Imitation Woman Amouage 2018

I believe everyone knows these shell game players who skillfully move small, hollow cones in public places while the audience has to guess under which cone the ball is. The clever shell game players mostly refrain from using their tricks at first and let the crowd believe that guessing is quite simple, as the ball is often under the shell where one would expect it. This makes one tempted to join in. But beware - as soon as you do, the shell game player employs their tricks, and the ball is suddenly never where you expected it with considerable certainty.

Imitation Woman is a brilliant shell game player who pulls out all the stops.

It starts with the fact that under the top note cone, there are not the expected flowers listed in the pyramid, but an impressive blackcurrant bush and something musty that reminds me of the somewhat stinky scent of certain composite flowers when you get your nose very close. Uff, I thought spontaneously, this will not be another Amouage favorite of mine. The blackcurrant is present in bloom, leaf, and fruit simultaneously, and indeed, I notice for the first time that this scent of blackcurrant bushes has a similarity to licorice. I find that interesting and am nonetheless glad that the licorice hints remain in the background. Gradually, as if moved by a ghostly hand, the mustiness slowly moderates, and I sense something floral.

The floral note becomes stronger, and after about 2 hours, I smell a rich, intense floral scent that strangely I cannot assign to any specific flower. But one thing becomes clear: here we have the heart note cone, under which the shell game player skillfully conjures up the lush bouquet described as the "top note." Now I begin to like the scent more and more. That I cannot really name the flowers individually, I attribute to aldehydes, which gently and radiantly give the scent class and a hint of nostalgia for elegant yet cheerful ladies' perfumes from the 1970s. Nevertheless, Imitation does not come across as a classic or even outdated, as a honey sweetness gradually joins in, which was not found in fragrances back then. There is still a trace of the blackcurrant bush, which gives it a certain bitterness. The aldehydic floral cornucopia under the heart note shell also receives a hint of cinnamon, which I find extremely pleasant. The shell game player has completely confused me: should I learn to love this scent so much that I would like to wear it more often?

Surprise! The base note cone also does not contain what was expected: instead of incense and sandalwood, I detect tonka, a bit of musk, and more honey with cinnamon. The musk feels like the musk from the 70s, but not the variant that reminds one of hairspray, rather one with a hint of "Wild Love" by Nerval. It is one of the few musk notes that I like all around. The mustiness has completely disappeared, and the blackcurrant bush is now hardly noticeable, let alone the licorice.
Every now and then, brilliant flowers still flash through. Only as expected does a fine and subtle note of patchouli make itself known.

Barely 2 hours of stinky undertone next to impressive blackcurrant seems, in light of well over 10 hours of dreamy, brilliant flowers and wonderfully soft honey-tonka-musk-cinnamon-patchouli base, suddenly somewhat insignificant.

Kudos, this shell game has it all: one no longer knows where the top note stands and whether the heart note is in the right place. After this clever twist of swapping the two, one thinks, at least under the third shell, it can only be what was expected - but think again!
Fascinating and shimmering like its bottle, this magic has now captivated me, and I play again and again.

I thank Frlsmilla for the sharing, not without issuing a warning: Beware, shell games can be addictive!