Amouage will launch Memoir Man and Memoir Woman at the end of September:
Inspired by the decadent mien and genius of the 19th Century French poet, Charles Baudelaire and the German philosophy of the doppelganger, Amouage Creative Director Christopher Chong, embarks on a deep and inquisitive voyage to unlock the unfathomable mysteries that reside within human nature. He expresses these influences by coalescing the provoking and potent ingredient of Absinth with other floral and wood accords to evoke a sombre mood.
Incarnated from the introspective pages of Baudelaire’s volume of poetry Les Fleurs du Mal (Flowers of Evil), Chong’s Memoir Man seeks to uncover his identity by seeking the underworld where he meets his other self and alter ego, the Black Swan. In this emporium of vice and damnation, the anguish, the unwanted, the dark, the haunting and the unmentionable are all beauty of the truth.
Represented as the female gender in this story, the Black Swan is Memoir Woman; she is him and he is her. Hauntingly, they come together as one representing each other’s past, present and future in which they mimic each other’s sorrow and pain. They are separated and reunited by the memoir they share, which Chong constructs in these philosophical and mesmerizing fragrances by piecing together contradictory fragments of accords.
Memoir Man ~ a leather woody fougere with notes of absinthe, wormwood, basil, mint, rose, frankincense, lavender, sandalwood, vetiver, guaiac wood, amber, vanilla, musk, oakmoss, leather and tobacco.
Memoir Woman ~ a leather animalic chypre with notes of mandarin, cardamom, absinthe, pink pepper, pepper, clove, white flowers, rose, jasmine, wood, frankincense, styrax, oakmoss, castoreum, leather, labdanum, fenugreek and musk.
Amouage Memoir Man and Memoir Woman will be available in 50 and 100 ml Eau de Parfum. (via press release)
Update: Memoir Man was developed by perfumer Karine Vinchon; Memoir Woman by perfumers Daniel Maurel and Dorothée Piot.
Another update: see a review of Amouage Memoir Man and another of Memoir Woman.
OMG! I think I’m hyperventilating…wait….yup, I sure am! chypre,….cardamom–YES!……clove—YES!…..rose, jasmine, wood, leather, fenugreek & musk? –yes! yes! yes! yes! YES! (I’m such an Amouage Ho!)
I think I might like to sniff this one…..
Let me know when this one shows up – I’ll hold the smelling salts and catch the bottle when you topple over from sheer bliss.
thank you….that’s how you know who your real friends are….they’re willing to catch the bottle so it doesn’t break (they’ve got a grasp of their priorities)…..
Oh i think Daisy will be hosting a split, but i think i will have to just buy my own bottle and keep all to myself :)))))
PERFUME HOG!!! oh wait…..hmmm….I have many ,many bottles….I guess that makes me the Queen Perfume Hog….I’ll just sit here and say “oink”…….
Yes, I think I got my priorities right on this one.
Uh-oh. I think I smell a split!
Doesn’t this sound incredible?!
Ha – we’ll put Daisy in the poor house, lol. *Which one* would we split???? They both sound amazing!
I know – decisions, decisions. But I do lean toward the woman’s version.
hahahaha well the “poor house” has a lovely view of …
….MY BACKYARD!
I’m already drooling over the women’s…mmmmmm….in this dream the bottles arrive at my door by the case….and I have ponies…..
oh and since this is my dream…..my dog never sheds or barks in the middle of the night!….ahhhhh zzzzz……
I don’t think this attitude is going to save you money.
LOL!
true that…..sigh….
prix eau faux material, looove it
Amouage does have a flair for the dramatic….just wait—they’ll come out with a mini-movie to tell the story….it’ll be loaded with symbolism and dripping with drama. But at least there’ll be a minimum of nudity, writhing and heaving breasts.
what about a dramatic ballet?
now you’re really on to something…
Well…. the Black Swan Pas de deux IS the most spectacular dance sequence in Swan Lake…. Outside of the “White” corps de ballet sequences, of course. So this should be very promising.
The Whole Black Swan Sequence from “Le Lac De Cygnes” is Just Profoundly entertaining! Especially when Odette/Odile (OH LORD I forget which one is the Black Swan!) does her 32 Fouettes!
Yep.
I ADORE the notes of Memoir woman!
I just hope it doesn’t come out too dark and broody and strong.
My favorite Amouage so far is Epic, and it is already pretty dark and strong stuff!
I am a tough customer: I haven’t really swooned since Jubilation, although I have liked some of the newer ones, esp. Lyric.
I’m wearing Epic Woman right now. I like it, but not enough. Strangely, and counter to my usual tastes, I love Dia. I think it’s because it smells like Johnson’s Baby Shampoo and that’s adorable.
Living off the sample right now. Looking forward to Memoir. CARDAMOM!!!!
you get J&J baby shampoo in Dia?? I love Dia….It’s one of my Top Five Going With Me to the Deserted Island fragrances….never thought I smelled anything like J&J in it….of course I’m heading for the perfume cabinet as we speak to get a test spritz….
