I’ve become a big fan of the Amouage fragrances, though I’ll never be happy with their price tag. Though given the way other perfumes are coming up, they are looking more reasonable than they used to.
Ubar had been off the market for a while, recently reissued. I have no idea whether the new incarnation is different or the same as the old. If anyone has smelled both and knows, please speak up in comments! Notes of Bergamot, lemon, lily of the valley, damascene rose, jasmine, civet, vanilla make up Ubar. It goes on bright and crisp, a little milky green, and then it’s like the whole darn flower garden just all bends over at the same time and shows its naughty bits and gigles. I mean, the civet! Amouage is one of the perfume companies that do skank in the most elegant ways, like Guerlain used to. Gold Woman was my first exposure to that full-on elegant whore thing they’ve got going, and it just blew me completely away. Ubar isn’t 5th Avenue and Valentino evening gowns like Gold is. Ubar could be worn about any day, but just realize when you wear it that you are hitting on people without even winking or opening your mouth. Getting past that part, it’s got a great floral blend, just enough sharper notes to keep the jasmine from lolling around in its most rotting format.
I’m a fan. though Lyric Woman and Homage Attar stole my heart long ago as favorite Amouages, Ubar has a position of deep like.
It’s allegely almost summer here, but you’d never know it with the daily rain/tornadoes/wind/hail we’ve been having for the last, well, ever. On the one hand, I’m ready for summer; on the other, I still need to get my AC hooked back up (long story, replete with horrible customer service by the contractor who put in my new furnace last year – never use R & L Heating in Denver or ServiceMagice, they both completely suck on making sure the work gets done). Is the whole country having like a cloudy/rainy thing, or should I tune into my news? If so, what are you doing fragrancewise to combat it?
Need to try Ubar again… I can’t remember what it smells like… obviously it was not love at first sniff. My favorites are Dia and Jubilation 25. And monoi is lovely!
Spending the week on the coast of SC, and the storms are something to behold! It’s surprisingly cool, though not at all crisp… what’s the cooler version of sultry? I can’t imagine an Amouage in this humidity… wish I’d brought the Bronze Goddess…or En Passant (wow, wouldn’t THAT be lovely in the storms!)
I tried Ubar just the once, I think I liked it but honestly can’t really remember! So I suspect Lyric Woman will remain my fave Amouage.
I just don’t get Gold. At all. On me it’s like it has no depth – just smells like expensive soap.
I can’t speak for the rest of your country, but mine is just revving up for what we’re told will be a hot (by our standards) summer. That probably means three hot days and thunderstorm, while the papers go on about ‘scorchers!’ and print photos of kids playing in fountains and bikini girls sunning themselves in Hyde Park. We Brits can never seem to treat warm weather with a ‘meh, it’s summer after all….’ 😉
So in honour of the ‘heatwave’, I’ve broken out Lostmar’ch Aod. And it’s warm enough to use my monoi oil (solid most of the year) on my skin, which also smells really nice. The two go together well. Has anyone here used monoi? I love it.
I am so psyched you wrote about this today!
On my last trip to NYC about a week ago, I used my downtime to go to CBIHP in Brooklyn and AdV in the West Village.
CB was a bust for me; I enjoyed it but nothing went home with me.
At AdV, the lovely man sampled Ubar for me. I like it, but I don’t smell enough skank after the initial burst. Sick, I know.
When he described incense and lily of the valley, I fell for it…but now I want to smell the others!(particularly woman and gold)
I would love suggestions for skanky perfumes…seriously.
DJ – go into the archives: there’s a whole post – probably more than one (and some incredible replies on skank)
xo>-)
I re-read some posts 😉 thanks!
I am planning on going to Harrods to Roja Dove’s concession this Saturday. I had tried Jolie Madame before, but it really went old-lady-handbag on me after about 2 hours. The first 2 hours were love. Perhaps I will try it again, among others…will see if he carries Amouage. Will also plan on going to Les Scenteurs. pardon my spelling.
🙂
The Party in Manhattan immediately springs to mind, but as March once speculated, I also think they may have de-skanked it a wee bit. Still, quite the skank.
More rain in New York! Not only does it rain almost everyday, it’s also not particularly warm either. It’s really like March and April rather than mid-June. My plan to combat this dreary weather is to bathe myself in Bronze Goddess, close my eyes, sniff and pretend it’s summer!
I love Ubar on my SO, the civet on him is, um, pronounced, yet gorgeous. On me, the civet is a scared tiny kitten hiding under the bed of flowers. I’m sooo jealous of him. I’ll probably end up getting him a bottle though, since he wears it so darn well. Ditto on the strange weather–it’s finally warmed up enough for me to put the Arabian Oud oils that I’ve been saving into heavy rotation. I find that they need a certain level of ambient heat to really bloom, so I’ve had to patiently wait. Any other year here in VA, I would have used them up by May!
