Amouage creative director Christopher Chong aimed for something truly great with his two latest fragrances — Memoir Man and Memoir Woman: “to unlock the unfathomable mysteries that reside within human nature.” Well! It’s certainly not the usual perfume goal of “we aim to move 2 million units during the first twelve months of our launch.” In the Amouage “Memoir” PR brew, there’s mention of Baudelaire, Les Fleurs du mal, a “Black Swan” (Memoir Woman), and absinth (perhaps quaffed as much as used as an ingredient during the Memoir creative process?)
Memoir Man, described as a leather-woody-fougère fragrance, contains notes of wormwood/absinth, basil, mint, frankincense, rose, lavender, vetiver, sandalwood, guaiac wood, amber, vanilla, musk, oakmoss, leather and tobacco; it was developed by perfumer Karine Vinchon who I “met” a few weeks ago as I sampled her L’Artisan Coeur de Vétiver Sacré .
Memoir Man begins with a slightly musty, yet creamy, wormwood scent mixed with ‘cool’ mint. As the herbal opening develops…