Amouage
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
The drawing ink note hits first, creating an unexpected papery sharpness that immediately sets this apart from conventional florals. Frankincense absolute arrives with aggressive clarity, backed by elemi resin's slightly green, almost turpentine-like edge—the entire composition announces itself as something deliberately unconventional and vaguely challenging.
The damask rose water emerges as a cool, faintly anisic presence that doesn't brighten the composition but rather creates a creeping floral counterpoint to the persistent incense. Suederal introduces a dusty, almost aged quality—the rose begins to feel powdered, vintage, contemplative rather than fresh, whilst the resinous elements remain stubbornly dominant.
The base woods arrive with structural purpose, creating a dry, cedarwood-forward foundation that strips away any remaining sweetness. Sandalwood and myrrh deepen into a weathered, slightly smoky woody-amber that lingers with quiet persistence—intimate rather than projecting, a fragrance that becomes a second skin rather than a statement.
Opus XII is an incense fragrance that treats rose not as decoration but as a structural element within a deliberately austere composition. Bruno Jovanovic has constructed something genuinely unusual here: a damask rose that doesn't bloom so much as smoulder, anchored by frankincense absolute that dominates with liturgical authority rather than ornamental sweetness.
The opening gesture is almost confrontational—drawing ink creates an immediately distinctive quality, a metallic-papery sharpness that prevents this from ever becoming a conventional floral. The elemi resin joins the frankincense in creating a resinous backbone that's decidedly smoky and slightly medicinal. This isn't the creamy incense of many fragrances; it's the sharp, almost astringent quality of frankincense tears being warmed directly.
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3.3/5 (265)