Rebirth2014

Why do we often feel strongly attracted to morbid topics? They contradict everything that life could sweeten us and offer us in beauty. Right now, on Halloween, many people are inspired by the fantastic creatures of the night (whether legend or pure fiction) and face the supposed horror.

Psychologically speaking, this is a game with fear, which in confrontation makes it all the clearer to us how beautiful it is to be able to enjoy the comfort and security of our enlightened world every day.

The course of human history holds secrets that result in the imprinting of several cultures or ages. The origin of today's scary fun "Halloween" goes back to the Irish "All Hallows' Eve".

In the night from 31 October to 1 November, the "All Hallows' Eve" unites Celtic customs with the Christian faith. Exact demarcations and derivations are hardly possible, but in everything the primal fear of one's own transience and the inevitable end of life resonates.

Also smells can take up this topic consciously or unconsciously. Amouage Interlude is one such perfume - which produces more effect than was probably originally planned. Certainly an oriental perfume was to be composed again, with Opoponax playing the leading role. But imprints and associations create their own effect:

Freshly sprayed, the citric top note flashes briefly, but only for a moment can it prevent the wine from falling into the olfactory abyss. A herbaceous note quickly combines with the immediately staged Opoponax.

Anyone who has ever had a corpse smell in their nose will be able to confirm that it has an unbearably stinging, rotten and musty penetrance, which is, however, introduced with a sweet scent that is difficult to convey. The tree resin Opoponax has this sweet component of corpse odour in its base. Only the following disgust does not occur (fortunately).

As is customary with Amouage, the main theme is artistically played around in the development of the fragrance. Frankincense, patchouli and sandalwood create the interplay of smoke, seasoning and heavy sweetness.

Nevertheless, Interlude can never completely shed its morbid effect even in the base - then the woody patchouli and the lovely sandalwood dominate. The picture of a wilting rose, which illustrates the transience, fits here very well.

While such associations in everyday life may not arrive very well (or even strangely) with our environment, the heavy soul of the fragrance enchants the wearer in quiet moments and can certainly trigger a very strong fascination.

Despite or even because of its olfactory abysses, Interlude rightly has a large fan base (of which I count myself). This is perhaps (in my case even certainly) due to the reasons described at the beginning to always be able to encounter an olfactory "All Hallows' Eve" if a morbid contrast can once again make clear to us what life - in its indispensable transience - offers every day.

In this context even the name "Interlude" fits very well.

I would like to say a few final words about the excessive sillage and durability. These do not fit to the presented topic and jump everyone in the closer environment. You should keep that in mind when making a purchase. One to a maximum of two sprays can last up to two days (if something accidentally gets to the clothing, it can last much longer). If you have 100 ml of it, you have made a living. ;-)

I ride my racing bike along the Rhine. In the middle of the old harbour road, wild herbs push their way through the porous asphalt. The embankment is also overgrown with plants that exude the scent of essential oils. All around there is hectic activity. The workers of the malt factory are loading an anchored ship. Grains roll down a gutter onto the loading area. It is dusty and smells malty sweet. The sun warms the Rhine, which evaporates contrasting fresh accents. This is where the elements come together: sweet and dusty air, fresh and cool water vapour, herbaceous and flowery earth and dry and warm sunrays. I grasp the scenario with all my senses and I feel infinitely free and happy.

Amouage "Reflection Man" corresponds to this scenario. The top note is briefly dominated by pink pepper in combination with green rosemary. This emphasises the herbaceous nature. But very quickly a contrast of white flowers is added. The interplay of the mild pepper with the light orange blossom creates the illusion of cool water vapour. The base, with its powdery sweetness, slowly works its way into the centre of the fragrance. But woodsy patchouli and woody vetiver once again embody a facet of nature. The circle is complete. All contrasts create an extremely harmonious arc of tension. The overall impression is very light, open and dry. One can hardly speak of firm scent chords here, as the individual scents are constantly rearranging themselves.

Mazzolari "Hartley" and Bond No. 9 "Chinatown" go into a similar fragrance direction, but do not reach the perfection of Amouage "Reflection Man", because they have a strong to obtrusive sillage and thus emphasize and structure different chords in the fragrance individually. The freedom that Refelction offers is in my opinion a masterpiece. That this is at the expense of the Sillage should not be surprising.

Another disadvantage, besides the weak radiation of the fragrance, is the habituation effect that creeps in with the pleasing harmony. If I wear Reflection two days in a row, I hardly notice it anymore. This is because there is absolutely no scent that disturbs me. Nothing stands out noticeably and thus the scent is probably very quickly classified by the brain as harmless or harmless and completely faded out. With Hartley and Chinatown a slightly pungent scent (not unpleasant, rather something - in a positive sense - demanding) and a "thicker" base counteract the habituation effect in a sensible way. That's why Amouage "Reflection Man" does not represent an everyday scent for me, but remains in its harmonic perfection an ideal for special moments; and for some critics maybe just (as an analogy) a dream from which they try to wake up:

"Have you ever looked at her closely, marveled at how flawless and beautiful she is? Billions of people just live on and have no idea. Did you know that the first Matrix was planned as a perfect world where no human being had to suffer? An all-round happy life! It was a disaster. People didn't accept the program. Some of us don't think we have the right programming language to create a perfect world for you. But I believe that the human species defines its reality through sorrow and suffering. So the perfect world was just a dream your primitive brain was trying to wake up from." (quote from Agent Smith, from the film Matrix)