New Perfume Reviews Amouage Rose Incense and Overture Woman- Farewell Christopher, Hello Renaud

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As a scientist I am always looking for patterns. Perfume is not exempt from that. As I start this series of reviews, I begin with the last perfume by the previous creative director at Amouage, Christopher Chong called Rose Incense. I also look at one of the first original perfumes be the new creative director Renaud Salmon. He chose to do Overture Woman which is the female counterpart to one of the other final creations by Mr. Chong.

Christopher Chong

Rose Incense was an exclusive until this past summer. Which is why it is only widely available now. Mr. Chong again used one of the grand inspirations for the perfume. This time it was the movie “Citizen Kane”. He asked perfumer Bruno Jovanovic to collaborate. It is his first perfume for the brand.

Bruno Jovanovic

Rose Incense is probably the most simply formulated perfume of Mr. Chong’s time at the brand. Instead of the entire movie it almost seems like it is trying to capture that moment when the dying Charles Kane utters “Rosebud”. Translated to a perfume it means what the name on the label promises a lush rose coated in resins.

It begins with that rose which is the Damask variety. This variety exists to be paired with incense because of its strength. Early on elemi provides a citrus-tinted woody opening. The incense begins to appear soon after. At first it is a lighter version which allows the rose to have the lead. As we get to the heart it flips as the incense is now in charge with the rose in support. Myrrh adds to the frankincense along with a thread of leather in between the floral and incense. It is completed with a rich sandalwood.

Rose Incense has 14-16 hour longevity and average sillage.

Rose Incense is not the best example of Mr. Chong’s tenure. It acts as a farewell as he leaves the stage. Perhaps it is meant to be his own enigmatic perfumed “Rosebud”.

Renaud Salmon

A stage as grand as Amouage abhors a vacuum. It is now time to say hello to M. Salmon. For his first act he chose to design Overture Woman. When he began his Amouage career with a flanker I urged him to lean into his new position. Not that he could have told me at the time he was doing exactly that with Overture Woman. Mr Chong’s masculine version was a boozy resinous affair which was typical of his style. M. Renaud’s feminine version also contains a boozy component the apple brandy known as Calvados on top of a spicy rose and leather. Working with perfumer Annick Menardo they create something beautiful.

Annick Menardo

Overture Woman begins with the Calvados paired with saffron. It is a fascinating opening where the alcoholic apple is given a little extra bite with cinnamon. The saffron provides a slightly leathery glow as if from the pit of the stomach after a sip of the real thing. Leather itself arrives as it adds its presence with a refined version of the accord. Myrrh and frankincense come forward to give a resinous finish to this.

Overture Woman has 10-12 hour longevity and average sillage.

M. Salmon and Mme Menardo have made a very Amouage type of perfume without being the like Mr. Chong’s aesthetic. In Overture Woman there is a crisp enunciation of the phases but once they come together it feels like the beginning of a new aesthetic at Amouage.

I’ll delve deeper into that over the next two days as I review the four perfumes in the Renaissance Collection.

Disclosure: This review is based on samples provided by Amouage.

–Mark Behnke

New Perfume Review Bottega Veneta Illusione for Him and Illusione for Her- Taking a Downward Turn

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I write a lot about what I think it takes for a perfume brand to succeed. When it comes to designer brands, I have always extolled the influence of the brand creative director on the fragrance side. If that person can give even a little bit of time to the perfume side of the business, it usually turns out for the better. If the brand just signs their name away to a big cosmetics brand, things usually turn out generic. Unfortunately an example of this for the worse is Bottega Veneta Illusione for Him and Illusione for Her.

Daniel Lee

In 2011 when Bottega Veneta entered the designer fragrance world the then creative director Tomas Maier had a direct hand in the perfumes. It had been that way until he was replaced last year by Daniel Lee. The collection under Hr. Maier was one of the best designer fragrance ones we had. There were clear through lines to the history of the brand with the releases always being among the best mainstream releases of any given year. I was wondering what part fragrance would play in Mr. Lee’s vision for Bottega Veneta. Based on these two first releases it seems like the answer is to give it over to the licensee without giving it another thought.

