Amouage Gold Man

I may have mentioned it before, but I am a big fan of the Amouage line in general. Most of their perfumes suit my skin well and I like their lush, rich compositions, very often including high-quality ingredients such as frankincense, oud and rose. I have read Amouage being described as slightly conservative and old-fashioned, and I'm not sure why that is, because I don't find the perfumes to be that at all. They perhaps do harken back to an older style of perfumery, intense and uncompromising in a way, but I think the execution of most of them is decidedly modern. Anyway, onto Gold Man. It opens with a heady rush of green florals, which immediately struck me as being very unusual for a masculine fragrance. I know florals are more acceptable in Middle-Eastern perfumery, but even so, this struck me as very feminine in style, with a greenness that reminded me of green, leather chypres such as Bandit or A la Nuit. Just cutting the floralness is a biscuity/amaretti sweetness, almost caramel-like, but it fades quickly. I wasn't entirely sure of the florals, but definitely detected a strong lily of the valley note. As I said already, there is a definite chypre feel to Gold, with a slightly smutty leatheriness just beneath the surface. As the top faded I started to detect a metallic iris note and even a smidgen of incense, which prevented the florals from becoming too feminine. There is quite a lot of sandalwood and patchouli in Gold too, which are apparent in the heart, and I'm sure these notes are rounded off and enhanced by a generous dose of civet. At times I detected an almost rotting note, not unpleasant though, that weaved its way in and out of the composition.

In the dry down Gold never entirely loses its floralness and with the addition of oakmoss, the chypre style is even more confirmed, should it not have been apparent at the start. The incense that I thought I detected earlier never resurfaces, at least not on my skin, which I found a little surprising, considering Amouage's use of its famous silver frankincense. I should also state that Gold, particularly in the early phases, is not for the faint-hearted. It is a bit of a sillage monster and should be applied with caution, unless you want to stink out a room and its occupants. Having said that, the second half of the progression is a lot less blowsy, and it ends up as a fairly recognisable, traditional chypre, at least I think so. I should also state that in my opinion a lady could wear this as easily as a man could. In fact had I not known this was Gold Man, I would have thought it is a chypre for a woman, it is that floral.

I'm not sure if I really like Gold Man. I'm not generally a huge fan of chypres. I wear them, but there are other families and styles that I prefer, and I must say that other Amouage perfumes like Jubilation XXV, Reflection, Lyric and Epic are far more my kind of thing. I have read reviews, particularly by men, on Basenotes, that Gold Man is show-offish, crass and vulgar. I must say I find that surprising, unless you are a man who has major preconceptions of what a masculine or feminine perfume ought to smell like. Admittedly Gold is strong and a bit loud to start with, but I think this is more a result of its intense floral top and early heart notes, rather than for any other reason and in the end it is a decent green/leather chypre, but not really my cup of tea.

   

Chanel Cuir de Russie

I've arrived at my final Les Exclusif sample, Cuir de Russie. I know there are more in the series, but I did not order them. I've wanted to try Cuir de Russie for quite some time, having read quite a lot about it over the years. I had a notion that it would wear a bit like Caron's Tabac Blonde, which I adore, and in the dry down I can detect similarities, if not in notes, certainly in spirit. However, Cuir de Russie if anything reminds me of Bandit, but without any green or chypre notes. It has that same feline snarl to it, albeit toned down a touch, in true-to-style chic Chanel fashion, but with the masterful presence of civet, it definitely has a rich, animalic edge to it. I actually find Tabac Blonde less feminine than Cuir de Russie, particularly with its smoky tobacco and hay notes, but having said that, Cuir de Russie is not overbearingly feminine, and I did not feel uncomfortable wearing it. The notes for Cuir de Russie are orange blossom, bergamot, mandarine, clary sage, iris, jasmine, rose, ylang-ylang, cedar, vetiver, styrax, leather, amber and vanilla. For such a complicated set of notes, I find that it opens on my skin with quite an aldehydic haze and a soft, almost velvety leather note. I don't detect any citrus, but again, dabbing rather than spraying might mute these notes. There is a significant floral undertone, but the only distinct notes on my skin are iris and ylang-ylang, which Chanel loves to use. I find that at this stage the fragrance is ever so slightly soapy, but in a good way and even buttery. There is a voluptuousness to Cuir de Russie, which I didn't think I would find in a Chanel perfume and I suspect this richness is a result of the deft use of civet, augmenting the other notes. At this stage, once the leather intensifies, I feel that spirit of Bandit emerging, but as I said, with no greenness to it at all. There is a vague skankiness to Cuir de Russie, but it is subtle and just bubbling under the surface. The leather is identifiably in the Russian Leather style, but not aggressively so and I find it quite smooth. Into the dry down Cuir de Russie wears like a skin scent and to my nose even smells like skin to an extent, sexy female flesh just slightly blushed with the heat of passion. It does become slightly smoky too. Longevity is good, although it has very muted sillage for me. I really like Cuir de Russie, but I can't help feeling that it would be so much more devastatingly sexy worn by a woman. 

