Amouage
Amouage
244 votes
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
Mandarin and violet leaf provide a brief, almost deceptive moment of green freshness before the litsea cubeba's piercing citrus-pepper note cuts through. Within minutes, the white florals begin their ascent—jasmine and tuberose leading the charge with orange blossom glittering at the edges. It's loud, plush, and immediately recognisable as Amouage's signature excess.
The indolic character deepens as ylang-ylang's creamy sweetness merges with tuberose's buttery heft, creating an almost edible quality that teeters on the edge of cloying. Rosewood adds a subtle spiced-wood facet whilst freesia contributes a soapy-floral transparency that gets trampled by its showier companions. The animalic accord becomes more pronounced here—a warmth that suggests skin, lipstick, and expensive department store perfume counters from another era.
Copaiba balsam's resinous, slightly medicinal character anchors the remaining florals to a base of soft amber and vanilla. Patchouli and vetiver add earthy, woody shadows without dominating, whilst sandalwood provides a creamy backdrop that finally tames the indolic beast into submission. What remains is warm, sweet, still distinctly floral, but now murmuring rather than shouting.
Ubar opens Amouage's treasure chest of white florals and tips the contents into a pool of molten amber, creating something both opulent and unsettling. The citrus opening—mandarin and litsea cubeba's sharp, lemony bite—barely tempers the tsunami of indolic flowers that follows. This isn't polite jasmine and tuberose; it's the sticky, overripe variety that clings to your skin with animalic persistence. The ylang-ylang adds its characteristic banana-custard sweetness whilst lily of the valley attempts (and fails) to introduce propriety to proceedings. Orange blossom weaves through with its neroli-like brightness, but it's quickly smothered by the heavier players.
What makes Ubar fascinating rather than overwhelming is its ambered, balsamic foundation. Copaiba balsam brings a resinous, slightly medicinal quality that keeps the florals from floating into pure confectionery, whilst patchouli adds earthy shadows beneath all that white-petaled excess. The sandalwood and vanilla eventually soften the composition into something almost approachable, though the animalic accord never fully retreats—there's always a whisper of something feral beneath the silk.
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Dana
4.0/5 (307)