Illusione for Him was composed by perfumer Antoine Maisondieu. This is a perfume that is exactly what its note list promises. Citrus top accord of orange and lemon, woody heart accord of cedar and base accord of tonka bean with a dollop of vetiver. It smells like everything else on the men’s fragrance shelf which was not the case before.

Illusione for Her was a team effort by Amandine Clerc-Marie and Annick Menardo. It starts with a pedestrian bergamot and fig leaves top with orange blossom at the heart and wood sweetened by tonka bean in the base. This is what commercial perfumery smells like; pretty and bland.

Both perfumes are pitched on the more transparent side probably because that is the current trend. Inexplicably to me both perfumes have some of the worst longevity I have encountered for a mainstream release; barely 6-7 hours.

I am saddened to see this happening to a designer brand I regularly pointed to as how it can be done. It looks like that will no longer be the case as long as Mr. Lee is creative director. I just hope they don’t discontinue the previous releases.

Disclosure: This review is based on samples provided by Bloomingdale’s.

–Mark Behnke

Flanker Round-Up: Boss Bottled Infinite and Givenchy Gentleman Cologne

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As much as I spend the first few months of the year complaining about the avalanche of new spring rose perfumes; I’ve been asked if there is a men’s corollary. The answer is, kind of. As Father’s Day in the US gets closer, I get a significant increase in colognes from the big perfume brands. The reason it doesn’t bother me as much is there are more variations within a cologne architecture. Most of them are flankers of established best sellers which try to freshen and lighten things up. Boss Bottled Infinite and Givenchy Gentleman Cologne are two recent examples.

Boss Bottled Infinite

Hugo Boss has surely milked the popularity of 1998’s Boss Bottled. Boss Bottled Infinite is the thirteenth flanker. I was not one of the fans of the original. I felt perfumer Annick Menardo overloaded things. I was in the minority as it has been a consistent best seller. Usually a flanker keeps much of the original formula while adding in a couple new ingredients. Which is a description of most of the Boss Bottled flankers. What made me give Boss Bottled Intense a second look was that it went in the opposite direction by stripping it down to the essential keynotes. Mme Menardo was again behind the wheel for the new flanker.

For this new version the top accord is simplified to mandarin and apple, with the citrus out front. Cinnamon and sage form the heart with some lavender as underpinning. This is more spicy than previous versions without becoming heavy. The significant change is olive wood for sandalwood. What that adds is less dry woodiness. It has a richer quality which complements the early accords nicely. If you’re a fan of the original I believe this will be a nice summer alternative.

Givenchy Gentleman Cologne

The Givenchy Gentleman released in 1974 is one of the masterpieces of that decade of perfume. When Givenchy decided to release a new perfume with that name in 2017, they did it in Eau de Toilette concentration. I was not happy it shared nothing of the sophistication of the original; it was a mess. A year later they released an Eau de Parfum version. This felt like the heir to the original I was looking for. When Givenchy Gentleman Cologne arrived it fell in the middle but closer to the Eau de Parfum side.

Perfumers Olivier Cresp and Nathalie Lorson continue to design the new Givenchy Gentleman collection. They keep it simple, too. In the Eau de Toilette there was a pear note on top that really turned me off. For Cologne the top note is a brilliant lemon in high concentration. It is a summery blast of sunlight. Some rosemary provides the herbal component of the cologne recipe. The perfumers substituted iris for the more typical lavender. It is a fantastic choice. The early moments are as good as it gets. My only drawback is a high concentration of synthetic woods. It lands like a sledgehammer. The lemon and iris nearly get obliterated holding on by a thread. If there was a bit better balance to the base, I would have liked this as much as the Eau de Parfum. Whether it is for you will come down to your tolerance for the synthetic woody in high concentration.

Disclosure: These reviews are based on samples from the manufacturers.

