EPIC WOMAN

Type: Spicy/Oriental

Top: Cumin, Pink Bay, Cinnamon
Heart: Damascene Rose, Geranium, Jasmine, Tea
Base: Amber, Musk, Frankincense, Oud, Sandalwood, Guaiac Wood, Patchouli, Vanilla, Orris

From Creative Director, Christoper Chong and Perfumer, Daniel Maurel, for The House of Amouage, Epic is the third in a fragrance story. This one, is said to have been inspired by the legends of the ancient Silk Road from China to Arabia. Epic was preceded by Lyric, a warm, creamy, perfect rose.

Epic too, is a perfect rose. It is an earthy rose, surrounded by spices and rich woods. The Damascene Rose is perfectly balanced amid the cumin, cinnamon, pink bay, dry geranium, jasmine and tea. Each note making itself known, but never over powering this fabulous rose. As Epic developes smoothly into the base, amber, powdery with a slight hint of leather, frankincense and oud unfold. These are warmed with powdery, woody, sandalwood, sweetened by the guaiac wood, orris and vanilla. Patchouli continues to add its woody, spicy, fragrance and earthy note to finish and round out this very intriguing fragrance. Throughout this entire perfume is the ever present Damascene Rose. Epic is certainly to be enjoyed for its unique silky, spicy, earthy, woody rose.  I will say, that this perfume, is very addictive, if, you like oriental fragrances and a wonderful earthy rose.  The Damascene Rose, certainly has found its voice and perfect harmony amid the spices and woods. Epic Woman, is yet one more triumph for the Perfume House of Amouage.

This is a very long lasting perfume. A little will go a very long way.

Epic comes in EDP strength only.  In 50ml and 100ml beautiful green Amouage signature bottle, with a gold cap.

May be purchased at: http://www.parfumerienasreen.com/ and http://www.luckyscent.com/shop/detail.asp?itemid=41822

Lyric

Type: Floral Oriental

Top: Bergamot, Cardamom, Cinnamon, Ginger
Heart: Rose, Angelica, Jasmine, Ylang-Ylang, Geranium, Orris
Base: Oakmoss, Musk, Woods, Patchouli, Vetiver, Sandalwood, Vanilla, Tonka Bean, Frankincense

From creative director Christopher Chong and perfumer Daniel Maurel for the Perfume House of Amouage comes the rose themed Lyric!

If a perfume meant for a woman to feel as if she were completely ensconced in the most luxurious, deepest red flowing silk, as soft as the pedals of a rose, then Lyric has indeed accomplished just that! This perfume is a beautiful, rich, deep, red rose, made creamy and warmed by the melding of the spicy notes, dry geranium and the sweet, woodiness of orris smoothed further by Tonka Bean, Sandalwood, Oakmoss, Vetiver, Vanilla and precious Frankincense. Every single note used in the creation of this fragrance are present like the instruments in an orchestra or the colors of the artist's palette used in the perfect painting, all playing their parts, as it married my skin in perfect harmony. This one neither speaks for me, nor of me but in fact became me. The rose always at the heart of this perfume is the star while the other notes fill in the background making her shine just as she should. The most beautiful and deepest of red roses to be sure.

On me this perfume took a total a half an hour to and hour to fully develop into this glorious fragrance.

The house of Amouage describes Lyric as "A poignant song without a beginning and end.  Suspended in time with a mythical melody". Indeed, I agree. This perfume will forever sing its never ending melody to me!

The perfume comes in EDP strength housed in a rich deep red bottle.

Also available are the shower gel, body cream and body lotion.

May be purchased at :
http://www.parfumerienasreen.com/ 

Eau Du Ciel

Type: Floral

Notes: Linden Tea, Brazilian Rosewood, Iris, Violet Leaves

Created by Perfumer Annick Goutal, in 1985.

Annick Goutal created this fragrance to be the aroma of rain kissed earth on a summers day. For me it was the fragrance given off by the sun on fresh grass and spring flowers such as violets and iris following rain in the spring. A wonderful fragrance would be all around outside my home during these times. This fragrance captures the very essense of the moments immediately following the warm spring rains. Any time I wished to smell that, I would reach for this bottle of Eau Du Ciel and there it was to be enjoy even in the cold of winter. Annick Goutal truely was a master at creating fragrances that bring back memories of fragrant places or times. This one seems as if she captured the air and put it in the pretty bottle to be enjoyed over and over again.

Available in EDT only.

