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Amouage advice

post #1 of 19
6/20/10 at 11:22am
Thread Starter 
This is a line I almost don't know at all. I was a little flabbergasted by the huge contrast between Luca Turin's rave review of Gold (five stars, masterpiece, etc.) and the quasi-consensus on BN reviews that Gold is no gold, to put it mildly.

The one Amouage I bought a substantial sample of so far (with attars, 1 ml is substantial, I surmise) is Homage, which seems to be almost unanimously liked.

Honestly, I liked it too quite a bit. A beautiful fragrance (not AS beautiful as advertised, to my subjective nose) but, as much as I tried to follow the development and all that... I've got mostly "soap" (high quality soap)... a bit like Aqua di Parma. Nothing anywhere as big-money-worthy as Windsor (imho and all that). I could barely sense any rose. I would gladly pay $90 for a 12 ml bottle, just not $350. Heck, I would buy a 3 ml bottle, but are they still available??

I would want to get at some point *one* Amouage, Homage or another, as I feel that that style of perfumery, while perhaps not my daily bread, does have something to say and, clichés apart, inherently speaks of an important tradition.

Some people here may have already noticed some of my olfactory "taste-buds". While I am obviously not as erudite as Dullah, on 95% of the perfumes we both know (I know fewer than he does) I tend to react in a similar way.

What is the truly "dream" Amouage for you, and why?
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post #2 of 19
6/20/10 at 11:39am
They are all very high quality scents, but my absolute favourites are Dia man and Jubilation xxv. They both smell very elegant, refined, and attractive. They are enclosed in a luxurious aura, and radiates good taste and rafinement. Shorts, sneakers, and t-shirt NOT ALLOWED!
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post #3 of 19
6/20/10 at 12:13pm
Jubilation XXV is the best masculine Amouage: It is at once an "Arabian Nights"-style fragrance of one's dreams, with all the frankincense and desert-dry consistency one would and should expect. But this is a wearable oriental, not something so sweet and un-masculine that as a guy you'd only be able to wear within the confines of a 1,000-room palace. The juniper note keeps it fresh as well, and it's one of those rare scents that works any time of year. The other two Amouage stand-outs are Epic and Dia, but Jub. XXV casts them in the shade. (To be released in July, as part of a new "Library Collection", is Opus II, which looks to be a particularly dark, rich, heady masculine that might even put Jub. XXV in the shade; we'll see.)
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post #4 of 19
6/20/10 at 12:25pm
Amouage frags are not Western, and to enjoy them as they were meant to be, one needs to "put on" the Middle-Eastern mindset and not think of certain scents as feminine and wearable only in limited areas. Amouage Lyric Men is a beautiful rose-frankincense blend. Gold Men, my favourite, is considered quite bombastic, but is IMO a no-holds-barred expression of perfumery. Dia Men is the understated offering of the line. Sublime scent. Ubar is another favorite. In the extravagant vein of Gold but in another direction. My next to-buy is Epic Man, a breathtaking offering.

It may not be so obvious, but i love the House of Amouage ;o)
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post #5 of 19
6/20/10 at 12:57pm
I've only tried Gold ( the women's ) and Ubar. Gold was a little too waxy, soapy, and powdery for my tastes ( oddly though, not screamingly animalic as I'd expected, just a bit of civet ), but Ubar was something amazing - a wonderful floriental in a vintage vein.

With respect to Perfaddict, I must disagree about Amouage - at least the Amouage's I've smelled - being Middle Eastern in style. To my nose, Ubar and Gold smell like vintage French fragrances, the civet, iris, and florals in Ubar smelling very Guerlain to me.
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post #6 of 19
6/20/10 at 4:50pm
I agree with both perfaddict and Suga - Amouage is exactly what it is - the Middle East does French perfumery. I respect Gold Men - it's like Chanel no. 5 for a king, and if you think it's too femme..... exile for you, bud! Seriously, I think this is an awesome house, that I'm just waiting to buy. Epic (men's) will be my first, and Jubilation XXV probably the second.

Why? Both of these have a FULL, RICH feel - there is NO SKIMPING. As Kevin Guyer pointed out a year or so ago, the bases of fragrances have become - quite simply - rickety. Designer frags have become like everything else - just enough to get the job done as cheaply as possible and on time. Not so Amouage. Turin sees the same thing.

Epic - the ONLY thing I can fault with it is that the adventurous opening doesn't last as long as I would like, and it simmers down to a mere damn good in about an hour. Jubilation XXV is like a sinfully rich and decadent dessert, and just keeps on truckin' with cherry syrup and incense as good as chocolate until the very end.

Gold Men is "queen for a day". I respect it, but TBH it ain't me.
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post #7 of 19
6/20/10 at 6:58pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Addict View Post

I would want to get at some point *one* Amouage, Homage or another, as I feel that that style of perfumery, while perhaps not my daily bread, does have something to say and, clichés apart, inherently speaks of an important tradition.

What is the truly "dream" Amouage for you, and why?

