Amouage Gold pour Femme

One of the best aspects, if not THE best aspect, of having perfumes as a hobby is that you get to meet so many wonderful persons. I'm not the first blogger to point this out, but perfumistas are the friendliest and most generous people around and one of the most adorable ones is Suzanne of Suzannes Perfume Journal. In my opinion, her perfume reviews are some of  the best out there, full of cultural references to books, movies and music as well as references to Suzannes own life. Always written with great humour and spirit, draws me in and while I may understand that I might not like a perfume she writes about, according to the notes present, every time I still love to share her olfactory experience through thoughts and words in the blog.

A while ago, me and Suzanne did a little swap and through that swap I got my first real glimpse of the legendary Omani perfume house Amouage (that I thought was named Amourage until a week ago, well yes, I'm a natural blonde...). There were several samples in that package but the one I'm going to write about today is Amouage Gold pour Femme. It was the first Amouage creation, from 1983, and a BIG scent, intended for evening wear.

Gold starts out with a burst of aldehyde and lilies of the valley. As the soapy aldehydes fade the scent slowly opens up and softens. I do get rose and apricots in the heart and in the drydown, some 24 hours later, the flowers have morphed into the most beatiful, myrrh-like peach. Soft and sexy and utterly feminine. Now, just because I can't name that many notes does not mean that there aren't many notes, there are! According to surrendertochance, Gold is made from 120 ingredients. But they are well blended and balanced and fit together like a perfectly tailored dress. Or maybe not a dress, the feeling I get from Gold is more like a wall. A big massive brick wall built entirely out of the essence of femininity.

Sometimes in perfume reviews you see writings like "It didn't feel like I was wearing the perfume, it felt like the perfume was wearing me". Usually this denotes a negative experience. I'm experiencing exactely this with Gold, but in a very positive way. It's like it's connecting me with some feminine aspect of myself that I wasn't previously aware of. Wearing Gold makes me reach for my most elegant skirts and dresses instead of jeans. It makes me take my time putting on make-up in the mornings, going for a full skin routine and red lips instead of the usual transparent gloss. It even affects the way I paint my toe nails. Normally I go for punky neons, crazy holographics and glitters (my former favourite is a Japanese one containing tiny poodle shaped sequins). Now, I've been doing pale pinks and nudes - colors that previously made me shudder in discomfort and boredom. But when wearing Gold, they are not boring anymore, just classy and elegant. And that's the way I feel about myself as well!

Have you ever experienced that a perfume is altering your personality, in good ways or bad ways? I'm very curious to hear if anyone has had a similar thing happening! And, about the video, when I thought about Gold being a song this one popped up in my head. I love Patti Smiths voice, it's so strong and has so much personality. You don't mess with her and you don't mess with Gold.


Official notes (according to Fragrantica)
Top notes: wild rose, lily-of-the-valley and silver frankincense.
Heart notes: myrrh, orris and jasmine.
Base notes: ambergris, civet, musk, cedarwood and sandalwood.