Colognoisseur Best of 2021 Part 2: Perfume, Perfumer, Creative Director, and Brand of the Year

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Quantity versus quality is an eternal dichotomy. When it came to deciding these top categories for the year I was constantly faced with this dilemma. I ended up choosing two based on the quality of a couple perfumes and two from an impressive body of work. If you look at the runners-up you will see the choices I wrestled with.

Perfume of the Year: Amouage Silver Oud– Prior to this year I was over oud in perfumery. It was too often cloaked in PR nonsense. It was a cynical play to convince consumers there was something worth the price they were paying. Silver Oud from Amouage creative director Renaud Salmon and perfumer Cecile Zarokian deconstructed everything about oud as used in Western perfumery.

They created a fragrance of three accords. One was the typical oud accord present in most commercial perfumes. It contains no oud. Mme Zarokian made a more interesting version of it by using better materials, but it was still not the real thing. The heart is where the real Laotian oud shows up paired with a resinous vanilla from Madagascar. This is what oud can be. This oddly semi-gourmand version is not one of the more common pairings. The final accord is a smoked amber which usually stands alone as a simulacrum of oud. Given the foundation of genuine oud it provided a fascinating resonance that made this amazing. Ever since this arrived, I have enjoyed allowing it to show different shadings of oud to me. This has engaged my nose and my mind more than any other perfume this year.

Cecile Zarokian

Perfumer of the Year: Cecile Zarokian– Ever since 2013 this award was an inevitability. When I tried Majda Bekkali Mon Nom est Rouge, Mme Zarokian showed me she was an independent perfumer to keep an eye on. She has confirmed that assessment year after year. I was waiting for that moment when it all came together, 2021 was it.

She made two perfumes for Amouage which are among my Top 2 perfumes of the year. You see that Silver Oud is one of them. The other is Amouage Material. Mme Zarokian has been the most adventurous in expanding what we think of as a gourmand perfume. She has taken every opportunity to create new space within the genre. Material takes the tritest of gourmand ingredients, vanilla and wraps it in a series of complementary notes which illuminate it in a wonderfully different way. She does the same thing for oud in Silver Oud.

I also considered Nathalie Feisthauer who will figure prominently in the Top 25 and Cristiano Canali who made two brilliant perfumes. Mme Zarokian is my choice for Perfumer of the Year because both Material and Silver Oud were genius level examples of perfume construction.

Runners-Up: Francesca Bianchi, Cristiano Canali, Nathalie Feisthauer, David Falsberg, and Anne Flipo.

Thibaud Crivelli

Creative Director of the Year: Thibaud Crivelli, Maison Crivelli– It would have been easy to keep the Amouage award train running and naming M. Salmon to this honor. Except I have been having a discussion with a perfume friend about the role of creative director. How much do they have to do with the perfume that ends up being released? I am a believer that the best of them is critical to the long-term success. One way I can approach it is by asking this question, is the aesthetic of the brand retained through different perfumers. In other words, if I think a brand is doing great work and the only constant is the creative director that should indicate something.

When Thibaud Crivelli began Maison Crivelli he openly stated he wanted to create a fragrance collection of textures. Over eleven releases he has worked with eight different perfumers to deliver exactly that. 2021 has seen Osmanthe Kodoshan, Lys Solaberg, and Hibiscus Mahajad. Perfumers Stephanie Bakouche, Nathalie Feisthauer, and Quentin Bisch produced gorgeously textural wonders at M. Crivelli’s direction. This is what makes him my Creative Director of the Year for 2021.

Runners-Up: Christian Astuguevieille of Comme des Garcons, Myriam Badault of Diptyque, Alessandro Brun of Masque Milano and Milano Fragranze, Renaud Salmon of Amouage, and Victor Wong of Zoologist.