Les Grandes Pretresses Incas

Les Grandes Pretresses Incas, (The Great Inca Priestesses)

Type: Fruity/Floral

Top: Italian Mandarine, Grapefruit, Guinean Orange, Apple, Mango
Heart: Canna Orchid, Sea Bream, Rose-Lily of the Valley, Chinese Magnolia
Base: Sandalwood, Oakmoss, Teak, Vetiver, Nectarine, Dark Chocolate, Caramel, Musk

From perfumer Pierre Bourdon for Romea D' Ameor comes Les Grandes Pretresses Incas, one of seven fragrances. These seven fragrances were created to depict seven types of women. This one is described as fascinating.

This one starts out with a burst of fresh citrus followed by the scent of apple and exotic mango. Then the Canna Orchid waltzes in a floral note along with Sea Bream, Rose Lily of the Valley and Jasmine to mix floral notes with the mouth watering fruits. It warms very subtle as it moves into the base notes with the wondrous scent of dark chocolate, caramel, teak, a burst of citrus from nectarine and finally musk providing richness and depth, silky and smooth.

The Canna Orchid was revered by the great Inca Priestesses for its lightness and whisper of extravagance. The dark chocolate is very smoothly combined with caramel in rounding out the citrus and floral notes to create a silky smooth perfume exotic in every way. This perfume is an enchanting treasure of liquid.

Amouage Memoir

Memoir

Type: Chypre/Animalistic/Leather

Top: Cardamom, Mandarin Orange, Pink pepper, Wormwood
Heart: Clove, Incense, Pepper, Woody notes, Jasmine, Rose, White Flowers
Base: Musk, French Labdanum, Oak Moss, Styrax, Leather, Olibanum, Castoreum, Fenugreek

Created for the House of Amouage by Daniel Maurel & Dorothee Piot,  comes Memoir. A fascinating fragrance, baroque, smoky, fresh and chypre. This one leaves the bottle with a wonderful burst of orange quickly followed by pink pepper and the sweet honey like aroma of wormwood. As it moves, the heart of the fragrance opens up to reveal, clove, incense, pepper, jasmine, rose and white flowers. A lovely perfume indeed. Within a half an hour this fragrance develops and warms further on the skin to fully develop into the base phase of the complete fragrance as subtle as a thief in the night this incense, chypre perfume has yet a surprise as it is now joined by oak moss and leather, which is smoothed nicely by the incense fragrance of Olibanum.

It is rich and enveloping. Never timid, but bold, without being overbearing. The leather is not sharp, but new and clean, smoothed out and sweetened by the fenugreek and Styrax. The Olibanum continues the incense smoky aroma right down through the base dry down of this precious creation. A rare perfume to be sure, this one is very long lasting and can be detected on the skin twenty-four hours after application. It is not a fragrance to be taken lightly. It is a very fine rich perfume and extremely well done. Per the House of Amouage, Memoir is meant to "evoke a woman's past, present and future".

After trying this fragrance, I searched online for the reactions that others have had to it. This one is different from person to person and responses varied greatly in likes and dislikes, as well as what notes were most prominent for each and every person. Some never experienced the leather at all and some too sharp. Some were wanting for more fenugreek or incense. In one case the wearer reported that after a half an hour the fragrance felt put on instead of joined with her skin and that it became chaotic. Others found that it joined their skin and developed into a lovely fragrance and experience. After reading these reports, in spite of what I have experienced, I would strongly suggest trying this one before you buy it, because Amouage is one of the more pricey fragrance houses.

Where to buy: http://www.parfumerienasreen.com/

Thank you Marinela at Parfumes Nasreen for the generous sample.

Just a Little Longer

Thanksgiving has come and gone. I had a trip and wonderful time, as I hope you readers have had as well. Christmas is approaching fast and we all have things to do, places to go and people to see. It's a wonderful time of the year and it is my favorite.

Just the other day, a package arrived in my mailbox and landed on this desk. It was filled with 10 beautiful fragrances. As of late last night, I'd had them all open and sniff tested each one of these wonderful creations in spite of the head cold that I have. I could not resist them sitting there just begging me for one sniff. The thought occurred to me that, just one would not hurt, but only one. So I did. Then I couldn't help myself and I did my first test with each one of them. I enjoyed them and did the best that I could in picking out their notes. I did try two on because, I could not resist them after the sniff test. To be perfectly honest, I love the House that they are from. Yes, one on each arm. It was a sweet challenge to identify the different notes in the two I had on as they came to fullness as they warmed on my skin. I am certain that I don't have the nose right now to enjoy them as fully as I would with a clear nose so now I wait for full recovery. That will be hard for me because they sit on this desk beckoning me to sample one. It will be my absolute pleasure to describe these different beauties on here. One may actually be up this evening but, I do so want to have a clear nose, to be able to do every one of these, the justice that they deserve.

At this point, I'd like to thank, Nasreen and Marinela, from Perfumerie Nasreen for these very generous offerings. I will be in the market for one full size acquisition before this is done. The choice of which one is going to be extremely difficult. I'm already certain of that.