At the end of my Les Exclusifs sojourn, I find that overall I am probably pleasantly surprised by the quality of the fragrances I have sampled; for some reason I was expecting to feel let down. As I mentioned in a previous post, I loved Coromandel and Bois des Iles, and Cuir de Russie is a hit for me as well, although I don't feel my skin does it as much justice to it as the former two do. 28 La Pausa is good but the only one that disappointed me was 31 Rue Cambon. I know this is just my opinion and I'm sure many others would disagree with my rankings.

Image credit - taken from Grain de Musc blog

The dirty green leather Chypres

La Nuit by Paco Rabanne (1985)

I do like the Chypre style and particularly green, dirty, leathery types like La Nuit and also Bandit by Robert Piguet.

La Nuit opens green, sappy and syrupy. There are loads of florals in here, but I can't identify any individual notes. The effect is almost cloying and probably the opening is too feminine for me to pull off in public. However, once the top notes fade, I detect a sudden wisp of smoke lurking beneath the flowery facade. Its presence is akin to a subtle sneer in the corner of the mouth of a sexy, heavily-made up woman. She looks glamorous, but underneath there is a hint of slut. The sappy greenness becomes more aromatic, almost vegetal. I get hints of vetiver and patchouli and the sweetness is tempered as it dries somewhat and oakmoss starts drifting up from the murk with a powdery edge. I don't get much leather at this stage, but I can feel the fragrance darkening and becoming richer, with what I perceive as civet. Into the heart and early dry down and the leather comes to the fore. I initially find the leather a bit like that in Oud Cuir D'Arabie by Montale, but then it turns plain raunchy. There's an odour here that hints at a sweaty groin, or some body part unwashed, but feminine, not a man. Ouch, I'm blushing... Toward the end, and I'm talking a good 12 hours here, there is still a hint of this animal, feminine warmth and it is alluring.

Bandit - Robert Piguet (1944)

Ok, what can I say about a legend? Firstly the sample I have is not vintage - it dates from 1999 and is the relaunch by Delphine Lebeau. The original was by Germaine Cellier, who needs no introduction.

This opens brighter and dryer than La Nuit. There are florals, but less pronounced to my nose. I also get a brief burst of aldehydes but this quickly changes to a sophisticated greenness. The greenness is not sappy, but herby and a bit like tomato leaf. The florals are still there, mainly tuberose, but they never dominate, as oakmoss and leather emerge quite rapidly, tempering the effect. It is quite refined at this stage, not as tacky as the similar phase in La Nuit. As it moves into the heart a smokiness creeps in, not disimilar to Tabac Blond. This fragrance never becomes sweet, there is a sharpness that lasts throughout the duration - first it is herby tomato leaf; later I get something akin to vetiver and perhaps some patchouli. The true chypre accord emerges, bound by a leather that is more S&M than suede handbag. The animal undertone really hums along and by the time we reach the dry down I swear it is very close in style to La Nuit, except La Nuit has that unsettling, slightly more rotting vegetal sweetness. The far dry down is hmm, shall we say sexy? Again, I get that groin accord, which teeters on the edge of repulsion but stays onside enough to be arousing. The lasting power is also great - easily 10 hours on my skin.

So - verdict: is one better than the other? I like them both. La Nuit is definitely much cheaper. I purchased a bottle for about £10, which is about $16, whereas Bandit is closer to £70. I think ultimately Bandit is more refined, still sexy and animalic, whereas La Nuit is much sweeter and I think after the top fades, the raunchier of the two. If I were to choose, I'd probably go for Bandit, but I think both are deserving of a place in one's perfume closet.

Images: 

La Nuit from mes-parfums.com

Reclining woman from media.photobucket.com