Amouage describes Opus V Eau de Parfum as a "woody and floral neoclassical masterpiece." Sure, Opus V stars a beautiful iris and has wood, but how you feel about Amouage Opus V will likely depend on how much you like oud.
Perfumer Jacques Cavallier created Opus V. It has notes of orris, agarwood, rum, rose, jasmine, civet, and dry wood accord. According to Amouage's PR machine, "the vision and inspiration for this fragrance is the internet and how knowledge and the art of living are shared amongst the glabal community digitally. This fragrance takes inspirations from the exploration of the tradition and classical art of sharing knowledge to how knowledge becomes fragmented in the world of artificial intelligence, and which has become an acceptable way of living nowadays." (Whew! I bet Jean Claude Ellena is thanking his lucky stars his thematic fragrances for Hermès have to do with gardens.)
When I ponder classical art, the internet, and fragmented knowledge, I come up with the smell of fried transistors (this might be because my ancient workhorse of an iBook is on the fritz) and turpentine. I don't know if Opus V succeeds as an olfactory commentary on the digital age. All I can tell you is Opus V smells like oud. And iris.
Opus V opens with a lush iris, the kind that smells like juicy, floral earth tinged with mint. Oud kicks in almost immediately, and, after ten minutes or so, when the iris has melted into the background, oud takes center stage.
Opus V's oud isn't the polite, carefully blended oud of fragrances such as By Kilian Incense Oud or even the more obvious oud joining the three-way punch of Comme des Garçons + Daphne Guiness Daphne's tuberose, incense, and orange. It's more of a Montale oud — metallic and sharp, like a luxurious blend of oysters, penicillin, and platinum shavings. If you don't enjoy oud as a dominant note, you might want to pass on Opus V.
As Opus V settles in, delicious, dirty leather softens the oud, complete with the old wood of the barn and the scent of horse manure and animals that that lingers even in a clean stable. When the leather fades, the oud continues on, until a trace of dry wood finally emerges from under it several hours later, just before the fragrance disappears altogether.
I like Opus V, and, to use one of Robin's measurements, if someone gave me a bottle I'd wear it happily. But pay Amouage prices for it? Not now. I'm indulging my exploration of the art of living, fragmented knowledge, and the internet — as well as my savings — in a newly refurbished MacBook Pro. Come to think of it, wearing the last spray from my sample of Opus V will be a fitting goodbye as I pack away my iBook for the last time.
Amouage Opus V is part of the Library Collection. Opus V Eau de Parfum costs $325 for 100 ml in an elegant glass flask. For information on where to buy it, see Amouage under Perfume Houses
Oud is a deal-breaker for me. Otherwise, this sounds lovely. Perhaps more a statement about all things not technology. When I think of tech, I think of the smell of hot plastic from an overheated server; the smell of dust; the smell of solder. Come visit my library’s “computer graveyard” storage room. This is not the smell of iris, oud, and other lovelies.
It sounds like Opus V definitely isn’t for you, then. There’s no getting around its oud.
I like the sound of your library’s dead computer room and how it smells!
I have to agree with over heated plastic , dust and a metallic bite at the back of my nose…..but it wouldn’t make me want to wear it…it’d cause me untold stress an anxiety….like the feeling I get when technology turns on me and all I get is a blue screen and then that faint hot electrical smell (you know the one I mean) ….because it signals the next week of no internet access, visits to Best Buy and other very confusing stores….and ummm…big charges on my credit card…. I don’t really want a fragrance inspired by these things……
Hopefully Amouage’s idea of fragmented art and the digital age don’t have to do with computers blowing up! I admit, though, that it was on my mind when I wrote the review, if only for personal reasons…
been there….and it’s not a happy place!
Is anyone else a little put of by the boastful declaration that it’s a masterpiece?
I can’t tell you how often I’ve wanted to tell perfume companies to take a second look at the work their PR firms are doing.
It’s kind of you to think that they don’t know
I’m far less generous. What book publisher would proclaim a book to be a masterpiece — I’m not talking about a quote from someone else, but Random House itself. It doesn’t happen in the movies, either. If the marketing department can get a quote from a NY Times reviewer claiming a film to be a masterpiece, they’ll damn well use it, but you’ll never hear a director call his own film a masterpiece before it’s even out (unless, you know, he’s a little eccentric).
It seems like proclaiming your own work to be a masterpiece also has the liability of making the rest of your work look less like masterpieces.
I am.
aren’t they all masterpieces now? (long before they even hit the shelves?) sigh…..
Not only am I put off by the declaration that this is a masterpiece but I am also put off by the whole declaration of his inspiration for this perfume. If I could re-name this perfume based solely on these two things, it would be called Pompous and Pretentious.
Sorry, I must be grumpy today.
Angela I have only tried Opus I so I don’t know what this smells like but a couple days ago I was at the mall and I got to hold a box of Amouage Dia and I wished to God I had $300 extra just lying around waiting to be spent!! waaah.