–Mark Behnke

Discount Diamonds: Bvlgari Black- Still Enough Edge

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As the concept of perfumes which didn’t necessarily have to smell pretty took hold simultaneously with the rise of niche perfumery there arose several trendsetting fragrances. One of the boldest was a mainstream release for Bvlgari called simply Black.

When I came upon this sometime around its release in 1998 I remember the salesperson at the department store warning me, “It’s edgy!” Thinking to myself, “How edgy can it be?” The answer was quite a bit. Perfumer Annick Menardo created a fragrance reveling in the smell of rubber. It would be like going to S&M night at the local leather bar. Edgy, indeed.

Annick Menardo

Mme Menardo fashions a powdery rubber accord around black tea, musk, and sandalwood. In an odd juxtaposition jasmine is used as contrast. Leather intersperses itself and this is where it feels like a bar as smoke, rubber, leather, and a hint of floral combine for that milieu. For the first few minutes of wearing Black it is all of this. Then before it can get truly subversive Mme Menardo reels it all back into familiarity with the olfactory version of a safe word, vanilla. Lots and lots of vanilla. It doesn’t not work as the leather and rubber have sweet facets amplified by the vanilla. But it does turn something challenging into something vanilla.

Black has 12-14 hour longevity and average sillage.

There has always been a part of me that was surprised at how successful Black has been. I would hazard a guess that it is because it allows perfume lovers a chance to walk on the wild side for a short period before going full comfort mode. I still think that opening 30-45 minutes is as good as perfume got back in 1998. Especially mainstream perfume. You can find the distinctive hockey puck shaped bottle for $20-25. Nowadays Black has become mainstream as all that was edgy back in 1998 is now almost quaint. It doesn’t mean its any less of a Discount Diamond it just means there is still enough edge remaining to make it memorable.

Disclosure: This review is based on a bottle I purchased.

–Mark Behnke

New Perfume Review Une Nuit Nomade Memory Motel- Sag Harbor Sabbatical

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I have mentioned before that I spent some time as part of a summer share in a house on Shelter Island, NY. It was a beautiful serene respite from the hustle and bustle of the urban day-to-day. Nestled between the terminal North and South Forks of Long Island we were a ferry ride away from the rarified air of the Hamptons. I always got a weird vibe from our visits there as it felt like some of the worst parts of the city had found a beach home. Which is why I enjoyed being out there in the fall with most of the houses boarded up and only a few hardy people walking the dunes in the chilly air. In the hotel I would stay at during these visits the common room always greeted me with a roaring fire, leather chairs, and vases of fresh flowers. When I received my sample of the new perfumes from Une Nuit Nomade based on the Montauk area of Long Island; it was Memory Hotel which reminded me strongly of these autumn getaways.

Philippe Solas (top) and Alexandra Cubizolles

The creative directors behind Une Nuit Nomade are Alexandra Cubizolles and Philippe Solas who collaborate with perfumer Annick Menardo for Memory Motel. Mme Cubizolles and M. Solas met while traveling and together they decided to make a travel inspired perfume line. The first set of releases were based on their initial meeting in Bali. Now the latest two releases are meant to capture Montauk as fragrance.  Memory Motel refers to the place Andy Warhol bought out in the Hamptons. For the fragrance they wanted to capture the moment in time when the Rolling Stones set up shop there to record their album “Black and Blue”. This translates into a warm resinous perfume. Memory Motel is not the stage version of the Stones this is the idea of musicians working out their material behind the scenes. It is subtle with many of the best traits of Mme Menardo’s style on display.

Annick Menardo

It opens with an opaque incense swirling in curls of smoke. It has the slightly silvery essence of good incense. Through the opacity of the resins iris and carnation arise to form a second filter through which to experience this perfume. In the base is where we get the rock and roll as leather, patchouli, tobacco, and vanilla combine in the idea of the band sitting in a room figuring out their new material.

Memory Motel has 8-10 hour longevity and moderate sillage.