Woman sounds amazing! I liked Epic, and really liked Lyric, but wasn’t induced to pull out my wallet… this may change things.
My ears immediately perk up at the mention of oakmoss, and these both sound really nice.
They’re going to be like $400 each, though, right?
Ah, Pyramus, that’s what the noble split is for! It will save a lot of us from going insane wanting a bottle.
Oh, I’m surprised that plum is not listed as one of the notes. I could swear I got a very realistic plum in the opening. Must have been a combination of other things creating an olfactory illusion.
I loved it.
Liking the the black bottle too. I hoped for purple but black looks very striking too.
YOU”VE SNIFFED THIS ALREADY??? egad, I’m practically panting in envy!!
Lol, yeah, I posted about them a few weeks ago. I went to the local counter to try the Opus collection and the SA told me about these and let me have a sniff when she realised I was genuinely a fan of the brand.
Hopefully she didn’t let you sniff something that ended up being $9000!
Ha, true!
Slow deep breaths, Daisy!
far too late for that my dear…..I’m already flat on the floor passed out in a hyper-oxygenated state.
ok, I’m typing….but maybe I pulled the keyboard down here with me when I fell….
OH! MY! GOD!
I second that OMG!
I third that OMG! On both of them! And the ad copy!
That ad copy… Oh my sides…
Seriously though, these sound amazing, especially the one for women. Want!
Another one from Amouage these Niche lines are popping out fragrances so quickly.Wormwood seriously those notes sound like yet another overpowering cloying Amouage fragrance.This line doesn’t work for me I know Luca Turin always rates them highly but they are just too strong I feel a headache coming on with those notes.Ewww no!
Eh, you can’t do a Baudelaire-inspired fragrance w/o wormwood…Or maybe the wormwood inspired the Baudelaire concept?
BTW: Is that supposed to be parsed as though Christopher Chong is Baudelaire’s doppelganger?
I’m going to be laughing over this copy for a long time! Still want to sniff both, though, very muchly!
That sentence is very awkwardly worded, but I don’t think that’s what they meant.
Me either, but I think it’s hilarious to read it that way!
I’m laughing so much. . . so THIS is the type of writing that inspired the Prix Eaux Faux! Parodists have their work cut out for them in trying to top this!
I am never going to get out of perfume debt! The Amouage line is my very favorite and, other than in 95 degree heat (which it’s been most of the summer) I wear all of them except Gold (which gives me a headache), Ciel (which I like but not love) and Dia (same). Can’t wait to test this. Sadly, I’m sure I’m going to love it…..
Leather animalic chypre! Oakmoss, styrax and castoreum!
I’m breathless. All hail Amouage!
But I hope that the absinthe is not going to play a very important role in this.
I’m sampling the Opus collection right now, very beautiful and I love love love Jubilation 25. Can’t wait to try this!
I’ve been sampling the Opus collection also and J 25 is my favorite of the line so far.
My comment above didn’t really make much sense – it sounded like I was saying that J 25 is part of the Opus collection, when of course, it isn’t. I should have said that J 25 is my all time favorite of the Amouage line [though I haven’t tried them all, but I think I’m close].
memoir is a close second…could even e a tie with jubilation 25…my favourite too!
A leather chypre by Amouage?! Oh! I can’t stand it. I want to smell this so badly I hate it.
Thank god for Amouage. Line me up with everyone else waiting to sniff this one. The copy is hilarious though – I’d expect it to be all unwashed angry sour misanthropic anxiety ridden eau d’homme.
Leather chypre? Gorge bottle? Baudelaire? It’s a hat trick!! I am in love already…. Have yet to get to new Amouage in London – Must. Remedy. That.
Damn them being so expensive though… Shame about needing to pay mortgage and oh, EAT!
nah, rather buy perfume and skip a few meals!!
How did people like the Opus series?
I’ve been working my samples and think the line is different than those we’ve been describing here – more straightforward, less oriental incensy (if that’s a word). I think III is most like the “regular” line, II is the most masculine and I is the sweetest. Having said that, I like and desire them all. Others are better at descriptions than I and will look forward to hearing what you all say.
You know, I tried them this past weekend and they were nice. At the risk of offending lots of people, I’ll go ahead and say that I found them to be jumped-up versions of Ralph Lauren frags. Wow! I just said that!
Here’s my little (reposted) review of Opus II:
I must say that I am overwhelmed after having tested Opus II. It is a magnificent, beautiful fougere. In short, it smells something like a cross between Rive Gauche PH and Fou d’Absinthe, the two not blended together but instead a new formula inspired by the two, created with an unlimited budget and blended by God himself.
The notes of Opus II may sound generic but are woven together with such careful precision and subtlety that they literally dance on the skin in an olfactory equivalent of the glimmering iridescent display of light dancing across a most exquisite piece of abalone. This is a fragrance that is definitely greater than the sum of its parts.
