNFLOWERS by ELIZABETH ARDEN 1993. Years ago I used to wear this all the time, I was going through a phase where I decided one perfume in my cupboard was enough. I loved it so much and thought I smelled delicious until someone had a word, I was devastated and stopped wearing it, throwing the bottle in the bin. Tonight I was working with a girlfriend and the most glorious fruit juicy white floral and warm spicy perfume was wafting around, it was so divine I thought it must be an expensive niche tuberose but it was Sunflowers and she smelled awesome. FragranceX has 100ml under $20  S=***** L=**** D=*****


Photo Stolen from shirtsays

Scent, Obviously the number 1 priority here is how does it smell. My reviews are completely subjective and will differ widely from your own experience with the scent but it’s a good starting point. As yet I am not a trained perfumer so any and all descriptions are merely that, descriptions. There are plenty of blogs that offer technical details and chemistry, in 3 sentences I’ll pass.
Longevity, This is a biggie for me because like enfleurage where flower petals are left in fats to steal the scent, my fatty body works the same and eats it up, yum. So for a scent to last well on me, it will probably last a whole day on you and need a radioactive decontamination shower to defuse it from your skin.
Desirabilty, Wrapped up in this is scent, price, house, history, longevity, packaging, availability and a billion other things.

Photo Stolen from bittbox

* in any of these being the, “You couldn’t pay enough to spray this God awful stink on me again, it smells like public toilets in India, long time fridge malfunction while on Summer holiday and the vile stench of poverty all rolled into one.” You are putting innocent people in danger if you wear this.
** means it’s a nothing, wearable, boring, maybe the price is prohibitive for what you get or it’s ubiquitous. You should definitely get a sample of this to stop a buying boo boo.
*** is a perfectly good product that smells good and lasts a while at a decent price. You should definitely think about trying a sample or squirt but should you miss out your life will continue. Sample size worthy.
**** is the one you try, want a lot but can wait for a birthday/Christmas. It’s better than most of the stuff you’ve sniffed and may fill a void in your library. This is also an excellent decant product 5ml will get you through the season and maybe buy it next year.
***** meaning, stop reading this, grab your cash, credit card (or partners), roll the elderly or rob a petrol station and purchase this product. NOW! If you don’t have this fragrance you could die.

Hopefully this has given you a little inside track on fragrances to might buy, want, avoid, sample. What delicious bits and pieces did you try this week?

Portia xx