I must admit this never quite coalesces as a fragrance of rock and roll. I kept being reminded of my autumn trips to Sag Harbor which is more sabbatical than “Satisfaction”.

Disclosure: This review is based on a sample purchased from Une Nuit Nomade.

–Mark Behnke

New Perfume Review Amouage Figment Man- Studying Serenity

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There are several inspirations which crop up again and again in fragrance. One of the more common ones is the fictional city of Shangri-La from the 1933 book by James Hilton and the movie of the same name by director Frank Capra four years later. It is suggested that it is somewhere in the area adjacent to Tibet in the Kunlun Mountains. That’s from the book. There are many other places which claim to be the inspiration for Mr. Hilton. I am happy that there is no one earthly place which can be pinned down as the definitive source of Shangri-La. Shangri-La should always be a concept embracing the ability to find true serenity which doesn’t require a physical presence; the idea is enough.

Christopher Chong

Amouage creative director Christopher Chong recently visited Bhutan coming away with the inspiration for the latest duo of releases; Figment Man and Figment Woman. Don’t read “figment” as containing fig read it as figment of imagination. Much as seeing Shangri-La would be. I’ll be reviewing both but I’m going to start with Figment Man.

Annick Menardo

Mr. Chong collaborates with perfumer Annick Menardo for Figment Man. Figment Man is part of the “second cycle” of Amouage. Now that we have a few releases in this group there is beginning to be a developing aesthetic which seems to delight in developing large themes on a broad canvas. Some of this is the brand aesthetic of Amouage. Most of it is Mr. Chong’s desire to create fragrance with an operatic wingspan. I have been enjoying this overt style through the first few releases of the “second cycle”. Mme Menardo is fluent in this kind of design making her a good partner.

The nucleus of Figment Man is sandalwood. Sandalwood is one of those smells which I associate with meditation. It is the clean slightly sweet woody scent I use as my olfactory mantra as I breathe in and out in search of center. Mr. Chong and Mme Menardo are looking to make that search a bit more challenging. Requiring an inward examination of the air, the earth, and the body.

Figment Man opens with a cleansing breath of lemon, baie rose, and geranium. This is that deep breath on a cool morning you feel it all the way to the base of your soul. The sandalwood then appears holding the center; focusing my attention. Vetiver covers it with a grassy veil which takes my focus elsewhere. Then Mme Menardo uses what is described as an “animalic note”. It is surely not a single note but a mixture of modern synthetic musks. It resolves into a clean skin accord which brings me inward. Next, I am drawn in the opposite direction as Mme Menardo creates an “earthy accord” this is a wet soil accord carrying the after the rain quality of geosmin. It intertwines with the animalic forming a duet of earth and soul on a sandalwood focal point. This is a fabulous point in the development and where Figment Man spends most of its time on my skin. After many hours guaiac wood comes along to allow me to re-establish the woody focus I started with.

Figment Man has 24-hour longevity and above average sillage.

Figment Man is everything that I respect about the current version of Amouage. Mr. Chong directs his perfumer collaborators to push to the edges of what it means to design perfume. It means Amouage is nothing less than fascinating. Figment Man uses the idea of the fictional serenity of Shangri-La to ask a perfume lover to study their idea of what an olfactive version might entail. I might not find the mythical city but the reality of Figment Man will allow me to study serenity anytime I want.

Disclosure: this review was based on a press sample provided by Amouage.

–Mark Behnke

New Perfume Review Boss Bottled Tonic- Tenth Time Is The Charm

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When there is a mass-market brand which has spawned many flankers my chance of liking it is dependent on what I thought of the original. The idea of most flankers is to make something new but not so new that it smells significantly different than the original. Since that is the case I should like the original if the flankers are just simple variations. The corollary is if the flanker dramatically changes that underlying architecture there is an opportunity to make me take notice. This is what has happened with Boss Bottled Tonic the tenth flanker of 1998’s Boss Bottled.