You know that feeling of magic that sometimes washes over you during the winter season? There is an utter, almost eerie, stillness in the air, and all the earth is asleep, and the quiet and solitude do not leave you feeling alone so much as they magnify your own sense of self, your own awareness of life and existence? The way we rush from the car into the houses of friends and families to escape the bitter cold, and are met with the wonderful scent of chai tea, cinnamon sticks and apple cider, christmas trees, bay leaves and mistletoe. The warmth of friendship. All of that; all of the wonderful and beautiful elements of winter have seemingly been distilled. That is Opus II.
Yes, truly a wonderful fougere that shimmers and floats above the skin, and will remind you, if you are so inclined to listen, that magic really does still exist.
i love opus 1, but memoir woman stole my heart
Yeah, I’ll be curious to sniff them, but I’m not gonna hyperventilate or anything.
I strained an eye muscle from rolling them at the copy.
Snort!!!
I think I felt your eyes roll over, lol. My husband (a literature guy) got a big kick out of that too. Poor Baudelaire! One of these days the poor guy is going to come back from the grave to collect all the nickles he’s earned from people using his name badly.
What’s interesting is that this a second perfume reference for that Baudelaire collection — the first being JPG Fleur du Mâle.
I, the philistine, could not have named a Baudelaire book before learning of it that way.
Plus Byredo Baudelaire. I think By Kilian also referenced Baudelaire in his original ad copy.
See, unfortunate fellow. i just think people like the sound of his name, lol. There are other angry poets in the world. I am waiting for the first Bukowski Noir to come out.
Totally agree…he sounds agreeably French. Bukowski will never get a licensing deal.
Hey, if it weren’t for my husband, I couldn’t either.
Ohhh-kay. Looks like so far I’m the only person to be saying, “Leather animalic chypre? Count me out.” Ubar, to be honest, was plenty animalic for me.
We can’t all like EVERYthing, I suppose. It does remind me that I have samples of both the men’s and women’s Jub 25/XXV that I need to try…
I’m in your camp, sistah
HA…this sound FB worthy…NO sharing :)))))))
The Memoir Woman notes scare me a bit as I usually fear anything ‘animalic’. The castoreum, leather, fenugreek (curry????) and all that pepper are making me eeeeeeekkkk!!
I have been a lurker for months but just registered so I could post and say . . . I was in London and visited the Amouage store twice. I ended up buying the Tribute attar. I also love Lyric and Ubar, though, and Memoir sounds like something I’d like.
Here is an idea. They sell the women’s scents, in addition to 50ml and 100ml bottles, in the form of purse spray with 4 10ml refills. The cost is somewhat more than 4/5 of the 50 ml (110 pounds for the Lyric, I am not sure about the others) and of course you don’t get the signature bottle. They also don’t sell them as mixed sets. However, if four people wanted to go in on them, we could transform it to four mixed sets. I will be back in London in February . . .
Well, I read Fleurs du Mal at uni, and I think I’ll leave it there, thanks…a leather animalic chypre is “so not calling my name”…
They both sound amazing, but i already know the price tag will be too high.
Does anyone know the noses behind these two scents?
Leather woody fougeres aren’t really my thing but Amouage is, however. I LOVE and own Lyric Man and Reflection Man and have recently been smitten by Opus II. There are a few more in the line that are calling my name, too. I know it’s foolish to write off an Amouage without smelling it. Can’t wait to sniff these.
Just added that info above…
Thanks!
Wow, Daniel Maurel sure has become Amouage’s go to nose. He did Lyric Woman, Opus I, collaborated with a few other noses for Epic Woman and now is in another collaboration for Memoir Woman. Karine Spehner, too, has now done 2 scents for Amouage.
I think the only other nose to do two scents for them was Lucas Sieuzac who did Jubilation 25 and Reflection Man. I was really hoping he’d be behind one of these scents. Well, I hope they bring him back in the future as he’s one of my favorite noses (and Reflection Man is the closest thing I’ve found to a holy grail!).
I suppose it’s just as well as he isn’t behind them though as based on the notes they don’t really sound up my alley. Just as well, as I’m already yearning (ok, pining, desperately!) for a bottle of Opus II.
Heavens above- it sounds glorious !
i don” now how it has happened but they have been on sale here for at least 10 days and I have been searching for reviews….they r both uNBELIEVABLE and woman is a must have…it kind of feels like all the best bits of all the others added in one!!!!…swoon!….sometimes it feels like a stronger lyric (not as soft)
Hi there – first time over here. I think the reason we got Memoir here may be because there was talk of an Amouage workshop to coincide with a visit by Christopher Chong a couple weeks ago. It didn’t happen – postponed (possibly till October) and my guess is that the few bottles went up – sort of a soft launch. I’m not complaining – Memoir Man is terrific, another chapter on from Epic Man but quite introspective. The copy is actually quite apt in terms of the mood . . .
This sounds DIVINE! I adore Epic Woman and am halfway through my 100 ml bottle, but will start saving my euros for one of the new Amouage fragrances, as I’m sure to fall in love with one of them. Memoir sounds right. I haven’t sniffed the Opus collection yet.