Amouage Beloved Man

Notes list for Amouage's Beloved Man looks like it was designed to move into my top ten.

"The release states the notes as aromatically sharp top notes of Orange, Grapefruit and Elemi embracing an efflorescent melange of Geranium, Jasmine, Orris and Saffron at the heart. Warm Cedar wood, Guaiac Wood, Leather, Patchouli, Vetiver and Musk are richly woven in the intricate and alluring base."



More info here: http://perfumeposse.com/2013/01/15/amouage-beloved-man/

For some odd reason - just a hunch really - I have a feeling this will smell like an Amouagey-version of Caron's Third Man.

Wearing this scent today. Still too soon to say a whole lot though.

Ha, no, there is an immediate impression Scentologist! I just don't want to say something and then later have to retract my words, like I did with Honour. I swear, the Honour I first experienced struck me as a completely different (and better!) scent than the Honour I smell now when I revisit my sample.

I know it's cruel though not to say anything. Let me go get my notes and post a few snippets.

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Ok, had to go to a different comp to get my notes. I just typed these hastily as the thoughts came to me, and the opinions and observations are quick and prone to change as I learn more about the scent, so keep that in mind:

"Luminescent opening - golden radiance. The radiance is non-localized, almost like a glow from within. Unlike any Amouage opening."

"Best orris note ever??? comes through in short order, mixes with orange + grapefruit to give a sugared quality. Smells delicious."

"Orange, orris and sweet leather is next. Veers close to but never crosses the 'too sweet' threshold. Soft, inviting and enveloping. Classical composition - think Third Man, Knize Ten, etc - refocused through modern lens."

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My god the orris note is incredible. It has the clarity of Dior Homme's iris, but more body and depth (the supporting leather/suede is more pronounced for sure.) It seriously might be the best orris/iris I've ever smelled. It seems at least some of the increased cost did go towards the budget of the scent.

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Honestly, very different than anything else by Amouage. Those who have gotten sick of the trajectory of the house's mainline (woods, phenolic notes, smoke, gloom) will be pleased, I think, while those who want another Memoir, Epic or Interlude will not. It's character (not smell) is probably closest to Dia and Silver Man. A bit richer than Dia, but not as haughty as Silver. It's smell is.. well, I'm not going to say too much more until I can condense it down into a coherent review. If I keep giving little disconnected impressions it's going to make the scent sound quite fractured and dissonant, when it is anything but.

lol Johnny. The price is definitely steep. It almost scares me that the thought of spending say, $150 on a scent nowadays seems "cheap". I remember the day, about 6 or 7 years ago, when I lambasted a coworker for spending like $60 on a bottle of D&G By Man (which was not discontinued then, and of which I had no idea of what it was like). I just kept saying "do you know what ELSE you could have bought with $60? Cologne? Seriously?!"

An orris leather, predominantly, with a slight bitter green woody quality behind it, along with subdued fruits (I'll explain where I think they are coming from, below). Overall, if I had to put it into a two word category, I'd say floral leather.

The opening is just incredible. The grapefruit and elemi are noticeable but thanks to the already prominent orris and leather/suede note, they are incredibly round; the rendering of these notes is unlike anything I can think of at the moment. They only have the complete spotlight for a minute or two, but it is a grand introduction. A friend/fellow DIY perfumer once sent me the most incredible iris absolute; this was the stuff of legend. It had the clarity of Dior Homme's iris, the sweetness of the iris in Guerlinade, and some of the body and rootiness of the iris found in Iris Bleu Gris. Along with being ethereal and slightly powdery, it had a soft but noticeable raspberry note to it. The iris I smell in Beloved Man is the closest I've ever smelled to that legendary sample I had. And yes, there is a hint of raspberry in the first hour or so of Beloved Man. It's deftly integrated though, standing out far less than similar notes in other scents, and I believe most will probably not think 'oh yeah, raspberry!' unless they are looking for it, namely because it's an airy, almost transparent rendition of the note. Later on, the fruity aspects of jasmine absolute combine with some other notes and continue a red fruit impression. I'll elaborate more on that in the future as I'm still trying to figure out exactly what the note is/where it's coming from.