I feel your pain!
ahhhhhh Dia……you know I love it! But there’s a huge difference between the Opera inspired series that so many of us love and this new Opus line….all of which I’ve been disappointed by.
I swear….I’m removing my ‘Certified Amouage Ho’ pin as we speak….
I’d be happy with two Amouage releases a year–one masculine and one feminine. So far none of the Opus line has blown me away, but I’m always willing to give the next one a try as long as a sample vial finds its way to me.
Mint into oud into iris sounds pretty brilliant but oud has never tempted me. Oh well. I was looking at a bottle of Iris Ukiyoe–no need to go messing around with an Amouage.
The iris in Opus V is so, so pretty. I do like Iris Ukiyoe, though. To me it really does smell like iris flowers–which I hope will be blooming in my yard soon!
mmmmm I love the juicy greenness of Iris Ukiyoe. Yes, definitely bottle worthy.
It really is pretty–and thanks to you I’ve tried it!
did I send you a bit? yay me!
Quite by chance I got to try this on Sunday at a niche perfumery up north – I would never have gone near it, being a fan of the mimsy end of the Amouage range like Ciel and Reflection! – but the manager insisted I smell it on card. I have to say I liked the iris note and didn’t think it too bad on the whole. Not terrifyingly oudy, shall we say – slightly more hardcore, say, than Le Labo’s Oud 27? one. But then after my horrendous experience with Homage Attar, all Amouages feel tame by comparison….
Oh no! Now I’m curious about what the attar did to you! More than a little teensy drop and those attars run amok, so I hope that it wasn’t anything like a large sampling that couldn’t be scrubbed. I had about 1/8 ml of Tribute attar leak out of a sample container into the cupholder of my car and it scented the interior of my car for about 4 days. Luckily, I like the scent.
I think the thing about Opus V’s oud is that it’s so persistent! And being oud, it’s so insistently what it is that it can be hard to pay attention to the whole composition. That said, I do like it.
I am ouded out!
But I do admire several of the Amouage samples that I’ve tried, though not nearly enough to feel bad about not being able to afford them, thank God.
If I want a hit of oud I just pull out one of the little Al-Rehab perfume oil roll-ons I got on ebay for $5, though truth be told I prefer their floral and spice blends.
You’re lucky not to have fallen for Amouage. I like quite a few of them–not all, but enough–but only own a FB of Lyric, a decant of Epic Woman, and a one-ounce travel spray of Jube 25 (love that one.) That’s all my budget can bear. If I fell into money, Ubar would join the collection.
ooooo, now I’m curious….new Ubar or the vintage?
Nosey perfumistas want to know!
I’ve only tried the new version, but I’m sure I’d be thrilled with a bottle of either!
well, aren’t you the easy one! hahaha
I like them both but I’d have to pick the vintage…it’s much smoother, more emphasis on the base than you see in the newer version.
I have a sample at home and I haven’t gotten around to trying it. Actually, despite my eye-rolling at all of the oud releases, I’m pretty sure that I will like it. I think that Amouage has the credibility to do a good oud scent. Much more so than some of the other companies that are cranking them out, in all of their synthetic glory. And, despite my crankiness about the whole flavor of the year business, some of those companies have done a decent job too (Kilian, I’m looking at you). I wonder if the cost of the raw materials has any bearing on price point, because it does seem that I like the more expensive ones.
Amouage is known for using high end ingredients. I wonder if they use more real oud in Opus V than many companies do? I’d be surprised if there wasn’t some synthetic oud in it, though. I shouldn’t even be talking, because really I don’t know a thing about how much oud, real or otherwise, is in most oud fragrances. My suspicion, though, it that real oud is wildly expensive.
Real Oud IS wildly expensive.. check out this site.http://www.oriscent.com/index.php
Gosh–maybe Amouage doesn’t use any real oud at all at those prices!
Considering what Amouage costs maybe they do. lol! I understand a little goes a long way. I’ve yet to pull the trigger on Orriscents sampler but I must admit it’s getting harder and harder to resist the temptation.
I’m still waiting patiently for the Perfume House to restock the Montales so I can get Red Aoud with my gift certificate. So far that’s the only oud I want to own. I have several samples of Amouage and can appreciate them, but none of them has leapt out and said ” you must BUY me….”.
When I read the swooning reviews I wonder if I am missing something, but on the whole I am thankful.
Definitely be thankful!
Smell of burning circuit board = mass panic and immediate search and locate due to my history as an electronics tech in the Navy.
If Demeter made a Fried Circuit Board scent and someone wanted some amusement at my expense, they would only have to spray a bit in my vicinity and wait.
It sounds like you get an immediate physical reaction! With good reason, too.
Oh goodness! I feel your pain!!!
“fried transistors”
and
“I’m indulging my exploration of the art of living, fragmented knowledge, and the internet — as well as my savings — in a newly refurbished MacBook Pro.”
