Jubilation 25 (2007)
by Amouage

Smelling Jubilation 25 for the first time was like running into an old friend... or perhaps more like thinking you've spotted an old friend in a crowd, but then realising it's someone you've never met before. It's somehow recognisable and familiar, I think because it has a classical chypre structure - more Mitsouko than Diorella to me - but as one wears it, it definitely has a hint of the oriental about it - some spice and vanilla. In fact, I get a hint of Opium parfum, which I think is mainly from the carnation. I haven't seen this mentioned in lists of notes, but there's eugenol on the box, so there's definitely a clove/carnation accord. This fragrance communicates classic and impeccable taste, and then it flashes a bit of something sexy. It seems to work for all occasions, and it's one of the few fragrances I wear that always seems to draw compliments.

I've heard the women’s Jubilation was more interesting than the men’s but I really can’t understand why. This just smells like a vintage Guerlain, to me. At a push, I would say it has a striking resemblance to L’Heure Bleue (but slightly less melancholic).

For the high price tag, I expected something far more original and interesting.

[Original submission date: 05 July 2008]

Jubilation 25 lands on the skin in a cloud of fruity rose, myrrh, and frankincense that harkens back to earlier Amouage fragrances like Gold and Dia. The animalic edge that characterizes Amouage Gold is present as well, but the aldehydes that dominate the earlier scent are not so conspicuous. Jubilation 25 is a brighter, clearer fragrance than many of the earlier Amouage feminine offerings, but that’s not implying that its insubstantial. It’s just not the same sort of 1,000 lb. anvil as Gold.

I do wish that Jubilation 25’s incense accord and animalic tang persisted longer, since once they fade I’m left with a less luxurious and more conventional floral oriental base with a dollop of sweet amber. The basenotes are persistent and the sillage and projection are comfortable – neither intrusive nor too weak, but I don't feel that Jubilation 25's development measures up to the promising first half hour. I find this scent a particularly disappointing measured against it's more exotic and distinctive masculine companion scent, Jubilation XXV, to which this women’s scent bears no resemblance beyond its name. Get Dia Woman instead.

Jubilation opens with a fizzy, almost lightly peppered rose chord, and dries down to the smoke and shimmer of perfectly balanced flowers, incense and myrrh. The overall impression is one of sweetness: not floral sweetness, not vanillic sweetness, and not even a pinch of sugar. No, it is the sweetness of seemingly weightless resins, woods, and balsams that give Jubilation its distinctive allure. Its confident, but never pushy sillage never fails to attract compliments.

When I tried Jubilation from a carded sample, it had no staying power. However, I liked it so much that I decided to buy a small bottle. I am pleased to report that I applied it yesterday afternoon and can still smell it the next morning before my shower.

A lovely, must-try fragrance, Jubiliation sometimes serves for me as the ideal, sophisticated, light main course. On other days, it is the delicate appetizer that sends me to Tauer's less elegant but equally delicious L'air du désert marocain or Le Maroc pour elle for the main course.

Amazing throwback to chypres the way they used to be made. It must be the tarragon, something that is not in many frags I have tried. It imparts a golden rich herbal quality along with the usual suspects of floral & spices, I have absolutely no complaints. This is heady stuff and just gorgeous. I notice there is a reference here to L'Heure Bleu, but this is misleading as there is no heliotrope. And Jubilation is not sweet or even very floral. This is closer to a mossy chypre such as Balenciaga's Cialenga or vintage 'Cabochard' - just to compare, not exact you understand, but more in that vein, I feel. This is really pretty if you like a skin /herbal scent with golden highlights... that's the feeling it gives me when I put it on.

I find this and Jubilation XXV for Men my favorite of the Amouage line do date (though I am "courting" Lyric for Women at this time and enjoying it.) XXV for women is a Middle Eastern concept fragrance for Western tastes. Citrus/possibly citron, Bulgarian rose, frankincense and myrrh are up front with a wide assortment of secondary scents that I think that I can identify as tarragon, amber (not quite enough for my taste), a healthy shot of patchouli, musk, with the whole sweetened by what I suspect is ylang ylang.

To me, however, the fragrance has problems. One is a pervasive fruit note that simply won't go away. It is very distracting from the rest of the scent, almost cheapening it. The other is that the bright and wonderful initial blast of resins fades far too quickly. What remains is nice in a conventional sort of way, but not what I expected after trying Jubilation XXV for Men; that's more like the early classic Amouage.