Got my Amouage samples today

Opus II smells like Black XS?! Odd. I've not smelled Black XS but all the reviews say it is very fruity and smells of strawberries, which I don't get at all in Opus II. It starts out very spicy on my skin, then gets soft and smooth with lavender, cardamom, cinnamon and a light amber and woods.

Does anyone else get a similarity between the two? I'd love to find a cheaper alternative to Opus II!

Glad you are mostly liking the samples so far irrbloss, and it's very cool of Amouage to toss in the extras. Be sure to give them all a skin test sooner or later, because as usual, many of them perform far better on skin than on paper.

Ok Irrbloss. You have now finished the "bottom-list", and can go on with the best of the house; Jubilation XXV, Epic, Dia, and Ciel. These 4 (esp. JubXXV and Epic) are FBW..

Oh c'mon Oslo. You can't speak in such absolute terms like that. I think Dia is horrible - it smells like those friggen candy circus peanuts in the opening, and then gets a sort of oily tone. Ugh!

Epic is awesome but just too strong. Jubilation XXV is a masterpiece conceptually and structurally.. i just wish the woods didn't get so scratchy in the base.

Sorry I forgot to add a "IMO" .

I believe Amouage Silver is the most underrated Amouage in the entire line. I think it is absolutely wonderful. it is cool and crisp and the only Amouage I think works amazingly in both very hot and very cold weather. Really a classy scent.

Well, you can see amouage is a house where there is no agreement on which is their best(seller). Though I'll say Epic, Dia and maybe silver are their easier to like fragrances. You've gone through the very subjective ones. Jubilation XXV is magical according to some people, but all I can smell in it myself is very strong straight up frankincense with a tough of dried fruit

By the way, where did you order from?

Reflection is a beast. I gave my father one of my samples and he loved it too. It has very quickly become my favorite formal fragrance.

Reflection is easily a family favorite in our home. Our son who's a gradeschooler always asks to wear the fragrance with the heavy cap, Mrs. J. will pipe up on her own that she likes how I smell on the days Reflection is worn, and I love relaxing into the evening with it.

Silver is *the* scent of daytime to my nose. It's rather linear to my nose but it's superb the entire way. It goes on first thing in the morning every single day I have off work. Fragrance is forbidden where I work because I'm in healthcare and, obviously, that is not the environment for frags.

That being said, my appointment cards are going to get a shot of Reflection tomorrow morning because a new batch got put up this afternoon.

We'll be watching your opinions develop over time with your Amouage selections. Some day I'll post mine when they're better refined. I'm glad you got your batch. It sounds as though amouage.com are really trying to please the customer.

Cheers,
Daryl J.

Amouage perfumes are the scents that you just can't say "hate it" after one or two first tries. At first, I found Reflection synthetic and very "Jean Paul Gaultier". But now, I must say Reflection is one of the best scents that Amouage has ever given us. It is complex, wearable, work so well in any kind of weather, and it smells more than great. Just give Amouage scents a few more wears, you will see how they shine

Agreed. It is very classy and "gentleman-ish". It`s very spicy, but as you said it`s also quite cool and crisp. The trick is not to over-apply, bacause it`s quite sharp. The quality is first class! Sillage and staying power are excellent.

Reflection is the only Amouage scent that I realy dislike. First time I wear it, I had to go home from work, take a shower trying to scrub it off, because it almost make me sick! It was like a baaad hang-over..

I respect you people who love Reflection, but I can`t understand it..
-I agree with Mr. Luca Turin that gave it 2 stars.

Oslo, I thought you liked Reflection a lot besides the sickness factor. I remember you raving about the scent at first. I understand not being able to wear something that makes you sick (I've had scents do that to me, too, scents that I loved, sadly), but when that has happened I don't go around saying the scent is horrible. Just that it made me feel sick.

Hey Sculpture, as a fellow Reflection fan, here is how I feel about anyone that does NOT like Reflection: quite frankly, they can kick rocks. I feel like Reflection is my "GIT" or morso "Kouros", in that...there are those that love it a lot, and then those that don't. I am the former, and if one does NOT like it, then there MUST BE something wrong with THEM. lol

Larwiz, you crack me up man.

I don't mind people not liking it. I've had it turn on me a few times and it almost always smells different on me (sometimes the most amazing thing ever, sometimes just ok, and once in a while it turns into something not so good). I like that though, as it keeps things interesting. That's one of the reasons I wear the scent so often.

I'm just curious about Oslo's change of feelings because I know before he really liked it, said he preferred it to Himalaya in a comparison thread, etc. I just don't think it's fair to say a scent that you really enjoy the smell of is horrible just because it makes you feel ill.