Brand of the Year: Diptyque– This year was the 60th anniversary of this brand. Creative director Myriam Badault was going to make sure it would not pass with a whimper. Instead, she oversaw a perfume selection beginning with Orpheon paying homage to the founders. Ilio as a reminder of the summery style this brand does so well. She finished the year with Kyoto and Venise which laid down a marker that this 60-year-old still has some innovative life left in it.

Runners-Up: Amouage, Maison Crivelli, Milano Fragranze, Zara, and Zoologist.

Tomorrow I reveal my Top 25 new perfumes of 2021.

–Mark Behnke

New Perfume Review Amouage Silver Oud- All About That Base

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Perfume dork that I am there are things which happen in my head as I try perfumes. One of them is when I encounter a particularly intriguing base accord the internal jukebox in my mind begins playing the 2014 pop song by Meghan Trainor “All About That Bass”. The song is speaking about the bass line to a song especially as it pertains to dancing. It is the reason I have bass enhanced headphones so I can make my music all about the bass if I want to. There is something satisfying about a depth which resonates deep in the belly and spine.

I also hum this song when giving advice to fledgling indie wanna-be perfumers. The great majority of the time what is lacking in their earliest attempts is the base accord. This is not so different than the bass line in a song. In perfumery the base is what you build upon, it is foundational. It is often where the soul of perfume resides. It may be covered in all matter of fabulous other accords and ingredients but without it there is nothing. What happens when a professional perfumer decides to make it all about the base? You get something like Amouage Silver Oud.

Renaud Salmon

Creative director at Amouage, Renaud Salmon is early in his time there. He is beginning to create a set of perfumers he believes can realize his vision for the brand. One of them seems to be perfumer Cecile Zarokian. Mme Zarokian is one of the best perfumers as well as one of my favorites. A couple of her earliest fragrances are among my personal faves. She has only become better over time. In recent years she has been the perfumer closest to pushing the gourmand genre into something grand. Earlier this year Amouage Material is an example of this. When I reviewed that I mentioned I wanted more from her and M. Salmon in Silver Oud I am getting that.

This is inspired by Stendahl’s 19th century novel “The Red and the Black”. I’ve never read it, but Wikipedia tells me it is a tale of a young protagonist rising above his modest beginnings only to be brought low by his passions. To that end there are three titled accords in Silver Oud; confusion, passion, and destruction. I’ll allow someone who has read the book to weigh in on those themes as the heart of the novel. I encountered the perfume based on them quite differently as I was brought to mind of a clever rumination on oud in modern perfumery.

Cecile Zarokian

This is a perfume which is three distinct base accords, but they are presenting how oud is perceived in Western perfumery. The early part is an oud accord. Mme Zarokian weaves a classic patchouli, cypriol and cedar version. Most of the oud in fragrance is this kind, an accord given some life with a tiny amount of the real thing. In this case what comes first is a reminder of what those accords represent. Not quite the real thing but close enough to be part of a bigger construct. Here it is given some time to itself. This is much better than many of the commercial oud accords because of the quality of the patchouli and cedar used here. They bring in some of the rougher edges these type of accords usually lack.

In the heart real oud from Assam, India pushes through the simulation with authenticity. This is that full-throated oud which has medicinal, barnyard, and resinous aspects in its profile. Most of the time a perfumer will look for a complement. Mme Zarokian chooses a contrast, a slightly smoky vanilla from Madagascar. This isn’t a gourmand accord yet her facility in that genre allows her to find a sweet smoky contrast. The vanilla smolders its way through the oud. It is what those who love real oud are looking for. A simple pairing which brings out the best in both.

The final piece is a strong smoked amber accord. This is one of those tricks some brands like to play when they say there is oud in their perfume. They create a strong amber layered with ingredients which add smokiness. It is why so few perfume lovers ever know the real thing. Mme Zarokian creates a version of this which is better than almost all the ones trying to confuse perfume lovers. It creates its own version of an oud accord around amber, guaiac wood, and castoreum. The smoke comes courtesy of birch. She smartly keeps it at the level where a comparison can take place. The real oud paired with vanilla versus the smoked amber simulation. It is a fascinating debate which took place on my skin.

