Honour Man Amouage 2011

I've already had them all...

... tested.
All the community and critic homeruns of the men's department of the Amouage company have already had the pleasure of auditioning with me - some of them even several times, as they are all undoubtedly olfactory top people.

[Pathos an]
Nevertheless, no one - I repeat: NONE - of these jack-of-all-trades has yet been able to win this one place in my fragrant heart and become the one ... the ONE Amouage that would completely convince me and catapult my nose and me into the seventh heaven of smell.
[Pathos off]

Admittedly - the expectations were enormous each time when isolated samples of these same fragrance heavyweights landed in my postcards over the years.

Jubilee - the celebrated, the highly praised!

Reflection - the stylish beauty!

Journey - truly masterfully composed!

Interlude - oh, Lord, I'm too weak!

Epic, Beloved, Dia, Sunshine, Bracken... yes, but..
But. Always - this - but ...

Don't get me wrong - as I said: Each of these candidates may be a small, medium or even big masterpiece in its own right - but none of them seemed suitable for the job of becoming Nordiques Next Top Amouage (NNTA - soon to be on private television of your choice). It was for milking mice.
Well, Memoir and Lyric had always cancelled their dates so far - but maybe we'll make acquaintance in the near future.

Last but not least, a few weeks ago an intimidated, slightly bent Honour shuffled over the threshold. An absolutely average resume, posture like an ogre - great, this could be something, I thought to myself.

But what the good man then conjured up on the olfactory parquet had washed up. In the truest sense of the word - he is an extremely clean, slightly soapy and powdery fellow with a good peppery start. The latter is certainly not too easy to digest, but it immediately settles down and evaporates in a kind of semi-fougère, which for me stands out in the middle section in particular with a beautiful rose geranium. Reminiscent of a brood or other fougère-like cleaners of times long past. Rounded off by a prominent musk-tonka base, which for me is a hybrid of classic and modern appearance.
I was suddenly and then permanently excited and could not stop sniffing the test arm.
As far as such "scent bottles" are concerned, we are all certainly always on the hunt for exactly these scents that are able to trigger this in us.
That hadn't happened to me in a long time. Maybe I just know too much to be able to keep the frequency of such instant enthusiasm constantly high
But what had happened? Were my expectations in this case simply much too low? What is wrong with me? Is my nose damaged? Is it possible that I really like this nominal Suftschluffi so much? Or - am I just boring? Not imaginable, but given the common opinions about the candidate that can be read here and elsewhere, it is unfortunately not completely absurd ... or?

"Office suite" - yes!
"Easy to wear" - yes!
"Suitable for the masses" - for sure!
"unworthy of an amouage" - whops, wait a minute!
"Uninspired" - hey, easy, partner!
"Boring" - STOP, STOP!!

Okay, okay, I didn't mean it like that, maybe it's all true to some degree For me it is nevertheless one of the most beautiful and absolutely unexpected fragrance discoveries of recent times.

And if my new-found affinity for this fellow makes me all that he is said to be ... then I am happy to be. Probably the most boring amouage-bearer of this universe - but that suits me damn well, I think ;)
Maybe it's a little bit like with dogs - you can recognize a dog's puppy by its owner and mistress [sic!] ... or something like that.

Thank you for reading!