Amouage Gold Men (1983)
by Amouage

Wow. This one hits you immediately with a blast of intense florals and civet. It is almost unbearable and persists for over an hour. A huge powdery note begins to form and this pretty much progresses as a floral, powdery, aldehyde bomb. This is definitely more on the feminine side of things and at least the drydown is tolerable. It definitely takes someone who will love a musty floral fragrance to pull this off. As with all Amouages, this one is a powerhouse and lasts forever. In my case this was a bad thing.

12nd January, 2012.

A awful overwhelming powdery feminine fragrance that you could imagine a old lady would smell like a hundred or so years ago. And it really does smell like baby powder, how they could market this to men is mind boggling.

11th January, 2012.

My first sampling of Amouage Gold was in less than auspicious circumstances. During an especially tedious train journey, I decided to relieve my ennui with a perfumed daub of the wrists. What ensued was magnificent, epiphanous, and a treat for my rapidly atrophying brain. Not even the baleful stares of a small child opposite me - with two tusks of snot descending from his nose could detract from this wonderful experience. In my mind, I was somewhere else, somewhere in the lap of luxury, being pampered and preened.

It does everything you would expect from a hyper-expensive niche fragrance with the soubriquet "Gold". Served up in a gold garnished bottle - it is opulent, bombastic and a celebration of excess. Although the extraordinarily dense rose dominant opening is a real breath catcher, it is a simple creation, highly polished, and exhibiting remarkable radiance. Although the evolution is minimal, Amouage Gold is that very rare beast - a male floral of outstanding quality, and not in the least apologetic.

Gold is the consummate orator - you may not like what he says, but you have to admire the passion and the self belief

3rd January, 2012.

The first 20 minutes or so are very much a dusty-floral. I found it extremely interesting and pleasant. After that, there was literally nothing to it but powder. Baby powder for hours and hours and hours. Two people came into my room and said "whoa... what smells like baby powder in here?"

To see if it changed over time, I asked a few friends to smell me (independent of each other) and everything came up baby powder.

Disappointing.

For the very pleasant opening and the fact that I like the smell of baby powder... I give it a complete neutral.

30th December, 2011.

Frighteningly Rosy. Appallingly powdery. Terrifyingly tenacious. Smells like Avon "Roses Roses" talcum powder on crystal meth. Project the smell of your granny for miles around. Not alluring. Not recommended.

22nd November, 2011.

An extremely classic humongous animalic floral enriched by the typical Amouage frankincense signature on top. Rose, mimosa and civet galore. Expansive, huge, extremely rich and definitely ostentating but so well executed that the only thing left is to sit down and enjoy its majesty. Surely one of most challenging and hardest compositions to approach in the Amouage regular range. Definitely not for everybody.

Me? I probably wouldn't wear it even if subjected to torture but it's still an outstanding composition.

10th November, 2011.