Amouage Ubar: fragrance review

The exotic-sounding name of Ubar by parfums Amouage comes from a lost Omani city founded in 3000BC and still functioning during the first century AD, which consolidated a reputation as a tremendously wealthy trading post of frankincense en route the Silk Road. Nicknamed "Atlantis of the Sands" by T.E.Lawrence, its mysterious past lay hidden beneath the sand dunes as a result of divine wrath against the amorality and greediness of its inhabitants (according to the Qur'an). Although archaeological study had been going steady following surface archeology methods, it was only in 1992 that satellite imaging fully revealed Ubar to the world.

Commemorating that event and marking their Silver Jubilee, the Omani-residing brand of Amouage first issued a fragrance named Ubar in 1995, yet like the lost city the fragrance disappeared soon afterwards as if engulged by the sands. Luckily for us, Amouage re-issued the Ubar fragrance in 2009 under their new Creative Director, Christopher Chong; some formula tweaking didn't change the resulting composition too much, but enough to render it more baroque and extremely lasting.

Comparing a vintage sample I had languishing in my collection with a new batch which a generous friend recently provided , I can sense that the original 1995 Ubar consisted of a distinctive woody orientalised composition without much citrus up-top, while the re-issued Ubar is a floriental, with a dominating floral heart and a soft oriental aura on its lush lemon top and its silky woody bottom. Luca Turin gave it maximum points in his Perfumes the Guide quarterly update, mentioning how the older version had also received high marks of respect from connoisseurs, and I can see how it would.

What is most interesting about the re-issue is that Amouage Ubar is a regular shape-shifter on its ~very long~ course on my skin! Ubar's beginning mingles the discernible and very lush bergamot and lemon brightness with some "cleaner" notes (listed as lily of the valley, more of which here) cutting through the voluptuous richness; yet already a velvety aura radiates warmth forth ~the magical radiance of civet, conferring a restraint upon whatever tangy nuances might have been feared. You never had such a lush lemon before! Give it some time however and it becomes a throbbing, pulsating, thorny dark rose, the way the classic Montana Parfum de Peau behaves, while jasmine later embraces the composition fully. At this stage Ubar is a statement-making evening diva, not your average office-friendly perfume and indeed to treat it thus would amount to terrible waste. Atter a brief phase that seems to take a more masculine direction, the longer it stays on skin the more it reminds me of the peculiar lemon-cupcakes accord which was the pinacle of charm and naughtiness in Guerlain's Shalimar Light, with a very discreet suede-like accent in the base (perhaps due to a little labdanum): for something so naughtily laced with animalic civet, Ubar retains an always opulent yet elegantly sexy vibe (same as Ormonde Jayne's Tolu does), never veering into vulgarities: it wears hand-sewn dark lace, not red vinyl, as befits something evoking the romance and splendour of the Arabian Nights.

Although Ubar is appealing to me in no uncertain terms, I find that it is hard to surpass my infatuation with Jubilation 25, despite its many merits. It is worth noticing that men however, especially men attuned to rose and sandalwood mixes, might find it less outrightly feminine than the former and thus find it a better match to their sensibilities.

Amouage Ubar notes: Bergamot, lemon, lily of the valley, rosa Damascena, jasmine, civet, vanilla.

The original Ubar from 1995 came in Eau de Toilette concentration in a twisted pyramidal-shaped bottle (pic here) and cost "around $60 for a half ounce", according to the NST reportage. The re-issued Amouage Ubar comes in Eau de Parfum concentration and costs $250 for 50ml and $285 for 100ml at Amouage.com and Luckyscent.

Related reading on Perfume Shrine: Amouage scents, Parfums Fourrure/Animalic scents.

Pic of Oscar de la Renta fashions shot at Palmyra, via Corbis.

Sylvaine Delacourte on the Open

"I used to be a dedicated make up artist but knew I wanted to do something different. I decided to take up a job at Guerlain. After a while, I realised I knew nothing about fragrances and underwent training in fragrances. This changed my life. I trained for two years in the only school in Europe: Isipca. Soon I joined the marketing team of Guerlain. From make up, marketing and plenty of other profiles I have now become the nose of Guerlien.[sic]"

Sylvaine Delacourte, the artistic director of parfums Guerlain, is opening her cards on the table in an exclusive phone-interview on occasion of the introduction of the Guerlain brand to India (Why did it take them so long? Ah, but judging by Dior's Escale a Pondichéry, India seems a hot spot market-wise now!) Among interesting opinions such as flowers being a universally liked scent and her faithfulness to one signature fragrance (that one, not revealed in the article, is L'Heure Bleue), Sylvaine Delacourte also reveals that she made Cuir Beluga taking herself as the starting point and main aim. She credits Thierry Wasser as the new nose in the house and gives a few practical rules for perfume wearing.

Read the rest of the article on the Hindu Mail here.

Edit to add (15 June): Mme Delacourte had the graciousness to personally address Perfume Shrine (in English no less) and clarify the following points for our readers and I quote:

"for Jicky , it is a fougere , but in the base notes you can find the harmony of shalimar!for my title , in the past I was director of the creation , it means i was in charge of finding a new idea , and the perfumer who will be able to tranform the idea into a perfume,(it means also evaluation) each time I have mentionned the names of the creators, Maurice Roucel, Olivier Polge and many others...NOW, Thierry wasser is our internal nose, CREATOR, successor of Mr Jean Paul Guerlain, and I am helping him , in the development of some fragrances. I am also the ambassador of the brand!"

