Amouage Jubilation XXV Homme

A digression first: I recently read about a collaboration between the cookery writer Nigel Slater (who I’ve mentioned several times: love his diaries) and perfumer Lyn Harris of Miller Harris and Perfumer H (I love that brand’s fragrance Smoke). They met in a tea shop in London and are now offering via Perfumer H a revamping of one of Perfumer H’s perfumes, a tea, a candle and I think incense. Check out the website if you’re curious.

Onward.

Portia wrote about this a few weeks ago here and I was so intrigued off I went to find a sample.

As I think I said in the comments on that post, so far Amouage has generally been fairly meh on me. The fragrances are lovely on paper or fabric. And … XXV Homme was no different than any other Amouage. I think I’ve finally gotten the message: this house is not for me. Sadly.

As noted in Portia’s post, this is a kitchen sink notes list. Just for kicks and giggles I’m reprising it here: blackberry, olibanum, orange, labdanum, coriander, tarragon, honey, guaiac, cinnamon, bay leaf, clove, rose, orchid, celery seeds, opoponax, oud, myrrh, patchouli, cedar, ambergris, immortelle, musk and oakmoss.

Now, there are a lot of things I love in that, but particularly the spices, honey and immortelle. Oddly, Fragrantica says the nose is Bertrand Duchaufour. Is that 1) correct? and 2) unusual for Amouage?

I wore this almost every day for close to two weeks, with only a couple of days of different things.

I got worried on the initial spray as this was almost undetectable on my skin. For about the first 10 minutes, nothing. But, then things started to emerge. It’s almost as if the perfume was deciding if I was worthy.

It decided I wasn’t.

The delayed opening is Band-Aid – gentle but distinct. With orange and frankincense. Boy, was that a relief and worth the initial concern this would be undetectable. I really like that opening but I wish it were stronger. Much stronger.

And, alas, this is basically what XXV Homme is on me: gently supported Band-Aid that whispers. That’s it. I can’t recall anything that was that quiet. No sillage at all. I’m pretty sure no one else, particularly those who adore Amouage, find these quiet.

Strangely, that whisper lasts forever though, like eight to 10 hours. But, fairly quickly the Band-Aid develops a sweetness and that’s that. Incredibly quiet sweet Band-Aid.

Clearly, this is a no – and while I’ll continue to sample interesting sounding Amouage it’s not a house I’ll seek out.

Ah, well, you can’t win ‘em all.

Pics: Pexels and mine