I think this is a great thought - IMO it's all about experiencing different lines, approaches and so on as well - and to really get to know a style or even the work of an individual perfumer it takes more than a couple of mls. sample for me. With Amouage, as with some of the dearer niche lines out there now, I would suggest considering the Mens sample pack. Still not cheap but certainly enough there to make an informed choice on a 50 or 100ml bottle later. Jubilation XXV, Reflection, Gold, Dia & Silver are the ones they offer in 7.5 ml, so no Epic, but not a bad start.

The one Amouage I could not do without is Homage - based purely on personal taste. This one just has something inexplicably transcendent about it that I have not experienced with any other perfume (apart from L'Heure Bleue, albeit in a vastly different way).
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post #8 of 19
6/20/10 at 7:22pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Addict View Post

....Luca Turin's rave review of Gold (five stars, masterpiece, etc.) and the quasi-consensus on BN reviews that Gold is no gold, to put it mildly....

Clarity:

Luca Turin gave Gold 5 stars and Gold for Men 4 stars.
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post #9 of 19
6/20/10 at 10:11pm
I expect to be knocked over for fragrances at this price range... well, Lyric Woman, has achieved that. It is simply BEAUTIFUL! Epic and Lyric Man don't work for me, Gold is too much for me and literally falls apart after 3-4 hours on me. Jubilation XXV is very nice, yet I'm not sure it will remain too generic, interchangeable for me. The Library Collection coming up soon has promising fragrances. I am very curious about Opus II and III. I have Ubar on my to-sample list, but on paper it was wonderful, but maybe not my thing.
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post #10 of 19
6/24/10 at 10:34pm
Thread Starter 
I've already sent a private message to somebody.... but I'm going to ask nevertheless: are there *two* Amouage Homage now?

http://www.beautyencounter.com/701666171515.html?search

http://www.beautyencounter.com/5000106746.html?search

Perhaps it's time to change my avatar from "Addict" to "Confused".
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post #11 of 19
6/24/10 at 10:53pm
Along with Montale, one of my favorite houses
the only Amouage I do not get is Lyric, but it has alot of fans nontheless
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post #12 of 19
6/24/10 at 11:21pm
I tried Epic woman a few days ago and, and it is incredible! Wonderfully rich rose/oud with frankincense and spices.
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post #13 of 19
6/25/10 at 12:07am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Addict View Post

I've already sent a private message to somebody.... but I'm going to ask nevertheless: are there *two* Amouage Homage now?

http://www.beautyencounter.com/701666171515.html?search

http://www.beautyencounter.com/5000106746.html?search

Perhaps it's time to change my avatar from "Addict" to "Confused".


The first link is wrong, thats a picture of the Tribute box and bottle. The notes are for tribute as well. It looks like they copied the Homage page to make the Tribute page and forgot to change the name.
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post #14 of 19
6/25/10 at 12:45am
Thread Starter 
Futami, that's helpful. Thank you.
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post #15 of 19
6/25/10 at 5:50am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Futami View Post

The first link is wrong, thats a picture of the Tribute box and bottle. The notes are for tribute as well. It looks like they copied the Homage page to make the Tribute page and forgot to change the name.

No that link is all right.
they use different type of packaging for the attars.
these days you can get homage, asrar, al mas, silver oud in the brown box.
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post #16 of 19
6/25/10 at 8:52am
Silver Man
Dia
Epic
Jubilation XXV
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post #17 of 19
6/25/10 at 9:16am
Quote:
Originally Posted by moreda View Post

No that link is all right.
they use different type of packaging for the attars.
these days you can get homage, asrar, al mas, silver oud in the brown box.

Even so the note pyramid on the first link looks to belongs to tribute no?
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post #18 of 19
6/25/10 at 9:36am
I think you're right Futami. the notes listed for the brown box seem to be Tribute. It's surprising it has the generic label 'Attar' on the box given that Homage is usually branded and I suspect Tribute is as well.(Apologies, Addict. for my earlier reply - I initially just glanced at the boxes and price diff and didn't pick up on the other details).

The white box labelled 'Homage' is what I have. Just to make things even more confusing, the two Attars I own (Santal & Al Andalus) both also come in white boxes labelled simply 'Attar' - the name of the frag is not on the box.

I'm wondering if the brown boxes are reserved for the less commercially available (in the 'west') attars, as Moreda mentions?

PS For those who haven't had the chance to try it I would like to echo Tott's comments on Epic Woman. I think it tends to get overshadowed by the very distinctive Epic Man but after spending time with both I find this is the one that I turn to, for some reason it's a very 'fortifying' scent to me - good if I have a lot of stuff to do, need to concentrate etc . . .
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post #19 of 19
6/25/10 at 10:07am
i have several bottles in brown boxes
asrar
almas
tribute... but the name tribute is printed on the the box
silver oud
shams aldoha
molook
badir al bedour

so brown or white box... it is about the juice that comes inside the botle.
what is really surprising me is that..allot of attars of amouage doesn't come with the name on the box or bottle.
not very accurate as one might expect from amouage.
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