Amouage “Journey Man”

“At first smell” Journey Man seems like a typical Amouage scent – having this woody-spicy and incense character. It is not the first time when the brand uses pepper, incense, musk, ambergris and lots more of other used in this recipe ingredients. It has to be admitted though that the Sichuan pepper essence smells stunningly beautiful, aromatic and vibrating here. Still the start-off would not be like it actually is if it was not for a quite big dose of cardamom, which in this amount appears for the second time in the Omani perfumes (previously, fans of this intense fragrance could be satisfied like that in 2010 when Opus IV was launched). This quite intense and ruthless pepper-cardamom start-off has been coated with a mix of bergamon and neroli. The heart incorporates vibrating molecules of juniper berries, which link the spicy pepper with dry-woody cypriol, smoky incense and strongly present note of tobacco. According to the list of notes we can find also here pure geraniol, subtle rose-smelling molecule that in nature appears, among others, in ripe tobacco (worth noting, cigarette manufactures use geraniol to scent their products). It is clear then that perfumers decided to strengthen and in a way to ripe the tobacco note by adding geraniol. These procedures that consist of mixing the natural aromatic essence with one or more aromatic molecules, which in fact are present in nature but in limited amounts, to strengthen chosen aspects of natural fragrance are quite common in modern perfumery. For the surprisingly strong note of tobacco we have to wait though. In my case it appeared after 3-4h after settling and when there is no more pepper and cardamom going on in the air and the smell itself starts to get more dry, rough and woody-incense. At this stage cypriol can be vividly smelled. This, as it turned out, became my favourite aromatic molecule responsible for this dry, powdery woody tones present in such smells like Opus VI by Pierre Negrin and Dora Arnaud and also Opus VII by Negrin and Alberto Morillas (the same duet that introduced Journey Man), Timbuktu by L’Artisan or deeply regretted Gucci Pour Homme. Nonetheless, Journey Man is partly penetrating similar olfactory regions as Michael Almairac’s perfume so I recommend this scent to all those keen on Gucci.

The base is quite characteristic, mixing sweet and bitter note of strengthen with geraniol tobacco with a characteristic dry and woody note of cypriol. Everything intensified by tonka, musk and ambrox. During the last stage Journey Man resembles some other perfume which I reviewed earlier but unfortunately I cannot recall the name now. Anyway, the smell gets masculine, elegant and intriguing. It is really good. With every next try I come to a conclusion that the tobacco note is the dark horse of the whole composition. The note has been put into the whole smell perfectly, so when it comes to the fore, it smells incredibly – realistically but not in the negative way of course, at the same time it is intriguing and sensual. Above all it is purely masculine.

The so called working parameters of the scent can be classified as very good. Sillage is very good. The smell as a whole is strong and vivid and during the first few hours projects around the bearer within a couple of meters and can be easily noticeable by interested environment. It has been 7 hours after I sprayed it onto me and I can still smell it quite vividly; the smell itself can last more than 12 hours.

I have no doubt that Journey Man is yet another great fragrance introduced by Amouage that is slowly becoming one of my favourites of this brand, right next to Opus VII and Interlude Man. Having it on me is a pure pleasure. It makes me feel really special. In fact that is the quintessence of this hobby…

main notes: Sichuan pepper, cardamon, bergamot, neroli, juniper berries, incense, geraniol, tobacco leaf, tonka, cypriol, leather, musc, ambrox

launched in: 2014

perfumer: Alberto Morillas/ Pierre Negrin