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Rickbr
Very helpful Review
6
Oak and Guaiac take on Amen
The Thierry Mugler brand seems to explore on their line an answer to the following question that come into my head: How far you can go with flankers of a consolidated best seller on the market without tiring the audience? It is a task interesting somehow, because it requires you to be able to transform your perfume to the point it seems a new and interesting concept but at the same time keeping the link with the original creation. In some editions of the Pure Collection we have seen this approach be very successful, with Pure Coffee, Pure Malt and Pure Havane standing out among the most celebrated. The Flankers Taste of Fragrance and Pure Leather / Cuir were also able to bring interesting details the original idea, but failed to create a distinctive aroma and its evolution makes them much like the Amen so it is difficult to keep the interest in them after a few uses. I expected Pure Wood to follow suit them, though its scent seems to show that it is still possible to extract interesting variations of woody oriental theme in Amen.
First, it is interesting to note that despite the name indicating a possible dominance of the aroma of woods, Pure Wood does not go the obvious route and doesn't shows a saturation in cedar, sandalwood, oud or synthetic amber materials that can pass a heavy, dry and diffusive wooden aroma Some of these woods can even be perceived as secondary, but what really stands out and gives a new life to the smell of Amen is the use of oak wood in the composition. It brings a little explored commercial woody nuance, a scent with nuances of rum, honey and dried fruits.
Although not listed, besides the oak aroma I notice a very obvious smell of guaiac, a wood interesting for its spicy aspect and phenolic impression (smoky and rubber like) while having also a slightly sugary touch. We still have a secondary and sophisticated scent of leather aroma that mingles with the sweet, sugary scent of vanilla and roasted smell of coffee. These two notes together with patchouli end up being the main responsible for making the connection with the traditional AMen while the oak, guaiac and aroma of sweetened ambery resins give a new look to the oriental aroma composition. Although little known and commented it is one of the most interesting flankers in the line in the way ut explores the concept, bordering on an approach that would not be bad in a niche perfume or a more exclusive one.
BertolucciK
