Memoir Man Amouage 2010

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

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

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.

So I’m standing in this perfume boutique, asking for leathery scents. The lady at the counter let me smell all sorts of stuff, but nothing struck me as leathery. The last one in line was this Memoir Man.

I couldn’t smell any leather, but knowing Amouage a bit by now, you shouldn’t judge too fast. I brought home a sample. I still can’t really detect leather but I fell in love with the creamy sandelwood that’s hiding in this black mysterious bottle. It’s not loud, but it’s there allright. It’s there for you to make you feel confident and for others to enjoy when they come close to you. It lasts me through the day as well.

I don’t get any anise or absinthe. There is a certain whiff of freshness peeking through all the way at the beginning but it’s more like mint than anything else.

For an Amouage it’s still quite a linear fragrance. It doesn’t really change throughout its lifetime. But that’s okay when it smells as nice as this right?

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.