Customize Consent Preferences

We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.

The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ... 

Always Active

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

No cookies to display.

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

No cookies to display.

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

No cookies to display.

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

No cookies to display.

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

No cookies to display.

A very exciting set of scents made its way under my nose in episode 120 of Love At First Scent: the brand new Renaissance quartet from Amouage, consisting of Ashore, Meander, Crimson Rocks and Enclave. What makes their arrival special is that they provide the first genuine sense of the direction the brand may take under the directorship of Renaud Salmon. Yes, two fragrances have already been released under his tenure, but Interlude Black Iris Man was a flanker and Overture Woman was, of course, a counterpart to Overture Man. But these are the first bona fide Salmon creations, which is why smelling them was such a fascinating experience. Here’s a link to the episode: Amouage Ashore, Meander, Enclave, Crimson Rocks review. And below you’ll find a few more, brief thoughts on the perfumes.

As I say in the video, there’s no question that these have been conceived as a set: there’s a rose, a jasmine, an incense and an amber. Those four don’t come together by coincidence, and their convergence underlines the fact that Salmon is trying to bring the brand’s olfactory inspiration back to its Omani roots. They’re also not as eccentric as much of the house’s output tended to be in recent years. Amouage releases were often fairly polarising – a strategy that can pay off in perfumery – but these create a smoother, rounder shape as they waft through the air, preferring to meld into their surroundings rather than clash with them.

Crimson Rocks, composed by Domitille Michalon-Bertier, is perhaps the ‘straightest’ of the four: a solidly-constructed rose with fruity, spicy facets, bolstered by woods. It reserves its more interesting features for the drydown, so it’s worth sticking with it over a period of a few hours.

Enclave (Julien Rasquinet) is the biggest let-down. After a striking opening in which mint is juxtaposed with sweeter, warmer amber notes (with, remarkably, not one hint of toothpaste in evidence!) it descends to a base overly dominated by woody ambers. I suspect it’ll do extremely well at the tills.

Ashore (Mackenzie Reilly) is one of the most delightful jasmines I’ve had the pleasure of smelling for a very long time indeed. Here, the sunnier disposition of the flowers is brought out to gleaming effect through the use of mineral notes that manage to evoke both the blueness of Middle Eastern skies and the irresistible saltiness of the sea. Gorgeous work.

Finally, Meander (Reilly again) is a curious, haunting, hard-to-describe combination of incense and iris. The duo calls to mind the brand’s own Opus V, which famously linked iris to oud. But that’s not to say that the two fragrances smell similar. All they share is a sense of mystery, but whereas Opus V was brash and larger-than-life, Meander is introspective and slower. In my view, it’s the strongest member of the Renaissance set, and bodes extremely well for the future of the brand.

Persolaise

[Amouage Renaissance collection review based on samples of eau de parfum provided by the brand in 2020.]


If you’ve enjoyed this post, please consider supporting my work
by ‘buying me a coffee’ using the panel below.

Thanks very much indeed.

Amouage Renaissance perfume collection review by award-winning critic Persolaise, Meander, Enclave, Crimson Rocks, Ashore, 2020
image: Amouage

Discover more from

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

I love hearing from my readers, so please feel free to write a comment or ask a question.