Silver Oud has 14-16 hour longevity and average sillage.

Silver Oud is as good as Material was earlier in the year. M. Salmon and Mme Zarokian are forming a creative partnership which might be the core of what this phase of Amouage is all about. The absolute fun of wearing this and having the history of oud in Western perfumery play out is fantastic. Then again that’s because this is a perfume which is all about that base.

Disclosure: This review is based on a bottle provided by Amouage.

–Mark Behnke

New Perfume Review Amouage Boundless- Carrying On

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As I’ve been watching the change in creative director at Amouage I had a question in the back of my mind. In the last nine months Renaud Salmon has set a new vector for this brand. If the previous regime was operatic M. Salmon operates on a different level; one of pop music. Amouage has stood for intensely layered fragrances for over twenty years. M. Salmon based on the early releases is looking to retain the layers while finding new sources of intensity. That left me wondering if I was going to continue to see deeply resinous compositions. In Amouage Boundless the answer is yes.

Renaud Salmon

As M. Salmon begins to shape his vision there is a definite shift to more modern inspirations. For Boundless it began with the 1985 song “Tarzan Boy” by Baltimora. He was thinking of the video where lead singer Jimmy McShane is running through a colorful jungle set giving off the song’s signature “oh-oh-oh-oh-ohs”. This would further refine itself to the real life “rainbow tree” which grows in vertical stripes of color. When you look at it you see a flow of multiple bandss creating a magnificent vision of chromatic layering. He would ask perfumer Karine Vinchon-Spehner to design it.

Karine Vinchon-Spehner

The same as its partner Material this is also focused on vanilla as a keynote. The version used here is a CO2 extraction of the prized Bourbon Vanilla. This form of extraction exposes a leathery aspect not so commonly attributed to it. Mme Vinchon-Spehner holds it back until it makes a spectacular entrance towards the end.

The opening is rich spicy citrus accord as blood orange, ginger, cardamom, and elemi add an energetic color. It has an unusual depth because the elemi holds it together. Benzoin, frankincense, and tobacco form a resinous heart accord which adds in a different stripe of color. Now is when the vanilla appears along with a wingman of myrrh. The myrrh finds that leathery piece of the vanilla, amplifying it. This is a deep jewel tone. The base is proto-gourmand chocolate as patchouli and vetiver are given a dusting of cocoa.

Boundless has 24-hour plus longevity and average sillage.

What I was wondering was if Amouage was still going to create resinous perfumes so enticing they are like the event horizons of black holes drawing you in. Boundless is one of these fragrances. It wraps me in layers of resinous colors so that I become a fragrant version of the rainbow tree. To fully answer my question I return to Mr. McShane at the end of a verse where he sings, “native beat that carries on”. M. Salmon has shown that beat will remain at Amouage.

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

–Mark Behnke

New Perfume Review Amouage Material- You Get What You Need

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Every year my final post is of things I hope to see for the following year. On the last day of 2020 I hoped for more collaborations between my favorite perfume creative directors and perfumers. I even called out one by name asking for Amouage creative director Renaud Salmon and perfumer Cécile Zarokian to make a next-level gourmand. At the time I wrote that I couldn’t have defined what that looks like. Amouage Material helps find some clarity upon it.

Right after I posted I was told to stay tuned. A couple months later I would be told that my dream team was working on a perfume focused on vanilla. This sounded promising. Like what I was asking for. When I received Material, I was told one of the inspirations was the song “Material Girl” by Madonna. I was thinking about a line from the song “if they can’t raise my interest”.

Renaud Salmon

Which leads to what did I mean by a next-level gourmand. The way I perceive this style of perfume is it has been focused on the edible scents in overdose. It is the youngest of the perfume styles, so it is still defining all the boundaries. What I want is someone to go to the other extreme. Use recognizably sweet and savory notes not as a focus but as an equal. I have often tossed the name “foodie floral” in my head. Material is not that. It is along the same concept executed with more nuance than I could have expected.

