Outlands Amouage 2024

I bet that cheeky Cecile felt a bit rebellious when she was composing Outlands... which is still distinctly Amouage, yet leaning into a more accessible, mainstream appreciation.

The composition opens with a dry, aromatic spice blend - likely cardamom and pink pepper (... and yes, reminiscent of African Leather Eau de Parfum) - setting the stage for a heart of smoky oud and resinous woods. There’s a subtle floral nuance, possibly iris or violet leaf, that adds a cool sophistication.
After an hour, the base starts defining Outlands' long lasting identity: leathery, woody, and slightly sweet, with amber and incense lending warmth. Interestingly, I noticed that as your body heats up, somehow the maltol is triggered and you'll get wafts of it.

While it doesn’t fall into the “cardabomb” category, Outlands does flirt with that genre. It certainly has a Layton-esque vibe... aromatic, slightly sweet, and mass-appealing but with a markedly superior performance. In fact, the performance sis and bros should know that Outlands pushes well beyond 12 hours (double that on clothes), with projection still noticeable at arm’s length up to the 10-hour mark. That’s impressive, even by Amouage standards, right?

The bottle, which caused scenes of mass panic when this line was launched, in my opinion still preserves Amouage elegant, weighty, and quality design. I do appreciate the aesthetic and the coating material, but I’m not a fan of the opaque design that hides the liquid level. It’s a minor gripe, and I suspect that humanity will survive.

Given Amouage's "new direction et bischification", Outlands carves out its own respectable space - and it's probably one of the brand's best recent releases. It’s bang on unisex, performing, wearable without being banal and quite flexible in terms of seasonality... definitely not an easy accomplishment.

If you like reading my reviews, why don't you have a look at my new YouTube channel where you can watch and listen to my ramblings? Find me @ mostly_just_perfumes

I've been amazed by all the criticism and discussion I've read about Outlands . Some people think that it is a combination of Cécile's fragrances. Well, isn't it normal that many perfumers have a certain style in which to make fragrances? Let's take Roja as an example. He has certain signature raw materials that he uses in the majority of his fragrances and similar structures and aromas of notes can be recognized in both his Chypres and the fragrances in his Aoud collection.

If Cécile decides to make a new oriental fragrance, it will necessarily have the raw materials needed to make an oriental fragrance. This does not mean that the perfumer is somehow lazy or "copying" her previous fragrances. In my opinion, this is the same as if an artist painted a series of paintings in which a certain theme is repeated. In this case, that theme is oriental fragrances. To add to this how talented Cécile is, I myself am excited when she releases more fragrances in this category. Besides, Ani Extrait de Parfum , as has been mentioned numerous times in the reviews, is not even oriental in any way and it's extremely sweet with totally different structure compared to any other of the scents I mention.

The more inexperienced you are with this style of fragrances and/or especially the less you've worn them when writing the review, the more similar they may seem, but in reality, the scents combined with Outlands are vastly different and the similarities come across more in individual notes and how Cécile uses the ingredients, not in the fact that the scent itself is almost the same as any previous one.

Ani Extrait de Parfum leans heavily on vanilla and the creaminess of sandalwood, with many people even considering the scent to be in the gourmand category, which I wouldn't put it in myself. The texture of Outlands is not creamy at all. Due to the huge difference in the scents, I don't see it as relevant to say that Outlands is an upgrade from Ani. If it were an upgrade, the scent should at least be in the same category. Even if every note of Ani Extrait de Parfum were found in Outlands , the other notes and its complexity make the scent completely different. Of course, if you don't like the fragrance category of Ani Extrait de Parfum and the scent itself, you can consider anything with some same notes to be an upgrade from it.

The supposed citrus notes of Ani and Outlands have also been compared to each other as being similar and I strongly disagree. I am known not a fan of citrus notes and fortunately they are not the main focus of either fragrance. In Outlands the zesty, bright citruses disappear as quickly as they come and perform exactly as citrus notes usually do as opening notes. In Ani Extrait de Parfum the citrus notes are stronger at first and due to the simpler structure it is easier to notice. If I spray Ani alone on one wrist I don't think it is so citrusy, but when comparing Ani Extrait de Parfum , Outlands and Material side by side the citrus notes in Ani's opening are thick, bright and candied. However, that too disappears within an hour and it is overshadowed by intense Ginger and Cardamom.