Was not a fan of Gold or Dia, but I adore Lyric (bottle split should arrive SOON, squee!!). I haven’t sampled any other Amouages – mostly because of my budget – and although Ubar is gettin’ a lotta love lately, I probably won’t sample it either.
We’ve been getting tons of rain here in the Virginia mountains. May rainfall was 3x normal, and June is shaping up that way as well. As of June 10, we’d already had twice our average monthly rainfall, and it’s been raining since then. Seems like we get one hot sunny day per week, which is freakish, and I’m wearing my darling Le Temps d’une Fete a great deal. Sunday was hot, and we made it a family day at the ballpark (Single-A minor league, but great fun); I wore my PdRosine Rose d’Ete. That one gets dissed for its fruitiness, but I love it. Smells just like the yellow roses of my childhood to me. I’ve also been using my sample of OJ Orris Noir, which I didn’t think I’d like but I do, I do… it’s great in the cool weather.
I am also a BIG Amouage fan. Jubilation 25 is probably my fav but also love Homage (hear husband, hear !).
The weather in London is a mixed bag of sun and rain, so when I can peel myself from my (very late) discovery Sonia Rykiel Woman, I am on a random(ish) rotation.
Another Londoner – hi!
It’s getting warmer now, though. Apparently the rest of the country will be wet but we won’t have that. Well, we’re due something for having a higher cost of living, don’t you think? 😉
I’ll start with your question. I am not fighting the weather, I am rolling with it. It’s interesting to play with the opportunities cool summer offers…it *is* different from cool wet spring…I know, ’cause that’s been our 1-2 line up this year. So…Temp d’une Fete worked for a longer time than I would have expected, transitioning from late (coolish, but sunnier) spring into this long wet cool early summer.
Working the early (cool, wet) summer are: En Passant (joy! usually there is a short season for this…happy happy)…sneaking in a few ambers…and Silences was just the ticket a couple of weeks ago. Interesting things happen with that when the sun is out, the days are getting longer, but the undertone refuses to be anything but cool. (Don’t think I could have gotten away with that if it were truly heating up.)
I ♥ Jub 25, Lyric Woman, and Gold. Must try Ubar.
I have tried Lyric, Homage Attar, and Jubilation; all of them just smell like incense on me. Very beautiful incense to be sure, but strictly incense. And it’s not just my nose…every time I have worn one of them, people around me comment that they smell incense!
It has been overcast and cloudy here in coastal SoCal forever…I love it, but I know most people are sick of it. I have been reveling in Poivre and Bois de Paradis.
It has been in the high 80s/low 90s with the occasional tornado warning in Northern Arkansas; my cousins have been reveling in talcum powder and cold beer.
I have both Lyric and Jube 25 (woman) as samples and it took me awhile to figure out what all the fuss was about – but Lyric is just glorious! Nordstrom in Chicago was carrying the Amouages for awhile before they lost their minds and tore up the entire fragrance dept. Morons.
It’s getting ready to rain its brains out here on the plain. Seems like it’s rainin’ all over the world…
xo>-)
ps. to answer your question: I am currently wearing Bigarade Concentree to combat the weather. I also fell in love with a Grapefruit That Shall Not Be Named – but when the decant is gone that’s it. I’m hoping I will be out of love with it by then.
xo
Amouage is expensive but I find every single scent they do to be so head and shoulders above the rest that I just don’t care one bit. They treat perfumery as an art instead of just a business and it shows!
Wow, synchronicity; you and Perfume Shrine writing about Ubar at just about the same time. By coincidence, I wore it yesterday (from a sample) while struggling to learn some Photoshop stuff and found that is was the ultimate comfort scent, for me anyway. Civet-rich and strong and anything but linear. As the mainstream houses continue to turn their fragrances into Kool-Aid, maybe we should look to Amourage as an example of a company with some, er, cojones; I’ll be saving up.
Like you, I love Lyric for Women. I have a small sample that I’ve been nursing along for quite a while. I think I’ll get a large decant before I decide to spring for a full bottle, though. I haven’t tried Ubar yet, but it certainly sounds interesting and worth a test run.
We’ve been having a lot of gray, rainy cool weather interspersed with glourious spring days. Unfortunately, the damp days seem to fall on the weekend while the glorious spring days occur mid-week, while I’m at work.
Love it! Second only to Homage Attar amongst the Amouage juices Ubar is my next scheduled full bottle purchase unless one of you diabolically deposits some other urgent notion into my tiny little brain first.
Ah, Ubar, my favorite Amouage, even more so that the fabulous Gold! It’s very close to the original, but greener on top, with more LOTV. The base of deep skank in all its glory is intact, however. It was discontinued because of problems obtaining some of the materials – what was available did not meet their standards. I don’t know what happened, but I could hardly believe they brought it back – this very rarely happens and when it does it usually involves a major reformulation; Amouage has earned my undying gratitude by not screwing it up. I have this marked for giving to myself for Christmas – yes it’s spendy but it’s a truly GREAT perfume and I will take it over any trendy newbie on the block. 😀