Amouage Guidance and 46 Extrait

I’m not on social media much – even less in recent weeks – but it came to my attention that a newish Amouage was all the rage among some online perfume fans, and the algorithm bearing that information managed to pique my interest. I’m talking about Amouage Guidance, which I guess is the new Baccarat Rouge, so to speak. People are losing their minds. Should you pony up $380 for the regular 3.4oz, or $520 for the Guidance 46 extrait version?  I was curious enough to order up a sample of each from Surrender to Chance.

What a stunning bottle, though.

I’m an old grump these days so I’m going to start by saying how wildly uncompelling I find the name “Guidance” — to the point that I probably wouldn’t have bothered trying it. Names aren’t everything, but they’re not nothing, either. I haven’t gotten around to sampling Material for the same reason, although the notes are appealing. Are we running out of more interesting English words? Guidance makes me think of school guidance counselors, or getting directions from Google maps. I’ve resorted to giving it a faux French accent in my mind which makes it marginally better, but come on, a name picked at random from a hat might have been more appealing.

With a couple minor variations, the notes seem to be pear, frankincense, hazelnut, saffron, rose, jasmine sambac, osmanthus, cistus, sandalwood, akigalawood, ambergris, vanilla. That all sounds … very Amouage to me in the sense of a lot going on, and also it’s probably not going to be a shy little thing, either.

Guidance is sweeter than I expected right off the bat. It’s not toothache sweet, but we are solidly in fruity-floral territory, although I’d be lying if I said I could pick out a single one of those top notes. The sweetness fades somewhat over time although it never really goes away, and eventually you have a warm, richly sweet, slightly woody base. I had no idea what akigalawood was and it’s fascinating – developed by Givaudan (I think), upcycled from patchouli oil waste, that has its own character suggesting spice, oud and patchouli.

I wore this thing on and off for a couple of weeks and … I just don’t know how I feel about it. I got some compliments on it, which suggests decent sillage, and also its lasting power is excellent. Carolyn noticed it when I walked into the house, hours after I’d given myself two dainty spritzes from my sample atomizer. (She also described it as sweet and was surprised to hear it was Amouage.)

It smells nice enough (and expensive enough), while being generically pleasant enough that it’s appealed to the perfumed masses – or at least that segment who can afford to know/want/flaunt such an expensive fragrance. (If you’re curious, this thing on Amazon is touted as a dupe, although I didn’t try it.)  But of all the amazing fragrances from Amouage, why would this one go viral? I know it won some awards in 2024. But there are certainly other options in the line that have a broad appeal that also happen to make me swoon. This ain’t it.  Oh, also – the Extrait for $520 has similar notes on the drydown but is less sweet and more citrusy on me at the top.

Have you tried this? Do you love it? What am I missing here?