Currently Wearing: Lust by Lush (RIP old black bottled that I spritzed the last of this morning.)
Welcome back y'all! I'm honestly blaming my absence last week on the Olympics. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. This discovery set was a gift to me some Christmases ago from my husband. For whatever reason I spritzed a little here and there but never full bore tested the entire set. Again, life.
Amouage is not necessarily what I would be drawn toward, but many I know of in my fragrance community absolutely love it, so I figured it was worth my delving into. Here's what Fragantica.com has to say on Amouage's background: "His Highness Sayyid bin Hamoud al bu Said had a dream to restore the great Arabian art of purfumery to the region. Amouage is a luxury perfume house established in Oman in 1983 by the Sultan of Oman. Amouage uses traditional for the middle east perfume ingredient such as agarwood, incense, musk, rose, and spices. . . . Almost all of the perfumes are in traditional Amouage bottles: bottles with the woman's scents recall the shape of the Palace Ruwi Mosque (Oman); bottles with men's scents have a shape of Khanjar, the traditional dagger of Oman."
But Kathleen, musk? I thought you tried to be cruelty free. I have asked many more knoweldgable about perfumes than me, and they said in modern perfumery is mainly all synthetic music. Using actual musk is simply not cost prohibitive. With the exception of some Middle Eastern attars, which can get next level expensive. I try to live cruelty frees, I am not perfect, but I do try.
For me in this set, there were some hits and some misses. Let's delve deeper shall we?
Gold - Upon first spritz I thought "grown up fancy lady with some powder." I could defiantly pick out the base of woods (Sandalwood and cedar wood.) The lily of the valley was very predominant. The dry down could best be characterized as woodsy and soapy. I could see myself wearing this in maybe 20 years, but it just seamed too mature for me. Luckyscent describes Gold as,"Gold Woman is a marriage of French tradition and Omani luxury that no 1903's movie, no matter how glamorous, could top." I couldn't get the emotionality out of it. I couldn't get any real feelings associated with it. I like it technically and objectively.
Reflection - A little fruity, nothing special. When we get into this price point territory, but better knock me over with how special it is. This was my least favorite as I thought is was the least special. There was something very mass marketed about it. Almost TOO delicate for my liking. Magnolia is supposed to be the main star of this perfume. This makes sense. I love a fresh off the tree magnolia blossom any day, but that does not translate in perfumery for me. The main thing I said about it was, "it's pretty".
Jubilation - I quite like the interplay of lemon and tarragon, very grounding. This literally has everything and the kitchen sink in it. My nose is not refined enough to pick everything out. Maybe it will one day, because I'm going to teach myself how to become a perfumer as a run my roadside boiled peanut stand in North Carolina during my retirement. I found the dry down to be very complex and pleasing. In my notes I wrote, "this isn't what I look for in a fragrance." Again, I like it objectively. It hard for my to wax emotively when I don't have an emotional connection to the perfume. Luckyscent calls it, "discretely sensuous and truly compelling." We have different definitions of truly compelling.
Epic - This one I really life! As evidenced by the empty spritzer vial. My nose picks up on cinnamon, tea, rose and geranium. All notes I love. Given Amouage's heritage, this is what I thought more of the fragrances would lean towards. (Although it seam that they have something for every taste. Epic was inspired by Puccini's "Turnadot". There is not an opera composer I love more than Puccini. It's FATE that I loved this one. Interesting enough, this is one of the few fragrances that my husband has turned his nose up to in quite some time. Clearly his taste for drama and mine are not on the same level. This surprises NO ONE who knows us. Here's Luckyscent's take, "The sensuous, honeyed and dark blend of rose, tea and geranium in the heart of Epic evokes Turandot herself, the femme fatale beauty who lured love-stuck princes to their death." See, dramatic.
Honour - This perfume is inspired by "Madam Butterfly". I feel that the attempt is only half baked. I get the beauty from the jasmine, gardenia and tuberose. (I LOVE tuberose!) The drama is missing for me. The fragrance is quite pretty, but a little too "nice" for what it is trying to evoke. Master perfumer that I am, I would have kicked out the leather and added in oud to give it more depth and darkness. Luckyscent explains, "How could it not be emotional when it's based on the story of a heroine who kills herself when the American soldier she's pined for returns to her homeland to take their child?) 'Death with honour,' proclaims the heroine before dying, 'when one can no longer live in honour.'" Again, it's pretty, but it missed the mark for me with drama.
Memoir - Again, this smells a little "mature" for what I normally go for, but I really fell for it. There are certain scent combinations that I know I just like. Cardamom, rose and leather - plus a whole host of other notes - I know I like. I had fun with this on trying to pick everything out and sometimes failing miserably. Luckyscent describes memoir as a "scent of shadows". It think that is very appropriates. Certain notes lay cloaked and veiled by others. I wrote in my notes that maybe this it my perfume for when I go see "Elektra" at the Met next month. Clearly, it MUST be special and have a certain amount of refineness to be put on that short list. I image that Memoir is what a fancy tea house in the East smells like.
There are male versions for all the above mentioned scents. I would be curious to a side by side comparison and let my husband have the spoils.
Currently listening: Overture to "Fidelio" by Ludwig van Beethoven
No comments:
Post a Comment