In Outlands , vanilla is one small part of a really complex scent, it's not a vanilla scent, but above all a spicy and resinous oriental. In Outlands, the base is very skillfully made. Besides of Amber, notable notes there are Ambergris, Labdanum and Oud, which together with Caraway create a subtle animalic feel to the scent. Caraway is pungent and spicy, and its scent profile can be very similar to cumin, like is the case here. It brings "dirty" and animalic undertone, sometimes compared to body odor, to the scent. It's a characteristic some people find appealing in a perfume and others find off-putting. The aroma in this scent is balanced and soft, not too pungent, but that's what makes this scent so special and that is the most noticeable difference from the other fragrances mentioned and at the same time it may be the most challenging thing about the entire fragrance. With this divisive, addictive aroma, which is also found more discreetly in III-IV Tango and Epic 56 Woman thanks to Cumin, Outlands leans more towards Serenity than Ani Extrait de Parfum and Material combined. Serenity, however, is otherwise a much simpler scent and lacks warm spices and resinous texture.

The main features of Material are an extremely mellow, heavy and dark character thanks to dirty Patchouli and a hint of Oud, and a strong resinous presence. There are no spices in the fragrance besides Vanilla. The aroma of the fragrance is very unique and has no similarity to Outlands apart from individual notes.

Then another scent that you can see in the comparisons is African Leather Eau de Parfum (not Cécile's creation) and it again has a very clear tangible leatheriness and a clear rose and therefore the scents do not compete on the same line despite their oriental nature and heavy Cardamom. However, the texture and strength of the scents are clearly comparable, because they lack a certain thickness and creaminess. Cécile's leathery oriental scent with rose is III-IV Tango , and the stronger very oriental rose scent Epic Woman Eau de Parfum without leather and very small pieces of both can be found in Outlands . And the aroma of Outlands, the scent itself, cannot be imagined as a hodgepodge of Cécile's other scents because its style is so different. Outlands is truly complex and well performing, yet incredibly refined and elegant. If I were to simply describe it in terms of other scents, I would say that the style is similar to African Leather Eau de Parfum and Palais Bourbon . Let's remove the leather and rose from African Leather, and the rich vanilla from Palais Bourbon and replace them with a clear resinity, an irresistibly seductive "aroma of skin" from Labdanum, and a naughty sensual aroma of Cumin (here Caravay), which gives hints of Serenity because of dirty nuances. If you try to describe the scent using Ani and Material, the end result is anything but Outlands.

So to sum it up - yes, there are small bits of Cécile's creations mentioned, but that doesn't make Outlands a bad or unimaginative scent in any way. Whether the scent is unique or not is another matter entirely, and as a scent it's nothing entirely new, but the scent is just amazingly gorgeous and beautifully finished. There is an incredible balance between the different accords in the fragrance and that is what makes it so pleasant. I think it's unisex, but I still think it will appeal more to men. The naughty dirtiness and sensual animality I mentioned may not appeal to most women, but I'm totally hooked on the scent.

Thank you for reading, I hope my review was helpful.

I loved Zerokians latest offering for Creed, so I thought I’d give this twin sister a try.

Starts really fun. No licorice here, some rosemary and cinnamon maybe. Getting gingerbread vibes from it after a while. Warm, ambery, great stuff for the holidays.

My problem with it, after the fun opening, it gets so bloody cloying. It screams and it just won’t shut up. I do recognize the hand of the perfumer but where Zarian has some edgy notes to keep it fun and a bit fresher, this is darker and more repetitive. It’s nothing like any other Amouage and it’s not for me.

My last review of Amouage's latest collection "The Essences". Review written off one in-doors test off samples purchased directly from Amouage.

Unlike both Lustre and Reasons, Amouage appears to not be borrowing notes nor accords from their existing catalogue with Outlands. However, the issue is that they're now "borrowing" from Nishane instead as perfumer Cécile Zarokian has essentially taken Nishane's hero franchise Ani Extrait de Parfum and re-released it under Amouage with moderate twists. However, this product isn't just Ani - it's actually a hodge-podge of Zarokian's top products incl. aspects from scents like Material, Vanilla Edesia and others. It's equivalent to when an artist releases a "Best Of" album.

