Monday, October 30, 2017

Amouage Jubilation 25 Extrait Review

I have always had a thing for a few of Amouage's early works. Memoir, Epic, and Lyric are the ones that I love the most. Dia and Gold took a little while for me to love but I haven't been that enthused by Amouage's work after Honour with Beloved being an exception. Maybe Christopher Chong has lost a little bit of his direction or after so many Amouage classics that the bar is probably set a little too high.

For the past few mornings, I've been wearing Gold (women's version) before my shower. For quite a while, I haven't been wearing Gold. I've always known that it was a grand perfume and that I don't have many occasions to wear it to. Sunday morning was the morning of doom for Gold. For some reason, it infuriated my mother who said that it stinks and to throw it out. I had forgotten how animalic it was. Gold is much more than Chanel no 5 on steroids. Dia is no 5 on steroids. I still wouldn't go calling Gold skanky or high class skanky. So I guess I will be wearing Gold when everybody is out of the house. But you didn't come for me yakking about Gold.

It took me a really long time for me to love Jubilation 25. Don't get me wrong, I do love Jubilation 25 but there is something about her that won't let me wear it on a regular basis. I say it's the fruity aspect of it that makes it impossible for me to wear it frequently. Mitsouko and I have the same issue. Yesterday afternoon, I applied my dab of Jubilation 25 in extrait form. Holy crap, is it good. There is a depth and richness to it that made my jaw drop. The bloom of Jubilation 25 takes a little longer to open up and have people notice. From trying the Lyric and now the Jubilation 25 in extrait form, they still smell just like the EDP's but it's deeper and richer. it's not like the Chanels and every concentration seems to smell different. For reasons that I can't fathom, Amouage has the full bottle extraits in 1.7 ounce sprays and very few perfumers have extraits in spray form. I'm happy to say that it was a good thing that I only got a dabber and not a spray decant. Only a dab will do ya and this lasts  for an effortless 10 hours on my skin.

Monday, October 23, 2017

A Week with Amouage

Last week was a week that I did spend with Amouage. I'm not talking about spending 3 or 4 days but all 7 days. I don't know why I did it but I did.

Two years ago, I had a wedding in Texas that I had to go to and had only one perfume with me. It was tough being 1,100 miles from home and not being able to have access to my perfume collection. Could I have taken a couple decants along with me? Yeah, I could have but I wasn't going to explain my decants to security (I wasn't about to drive from Cleveland to Texas). Texas that week was hot and the perfume of choice was Chanel no 19 in EDT form. I was happy to get home a spritz some vintage Bal.

Spending a week with one perfume house when you have multiple offerings is a great thing. I was still able to wear a different perfume every day and not be so bored out of my skull. There were a couple Amouages that I wasn't able to get to (decants that are haven't been worn and reviewed) but in the end, I was a little bored with hanging out with Amouage.

Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Amouage Epic Man Review

It's known in the perfume world about my of Amouage. Amouage is one of those houses that commands respect. Amouage has never been overly edgy but they do go into the edgy territory a little bit and they do the east meets west phenomenally well. Amouage does pay homage to the Arabic tradition and the Western tradition of perfumery and it shows in their offerings. The newer ladies versions has left me underwhelmed and I really didn't like them. I'll have to give Myths a try to see if I like it.

I haven't really delved into the men's offerings of Amouage and I decided that since I had a decant, to give it a whirl. The last men's version I tried was Interlude (man) and it was horrible on my skin. Nothing but wet, stale, half smoked cigarette in a really dirty ashtray. Lyric Man left me cold. So I was hoping that Epic Man would leave me singing. Not so much.

When I first put Epic on, it smelled like a generic men's cologne. A little watery but gave a promise that things would get better. Not so fast, Epic Man still stays on the watery side from start to finish. After the first few minutes, I do smell some frankincense coming to the forefront and does create a thread of it through out the composition. But I mostly smell some wood notes in there and maybe a little geranium but not much else. The lasting power of this was only 6 hours long and I have always expected more from the Amouages in terms of lasting power. The women's versions have a lasting power of at least 10 hours or more on my skin.

While Epic man is somewhat likeable to my nose, I definitely won't be getting a full bottle. With the men and women's Amouages, there is no kind of tie in with the men and women's version (Lyric, Epic, Interlude) that makes it any kind impact or suggests that it can compliment the other. I'm thinking that I should stick to the women's versions of Amouage.

Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Pre-Reformulation SDV

Since my computer is being a butt, I am writing this on my Kindle. The weather has gotten much cooler and now I can start wearing my heavy hitters. After digging in my unworn bag, I had pulled out a small decant of SDV. I had to take a closer look to why I had a decant in there in the first place. On the label, it has the pre-reformulation 2007 on it, so I had to test it out and do a comparison with the current version.

Guerlain has always been able to make vanilla sing. I had learned to love vanilla a little later in my perfume journey and how I like my vanilla. I like my vanilla either burnt, boozy or inedible. Spirirtuese Double Vanille delivers on all three. The pre-formulated version is smoother, quieter and less boozy than the reformulation. But SDV is still fairly loud on me and has the half life of plutonium on skin, reformulated or not. I would like to have a bottle of the current stuff but it's not in the cards right now.

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Too Many Changes

It's very rare that I step foot in a retail establishment. The only one that I actually set foot in on a regular basis is a grocery store. So, it's not often that I go into other stores due to the fact that so many are at least a half an hour away.

Saturday, after work, I met a friend for some ice cream at Mitchell's to catch up with him and we decided to see what Bath and Body Works is doing. About 5 years ago, I noticed them making some changes. The nearest Bath and Body Works nearest to me is a stand alone store, so their stocking and selection may be different than that is going on with the mall stores. Bath and Body Works is not what it used to be. The emphasis was mostly on their bath stuff, not so much on the home stuff. Gradually, it has changed over. The store that I was in, didn't seem to have a lot going on in the way of the bath products and mostly seemed to be candles and stuff for the wallflowers. Two or three seemed to be one of the staples of their collection (Moonlight Path, Japanese Cherry Blossom). But the biggest changed that I noticed on how seasonal Bath and Body Works has gotten and they never have been very seasonal. I was a little saddened on how much they have changed and most of the seasonal stuff didn't smell too good. The only one that I fell in love with was the Heirloom Apple which I did buy four of the 3 wick candles. I wish they still sold the little one wick candles.

Bath and Body Works seems to have really gone downhill after they decided to start "retireing" some of their most popular items. Cucumber Melon, which has always been popular since my high school days (around 20 years ago) was retired in the past 6 or 7 years. It seems to be a little sad that it's not the store that I remember.