Tag Archives: amouage

Quick perfume thoughts

I've been thinking, Perfume review, Perfume thoughts, Short perfume review, World of Perfume June 11, 2015 Comments: 20

After quite a long time, I finally got to see some of my perfume friends and we shared what we have acquired lately that each of us might like to try (I didn’t have much though).

So, here is what I remembered from the quick sniffs I took today:

Piguet Knightsbridge – a lovely, boozy, warm perfume for colder days, it really hit all my boozy-vanilla-amber buttons 😉

Amouage Opus IX – in the beginning it’s a monstrously dirty jasmine/something (and dirty coming from me is really something), 2 hours later it smells like a slightly bitter floral, rather nice

Mugler Cuir Impertinent – the surprise of the meeting (at least for me) – a really wearable light leathery smell with a rather green-herbal opening and undertones of Angel, I can see myself wearing it easily

Odori Iris – nice feminine iris with no big projection, actually a rather soft and elegant feel

MFK  Oud – well, it’s anything but oud if you ask me (at least what I’m used to when it comes to oud), and if you take it like that, a rather nice perfume that works as edc just fine

TDC I miss Violet – also a perfume without much projection but with a soft side and easy smile. I had a bit trouble smelling it in the beginning as it was so light but later I got the lovely violet tones (and I get light fruitiness in the drydown)

There were also the Zoologist perfumes: Beaver, Panda and Rhinoceros and I am honestly pleasantly surprised how much I liked them.

Discovering attars

Perfume thoughts May 20, 2010 Comments: 4

I might have been a bit wrong on the Al Mas by Amouage and Sedra by Haramain being the same. Similar, but not the same. And now I don’t know how to proceed. Attars are a completely new area for me and I seem to have ideas regarding attars that are wrong. 🙂 Well, they were right for the first 3 I tried, and then I tried Attar Mubakhar and it turned into this soapy, sea-like thing (which I seriously don’t like and enjoy) but after a while it really wasn’t that bad (as in smelling too much of soapy sea) and I can start with that.

It turns out (at least for me), attars are shapeshifters. Usually with perfumes you can guess where they might evolve and what you might expect. But all the attars surprised me (pleasantly I must say), including the sea one. That was a real surprise.

Anyway, I thought that attars were all dark and had this desert-like base, dry but at the same time full-bodies, arid and spicy. Strange actually. I really need (and want) to experience the desert.

So, I decided to try Sedra and Al Mas at the same time to compare them and see if my initial thought were correct. Of course, it would be extremely inconvenient to have these 2 smelling the same for such a wide money difference. Honestly, I lean toward Al Mas. 🙂 But that’s probably because Sedra displays more rose than Al Mas and I’m still not a fan of rose.

First off, let me say that most of attars I tried (less than 10 so far) are these oudish, rose, dark thingies. So, no wonder I thought smelling them apart that Sedra and Al Mas were the same. The truth is, smelling them side by side, Sedra starts more bitter (as in rose) and oudish than Al Mas. I would never thought I’d say after my first try of Al Mas that it was mellow, but it was more mellow than Sedra. I thought it had some cedre hints but I was wrong – one of the notes is sandal (that is the most similar I could find). I couldn’t find any notes for Sedra, all I found was that it was oriental and spicy.

When first smelling Al Mas, I thought the rose was prominent enoght but when compared to Sedra, it really does not make any kind of important appearance. This rose in Sedra also makes it more feminine than Al Mas, which seems very unisex and more oudish than Sedra. Also. it seems more competently blended. This sounds wrong now – what I wanted to say is that Al Mas is so round and complete, nothing peeks out strongly while in Sedra I can smell the rose quite well.

And then it started. First, I got this camphor/minty? note in Sedra which I have no idea where it appeared from some 2 hours into application. And then also some fruitiness peeking out. Al Mas remained a warm background on my other arm at that time. And then it hit me for both. They seemed to have blended with me (or more precisely my skin). It was like I rubbed them in, which I didn’t and anyway, that would be obvious from the start if I had done it. My guess is, my skin absorbed it and it just became part of me. I loved that part because I almost never feel the perfume becoming one with me, it is always a part that is with me not me.
I am really glad I have some more attars to try. I don’t think they would make a good choice for
everyday (work) wear but they are something.

Swapping is so much fun!

Uncategorized May 13, 2010 Comments: 4

I’m a bit late but it took some time to deal with the photos. Yesterday I came home to find 3 packages waiting for me through swapping. The strange thing though is that they were all shipped at different times so I don’t even want to start thinking what do the people in post office do with our packages (I received one some time ago with a shoe imprint on it!).

The first one was from Germany with some Arabian oils I am trying to get to know and a new Italian house for me (and I still don’t know the name – I’m just lousy with new names).


The second one, a more interesting from my perspective because there was some Ava Luxe, DSH, Roja Dove (which unfortunately arrived broken – maybe someone stepped on this one too?) and Van Cleef and Arpels from Canada.


And the last one, which probably seems like the smallest and containing nothing of any interest but you would be very wrong. Because two of the smallest vials contain precious (and by that I mean extremely expensive) drops of 2 Amouage attars (Homage and Al Mas).
Thanks to Susan from USA.

Btw, I really like the word attar, it connotes many things for me without me even knowing what exactly does it mean. 🙂 So I did look it up today and got some basic knowledge on the subject. Just enough to understand that attar does not correlate to smelling oudish (which is what I somehow thought).

This was just a quick post, I cannot tell you how much I am looking forward to smelling those attars (everything else as well, but attars are at the top).
Pictures are mine.