Cecile Zarokian

Material is one of a pair of new Amouage perfumes to feature Madagascar vanilla absolute. M. Salmon encouraged Mme Zarokian to find what was within this source and display it. She has been one of a few perfumers who has been in the lead on re-thinking gourmand fragrances. This was an opportunity to take another step forward. To achieve this she uses no other discrete food-based note. Instead she adds to the vanilla other ingredients which form a fascinating kaleidoscopic version of this ingredient.

The vanilla absolute is the axis for the rest of this to spin upon. It is present right from the start. There is a leather aspect which verges on boozy which comes through in the very first minute or so. Right after I get what I might have desired as osmanthus creates that “foodie floral” concept. The apricot finds the vanilla to form a creamy fruit dessert while the leather of both vanilla and osmanthus create a new harmony. This is an amazing accord while it lasts. It moves forward on twin sets of resins, balsamic and incense. This adds a tendril of subtle smoke along with a warmth. This is a classic kind of deep resinous heart that this brand is known for. It moves towards an earthy animalic finish as oud and patchouli provide that. The vanilla inserts itself to find the sweet of patchouli and the smoky resinous heart of oud.

Material has 24-hour plus longevity and average sillage.

I’ve spent the last month asking myself if this is that next-level gourmand I asked for. My answer is I think so. I’m going to need some other perfumers and brands to take a chance on venturing away from the tried and true to be sure. As a marker until that happens, I believe it is next-level.

I am also reminded of a different song as it relates to what I thought I wanted back on New Year’s Eve. The Rolling Stones tell me “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”. The second half of that lyric applies to how I feel about Material, “you just might find you get what you need”.

Disclosure: This review is based on a sample supplied by Amouage.

–Mark Behnke

New Perfume Review Amouage Interlude 53- More, More, More

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There are certain perfumes where my inner Billy Idol sings to me “more, more, more”. They are full of ingredients that I think I would like to have more of. At this point I know it isn’t as easy as just putting more of everything into a bottle. Sometimes it dissolves into a fallen souffle as everything great about the original collapses under the weight. I was interested to see if Amouage Interlude 53 would hold up.

Renaud Salmon

The new creative director at Amouage, Renaud Salmon made a really interesting decision at the beginning of his new job. Instead of immediately jumping in and designing new perfumes he chose to take one from his predecessor and create a couple of flankers. Out of everything that came before I do not know what made him choose Interlude Man as the place he would begin. Just over a year ago the first new release under his review was Interlude Man Black Iris. It was recognizably Interlude Man with iris skillfully woven into it. I thought it was a luxurious flanker that fans of the original would really enjoy.

Pierre Negrin

At that time it wasn’t obvious if M. Salmon was going to strike out on his own or make flankers. It has turned out that he has his own vision which appeared at the end of last year and is coming this year with two new releases. I no longer have the concern about Amouage under his stewardship becoming a flanker operation.

Which makes me kind of sheepish to admit this second flanker really appealed to me. Perfumer Pierre Negrin who did the original and the flanker is also behind Interlude 53. The 53 represents 53% as in that’s the amount of perfume oil in the formula. That’s a whopping amount of perfume oil. My inner Billy Idol curls his lip in appreciation. I adored the original for its quirky development. Once things get more concentrated one of the biggest surprises was how that smoothed out the transitions.

It again opens with herbs as allspice and oregano form the top accord. In the original this was fresh and vegetal. In this deeper version it is denser leaving the freshness behind. It also shows some of the grace notes inherent in all the ingredients. The oregano and allspice show off subtle sweet nuances. The biggest change was in the heart of amber and frankincense. In the original it was cool and austere. At 53% it is diffuse and warm. It was so much fun switching arms back and forth to really experience this difference. The oud and sandalwood base are the piece where they are both identical although Interlude 53 does have more depth because of the strength.

