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Memoir Man Amouage 2010

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8.0 / 10 1069 Ratings

A popular perfume by Amouage for men, released in 2010. The scent is woody-spicy. The longevity is above-average. It is being marketed by Sabco Group / Oman Perfumery.
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Main accords

Woody

Spicy

Smoky

Green

Resinous

Fragrance Pyramid

Top Notes

Absinth

Mint

Absinthe wormwood Basil

Basil

Heart Notes

Frankincense

Lavender absolute Rose

Rose

Base Notes

Amber

Gaiac wood Leather

Leather

Musk

Oakmoss

Sandalwood Tobacco

Tobacco

Vanilla

Vetiver

Perfumer

Karine Vinchon-Spehner

Videos

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Ratings

Scent

8.01069 Ratings

Longevity

8.4862 Ratings

Sillage

7.5868 Ratings

Bottle

8.8816 Ratings

Value for money

6.6316 Ratings

Submitted by Kankuro, last update on 07/17/2025.

Interesting Facts

The fragrance is part of the "Main" collection.

Smells similar

What the fragrance is similar to

Memoir Man Limited Edition

Ashes

1978 Les Bains Douches

The Perfect Smoking

Étui Noir

Fougère d'Argent

Reviews

26 in-depth fragrance descriptions

02/20/2015

ColinM
516 Reviews

ColinM

Top Review 10

Deep frankincense

One of the nicest frankincense openings on the market: bright, rich, deep, resinous, masterfully blended with bitter green leaves, citrus, something pungent and candied-fruity (like elemi), vetiver, sandalwood, and something on the base which reminds me of castoreum, although it may simply be the “side effect” of vanillin plus woods, leather and citrus notes. Genius touch of dark rose coming and going. A sophisticated hybrid halfway contemporary woody-incense scents like Gucci pour Homme I and resinous-brighter ones like Maria Candida Gentile Exultat, with discreet echoes of classic “barbershop” masculine colognes – mostly because of a soft, and kind of “dark” touch of earthy lavender. Utter pleasure: Memoir Man is a balsamic, refined and cozy gem, stylish and crowdpleasing without smelling dull, shallow or generic, at the same time showing a really peculiar a nondescript sort of “enigmatic” charm. Creative but totally safe, appealing and versatile. Perfect leathery-balsamic greenish drydown with a prominent vetiver-tobacco accord, mellow and again, totally classy, on darker balmy-mossy notes - keeping that abovementioned barbershop-fougère inspiration. Raw but civilized, shady and fascinating, and totally well made and solid... still unworthy the crazy price tag, but really nice.

7,5-8/10

04/08/2018

9
Bottle 9
Sillage 10
Longevity 9
Scent

Smora
155 Reviews

Smora

Very helpful Review 3

Professor Moriarty

Scentrack: Hans Zimmer - Discombobulate

This scent really shocked me, caught me off guard. It's really dark, like the darkest winter day. Saturated, oriental. One can say Sherlock Holmes would wear this, but I believe Prof. Moriarty prefers Memoire. Bitter dampness of dark cellar, while on the table are the plans for conquering the world. Basil and absinthe in the start, soon accompanied by rose, incense, leather and vanilla. Darker than evil soul. Don't wear it on date, you will give the impression of Jack The Ripper's presence.

Rating; 9/10

12/10/2013

7
Sillage 8
Longevity 6
Scent

Epimedes
9 Reviews

Epimedes

5

Promising start, disappointing finish

Do you know how a new TV show starts with an exciting pilot episode and then runs out of ideas in one season? That's pretty much how I feel here. Memoir Man opens up as a radiant green scent, moving from a sharp, freshly cut grass introduction to a darker cold green absinthe, and finally to an aromatic herbal blend. It is all very dynamic, with an impressive complexity from the incense and woods peeking through. Then, the scent transforms into a slightly bitter, incense-amber-herbs combination which I simply don't find very interesting. In the end, it's mainly incense, vanilla, sandalwood left. I get bored by the drydown, which I find unoriginal despite being high quality; besides, it lasts forever and becomes somewhat bothersome. Another problem: the green palette so vibrant and fresh on a blotter becomes muted and dull when I am wearing Memoir Man. Maybe it's the olfactory fatigue, but even with a light application on my skin, the scent looses a lot of its lustre. What a pity. Memoir Man is not bad, especially if the drydown is to your liking. Unfortunately, this offering from Amouage appears to me more like a project where the bland ending is no match for a brilliant start.

02/17/2012

10
Bottle 5
Sillage 7.5
Longevity 7
Scent

Apicius
224 Reviews

Apicius

5

Setting the Right Tone

After so many Parfumo users having pushed this fragrance to no. 1 of the top list, I get curious if there might be something special about it.

I admit, Memoir Man is not bad enough for a slating review. A stylish flacon, a mysteriously oriental brand name and twice the price as usual for a decent perfume – and people buy it like mad. Amouage knows the ropes, that is for sure!

Memoir Man is a decently made smoky resinous fragrance. Top and middle notes have an attractive appeal with green and herbaceous, yet dark and resinous parts. I especially like that all different notes at first were mingled to give you a homogeneous impression. It may be difficult to smell any of these notes separately.

Getting near the base notes, Memoir Man becomes more streamlined. It becomes smokier and more resinous, in parts even bitter. It had to ponder a while where it was that I had smelled this combination before, but then it came to my mind: Intricate and Complex, the twin fragrances by Boadicea the Victorious! There it is again, that imagination of cold cigar ash which I especially get from the expensive Inricate. These two Boadicea fragrances are hardly wearable due to their excessively intense way. But in Memoir Man, everything is decently diluted and brought down to the tolerance limit of a global audience. Dosis venum facit, and a tiny whiff of smoky-resinous ash is apparently appreciated by many – but not by me. I like it smoky, but not resinous.

Of course, this is a matter of personal taste. On the other side: what would be the outcome of a blind test: Memoir Man versus the really noble and wearable smoky L'Homme Sage by Divine?

It is reasonable that this Memoir is marketed as a men's fragrance. In spite of its dark and bitter style I do not find it particularly masculine. In my mind I see a still sporty elderly lady with a dark complexion who wants to emphasis a distinctive harsh kind of femininity.

One can regard Memoir Man as a deep black fragrance. Its success bay be founded on the fact that Amouage made this fragrance quite wearable. It may appeal to an advanced audience with a developed sense for uniqueness, an affection towards dark romance, and with being past any loud perfumes with big bang effect. But is this Amouage perfume beautiful?

12/14/2024

4
Pricing 5
Sillage 8
Longevity 6
Scent

Smirky
450 Reviews

Smirky

5

Another watered down Amouage

Memoir Man opens with a unique green/herby scent. I did not get any mint at first, although after about an hour the mint did become a bit more prominent (nothing off-putting). As it continued to evolve over a few hours, incense first appeared and then it started to get more woody/leathery with a bit of bite. Towards the end of its life, it became more of a plain vetiver scent. Very masculine fragrance.

Longevity was good; got about 8 hours out of it. Projection was a little bit better than weak. It was actually kinda disappointing to me. After the green/herby opening started to die down, Memoir Man wasn't very pronounced. And then the last couple of hours was a mild vetiver skin scent. Based on reviews, I'm guessing Memoir Man is another standout Amouage that has been watered down since it was introduced 14 years ago. Not worth the price for what it is today.

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