Setting the Right Tone

After so many Parfumo users having pushed this fragrance to no. 1 of the top list, I get curious if there might be something special about it.

I admit, Memoir Man is not bad enough for a slating review. A stylish flacon, a mysteriously oriental brand name and twice the price as usual for a decent perfume – and people buy it like mad. Amouage knows the ropes, that is for sure!

Memoir Man is a decently made smoky resinous fragrance. Top and middle notes have an attractive appeal with green and herbaceous, yet dark and resinous parts. I especially like that all different notes at first were mingled to give you a homogeneous impression. It may be difficult to smell any of these notes separately.

Getting near the base notes, Memoir Man becomes more streamlined. It becomes smokier and more resinous, in parts even bitter. It had to ponder a while where it was that I had smelled this combination before, but then it came to my mind: Intricate and Complex, the twin fragrances by Boadicea the Victorious! There it is again, that imagination of cold cigar ash which I especially get from the expensive Inricate. These two Boadicea fragrances are hardly wearable due to their excessively intense way. But in Memoir Man, everything is decently diluted and brought down to the tolerance limit of a global audience. Dosis venum facit, and a tiny whiff of smoky-resinous ash is apparently appreciated by many – but not by me. I like it smoky, but not resinous.

Of course, this is a matter of personal taste. On the other side: what would be the outcome of a blind test: Memoir Man versus the really noble and wearable smoky L'Homme Sage by Divine?

It is reasonable that this Memoir is marketed as a men's fragrance. In spite of its dark and bitter style I do not find it particularly masculine. In my mind I see a still sporty elderly lady with a dark complexion who wants to emphasis a distinctive harsh kind of femininity.

One can regard Memoir Man as a deep black fragrance. Its success bay be founded on the fact that Amouage made this fragrance quite wearable. It may appeal to an advanced audience with a developed sense for uniqueness, an affection towards dark romance, and with being past any loud perfumes with big bang effect. But is this Amouage perfume beautiful?

I remember how it feels …

Memoir Man starts with a little scent-firework, that’s anybody wake up and say: here happens something. And what happens has his price. Cause Memoir Man take themselves very patronize and show us a small olfactory world fuel with precious and select ingredients.

I didn´t notice the mint, but more of the tarragon, that would be more and more loud. And than come a small surprise. Memoir Man cited in a short time frame the basics of Jil Sanders Feeling Man. In conclusion both fragrances shares tarragon, lavender and assured something more. Yeah – so I like it and so I have a good feeling.

And even that, what´s come after this, is more than good: a rich warm woody scent. It’s the same, if you dipping dark honey on a tropical wood and dry it by the setting sun. I think that’s a part of the gaiac wood. An awesome nuance, that could be more intensive.

On the other side, the longevity of Memoir Man is for me not the best. After an hour I smell only light vanilla basics on my skin.

Finally the comparative high price is a little bit excessive. I can´t remember to have to much money for something like this.