Regarding the opening, It's interesting how it is only after the brief but luminescent opening of yellow and gold that the orange note moves to the fore. As I said before, it then moves into an orange/orris/leather phase, and the peridot green base slowly makes itself more known as time goes on. I get hints of tobacco (I think this is the saffron note at work), a bit of jasmine green tea, dried grass. This sits under the lightly powdered leather/orange/orris accord, and the juxtaposition of the two calls to mind Nasomatto's China White (and in some ways, probably thanks to the grapefruit/green combination, Invasion Barbare). There is even some overlap with China White in basic scent profile, but (and I just compared them both on paper earlier today to make sure) Beloved feels much more natural, round, and lively. If you ever wanted to describe to a non-scent oriented person what three dimensionality in a fragrance smells like, Beloved is the scent you'd want to show them.

If anything, Trebor, it's really unlike any other Amouage scent. It's got a bit of Caron DNA, and definitely some Guerlain DNA. Some Dior, perhaps, too? It's definitely a classical men's scent done in a modern way. The late base does have a faint resemblance to Tribute attar (not too surprising I suppose when you look at the note overlap) but it's much softer. Smoother. The whole scent is smooth. Very smooth. They did a good job of capturing the romantic element, while managing to avoid making it overtly sexy. In that sense, it's character is something like a cross between Dior Homme (confident, slightly feminine, romantic and sexy) and Invasion Barbare (confident, masculine, not overtly sexy but almost seems to condense masculinity as a whole down into a fragrance, much the way Old Spice and Brut do).

So Trebor, I don't know that you'll like it, but I have no doubt that you will find it quite different than anything else by the house. I think you and I could both ID a new Amouage scent as being from Amouage if it continued along the trajectory of the mainline. I don't think most would immediately think Amouage if smelling Beloved blindly. I'm guessing many would think it's a new Guerlain from one of their exclusive lines.

Well, a few points about that:

1) It's not easy, and it takes a lot of work in the best of cases. I can usually pick up major notes and things with a few regular wearings, but for a detailed breakdown (which I only occasionally do, when I find the composition novel or the scent particularly moving) takes numerous wears and detailed scrutiny. I have been known to sit around for a couple of hours doing nothing but smelling the scent, jotting down notes, etc. Odd? Probably. But I find it enjoyable - it's like listening to an album or watching a movie I love.

2) I've worked with natural perfumery materials (about 200 or so) for a number of years now, and that really helped me to learn not only how various notes smell, but how they can be utilized. Some notes 'lift' other notes. Some notes may just add a depth or roundness. Some notes round other notes. You get the idea. Anyhow, I will say that despite all I've learned I know there is still SO much more to learn, and in so many ways I'm still just a beginner. I have very little experience with synthetic aroma chemicals, which is something I'd like to rectify in the next year or two.

3) This ties into the last part of point 2. Given that I don't have experience with many synthetics, and most scents (yes, even high end niche) are predominantly synthetic, I give my impressions based on what notes these synthetics mimic, and how my nose perceives them. I suppose I would probably still do that even if I did know the synthetics, as I don't know how helpful it would be to say "and then the phenyethyl acetate note comes to the fore, flanked by some methyl anthranilate and aurantiol." Well, I suppose if the synthetics were described in more detail, such reviews might be interesting to a select few. We'll see, I may end up incorporating that kind of analysis into future reviews if/when I get the necessary knowledge to do so. Anyhow, as it is now, I explain the notes my nose perceives, and also the way those notes seem to interact with each other (their structural, compositional function) based on my own experience with naturals. I may be way off the mark with my analysis at times, but my goal is not to reduce the scent down to a formula anyhow. My goal is to shine some light on the beauty of the architectural side of a perfume, as I think there is just as much beauty and intrigue in the workings of the composition (and from that, trying to guess what the perfumer was thinking) as there are in the final smell itself. If anyone reads one of my detailed breakdowns and finds something new to love about a scent they already enjoy, then I have succeeded.

Thanks drseid!

As I said it's really not like either one of them, individually, so I think there's a chance you might like it. I'm curious to see if anyone is going to find some of the scents embellishments to be 'too modern.' I tend to like modern scents more than classical scents (such as K10, or another I went back and resniffed to compare recently, Dunhill '34). I think both K10 and Dunhill are masterpieces and absolutely top notch compositions, but they're just not 'me.' Beloved, being a modern take on classical notes, is much more to my liking. I really don't own any classical scents (outside of maybe Grey Flannel, if you'd call it that), but I can definitely see myself owning a bottle of Beloved, some day.

Ah, I can't believe I forgot to mention that I'm actually not that big a fan of Dior Homme, Invasion Barbare or China White. I like the basic idea behind them, but there's something in each of them that just doesn't work for me.