Could Amouage’s Guidance 46 Be Its Best Fragrance To Date?
The luxury perfume house has launched a spectacular scent in time for the new season…
And just like the world of haute couture, the perfume universe has its perfectly rich world of bespoke creations, and the house of Amouage is our very own Middle Eastern star when it comes to high perfumery. Founded in the Sultanate of Oman in 1983 by the Albusaidi family, Amouage has gone on to redefine traditional Arabic perfumes, creating over 50 classical scents for today.
In 2023, Amouage released its most revered scent yet, Guidance Eau de Parfum. The name behind the creation was world-famous nose, Quentin Bisch. Along with Chief Creative Officer Renaud Salmon, the pair constructed its unique blend with top notes including pear, hazelnut and sandalwood. Guidance was a winner from day-one, as it ticked the box for those who like to wear floral yet woody scents.
Fast forward to the autumn of 2024 and the creative duo have added a new extension to the Guidance family – Guidance 46. Using the curated ingredients from the original scent, Quentin added layers to the formula to create the new elixir. “We thought it would be fascinating if Quentin didn’t remove anything from the original formula, but instead added certain ingredients to make all the parts of the structure stand out against each other with greater power and complexity,” explains Renaud. Containing 46 per cent perfume oils, top notes of bitter almond, rose water and pink pepper have been added to the new fragrance along with heart notes of rose, saffron, sambac jasmine and osmanthus.
Frankincense is also key and a scent that Quentin uses in mysterious ways with the perfumer explaining: “as a guide unveiling an epic of a thousand-and-one wonders. I imagined that this frankincense, which guided sailors in time immemorial, would now invite us to the heart of a hidden garden. Here is a mystery, revealed by a few wisps of smoke.” The base notes play with the addition of georgywood and cypriol with a touch of ambrette in combination with the vanilla, sandalwood, cistus, ambergris and akigalawood.
The culmination of these oils and their signature elements form a creamy base of multi-layered richness that once sprayed, lives on for hours… Like all fine things, time is paramount in perfecting the product and in the case of Guidance 46 – it’s no different. The ageing time of four weeks (two weeks maturation plus two weeks maceration) is the sweet-spot to create this unique scent.
The Guidance 46 flacon, with its luxurious inner lacquering in the prettiest shade of pink is an elevated rendition of the iconic Amouage original and is the only bottle you need in your bathroom or beauty bureau. The box’s visuals are designed by Belgian artist Louise Mertens and includes gold dust as the fabulous finishing touch on the packaging, making this perfume a literally sparkling work of art.
For more information visit amouage.com.
Photography by Cameron Bensley.
From Harper’s Bazaar Arabia’s September 2024 issue.