In the late 1990’s the era of fresh and clean perfumes had become dominant in men’s fragrance. Except for one small sector; the “clubbing” scent. There was some product meant to be worn out for the evening. The original Boss Bottled was in this category. Perfumer Annick Menardo made a fruity woody oriental. It was the fruit which put me off right away as apple and plum were on top which headed through a spicy heart to a vanilla sweetened woody base. Boss Bottled was successful and I smelled it often when I was out and about. If you had asked me what I wanted in a Boss Bottled flanker at the time I almost perversely would have asked for something fresher and cleaner. Nearly twenty years later Mme Menardo gives that thought a try in Boss Bottled Tonic.

Annick Menardo

In the top Mme Menardo jettisons the problematic plum and diminishes the apple significantly. In their place comes a sparkly citrus barrage lead by grapefruit supported by lemon and orange. The apple provides a crisp quality to the citrus. If there was a part of the original I liked it was the geranium, clove and cinnamon heart. That has been retained as the geranium gathers the citrus up and carries them to the spices. Cinnamon and clove have always been good companions to citrus. Ginger adds a lot of fresh energy to this heart accord. It gives it some zest. Finally, the vanilla is also gone and the woody grouping of olive wood, vetiver, sandalwood, and cedar present an opaque lighter woody foundation.

Boss Bottled Tonic has 6-8 hour longevity and average sillage.

Boss Bottled Tonic is going to be the antithesis of the original as this new fragrance is going to be at its best as a summer daytime scent. If you like the original it is going to be a perfect set-up perfume for the nighttime version. I will spend much of my time in the daylight in Boss Bottled Tonic.

Disclosure: This review was based on a sample provided by Hugo Boss.

–Mark Behnke

New Perfume Review Starck Paris Peau de Soie, Peau D’Ailleurs, & Peau de Pierre- Semi-Avant Garde

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I must admit I am amused when I receive press packets full of fancy imagery and wordsmithing meant to convey something unique. In just ten years of writing about perfume I can honestly say I have not encountered a new perspective on fragrance within the press release. Sometimes the harder the brand works with all the campaign imagery it is often meant to cover-up something less than groundbreaking. Sometimes, thankfully, I get to try a perfume before getting all the overcooked puffery. This was a good thing for the new collection from designer Philippe Starck and his new brand Starck Paris.

philippe-starck

Philippe Starck

I tried the debut three perfumes when I attended Tranoi Parfums in NYC in September. I had read about them in a couple of trade publications and my interest was piqued by the perfumers M. Starck chose to work with; Dominique Ropion on Peau de Soie, Annick Menardo on Peau D’Ailleurs, and Daphne Bugey on Peau de Pierre. Trying them that day I was interested to wear them because they all had very interesting evolutions on the piece of skin I had them on. Sniffing those patches over the train ride home had me ready to wear them over the next few days. As I did I was fascinated on the delicacy of the work each of these perfumers produced under the creative direction of M. Starck.

M. Starck was inspired to create perfume because his mother owned a perfume shop and he spent many childhood hours there. It was where his appreciation for the impact scent could have blossomed; leading to this collection. That is a beautiful story and I wish the press stopped there because it is enough to explain why and how the collection is designed. Instead there is a tedious slog through pseudo-intellectualist claptrap. Lot of talk about being intellectual and anti-marketing. The new perfumes are not as out there as M. Starck presumes. Also, the idea of not releasing a note list is also not so revolutionary as he thinks. It made me think that these perfumes were different because of the fragile interplay but the components; those I’ve smelled before and in these combinations. Which maybe makes this all semi-avant garde.

