An icon in the world of perfumery and described “as a unique fusion of East meets West that defines avant-garde opulence”, Amouage is renowned for the craftsmanship and quality it brings to its fragrances. The company was founded in the Sultanate of Oman – a historic trading centre for incense and myrrh – in 1983 and Arabian perfume culture still lies at the heart of everything the house creates. Each creation is handmade and uses celebrated perfumers and the rarest ingredients.
The range is made up of collections – The Main Collection, The Secret Garden Collection, The Odyssey Collection and The Library Collection – each offering something precious and truly extraordinary. If you get the chance to travel to Oman, a must-visit is the Amouage Visitors’ Centre, a haven for fragrance and art connoisseurs. Here you can learn about luxury perfume making and experience the full array of Amouage products, from perfumes and parfums d’ambiance to luxurious bath ranges and candles.
If you like bold, intense scents…
Drawing on the brand’s Arabian heritage, frankincense and myrrh are creatively blended with a unique floral twist of orris in Amouage Interlude Black Iris (R5,995 for 100ml), a luxuriously comforting fragrance for men. The combination of delicate florals and rich notes is inspired by Georgia O’Keefe’s 1926 painting Black Iris which was intended to ‘make even busy New Yorkers take time to see what I see of flowers’. The spicy, woody EDP has top notes of bergamot, rosemary and violet leaves; a heart of orris, amber, frankincense and the slightly spicy /floral cistus, myrrh and vanilla; while the base notes are leather, agarwood smoke, patchouli, sandalwood and cedarwood.
If you like smoky, heady fragrances…
Part of The Library Collection, which consists of four opuses and is inspired by the allure of a library and man’s quest for knowledge, the new Amouage Opus XIII Silver Oud (R5,995 for 100ml) is influenced by the notions of Confusion, Passion and Destruction expressed in Stendhal’s 19th-century French novel The Red and The Black. It might not be easy to imagine the scent with its list of unexpected exotic ingredients – patchouli, smoky cypriol, rich oud Assam, leathery Madagascar vanilla, ambrarome, birch, castoreum and guaiac wood – but suffice to say the mix of spices with traditional Oriental and leather notes is intoxicating. Although this fragrance may be considered more masculine due to its woody, green and spicy notes, it will undoubtedly appeal across genders.
