Reflection Woman (2007)
by Amouage

Francis Roucel


I know this is not the guy’s real name but please bear with me, you’ll see my point. Reflection Woman from Amouage is simply lovely. Really excellent stuff there, it hits you immediately with freesia, and an excellent freesia to boot. If you like the flower, like I do, there is no way you won’t like this scent. Well done Monsieur Maurice Roucel. And it is not just freesia, the scent of a whole bunch of fresh spring flowers will surround you. Again, all I can say is: bravo!

And now to the Francis part. There is a scene in the movie Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince where Professor Slughorn tells a story about Francis, a goldfish. When Lily Potter dies, Francis, the goldfish: puff, vanishes too. Just like that. And so did the perfume from my wrist. And after about two hours, mind you. Puff, gone. Now, this I find not to be OK. Especially for something that costs 190 EUR for 50 ml. Puff, money gone and then puff, perfume gone. Between those two puffs, it is magnificent.

Stars on my smell-o-meter: three out of five

8th July, 2011.

I am very surprised not to have found any positive reviews on this gem. Good to know though that some men don't fancy this that much ...although most men around were very keen to sniff around me, haha

I must tell, this fragrance is really unique to me. Transparent and rich at the same time. Lasts long (8 hours +) and has noticeable sillage.

The opening is green indeed...but i would prefer to use the word 'melonesque'. Not green like herbs/leaves

After the opening I will mostly get magnolias and with time the amber/musk shows itself too, nicely blending in adding a fine creaminess.

I have to deny all the bad allegations this being yet another fruity floral. It isn't, I do not like any of them.

Guess you just have to have the specific noses to appreciate? True, this is not a banger in the head, not a sugar-overdose or patchouli/oudh babe.

It is an extension to sophisticated and gentle women. I love its warm aura, makes me feel at peace.

29th April, 2011.

I suppose that Amouage has to offer a fragrance like this to add depth to and to round out their range of olfactory offerings… I also think it must be extremely difficult to create a “fresh” fragrance that weighs in on the “rich” and “elegant’ image that Amouage cultivates. Reflection Woman opens with a thin floral / green accord that probably is meant to be aquatic: Although I can believe the effort, it really doesn’t come across as very aquatic to me. The violet predominates in the accord to my nose, and continues to predominate for so long that I feel I have to call this scent “linear.” The amber / wood drydown is nice and the bit of the opening still remaining in the drydown unifies the fragrance... Reflection Woman is adequately structured, but I don’t find the fragrance very interesting and, without even considering its price, I can’t see it as a very good scent.

1st November, 2010.

The more Amouage I try, the more I get disappointed by the house, even though I was just blown away by gold. The house seems to have very slightly variations on the same theme of powdery florals, Incense and dried fruits, with a few exceptions that do truly make an addition to the amouage arsenal. Reflection happens to be one of those I'd consider a unique addition.

Having said that, and while I'd still give every other amouage a neutral rating based on the quality and superb blending alone, Reflection is the only amouage I've tried to this day I would straight up give a negative rating. While reflection is unique in the amouage line, it's a boring, generic, modern fresh fruity floral fragrances that the market is flooded with today. No exceptional quality here, very little incense and other interesting ingredients, just disgusting peach and flowers.

29th October, 2010.

Violet is prominent in the first few minutes but becomes less so as the other floral notes finally catch up. Jasmine seems lost in the blend but not the leafy vegetal accord, giving the flowers an unplucked, still-on-stems freshness. More interestingly, the floral vibrancy of REFLECTION WOMAN is matched by an equally strong water element; some would even describe the scent as a 'floral aquatic' which is not too far a stretch of imagination as there is a distinctly cool texture to it. Imagine a floating flower arrangement comprising of violet, freesia, jasmine and magnolia on a bed of amber, woods and waxy green leaves. While it smells 'high quality' and expensive, as a composition it hardly moves me with its cool and rather detached persona.

8th December, 2009.