sense

I finished sniffing through my Amouage samples, and I feel the hype (not really hype, but good reputation) of the brand is well deserved. All of the fragrances are layered and full bodied, with good projection and longevity.

Amouage Lyric Women
Woah the opening is a heavy, dense floral blend. Very intense but also quite good. 5 minutes in the florals sheer out a little bit and let’s some creamy base through. As more time goes on, the creaminess starts to overtake the floral notes. I pick up some incense notes if I smell really closely. Although the incense note is not individually discernible from a farther distance, it does temper the creaminess into something I enjoy. Overall I like this scent a lot, especially in the cooler weather when I want a cozier floral.

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Amouage Journey Man
Woah the opening is strong, a sweet and spicy floral with a slightly incense-y wood note. There is a lot going on but every note is also playing nicely with each other. As the scent develops, the woody aspect is gaining more prominence, with the florals falling to a support role. About 10mins in, it is fully an incense-y wood, quite pleasant. Unfortunately I didn’t smell the sichuan pepper in the top notes, which is the whole reason why I got a sample of this. Will try a tester in store with a spray, since I think it’s hard to smell the top notes with the wand format. The projection of this fragrance is very good, I can clearly smell it an arms length away. A swipe of this also lasted a whole 5 hours. Overall very good performance, but I’m not into incense woody scents enough to purchase a full bottle. I do see myself using up the sample tho.

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Amouage Lyric Man
I get a very feminine floral opening, an initial burst of roses, then a more generic green and fresh floral. There’s a...grainy undertone to the floral, as in wheat or oatmeal. The grain note is gaining more prominence and also taking on a plasticy aspect. Kinda like the feel of instant oatmeal compared to steel cut oats. There’s also some musks that I’m smelling after the grains. But the strongest notes are a powdery floral. Perhaps I’m sensitive to musks? Had to scrub this off after an hour since it became nauseating.

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Amouage Fate Women
Ohhh this is a floral that’s...a bit incense-y, spicy and creamy. There’s also an aromatic top to it that appears a couple of minutes in. The multiple aspects of the scent seems layered. My impression of this is similar to Lyric Women. There’s not much change in the scent for the remainder of time that it lasts on me. I have noticed that I find the vanilla in Amouage scents more pleasing than other scents vanilla. It’s not as cloy, and more like vanilla the plant rather than an ingredient?

I did a side by side with Lyric women and they indeed are similar. The aromatic floral opening is very similar, although then they split into a lightly spiced cream (Fate) and fresh and powerful floral (Lyric). Interestingly I don’t think I’ve smelled this part of Lyric the first time around. Overall, I would like a full bottle of Fate over Lyric, and that’s almost purely because the bottle and outer presentation is gorgeous. But if money and space aren't constraints, I would like full bottles of both.

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Amouage Journey Woman
Oook the opening is a beautiful soft white floral, I think it’s gardenia? It smells better on the sheerly applied arm versus the concentrated arm, which has a hint of plastic to the floral note. Hmm perhaps the plastic-y note is more like a...diluted stale milk smell? Not like milk gone bad, but definitely not the fresh creamy milk. Maybe a bit like oreo’s filling, tho you have to interpret that as someone who dislikes the filling. I also smell some jasmine joining in the gardenia. There’s not much change after this, aside from the aforementioned 3 notes varying in strength. Longevity is great tho, I can still smell this on me after waking up. Reading the official notes, it seems the plastic-milk note is likely leather, and what I thought was gardenia is likely osmanthus? The other osmanthus centric perfumes I’ve sampled certainly smelled differently, but I do hope this is what osmanthus smells like because it’s much more to my liking. I didn’t get any of the spice, but that may be more apparently if sprayed. Overall this scent smells less complex, and changes less, compared to the other Amouage scents, although its richer than the run of the mill white floral (tho I have a small sample size). I do like most of this scent, but unlikely to purchase a full bottle.

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Amouage Reflection Man
A very fresh opening, huh. Actually not purely fresh, there’s musk underneath. I also caught a whiff of orange, but that lasted for literally a second. The feeling of walking through an evergreen forest in winter, all bundled up. I’m tempted to say there is also a strong licorice note? After an hour or so, it dries down to warmer woods, tho with a slight aromatic note. The woods then become buried in a powdery note. After reading the official notes, I’m surprised that I didn’t get any of the florals except the powdery iris. I’m not into the musks or licorice-y opening (not sure what I’m actually smelling since the official notes don’t mention them) of this scent, will pass.

With this batch of samples done, I'm finally finished with a first pass through all of my perfume samples. Will be taking a break from trying new scents and observe which samples I actually end up using more.