White Hinoki
Amouroud (2018)

Amouroud is for all intents and purposes a return to custom bespoke perfumery, consultation, and creation which originally launched parent brand The Perfumer's Workshop back in the 70's. However, since the original Perfumer's Workshop nameplate has long since shifted to creating and manufacturing pre-made compositions for sale like practically every other house (some under license), they also offer a line of Amouroud scents pre-bottled to be sold at boutiques or independent shops away from the Amouroud counters themselves. White Hinoki (2018) is one such endeavor from their non-oud "White Woods" line, and is honestly a good starting point as any for the would-be niche arm of The Perfumer's Workshop. I'll be honest here: I was neither expecting a niche line nor a return to bespoke perfumery from this brand, even if the latter was the concept that originally launched it, simply because they have dwelt far too long in the downmarket discounter brand circuit. Their perfumes, however well-done and high-performing as they are, sell for peanuts and too many people into niche perfume seem to care oh-so much about price tag and how it equates to quality that I figured such an upmarket return would for them be futile. In spite of this, the Amouroud line has managed to expand considerably in just the short amount of time it's been floating around, and evidently sells well enough to support some dedicated counters and pop-up shops, but that's still not accounting for taste in a market segment where the buyer is often as fickle as they are flush with dough.

With all that having been said, White Hinoki by Amouroud is a good example of what The Perfumer's Workshop can do when economics are removed from the perfumer's laboratory, pushing the already impressive reputation the house has with bang-for-buck perfumes and taking it to the next level, delivering even more bang when limited bucks are no longer a problem. Generally speaking, this is a woody floral chypre but it's also a tobacco scent, anchored by both an impression of the namesake hinoki wood, tobacco, labdanum, and a bourbon vanilla amber reminiscent of Balenciaga Pour Homme (1990). The opening is quite bright, peppery, sweet, and sharp. Ginger and white pepper mix with blood orange and plum, giving White Hinoki a juicy gourmand edge. The heart of heliotrope, cinnamon, and violet add a gentle round white floral element, further hitting home the name of the perfume as an appropriate one. The whole accord remains sweet and a bit boozy as the bourbon vanilla amber notes kicks in. There's no oud here so unlike the Balenciaga example, this doesn't get barnyard in any way, but the labdanum and tobacco do pull White Hinoki in a slightly more masculine direction near the end, even if the bulk of the wear reads feminine or unisex at best. The hinoki wood note here to me just smells like the usual mishmash of aromachems, so that's the one point of egress for critical attack upon the niche validity of the composition I can personally find, but on the whole this is nice and smells quality. Wear time is over 12 hours and projection can be monstrous with potent sillage, so there is undoubtedly value for dollar here to those who love performance, but the style for me comes across strictly romantic and good only for fall through spring in that context. In other words, this is far from a generalist kind of smell.

Amouroud White Hinoki is an interesting sort of Tom Ford by way of Amouage type of vibe crafted by relative unknown perfumer Angelique Nadau, as it mixes Western stylistic values with Middle Eastern potency, richness, and bombast into a fragrance that is guaranteed to make a statement if nothing else. Fans of sweeter fruity floral interpretations of tobacco, or violet accords lacking the usual green leafy subtext may find favor in something odd like White Hinoki, and in general anyone who likes a perfume that doesn't easily fit into a gender classification or style will want to get their nose on this. Once more, you have to enjoy sweet and sharp smells to really get the most of White Hinoki, and I mean sweet in that 90's Bath & Body Works sort of way, not so much the unbearably thick ambroxan tonka mishmash that is associated with most sweet fragrances from the 2010's. The payoff for brave guys here is a slightly powdery, woody, rich boozy tobacco tone similar to a cleaned-up and more-effeminate Balenciaga Pour Homme, but I don't know how much the average "bro" will appreciate the fruity white florals on top of that, so this one is not for the YouTube "fragrance army" despite the unisex/masuline tagging it gets on various perfume sites. For everyone else, this is a unique if pricey chapter in the story of The Perfumer's Workshop in a weighty well-cafted bottle worth checking out for the average niche fan looking to try something different from the usual MFK or Byredo offerings. Thumbs up.