Interlude 53 has 24-hour plus longevity and average sillage.

I enjoy this much more than the original because it is “more, more, more”. To be fair I still think this is for someone who enjoyed the original even though it is different. I’m not sure higher concentration will convert new admirers. If you are a fan of the original and Billy Idol whispers to you when you wear Interlude Man, then you should let yourself try Interlude 53…..with a Rebel Yell.

Disclosure: This review is based on a sample supplied by Amouage.

–Mark Behnke

Colognoisseur Best of 2020 Part 1: Overview

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That 2020 has been an unusual year would be an understatement. None of the fragrance expos. No trips to NYC for perfume events. Instead it turned out to be a different kind of exploration. I’ve been hovering around 650-700 new perfumes tried every year since I started Colognoisseur nearly seven years ago. If you asked me in May if I would be close to that I would’ve been skeptical. Yet when I look at the last line on my 2020 spreadsheet the number reads 634.

One of the reasons it is close to a normal year is I reached out to some new lines for samples. Over the course of the year I was able to delve into new independent perfumers; Jorum Studios, Libertine, Baruti, Christele Jacquemin, and Chronotope. It was a great experience which allowed me to see developing aesthetics in one piece. It was brands like these which provided that fun of finding something new which usually comes from Esxence or Pitti.

One of the trends that seemed to expand dramatically was that of reviewers becoming creative directors of their own perfumes. Most of these were as cynical as the mainstream releases using focus groups to design their fragrances. They just tried to decide what their readers/subscribers liked best based on measured response and made something to reflect that. That’s just a focus group in a different costume. There is a fantastic template for anyone serious about doing this. Just look at Victor Wong of Zoologist. He has gone from Facebook to the Fragrance Foundation Perfume Extraordinaire Award this year. He makes perfumes he likes while trusting there is an audience. So far, he has been right.

Renaud Salmon of Amouage

Amouage went through a big change as new creative director Renaud Salmon took charge. Over the course of the last half of the year M. Salmon reassured me that this important brand is going to do well as it moves in a different direction. I believe it will continue to be one of the key creative brands in perfumery.

This was also a year for some truly odd accords for perfumes to be built upon. One which repeated over and over was the scent of horse. Maison D’Etto’s entire collection is based on horses from creative director Brianna Lipovsky’s life. Ignacio Figueras Palm Beach and Sarah Baker Bascule also brought some thoroughbreds to the party.

Wet cardboard was the centerpiece of Nez 1+1 Folia. Clay pottery formed the nucleus of Jazmin Sarai Fayoum. Freddie Albrighton and Antonio Gardoni challenged me with one of the most difficult fragrances of the year in Douleur!2. It walks right on the edge of unpleasant, which was its intent.

The gourmand style of perfume continues to evolve as 2020 was bookended by Rasei Fort Cielito Lindo and Masque Milano Le Donne di Masque Madeleine. Both finding a new level for the genre.

If there was one thing I realized as I was looking back over the year I must have written a riff on the following a lot this year. “The dual nature of iris as both powdery and rooty was on display”. 2020 is the year of iris. It is also the year of great iris perfumes as you will see as I unveil the list of the best of the year.

I also want to close this overview with a thanks to everyone on the perfume side who assisted me in getting perfume sent to me. I may not have left the house, but the world of perfume showed up on my doorstep daily.

My other thanks are to the readers of this blog. In this ridiculous year of uncertainty writing for you every day was one of the few bits of normalcy which remained for me. I cherish that you choose to share my passion for perfume by dropping by.

I’ll be back tomorrow with my picks for Perfume, Perfumer, Creative Director and Brand of the Year. That will be followed by my Top 25 new perfumes of 2020.

–Mark Behnke

The New Amouage

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I have always mentioned Amouage as advanced style perfumery. Under the creative direction of Christopher Chong the perfumes were bold creative efforts. I was along for the ride with most all of them. They were complex, sensually satisfying fragrances. I could spend weeks dissecting a new release because there was something there to be pored over. I was the desired audience. The question I had was how big a group I was part of. A perfume like Myths Woman was a triumph of finding something compelling within the clash of discordant ingredients. It sang to me. But how many others?