Our thanks for those most interesting comments and since the venue is officially read by Guerlain headquarters, I invite you, my readers to pose/mail me with your personal questions on matters pertaining to Guerlain so that we could perhaps establish a constructive dialogue!

Related reading on Perfume Shrine: the Guerlain series, Guerlain news

pic credit from previous article on mailonsunday.com

Serge Lutens Fille en Aiguilles and Fourreau Noir: new fragrances

Official information has finally become available concerning the upcoming releases by Serge Lutens, the artistic director who changed the face of niche with his epoch-making line of fragrances for Shiseido and his own label under Shiseido's wing, Parfums Serge Lutens.

The two new fragrances will join the illustrious line this autumn, per Osmoz very soon. The latest information wants Fille en Aiguilles to launch 1st of July and Fourreau Noir on 1st September 2009.
Fourreau Noir will be exclusive to Les Salons du Palais Royal in Paris (75 ml, 110 €) in the familiar bell-jars that stack up on the purple and black shelves. After the floral intermezzo of Nuit de Cellophane [click for review] Lutens returns to a decidedly Lutensian composition: somber yet sensuous, revealing notes of tonka bean and lavender, with musk, almond and lightly smoky accents. The composition of Fourreau Noir is dark, silky and deep and ties with the darker heroines which have so inspired Serge Lutens in the past. After Serge Noire [click for review] which was inspired by the black serge material which has been used for clothing for so long, now comes Fourreau Noir: It means "black seath", but also the petticoat garment that was used to make dresses with lower-body volume stay crisp, as staying even today in fashion parlance "en fourreau pleats". The allusion to timelessness is evident and one could liken it to perfume companies' desire to present a hint to the classicism of their compositions not destined to be ephemera (although Guerlain's La Petite Robe Noire was nothing but!)

Fille en Aiguilles (girl on needles/on pins, a wordplay also on theFrench idiom "de fil en aiguille", ie. one thing leading to another) will be available in the export oblong bottles with a black label, signifying haute concentration (like the rest of the black label line compared to the beige label which are regular Eau de Parfum concentration). It will be sold in the usual suspects who carry Serge Lutens export bottles. (50 ml, 95 €) The fragrance humourously plays upon connotations of aiguilles which means needles in French, denoting either the character &mood of said fille or the pine needles which seem to be hiding in the core of the composition. Fille en Aiguilles will blend notes of vetiver, incense, fruits, pine needles and spices in a luminous woody oriental formula. Despite the name Fille en Aiguilles is easily lent to masculine wearing, an idea which is very simpatico to Serge Lutens who pioneered the concept of shared fragrances in the niche sector.

Adding: A full review of Fille en Aiguilles has been uploaded now here. A full review of Fourreau Noir has been uploaded now on this link.

Related reading on Perfume Shrine: Serge Lutens news and reviews

Notes info and pic via Osmoz, Rita Haywroth in Gilda via paristreatyredux.blogspot.com.

Caprissimo by Carthusia: new fragrance

Carthusia, the Italian niche brand on Via Camerelle with the smallest perfume laboratory in the world, inspired by the Mediterranean and the island of Capri in particular, has been providing us with fragrances to cast our mind to summery thoughts for a while now: from the citrusy masculines Io Capri (George Clooney's choice) and Mediterraneo to the lyrical Aria di Capri and the carnation-fused Fiori di Capri, there's something for everyone.
Legend has it that in 1380, the prior of the monastery was surprised by the news of an impending visit of Queen Joan I of Naples. He therefore amassed large flower bouquets with the most beautiful blossoms. When, after three days, he wanted to dispose them, he noticed the wonderful smell of the water and he called the alchemist, who discovered the origin of the fragrance in the “Garofilium Silvestre Caprese”, later tweaked and adjusted becoming Capri’s first perfume. In 1948, the formula was rediscovered and it was given to a chemist who owned the world’s smallest laboratory called “Carthusia”. To this day, production methods follow those used by the Carthusian monks of yore.

Now comes the melodic sounding Caprissimo (the superlative of Capri, if you like!) which aims to capture the flowers, sun and la dolce vita of the famous exotic locale. Focused on the lemon tree, it interprets the hesperidic and fizzying notes of the south, adding piquant and subtle accents of greeness to open up its floral heart that is redolent of "blue" jasmine, frangipani and osmanthus. Caprissimo ends on intense notes of wood and myrrh.

This comes as a reissue of the discontinued Caprissimo which was a green chypre in the vein of a lighter Ma Griffe. (The Carthusia line used to include other scents that are now unavailable like Gelsomino di Capri, Carthusia Lady etc.) The official site Carthusia.it is experiencing technical problems right now, but hopefully they will be back on soon.

The winner of the draw...

...for a sample of Mitsouko Fleur de Lotus is none other than Occhineri! Congrats! Please send me your address using the email under Contact with a shipping address so I can have this in the mail to you very soon.

Thank you all for your enthusiastic participation and till next time!