Amouage- Opus VI

One of the things you learn after blogging about perfume for a while is to avoid grand statements. It's better not to declare a perfume as the best or worst ever, most special or any other major superlative. You have no way on knowing what you'll smell tomorrow, what new bottle will tempt you so much you'll start giving others in your collection a side-eye wondering how you could have been so ignorant or naive.

So now I know better and will just explain why Opus VI by Amouage, the latest in the series, has shot its way to the very top of my perfume wishlist. Other than the simple fact that Opus VI is an amber, of course.

The notes alone are the picture of a perfect dry incensy amber, with a hint of hazy smoke, smooth and sun-warmed wood and a sexy skin-quality that muskifies (yes, I made up this word) the whole thing after you wear it for a while. It's not particularly dirty because sun and sand are inherently clean, and the composition smells more mineral and vegetable than animal. But the reason this Amouage perfume affects me the way it does is that it has a dream quality, a fata morgana in the desert. Is it a magical incense that goes right up to my head and makes me see things? Does it trigger a certain memory? Perhaps, as the press release says:

"...this enduring and emotionally resonant fragrance crafted by Amouage Creative Director Christopher Chong was inspired by the power of erasing, destroying and re-inventing unwanted and painful memories."

Powerful stuff, isn't it?

And rightly so, since Opus VI hits a similar spot to the one Tauer's L'Air du Desert Marocain occupies in my emotional makeup. LDdM is semi-forgotten memories while Opus VI is that last dream you can almost remember just before waking up. It's a bit more surreal than the ones you have in the middle of the night, yet it makes perfect sense for that second between sleep and awakening. You want to grab it for just one more second, be in that moment for a while longer and see how it ends. Or maybe not.

Read other reviews of Amouage Opus VI on Olfactoria's Travel, Candy Perfume Boy, From Top To Bottom, and the very brilliant Beauty On The Outside.

Notes: Sichuan pepper, incense, bay rum, periploca (a Mediterranean plant that grows on sandy shores), cypriol, patchouli, ambranum (synthetic amber note), Z11 (synthetic dry wood), sandalwood and cistus labdanum.

Opus VI by Amouage ($325, 100ml EDP) is available from MiN NY and Luckyscent. The sample for this review was supplied by MiN.

Image: Aorta Productions for Monky Fashion via Trendland.net.