Renaud Salmon

At about the same time there was a release called Lilac Love. It felt like this was a way to bring a more familiar style of perfume done in the Amouage way. I applauded it for the effort because I thought it would be a better starting point for a perfume lover to start their Amouage journey. As I’ve spent the week enjoying the new Amouage perfumes overseen by new creative director Renaud Salmon. I was able to crystallize some of my thoughts around what Amouage really means to me.

First it means excellently constructed perfumes. I have always returned to these because there is that feeling of great architecture underneath. M. Salmon showed that is also something he values. In Overture Woman he successfully matches Mr. Chong’s architecture. It works through similar shifts with the same kind of delight in them.

I also want some intensity. Crimson Rocks cinnamon honey tinted rose delivers that. So do the early parts of Enclave. Even that quibble on my part might be another’s idea of intensity as the AmberXtreme takes over.

Interlude Man Black Iris in hindsight now feels like M. Salmon giving people an invitation to return. If that is correct you can’t then serve up something contextually challenging. You must give them something which extrapolates from that invitation.

Mackenzie Reilly

Which is what the two perfumes M. Salmon worked on with Mackenzie Reilly provides. Ashore is a daydream-like walk along a sandy strand twirling a bit of jasmine. It feels as big as the sky with an expansive smile. This is not something Amouage is known for. Yet Ashore feels every inch like one. Even with a more genial embrace.

Which brings me to the last point. I don’t want to lose the awesome complexity of Amouage. If you read through the above, you might think I’m damning with praise of being more accessible. Let me be very clear; I am not. These are all good perfumes that are well worth seeking out. Things are different but the signature rose, incense , and sandalwood are still there. They aren’t as recognizable as a Guerlainade but they do identify Amouage a lot of the time.

Which is why Meander is such a perfect example of what the new Amouage can be. If I want a perfume where I can happily spend my time picking through a complex accord or two, it is right here. I also think because it is built around a carrot, iris, and incense heart it is easily accessible to someone who just likes a good iris perfume.

Therefore I think M. Salmon is going to be a good influence on the future of Amouage. He has a clear-eyed vision which seems to be to bring the brand back to those who might have drifted away. If that’s you there are six new perfumes overseen by M. Salmon to take a sniff of and see if they appeal. My verdict is he has given me faith that he is the right person to create a New Amouage.

–Mark Behnke

New Perfume Reviews Amouage Ashore and Meander- The Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship?

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I am an advocate for a creative director to foster a long-term collaboration with a perfumer. My reasoning is as each comes to understand their strengths it leads to a fragrant synergy. I frequently think about a creative team having a good rapport based upon a string of good perfumes. At Amouage creative director Renaud Salmon asked perfumer Mackenzie Reilly to collaborate on two of the perfumes in the Renaissance Collection; Amouage Ashore and Amouage Meander.

Renaud Salmon

Ashore is inspired, like the other Renaissance Collection, by Omani geography. This time it is the beach on the eastern shore. You might think this would translate to a modern aquatic but there isn’t really any hint of the sea spray endemic to that style. Instead Ashore is more like a stroll on the sand away from the water where you’re enjoying the warmth.

Ms. Reilly begins with a fabulous sunny accord. It is composed of a set of slightly aldehydic and ozonic ingredients identified as a “solar accord”. What she uses to shade her sunlight is what makes this. Turmeric leaves have a spicy-woody scent which matches with the coolness of cardamom and the herbalness of baie rose. Ms. Reilly has a deft touch at evoking open spaces with her perfumes. This is another example. She adds in a lilting full spectrum jasmine sambac followed by sandalwood dusted with incense. As it all comes together it is like walking the beach twirling a bit of jasmine in your hand.

