It's Saturday, I don't have to work, or meet anyone, or pretend to be Mr-Grey-Accountant-I-am-a-cedar-and-icky-synthetic-amber-Man (not that I do anyway), so today I pulled out my samples of Amouage and decided to wear Gold (for da Laydees) and Ubar.
Gold is good and powerful. Like a lot of the earlier Amouage fragrances, it isn't for the faint hearted. Described as a floral oriental, to me it may start quite floral and pushy, but dries down to a quality and sophisticated blend of sandalwood and incense, albeit still quite floral. I've seen this one described often as 'old lady like' and while I can sort of see why (I was surprised that this was released in 1983, according to Basenotes. Can this really be, or is Gold in the 21st century a reinterpretation of the original, bearing in mind likely reformulations anyway?) I don't personally think it smells that dated but irrespective, lets put it this way - this is no fruity floral circa 2011, thankfully.
As for Ubar, I think I actually prefer it to Gold. It is slightly sweeter, with a stronger green note, with Lily of the Valley. After this, a prominent rose note comes to the fore, not miles removed from the Lyric Note, but yet not the same either. The dry down is rich, with a hint of animalic, and still fairly sweet, but not cloying. The listed notes include civet and vanilla. A perusal of the top and base notes, including civet, vanilla, bergamot and lemon could lead one to think this might bear a resemblance to Shalimar, but actually it turns out to be a very different beast indeed.
As a man, while I find these fairly feminine, I didn't feel uncomfortable wearing them, but having said that, the grey accountant in me couldn't really see myself wearing this to a board meeting!
These are my 2 favorite Amouages, Michael. I prefer Ubar if I had to pick one, but really love them both. I don't know if I'd consider Gold "old woman-ish" but it's certainly a Big-P Perfume. :)
ReplyDeleteI haven't tried Gold yet, but I obtained a decant of Ubar a few weeks ago and have been eyeing a bottle on ebay lately-I love it!
ReplyDeleteJen, glad you like them both. In many ways I prefer the ladies ones over the masculines, although I still love Dia Man and Jubilation XXV.
ReplyDeleteCymbaline, if you love Ubar, what do you think of Lyric?
ReplyDeleteI think Lyric is a beautiful perfume. I smell mostly a cardamom/rose mix with just a hint of vetiver incense in the background when I wear it-definitely gorgeous stuff, but when I smell the lemon/lotv honey that comes across with Ubar, my eyes roll back in my head in ecstasy : )
ReplyDeleteI can sign under *jen's post: I love both, Gold and Ubar, with Ubar being an absolute favorite.
ReplyDeleteHave you seen "minimalist" bottles of several Amouage perfumes? The same juice but in simpler bottles and because of that with a better price (e.g. Ubar - £100).