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Dominique Ropion

Peau de Soie translates as “silk skin”. The brief M. Starck gave M. Ropion was to wrap a traditional masculine with a feminine covering. It is a fabulous combination of musk and wood to represent that male component which is where Peau de Soie opens. Then M. Ropion wraps it in a powdery iris while simultaneously piecing it with a greenish vector to allow the musk and wood the chance to peek out. As I mentioned above this all holds together like a house of cards that feels like a puff of wind will knock it down; except it is sturdier than that lasting for hours.

annick-menardo-1

Annick Menardo

Peau D’Ailleurs is harder to translate sort of “skin even more so”. Mme Menardo’s brief was to make this the most androgynous of the three. It isn’t clear to me how much the three perfumers collaborated but based on the structure of Peau D’Ailleurs I am going to assume that Mme Menardo knew some of what her compatriots were doing. That’s because there is a recapitulation of the woods from Peau de Soie and the mineral elements from Peau de Pierre. Mme Menardo spins them on an axis of amber and musk. This all comes together to form a kind of dirt accord but one done with so much finesse it is delightful.

DaphneBugey

Daphne Bugey

Peau de Pierre which translates to “stone skin” is my favorite of the three. This is meant to be the flip side of Peau de Soie as the feminine evolves the masculine. Not sure I’m there with that because the entire perfume is stolidly in smoky woody territory. I am not sure what the feminine is supposed to be represented by as Peau de Pierre opens with a cleverly composed wet stone accord, definitely some geosmin here, but there is also something else keeping it more expansive. It is like a hologram of river stones. Mme Bugey then adds smoke and vetiver again in a very opaque way. What I enjoyed so much about Peau de Pierre is despite the name it is not as solid as a rock instead it is as ephemeral as a breeze.

All three Starck Paris perfumes have over 10 hour longevity and almost zero sillage; they are skin scents, as advertised.

If I discard all of M. Starck’s pretentiousness and return to him as a child sitting in his mother’s perfume shop I see the genesis of this collection. Imagining translucent spheres of scent traveling above his head intercalating themselves into his vision as they expanded and popped that would have prepared me for the gorgeous set of perfumes which make up this debut collection.

Disclosure; This review was based on samples provided by Starck Paris.

–Mark Behnke

New Perfume Review Olfactive Studio Close Up- Annick Menardo’s Vision Quest

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A perfume brand has to know when to take risks and when to please their audience. Creative director/owner of Olfactive Studio Celine Verleure has tread this fine line very well over the five years of its existence. After a 2015 which saw the more adventurous side of things with Panorama and Selfie; 2016 is going back to the more comforting side of things. The earlier release this year Still Life in Rio was related to one of the original releases Still Life. The latest release is called Close Up.

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Photo: Suren Manvelyan

Those familiar with the brand know that Mme Verleure chooses a photographic brief to give to her chosen perfumer. I knew Close Up was going to be interesting because she chose a picture by Suren Manvelyan. It comes from a series of photos of the human eye in extreme close up called “Your Beautiful Eyes” In this case it is of an iris floating in blackness. It is a blue eye with orange/red flecks like solar flares puncturing the serenity of the blue. It looks like it could be a galaxy being swallowed by a black hole but it is that which we use to see.

annick-menardo-1

Annick Menardo

The perfumer Mme Verleure asked to interpret this is Annick Menardo. Mme Menardo usually spends most of her time in the mainstream perfume sector. The beautiful thing about her work is on the rare occasions she ventures into the niche space with a creative director who appreciates her style she has had a fantastic track record. Mme Verleure is one of those creative directors who allows enough space for her perfumers to excel. For Close Up Mme Menrado was allowed to shine.

CELINE_VERLEURE

Celine Verleure

One of the first things they must have agreed on was that this was not going to be some transparent opaque composition. It was going to carry the intensity of Mr. Manvelyan’s photograph with a host of bold notes. After a year of so much lightness it was a treat to have something which wasn’t afraid to swagger a bit.

Close Up struts its stuff from the very first moments. Mme Menardo combines green coffee with a cherry liqueur note. It is like getting a single blend coffee flavored with cherry syrup. It may sound weird but it goes together unusually well. This transitions into a cherry flavored tobacco while the coffee grabs ahold of the patchouli in the heart. These four ingredients form the part of Close Up which lasts the longest. It has great intensity to it as it wears throughout the day. Once Close Up moves on Mme Menardo has one more surprise as a suite of animalic musks provide the final flare. The musks are ameliorated with a bit of tonka and cedar.