Ashore has 12-14 hour longevity and average sillage.

Mackenzie Reilly

Meander is my favorite of the six perfumes I’ve reviewed this week. It is inspired by a mountain fog which appears during monsoon season. This is where Ms. Reilly gets to show she is as skilled in a more compact style of composition. I’ve been caught in this kind of fog and it is easy to lose your bearings. Meander turns it into a pleasant experience.

It is the top accord which captures me again. Here she uses carrot seed as her core. She flanks it with baie rose and black pepper. This delineates the rootiness of the carrot while simultaneously intensifying its effect. A precise amount of frankincense swirls through with an insouciant wave. Then a fabulous rooty orris finds its partner in the carrot seed. This forms a harmonic off the orris that is enchanting. This is where I am happy to stumble around in this carrot, iris, and incense fog. Almost as a reminder to not get lost vetiver and sandalwood ground the later stages.

Meander has 12-14 hour longevity and average sillage.

The last line of the classic movie “Casablanca” is, “Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.” It is tough to make a sweeping statement with two perfumes to their names. Yet, Ashore and Meander make me wonder if this is a beginning of something between M. Salmon and Ms. Reilly.

Tomorrow I wrap up with my overview of this new direction for Amouage.

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

–Mark Behnke

New Perfume Reviews Amouage Enclave and Crimson Rocks- Fjords and Honey

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New creative director at Amouage Renaud Salmon makes his first impression with the new Renaissance Collection. He decided to start fresh. There is the use of perfumers who haven’t previously worked for Amouage. There is also a different approach to the perfumes which is evident within these perfumes. Today I’ll look at Amouage Enclave and Amouage Crimson Rocks.

Renaud Salmon

For Enclave M. Salmon asked perfumer Julien Rasquinet to collaborate with him. The concept was to capture the sunset over the fjords in Oman. Now I know when you think of fjords the Middle East is not where you think to find them. If you travel to Musandam you will find warm weather fjords. What this means for a perfume is steep rock walls over crystalline blue water. The perfume reflects the contrast between those two natural features.

Julien Rasquinet

It begins with a unique accord to represent the water. It isn’t an aquatic accord. It is an aromatic herbal accord expertly constructed by M. Rasquinet. Spearmint and cardamom are the primary pieces. The cardamom interacts with the herbal mint in a way which forms an exhilarating effect as if looking at the turquoise water from on high. Baie rose and cinnamon add in a sense of the warmth of the breeze. It begins to shift towards a leathery heart where the earthy fraction of patchouli, incense, and rose are present. This is where Enclave begins to display the long-standing Amouage rose and resin which is a hallmark. I kind of wished the perfume stopped here. The choice to use AmberXtreme in the base acts as the moon does to the sun in an eclipse. It blots out everything. I know this is there for longevity, but I really wish they just went with something less overwhelming. What comes before the AmberXtreme exerts its will is quite nice.

Enclave has 24 hours plus longevity but that is mostly the AmberXtreme and average sillage.

Domitille Michalon-Bertier

Crimson Rocks is also inspired by Omani geography but in this case, I don’t find the connection. Working with perfumer Domitille Michalon-Bertier they design a honey soaked rose which drips with intensity.

Before we get to that we get a concentrated blast of cinnamon and baie rose. If you are familiar with the smell of the cinnamon candies called red hots this is exactly what the first moments of this smell like. I adore the smell of this. The candied cinnamon is its own unique perspective on sweet. A more traditional sweet comes as the honey begins to flow. In its way is a sturdy Damascene rose. early on the rose is powdery before turning a lusher spicier face towards the honey. It is here where the cinnamon provides a corona to the honey and rose where Crimson Rocks sings. This time they choose to use vetiver and oak as the base accord which allows the sticky spicy confection to find a new contrast.

Crimson Rocks has 16-18 hour longevity and average sillage.

Tomorrow I’ll complete the overview of the Renaissance Collection with Ashore and Meander.

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

–Mark Behnke

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