Amouage Overture Woman, image via the brand

 

Overture, curtain, lights
This is it, we’ll hit the heights
And oh what heights we’ll hit
On with the show this is it! — Overture to The Bugs Bunny Show, by Mack David & Jerry Livingston

Bayreuth Opera House, photo New York Times

The mezzanine pulsates with movement as patrons head to their seats, clutching their programs. In the private boxes, fancy people tell each other amusing stories, glamour glinting from their jeweled wrists. Murmurs of hundreds of muted conversations bubble through the balconies. As the conductor enters the pit and the musicians pick up their instruments, there’s a sudden hush followed by rowdy applause and whistles. Lights dim; there’s quiet. Someone, invariably, coughs. Then the orchestra bursts into sonic life as the overture begins and the scene for tonight is set.

Image via Amouage

Overtures create mood and preview the main themes of the narrative. Think of the hauntingly ominous “fate” refrain that introduces Verdi’s La Forza Del Destino (which you may recognize as the theme to the film Jean de Florette) or the frisky opening to Mozart’s La Nozze di Figaro with its sighing woodwinds and amorous fanfare. Amouage Overture Woman, from perfumer Annick Menardo under the direction of creative director Renaud Salmon, sets the stage for a big night out with a smoky, calvados-fueled bombshell that promises a rollicking good time. If Overture Man is a Verdi drama, imperious and enigmatic, Overture Woman is Rossini – a boisterous, boozy frolic, and the perfect perfume to wear while listening to Il Barbiere di Siviglia.

Annick Menardo courtesy of  Firmenich

Originally released in 2020. Amouage Overture Woman is the companion to 2019’s Amouage Overture Man and was former Creative Director Christopher Chong’s last fragrance for the house. But in endings there are new beginnings, as the perfume’s name suggests. The most overtly boozy of the Amouage range, Amouage Overture Woman  starts with a bold blast of bergamot and saffron, contrasting the sharp tartness of the bitter orange with dusty, dense spice. Saffron can be a difficult note for me in fragrance – it often comes over as dirty burnt rubber when used in big doses. But here, in Annick Menardo’s hands, it smells compellingly delicious, all thick, clay-like spice and marigolds. Its bittersweet earthiness provides a perfect segue for the central calvados accord.

Marriage of Figaro illustration, stock image

Smack in the middle of the perfume, calvados takes over. A bushel of brandied sweet-tart pippin apples spills into the saffron and bergamot, the notes tumbling over each other each other like fervid Mozart lovers. Leather trips behind like a lovesick swain, grabbing at the perfume’s skirts for attention. This is not a butch, Count Almaviva kind of leather but a smooth, genderless hide that could intimate ladies’ leather gloves or the horseman’s bridle. I can just about recognize rose hiding in an alcove, and a little later, a pinch of cinnamon. But the next star turn comes from the incense, described by the brand as “pyrogenic.” And indeed, there is a distinctive burning incense aroma swirling through the perfume’s heart. It adds a smoky, mysterious quality, like eyes peeking above a spread fan.

Menardo gives Overture Woman a resinous, burnished foundation to rest on. Chewy, taffy-like benzoin, earthy myrrh, and sweaty, sweet labdanum fill out the fragrance. The myrrh is particularly noticeable in the fragrance’s later stages, its sappy aroma extending the perfume’s sweeter notes. I thought Overture Woman would be a bit overwhelming in the summer heat but find that the temperature simply sharpens its fruity notes and incense, making it wearable in the torpor. Just don’t go overboard with the spritzing.

Dab on a bit of Amouage Overture Woman, sit back in your plush numbered seat and watch the curtain rise. I don’t know what tonight’s opera is or who is singing, but Overture Woman tells me it’s going to be grand.

Notes: Bergamot, saffron, apple (calvados accord), benzoin, myrrh, rose centifolia, geranium, cinnamon, pyrogenic incense, ciste labdanum & leather vitessence.

Disclaimer: Bottle of Amouage Overture Woman very generously given to me by Europerfumes, U.S. distributor for Amouage. My opinions, as always, are my own.

Lauryn Beer, Senior Editor

Screen shot @renaudsalmon 

Editor’s note: The Overture collection was featured on a video billboard in Manhattan’sTime Square earlier this month July 2022, a first for an Omani brand

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