Close Up has 24 hr longevity and average sillage.

My most-worn Olfactive Studio fragrance has been Lumiere Blanche it is probably my favorite fall fragrance I own. The testament to that is my bottle is almost empty. I was expecting to go pick up a replacement before the weather turned cooler. After having worn Close Up I am not so worried about that anymore as I think it might just nudge Lumiere Blanche off of its perch. If you are looking for a new fall fragrance you can’t go wrong with embracing Mme Menardo’s vision of Mr. Manvelyan’s eye.

Disclosure: This review was based on a press sample supplied by Olfactive Studio.

–Mark Behnke

New Perfume Review Amouage Opus X- Rose Vibrato

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Spring is the time of year for roses. Happy blooming red flowers to signal winter is gone. Perfume follows this same trend. The parade of rose fragrances increases in the first part of the year. They also exhibit a sense of light-heartedness. There comes a point where one more pleasantly composed rose brings out my inner curmudgeon. I want to yell at my desk full of samples for these kids to get out of my sight. I was feeling extra salty about all of this when I received my sample of the new Amouage Opus X. I looked at the set of notes and saw rose. I sprayed some on a strip and the antidote to all my irritation was washed away in a deeply moving dark rose perfume.

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Christopher Chong

Christopher Chong the creative director at Amouage took the 1998 movie “The Red Violin” as his inspiration. The movie is the story of a red violin which is created in 1681 by a master violin maker. The red color comes from him mixing the blood of his wife, who dies in childbirth along with his child, in with the varnish. The movie then focuses on the violin as it shows up in 1793 Vienna, 1898 Oxford, 1968 Shanghai, and eventually present day Montreal. At each stop the violin plays a pivotal part as foretold by a tarot card reading at its creation. The Red Violin is a sweeping ambitious piece of storytelling and so is Opus X.

PierreNegrin

Pierre Negrin

For Opus X Mr. Chong collaborated with perfumers Pierre Negrin and Annick Menardo. Their concept was to create an olfactory red violin. There would be four distinct strings of rose and rose accords. A “red varnish” accord followed by the wood which makes up the body. The creative team really worked out how to create the different rose accords. As I wore it I was reminded of the fingering technique used when playing a violin called vibrato. A musician by using their fingertip to rapidly lengthen and release the string provides a vibrating effect which allows a single note to resonate as if it was two different notes milliseconds apart. In the best violin players’ hands it is used to stunning effect. In the hands of this creative team for Opus X there is a real sense of vibrato among the different rose “strings”.

annick-menardo

Annick Menardo

Opus X opens with those rose strings right away. Rose de Mai represents one of the strings. This classic rose of Provence provides the beauty. The rosebud accord imparts a delicacy. The “bloody rose accord” is the deeply rooted rose. Rose oxide provides a metallic rose which also represents the blood in the varnish. In the early moments it is just a straight bow across all of these notes as the rose ebbs and flows as the perfumers add vibrato and they begin to meld together. The next phase is going to be the challenging part for some to get through as the varnish accord is leavened a bit by geranium. This is a very heady varnish accord and it takes its place underneath the continued vibrating strings of roses. I was completely taken in by the imagery and the early notes that the varnish just kept the story evolving for me. If it becomes too prominent on some I can see it jarring you out of the mood. For me I found it fascinatingly different. The wood of the violin is made up of Laotian oud and the warm ambergris quality of the synthetic aromachemical Ambrarome. It adds in an exotic otherworldly aspect to the base accord which feels like the right place to end Opus X.

Opus X has 14-16 hour longevity and way above average sillage. This is one where you want to apply very conservatively.

I needed a rose fragrance which wasn’t willing to pander to the season. Opus X’s arrival gave me one. This is nothing like any of the other roses in the Amouage collection. It is as good as anything Amouage has produced.

Disclosure: This review was based on a press sample provided by Amouage.

–Mark Behnke