Interlude Man Amouage 2012

Well, I can't really judge what exactly Amouage did right or wrong. I know too few of their creations for that.

However, after I was able to smell Epic Man (a wonderful and profound spice package), Jubilation XXV (I can't quite grasp it, a super perfume, but the sillage and longevity seem to always clock out on my skin) and just yesterday Journey Man (a berry-peppery blast!), thanks to Beautycase (thank you!), I received another Amouage sample. Interlude.
Misled by the design of the Interlude advertising campaign, I had the feeling it could be something from the 90s. At least back then, this scribble would have easily fetched quite a bit of cash in some shady art shop. Well, one can be mistaken. This gem is from 2012.

In the intoxication of joy at owning an Amouage sample, I beg you to refrain from laughter - students can't afford a bottle :D, after the first spray came the relentless slap of reality. "What the heck is that?!" Phew, I had to dig deep. Sweet-bitter and slightly biting notes made their way mercilessly into my nose. Slightly woody. Good: Without resistance. This stuff is brutally present and probably makes its way through the most stubborn nose. That covers the sillage.
A slight disappointment and the nagging question "...what on earth smells so peculiar?" Is it the opoponax? Perhaps, because I've never smelled anything like it before.
Time passed, Amouage Interlude remained. And remained. And was tested again a few days later, not because the interest in its uniqueness was so great (to put it mildly, sensationalism), but because I had recognized the beauty of Interlude. When you can't get the idea of a perfume out of your head, it can only be brutally bad or really good. The latter turned out to be true for Interlude.

It was probably the shock that initially kept me at a distance. Some perfumes you have to find your way to. It's like human love. You know each other for years and only in certain situations do you learn to love each other.
What I love about Interlude: Its individuality. Its slightly intrusive character and its "You can deal with it" mentality.
I simply suspect that the opoponax is the conductor in this little potion. The frankincense is well perceived, and if the nose is close enough, also the bergamot notes. However, the latter are not really dominant.
Leather, on the other hand, is not discernible by my olfactory apparatus. But Interlude doesn't need it, in my opinion. From the start, it's sweet but not feminine or even overpowering, and later it becomes quite woody. The opoponax note I suspected (suspected!) continues to hover over everything without taking up too much space. Others can play along too. Although as an oud fan (damn, that makes me a mainstreamer) I would have liked to have more of that. But this is also present. The woodiness continues and shares the co-lead as time goes on. Great!

I would describe Interlude as a beautifully woody-spicy, as well as slightly sweet Oriental charmer. Intrusive? Yes. But friendly and rightly polarizing. For me, still a masculine individualist, who may not yet be fully at home in the palace of the great, but gives the bouncer no chance to keep him out.
Great creation!