I've sort of given up on Reflection. I get the same thing that SOS gets, in that it is so unpredictable, but unlike SOS, I don't have the patience to put up with that, or try to correct it. When Reflection decides to be cool, austere, slightly aloof and ethereal, is when I love it. When it's like that, I find it's easy to wear, blends with my skin chemistry, and does what I prefer a fragrance to do, which is take a back seat and act as a support player to my projected persona. However, Reflection, doesn't always (actually less rather than more often) act that way. Some days, it's warm and a bit ferocious on my skin. It consumes me, and feels both dissonant in style/my personality as well as within it's own representation of it's notes. I really do like Reflection, but I don't feel that it represents something so holy grail-like to me, that I would be willing to put up with a fragrance that's so dichotomous.

..

Yes, thats correct. When I first tried it, it was from a small sample. I was not sure if I liked it or not. It was a on/off scent if you know what I mean. I decided to order a full bottle because I think it was quite unique and original. When I received the bottle, I put on some sprayes, and then I realized; -This was just to much for me to handle. It was to much of everything. To sweet, to loud, to strange, to feminine.. Yes, it almost make me sick and it gave me a terible headache. I have now swapped the bottle away. I wanted to like this scent, I realy did, but it was a fiasco-purchase for me..

Very interesting. I'm wondering if this is my (our) nose or the scent itself acting strangely. I sometimes think it is simply my nose because on a few occasions I've been able to correct - in a sense - the 'imbalance' simply by sniffing some real iris absolute, or on another occasion, some real petitgrain oil. I am wondering if anyone else experiences Reflection as this shifting animal?

I am thinking he (the perfumer, Lucas Sieuzac) may have used some synthetically rebuilt accords for many of the notes here, but balanced them in such a way that if you smell it one way you smell A and if you smell it another you smell B - kind of like those pictures with the plastic thingy over them that deflects light and with a slight change of position allows you to see a different image (usually used on cards or what not to give the illusion of motion or sometimes the illusion of transformation, from say Dr. Jeckyll to Mr. Hyde). That or perhaps there's a chemical that some of us are either semi-anosmic to or that some of us are partially sensitive to and causes olfactory fatigue some of the time.

Mtg, have you confirmed with anyone else that it smells different on the days you think it does? In the past I have had my g/f react with an astonished "no way!" when I told her I was wearing Reflection on some days and she said it smelled different (but from her description it wasn't different in the way that it smelled different to me... odd!), but that was awhile ago and as we've had to add some distance between us for awhile thanks to her new job (blah! ) and I only see her on the weekends, coupled with the fact that Reflection isn't one of her favorites, I really don't wear it around her anymore. Also, that was back when I was suffering from my chemical sensitivities so I really can't trust my perceptions from that time. So basically.. I wrote all of that to say I have no idea, really. Just that it can be perceptibly different to some, sometimes, but I'm not sure in which ways.

edit: I've noticed I've had issues with every fragrance that was done solely by Lucas Sieuzac. All 3 of them that I've smelled (Reflection Man, Jubilation 25 for Women, and Wicken 3000) have smelled "off" at times, and yet when I smell them "correctly" - or what I assume must be correct because it is the most harmonious - they have all been something truly unique and beautiful. I personally enjoy the challenge but if it gets to a point where it misbehaves more often than behaves.. well, I could see growing tired of that rather quickly.

Nice thread Irrbloss. I like to read your impressions on Amouage. You make me wanna order all this samples as a gift for myself for my birthday instead of full bottle of something less exclusive . But I am afraid that then I'd want a full bottle of something ... Do you think it was worth 45 Euros ?

I prefer Ciel hands down (you know it Irrbloss). It`s Much more unique IMO. It`s a wonderful floral for men. Silver is great classical gentlemans fragrance, but IMO it`s to sharp, loud, and un-balanced. Maby it`s because I own a couple of others in the category that I classify as better choices (Chanel Pour Monsieur Concentree and Boucheron Pour Homme).
Amouage Ciel gives me great sillage and staying power!

On a whim, today I ordered blind Amouage Al-Andalus.

Will report back. I just thought it was worth the risk, it doesn't even cost a fortune.

My relationship with Homage continues to improve. In fact, I can not remember any other fragrance to still surprise me so pleasantly and unexpectedly, after worn many dozens of times, alone or layered with Windsor. (The latter elixir really gets comments going and mute, but eloquently delighted sniffing noses, complimenting it.)

Homage and Windsor? Wow, now that's an expensive brew!

It sounds good though, at least once both scents reach the heart notes. How do the tops of those two blend? Also, can't wait to hear your take on Al Andalus. The notes list of that sounds phenomenal - I'm a rosemary fiend.. please do let me know if it's prominent in the blend.