Just classic! Great review. Thanks, Angela.
I’m glad you enjoyed it. (Written from my brand new–well, to me, anyway–laptop that just arrived this morning!)
Congrats on the mostly-new laptop!
I love it! It’s so much faster than my old one, and a little bigger, too.
Haven’t tried Opus V yet…..actually re-sampling Opus IV today . Ah, no thanks— this one is a cumin bath. So far the Opus line has been nothing but money saved ….and I’m so over oud. …particularly Montale’s type of medicinal bite style of oud (medicinal bite, sledge hammer to your sinuses…it’s a fine line) So I’ll sniff it if it passes by me but I’ll not seek it out.
I’d love to see another in the line that gave us Jub. 25, Lyric, Epic, and Memoir…..sigh…..could they put it in a purple or blue bottle please?
There MUST be one of those coming down the pike soon, don’t you think? We still have Aria, Mezzo, Andante, and so many other themes they could go for.
Oooh, Mezzo! So evocative for me! Seems like Amouage could do it, too–deep and rich and a little gender-bending (ala Magic Flute, etc.).
ahhhh! you’re killing me!
Bring it on!
Artificial intelligence = horse manure? Am I missing something?
Actually, it sounds to me like someone was listening to too much Radiohead when they wrote the ad-copy–which, actually, I’d be really interested in a Radiohead-inspired scent. I’m imagining something like Bulgari Black with a touch of haunting florals.
Maybe the horse manure was about the fragmentation? Or the art of living? Beats me. I get a headache just thinking about it. Radiohead listening is a good guess. Or cheap wine and college sophomores.
(in tiny voice) I… um… kind of like Montale’s oud. I like that Band-aid-y thing, probably because it doesn’t seem to last all that long.
But really, dirty leather doesn’t do it for me, and I tend not to be much of an iris ho, so I think I can safely set this one to the side. Thanks for the review, Angela, and enjoy the laptop. (I really MUST replace the screen on mine… I hope that’s as easy a repair as it’s supposed to be.)
Say it loud and proud! I like oud, too. It’s sort of like truffles or blue cheese–wonderful, but not a universal taste. The oud in Opus V lasts a good, long time.
scarier and scarier…. O_O
Say what you want about me, but I’m a good eater….
I’m only just dipping my toe into the Amouage pond for the first time with Opus I, and I can’t say I’m all that keen on it. I find it sort of off-putting, and I can’t quite put my finger on what it is that irks me so. Perhaps I should give it some time and continue sampling other perfumes from the line…..Did anyone else have this sort of initial reaction?
Just out of curiosity, Angela, do you have a twitter account?
If you are going to dip a toe into the Amouage pond….try dipping it in some Lyric , Dia, Jubilation 25 or Gold ….or Epic or Memoir…..careful around Ciel or Reflection unless you have sinuses made of twisted blue steel. I found all the Opus’s so far to be a little off-putting as you say. (even though I love the old library where I used to work–including the way it smelled)
So it appears that I have started off with the wrong Amouage. Thanks for the tip, Daisy! And I, too, love musty old libraries, so I had rather high hopes for Opus I. Oh, well.
P.S. I’m super jealous you got to work in a library!
yep— I did cataloging for 4 years : converting the entire library from Dewey Decimal to Library of Congress. I did quite a good portion of the Children’s Library (fun!) and a lot of original cataloging of old and/or rare works. Of course this was back when there were still card catalogs and computers just finding there way into libraries (Fortran was the thing, baby! lol it’s scary how slow the computers were then!) A 4-story stone building built in the 1860’s….and we had bats.
oh and I meant to say –if you see this note: email me at Daisyloo82@gmail.com and I can send you a few Amouage samples to get your feet wet.
I wonder if it’s the oud? Is it a metallic, insistent smell that irks you? If yes, then oud’s the culprit.
I don’t have a twitter account, but thanks for asking! I’m so technologically backward I don’t even have a cellphone yet. Someday, though.
Yep, definitely oud. Who knew I wasn’t such a fan?
No cell phone? Impressive! It may be just as well you don’t have a Twitter account, either. It’s highly habit-forming, more so than Facebook (which I’m already so over). They say Facebook is full of all the people whom you’ve met, but no longer like, while Twitter is full of people you love, but haven’t yet met. Hehe….I may just have to agree with that statement.
I tried facebook once for a week, then shut down my account in a panic. I’d so much rather be reading or cooking or walking the dog or working in the garden. Twitter sounds a lot more appealing!
Iris and oud, oh my. When reading on the computer, my eyes glaze easily and I skim half the time. As soon as the quote from Amouage started in your piece, my eyes glazed. I had to really try to focus on it and read each word. I just can’t pay attention to perfume marketing quotes. Inspired by the internet!? No thank you, oud or no oud!
I know what you mean about the computer quote. It sure doesn’t go down very easily! Maybe that’s fine for a philosophy text, but not so much for perfume copy.