By Dane
Perfumery is a rotating, oft recycled art form. As with most invention, "inspiration" from previous ideas is a common occurrence, and this concept is something you often smell when testing a new fragrance. More often than not, my thoughts turn to "that's a blatant copy of..." (me being a natural pessimist), but on occasion I realize that the copy exists for a reason.
The Amouage line consists of several fragrances that could be traced back to familiar territory. Jean-Claude Ellena's Dia could easily be compared to Amouage's own Gold, which was the intention in its creation. It could also be compared to Ellena's first attempt at a grand French floral, Van Cleef & Arpel's First. The recent additions to the Amouage line have been further exercises in the art of recycling (save for Lyric perhaps).
Jubilation 25 has a simple recipe to my nose - 3 parts Rochas Femme, 1 part Diorella, and a dash of Mitsouko. Generally, this wouldn't thrill me. All of the predecessors are readily available, and generally without the last "0" on the price tag. Where Jubilation 25 excels is in quality. Rochas Femme has clearly been cheapened over the years and comes across a tad crude in its current form. Mitsouko has been tampered with so many times, I can't even begin to hit on that topic. Diorella, well, Dior just changed their packaging, so I'll get back to you on that one. Jubilation 25 isn't original at all, but if what you want is a grand perfume recalling the glory days of Guerlain, Rochas, and Dior, then you're in luck.
Epic Woman is another story. I admit it had me stumped for a while. I knew I liked it, but I couldn't place why. Then I realized that it's merely a sheep in wolf's clothing. That sheep happens to be the brilliant Ormonde Woman (bah), and frankly, EW doesn't add anything more to the already brilliant formula of resins, woods and evergreen. Good? Yes. Original? Hardly. I'm sure there'll be some differing opinions on this one, but for me, it's a pass.
Jubilation 25
Year: 2007
Perfumer: Lucas Sieuzac
Notes: Tarragon, Rose, Lemon, Ylang-Ylang, Davana, Labdanum Ciste, Rose, Frankincense, Amber, Musk, Vetiver, Myrrh, Patchouli
Epic Woman
Year: 2009
Notes: Cumin, Pink Bay, Cinnamon, Damascene Rose, Geranium, Jasmine, Tea, Amber, Musk, Frankincense, Oud, Sandalwood, Guaiac Wood, Patchouli, Vanilla, Orris
I recently bought a "new package" bottle of Diorella. The top notes seem fine and the drydown is about the same, but the formerly big, fruity, Roudnitska jasmine middle is weak and rather plasticky. Comparing this bottle to the last one I bought (blue box, bottle with round sticker label), it's glaringly obvious that Diorella has been cheapened up big time.
ReplyDelete*flips Dior and LVMH the bird*
Oh no! I was worried that this would be the case. I knew Diorissimo would be reformulated to meet the new guidelines, but I had hopes that the jasmine in Diorella would have already been mostly synthetic anyway. Doh. :(
ReplyDeleteI got recently on ebay a jub25 extrait bottle for the price of the EDP.
ReplyDeleteI did not like jub25 that much, likeable but then too heady and harsh.
But you know, the appeal of an amouage at bargain price is hard to resist... I analysed the extrait one the best I could, to blame myself to have bought it unsniffed, but I was not deceived.
They did the expected things right : the extrait is skilfully more poised, and even richer by some really good compounds added to the tune, notably a truly good jasmin (of Grace?) in-between.
The unexpected part is the feeling it gives. It's like meeting a living dinosaur, you thought good chypre belong to the past, but then you met a living one and it's even better than you thought.
Jub25 strengthened the statement that chypre is more about quality that composition. Sure they look alike, but at top quality they set you in the same enchanted forest story. Jub25 was like femme and mitsouko at best. You have a 8 shaded evolution from top to bottom, from golden citrus-flower, to jasmin orris, to smoky dry autumnal moody eternal drydown.
It makes me sad toward other chypre (chypre seems not to tolerate lower ingredient), and quite mad at Guerlain about Mitsouko. I do have actual extrait of Mitsouko, and vintage edt, and smell EDT and EDP each time in stores : they fucked up the perfume on purpose, to spare on ingredient, I can't help thinking that. I only get bergamot then peach-scented wax product for the floor. When you pay 240€ for few 30ml, you don't want to be cheated on the quality, shame on them.
Now I'm looking for to smell (maybe buy) the extrait from Lyric... I already like the EDP. I can't help dreaming what is a top-top-notch rose. I saw such extrait existed by some retailer. I dream of a pilgrimage at Harrod's, London. My wallet already hurt.
This is faintly evocative of LE PARFUM DE THÉRÈSE by E.Roudnitska (Editions Frédéric Malle), both are dreamy Divas of the fruity-chypre category... They have the same mouth-watering citrussy quality IN THE OPENING, major difference between the two is as both developes, in the drydown and mainly about the sillages (as JulienFromDijon said, Jubilation 25 'It's like meeting a living dinosaur', and I mean in every sense).
ReplyDeleteLets see some of the points: Excepting the Mitsouko dash you have mentioned, I find in LE PARFUM DE THÉRÈSE quite a bit resemblances with Rochas Femme and quite a lot with Diorella (and with Diorissimo too), as well as you do in Jubilation 25.
That's funny!