Amouage - Memoir

Apparently these two new fragrances from Amouage were concieved in a somewhat different way than usual: first Memoir Man was created, and then Memoir Women was built from the masculine version. They are both quite unisex, just as the two Jubliations are unisex (and in fact I find Jubilation Woman to be drier and more masculine than the opulent Jubilation Man). This method of construction explains why the two Memoirs are so strikingly similar.

Both Memoirs seem like a continuation of the two Jubilations, which were somewhat of a break from previous Amouage scents. This is a good thing. Memoir Man is deep, rich, and chocolaty; although Amouage claims it is based on the idea of leather, it is a leather in the Amouage school, which is to say that this signature note is framed by the opulent and familiar Amouage base. [EDIT: Coming back to this years later, I have to say that I don't really care much for Memoir Man, perhaps because of the mint note. I do not like mint. Fuck you, mint vitamins I ate as a child. I still love the hell out of Memoir Woman though.]

Memoir Woman is even more impressive: it is Memoir Man, plus more. (Indeed, the drydowns of the two are very similar, to the point where one might confuse the two). To the rich, dry base of Memoir Man has been added a smooth collection of floral notes, but these notes don't create a feminine fragrance; instead, they sweeten the slightly overly-dry impression of the masculine version. It's described as a chypre, and certainly its drydown has the same oakmossy goodness one finds in Jubilation Woman; but it is also quite unisex, and is definitely the superior of the two. It is massively complex: spicy, sweet, boozy, incense-y, woody, sometimes dry. It is so well-blended that I can't discern individual notes until that familiar Amouage drydown. It may, in fact, be my favorite fragrance from Amouage, which is saying something.

I'll also add that the ad copy for Memoir is hilariously, pretentiously overwrought (see here), and on the Amouage website you can find an especially gut-busting promotional video filled with angsty models, swooning close-ups, and feathers (??): " In this emporium of vice and damnation, the anguish, the unwanted, the dark, the haunting and the unmentionable are all beauty of the truth . . . She is him and he is her. They come together as one representing each other’s past, present and future in which they mimic each other’s sorrow and pain." (What the fuck?). Thankfully, I have not become "her" when I've worn Memoir Woman; arbitrary gender reassignment shouldn't be the goal of a fragrance. I do think, though, that I'm going to start telling people that the haunting and the unmentionable are all beauty of the truth. IT IS SO TRUE.