Rose Incense
Amouage (2019)

I have semi-sort-of come around to this one. The rose/incense accord is one of the most ubiquitous in perfumery, but it seems that Amouage has something new to say about it. To my nose, that means obfuscating said ubiquity behind a gaseous haze of elemi, shoved to the forefront here and expected to act the part of a star.

Honestly, I don't know what to say. If I press my nose to my wrist, it's a hell no—medicinal, sour, swampy. Relax and let the sillage do its thing and it's lovely and irresistible. And I catch some whiffs of gorgeous myrrh in the dry down, but not enough to entirely clear out the swamp. It weaves in and out.

A very reluctant thumb's up, because I don't hate it and yet cannot in all honesty be "meh" about it, either.

It takes me a while to come round to warped roses, enamoured as I am of the essential deep softness of the scent of them in nature. So, the opening of this Amouage offering was a bit of a ‘oh no, they ruined the rose' moment for me, as the sour inflection of the elemi seemed to be morphing anything rosy into a super-concentrated, somewhat acidic avatar, liquerish, but also like unpleasant candy that is claimed to soothe the throat by those who should know better.
But there was also something very familiar making me hold on for better things; a Tauer-ish feel to the experience (including robust projection), a bit in the vein of Incense Rosé but with the rose dialled up more. And, sure enough, as Rose Incense relaxed and settled, I made my peace with this strange, thickened rose as some of its more honeyed aspects began to play with the acidity and as the lovely, smoky, liturgical incense took on more of a presence. [A digression: Smelled up close, that incense has a perfect cedar backing, almost seeming to emerge from the wood, but that is not evident in the cloud of scent this throws around the wearer.] I'm not with the naysayers on this one; the pairing of the stars of this perfume is simple and true, but the richness of the materials deployed offers a satisfyingly complex experience, ripe for contemplation and sure to ring them spirituality bells for those so inclined. It's one of those perfumes that makes me go: ‘Enough of the words, just leave me alone with this thing' – not many of them come by these days.