Purpose
Amouage (2023)

Purpose by Amouage (2023) asks me the question: What is the purpose of spending almost $400 to smell like burnt asparagus? Well, none that I can recall, although I can squint long enough to attempt seeing what the real intent of this was, if I really want to. I will, for sake of complete review, although I can say I thoroughly hated having this stuff on my skin. Prior Amouage fragrances could be faulted for heading into a too-commercial territory under Reynaud Salmon, after a wonderful stint with Christopher Cheong. This one shows a bit of an overcompensation, swinging the pendulum too far into the challenging and bizarre direction, far and away from even the usual baroque musings of Gulf perfume.

The opening is this sickly vegetal woody smoke accord, something I think that has to do with the unfortunate clash between the pimento spice, pink pepper, dry bergamot, and whatever materials they are using for "papyrus". Another culprit here is the Givaudan captive called "Mystikal", which has no relation to the incarcerated rapper, and is achieved by oxidizing Aldehyde C-12, making an incense-like note. This clashes with the top notes, the green and stemmy may rose (a deviation from the usual dark taif varieties used), and the suede layered over akigalawood. If Amouage is using captives from Givaudan, it means the entire scent had to be made there, so someone had a lot of "fun" cooking up this horror.

Ultimately, this limpid green puke of a scent just languishes over the nose like overcooked vegetables over smoky dry psuedo-woods, like a fire is burning in the firepit while everyone is farting after eating huge bowls of brussel sprouts, with just the faintest bit of rose and vetiver to try and hold hands, hoping they survive the night without too much mental scarring. Spoiler alert: they won't. And frankly, neither will you if you're unfortunate enough to spray this unawares at a boutique carrying Amouage. If this is your first experience from the house, you may very well never give anything else they make a fair chance, and they'd probably deserve it, to be honest. Just nasty, nasty, horrid stuff, through and through. Thumbs down

Amouage Purpose is one of the Oman house’s recent releases in 2023, which I’d smelled in passing previously but smelled a bit more this past Saturday at Perfumology, along with some other recent release. It’s a curiously bright, spicy, resinous, a bit earthy, understated blend. It’s multifaceted in terms of the note breakdown, with some standouts for me being pink pepper, frankincense, saffron, akigala wood It gives me a bit of environmental déjà vu, like being in an art class with lots of interesting raw materials. I find it fairly easily likable while being nuanced and a bit idiosyncratic, qualities that usually do not go hand-in-hand, so I’d certainly recommend that others check it out if that haven’t yet, along with the other recent releases—Search, Meander, and Enclave—all pleasant in their own ways.

Purpose is priced at $360 for 100ml and is sold through various retail means including great boutiques like Perfumology, so it’s on the pricier side, but is one of the more interesting releases from Amouage that I’ve tried in the past few years, at least for me.

7 out of 10