And irrbloss, I too am with Oslo in that I prefer Ciel as a fragrance, although I think with my general look and attitude, Silver may fit me more. I really do enjoy Silver but it's just.. too.. hmm, safe? I don't know. There's nothing that really juts out in a truly unique or challenging way and thus I don't think I'd find my interest in the scent to be maintained over a long period of time. I think, in some ways, it suffers the same problem as Chanel's Bleu - it's fairly complex and actually smells really good but seems over engineered to fit a business type setting, and thus feels a bit lacking in the soul department. Ciel is just so damn vibrant and lively, and the vetiver in the drydown is one of the best renditions of vetiver, ever!

SoS, I wasn't trying to brag (-:

There are lots of people here who spend tons more money on fragrances... I used to, too (-:... and I am far from being rich, while I'm doing OK"-ish" (no debt at least, which is a big thing in our age).

I tend to wear cheapish clothes and very expensive perfumes. Well, you can't have it all.

I am circumspect about buying "new" stuff, as even some good ones - or general favorites on BN - bore or worse annoy me before I even finish a sample...

I rarely buy a whole bottle of anything, nowadays. I perhaps have ten bottles in my wardrobe altogether, or only nine, which for BN collector standards is laughable. (In the '90's I was buying lots... and then shamelessly gifting them to different friends, not an entirely nice gesture, I'll admit. I was trying to get some credit, while getting rid of stuff I didn't want anymore. I am talking about many dozens of bottles here.)

The real quantity of fragrance a quality-oriented guy can use daily is quite limited... so I go today not so much for a compromise between quality and quantity, but for quality period. Once I like something BADLY, not because people say it's good, but because I'm really in love with the thing, and I know I am so without outside influences, in a weird way I don't feel it's expensive to get it. The perfumes I REALLY like I feel they're "cheap," subjectively speaking. (OK, not that I hope for their price to increase, I may be odd but I'm not crazy.) Perhaps Clive Christian and a couple of others seem really out of my reach, but then I never liked them enough (even if I did like quite a bit 1872 and X, not No.1 -- the new CC or something I didn't even try yet).

Going back to Homage... I feel now it's even a better deal, the above considered, than Windsor. That's harsh, from a Creed fan (-:.

Oh, I didn't think you were bragging at all. I hope that I never come across that way, either. I am actually in a lower income bracket - I just don't drink/smoke/go to the bars/etc. and will save my money and cut out frivolous expenses to purchase scents. It's gotten to the point where it's more about experiencing scents as art or as ways to evoke or augment moods than it is about impressing others - although I suppose I haven't gotten to the point that I'd wear something 99% of the population finds absolutely repulsive just because I love it (well, ok, maybe - if 99% of the world hated Reflection Man! )

And I totally agree with you on the "if I really love it, it's ultimately rather cheap" angle. I calculated out the cost per spray of Reflection Man (or any 100ml bottle in the $300 range), and it's something like 18 cents per spray. Given that I often get 18 (or more!) hours of enjoyment from a single spritz of Reflection.. well, 1 cent per hour?! Where else can you get enjoyment or entertainment at that price?

It's funny - I too wear relatively inexpensive clothes, drive a very very modest (that's an overstatement) car, etc. Maybe that's selfish - I'm not looking to impress others with my clothing, car, or even my - from an outside perspective - sometimes expensive perfumes. The money goes into that which is personally uplifting and fulfilling, with little regard for outside opinion. Selfish.. or just true to self? Hmm..

Regarding Amouage samples, I went back to my sample of Dia Man today and am giving it another wear. While I no longer hate the top notes (they used to smell just like those nasty orange 'circus peanut' candies to me), I can't say I love them; even saying 'like' might be a bit of a stretch. The heart is impressing me more than before though. The orris note is excellent and is framed by a wonderful sort of coppery-hued amber.. labdanum (which smells to me of the color ocher) + peony (smells pink to me) + cardamom (brownish) + a hint of plum (purple) = a coppery smelling amber. Well that sounds rather odd I suppose.. it makes sense to me, at least .

I think it deserves 4 stars objectively, as it is obviously of high quality (its got some really nice orris, for sure!), but there's just something that doesn't fully agree with my nose, so I'm only upping my rating of it from 2 stars to 3 stars.

Also, while I understand it is meant to be smooth and soft, I think it may be too smooth and soft. A bit more counterpoint - perhaps in form of a dash of nutmeg, some mahogany, or perhaps a dry papyrus note - would be welcomed by this nose!

Wow, I was having buyer's remorse, and you just convinced me. I really love Ciel, but so I did Ubar and Reflection, and later ended up selling them online because I bored with them...the truth is that I had ordered Ciel before and I changed my mind to Reflection and called Amouage and changed the order...What a mistake!!!... so here I was again ordering it and changing my mind! Now I was considering Aventus!...Well I will just go for Ciel and enjoy it as I should...I have gone through like 6 samples, and it is about time. Thanks for your posting!