Outlands opens with a very smooth creamy-citrusy tone in the top, this DNA is INSTANTLY recognizable as inspired by Ani Extrait de Parfum. There is a moderate difference in the top in that it opens rather gourmand, making me think of lemon cookies. It's obviously not as sweet as scents like "Casamorati - Lira (Eau de Parfum) | XerJoff" and Love & Crime, but it sits between the spicy-sweet-citrus profile of the Nishane and the gourmand-sweet-citrus profiles of the Casamorati/Ex Idolo.

Once we exit the initial 5-10 minutes, various other aspects begin to appear that one would associate with Amouage. Primarily, the scent begins to intensify in its spiciness and resinous qualities, but as previously mentioned, these same accords are also visible in another Zarokian scent released under British house Electimuss, that being Vanilla Edesia. Separating the notes is somewhat difficult, but I assume it's some mix of the frankincense, labdanum and elemi/caraway. The deeper into the drydown you go, the more the scent brings complexity, but the tones of a more gourmand Ani do not entirely fade until the 3rd hour. I would say after the first hour, the nuances of Ani begin their transition to nuances of Material as it's no longer decipherable whether the sweet tone is vanilla or benzoin/amber. At certain stages, I do notice a mild breakdown in the on-skin scent quality as the various spicy-resinous tones need that sweet accord to balance it out, making me revise the scent down by 0.5.

Ultimate accords: spicy-resinous-sweet-creamy-citrusy

The scent has good-to-great longevity with above average, potentially good sillage. For the time, Amouage is selling this at €420/100ml which is more than the €345/100ml that Nishane is charging for Ani. It should be viewed as a direct competitor to Ani with minimal differences in utility/use cases (spring-fall daily) as well as performance. The bottle is still ugly, but the product speaks for itself here. With that said, given this is the final product in this collection, I can now unequivocally state that all that chatter about oak barrels and double infusion was an empty marketing gimmick since it leads to nothing noteworthy in the structures of these scents. I almost feel like people are voting for "Woody" as an accord because of the empty marketing, there's essentially nothing woody about this scent.

Outlands from the Arab House of Haute Luxury Niche Perfumery Amouage from the Sultanate Of Oman is part of The Essences Collection; It is a Oriental Woody Incensed Spicy Aromatic Amber Unisex perfume. It was launched in 2024 and the perfumer who signs this fragrance is Cécile Zarokian. To bring this olfactory journey to distant lands to life, Amouage employed a revolutionary method of double infusion: first, the mixture is macerated in sandalwood flakes and then matured in hand-selected oak barrels for six months. Presented in an original, the first new design introduced by Amouage in 15 years. Ingredients of the highest quality. Perfume of easy pleasantness! Outlands is the perfect fusion of French Haute Perfumery without losing the opulence of Arabic perfumery. Cécile Zarokian once again gives a lesson on how to transit through these two worlds.

Outlands opens with a vibrant and unusual burst of top notes, including elemi resin, the warm spiciness of Chinese pepper with the green spicy freshness of cardamom, a citrus flash of lemon and bergamot and a load of incense right on the way out, the citrus is brief and very discreet. These elements come together to create an energizing and invigorating introduction that sets the stage for the journey ahead.
As the fragrance develops, the heart is a rich mosaic of a patchouli with a very intense and striking chocolatey woody aspect in the fragrance, with saffron and anise with that very present licorice vibe as well and light floral touches of rose and orange blossom. These elements create a balance between warmth and freshness and the vitality of a verdant flower garden, offering a rich and complex bouquet that is both captivating and comforting. And just like citrus, this floral nuance is also very brief.

When you reach the base, you will discover a warm and sensual mixture with the sweetness of a sweet accord bordering on the gourmet of vanilla, amber, benzoin and ethyl maltol widely used in perfumery and the food industry responsible for this sweet almost gourmand facet of the perfume. With the arrival of more dark smoky resins of 'oud, frankincense, birch, opoponax and labdanum, and a duet of ambergris with musk break this sweetness, thus preventing the composition from becoming cloying. These notes provide a long-lasting ambery resinous smoky finish that lingers beautifully on the skin, making this fragrance an unforgettable experience. Outlands encapsulates the spirit of Middle Eastern perfumery, with the modernity of French perfumery harmoniously combining traditional elements with a contemporary elegance thus creating a complex sophisticated, refined and timeless aroma. Regardless of the exacerbated hype, it will not be among my most favorite Amouage's. Delicious perfume, I liked it a lot! And it still has great performance.