Amouage - Interlude Woman

Picture: Zyklus der Monatsbilder, Szene: Der düstere Tag (The Gloomy Day)

(Monat Februar oder März), oil on panel by Pieter Brueghel the elder, 1565

Be warned, this is the most perplexing fragrance that I have tried in many years. It indeed shows a dual personality to me and this is one of the trickiest reviews that I have written.The new Amouage  Interlude Woman doesn't start pleasent at all .When just applied there is a smell almost like fortified wine. There are grapelike and some almost fermented fruity notes. Shortly thereafter the blend turns in a grey and gloomy mud note, supported with some subdued flowers, that mediates the atmosphere of mutued grey, beige and dark red colors of a gloomy day, just like the painting above. From other reviews I have read that many of the reviewers are experiencing an explosion of a great number of bright colors in this stage, but all I percive is this messy gloominess. There is also a fuggy smell, like a sultry closet with old, wollen clothes. When wearing Interlude Women very light applicated, the muddled note is less dense but nevertheless gloomy. A whiff of an accord containing the cold flower of crysanthemum also appears and reminds me a bit of the Serge Lutens beauty De Profundis (review in swedish). Experienced from many years of perfumsniffing I know that a challenging opening of a fragrance often leads to something even more interesting and sometimes also beautful. In Interlude Woman the muddled texture slowly decreases and now and then short whiffs of the excellent Amouage frankincense appears. When reaching the basenotes Interlude Woman clears up considerable, the mud is drying to a pleasent putty note.The fermented fruits developes to a note that could be described as "preserved prunes with leather " with a glimmer of the incense and some peppery oud added. As the drydown futher progresses there is also notes that reminds me of bay leaf and pickled juniperberries. This part of Interlude Woman I experience as more masculine than feminine in style and to me the fragrance is quite unisex. The basenotes are the best part of Interlude Woman and in this stage is both interesting and enjoyable, not as the top and middlenotes, which are almost solely interesting but not particulary enjoyable. The basenotes are lasting for long, during at least a whole day. The sillage is medium.

In Interlude Woman I find some similarities, i.e the mud note and the almost messy impression, with Amouage Opus III, but for me Opus III is better. Both Opus III and Interlude Woman is created by perfumer Karine Vinchon Spehn and maybe she uses some accord that doesn't goes well with my chemistry, as obviously Interlude Woman fits so many others.

All in all Amouage Interlude Woman isn't true to me even if  my appreciation of  the basenotes is growing. As mentioned above it's probably my skinchemistry as I havn't read a negative or not even neutral review of Interlude Woman. Could I come over the first part of the fragrance...But on the other hand my wallet is reliefed as it not has to live under the constant pressure from a new Amouage (from the regular line). These bottles almost always are screaming "own me".

Despite my shortcomings wearing this fragrance, I think of Interlude Woman as an interesting and demanding fragrance of high quality that also is strangely beautiful when reaching it's basenotes. And I somehow suspect that one day I will like it, I will get back to my sample the coming winter in order to reassess it. Even if challenging in character, to be an Amouage Interlude Woman is almost subdued and it is wearable in many different situations.

Rating: 3+

Notes: Bergamot, grapefruit, ginger, tagete, rose, frankincense, jasmine, orange blossom, helichrysum, opoponax, sandalwood, nut, coffee, kiwi, honey, agarwood, vanilla, benzoin, amber, sandalwood, oakmoss, leather, tonka, musk

Thanks to Amouage for providing a sample to try.