Enclave
Amouage (2020)

Even when Amouage does something that I don't like it's rare for me to say that they didn't do it well.

Why do I not care for it? Well, I think it will suffice to say that this is simply Amouage's take on your standard unisex amber. However, there is enough vetiver and labdanum in it to argue that it may indeed be a chypre. I could not care less what a perfume's classification is, but I bring this up because issue number one is a clear lack of direction, personality, or voice. The mandate seems to have been "make a perfume that is everything to all people and only about 35% the Amouage people know." Issue two: within an hour it becomes very linear and predictable - a repetitive exercise of many thousands of ambers (or chypres) that have come before.

Then, why have they done it well? Mostly because they check-off all of the template boxes quite precisely. For example, the toothpaste-y mint and rainbow pepper is very chic, very "in" at this point in 2020. Rasquinet/Amouage try to keep it a bit left field and a bit Amouage-Arabian with cardamom and cinnamon, but it makes the top feel frigid and bitterly cold in conjunction with the mint and pepper. An attempt at lift and contrast for the heavy mess to come. They dissipate within an hour and all you are left with this morass of rose, cheap synthetic patchouli very popular these days (sweet and dank), frankincense, vetiver, labdanum and non-descript amberic woods. Check check check.

The performance is great and typical of Amouage. The headline is that it's a predictable, safe, amber bordering chypre, unisex, checking all of the boxes, let's include everything so there's something for everyone, perfume. To go looking for a perfume like this will likely result in you not finding a large number that are as good or better, but you will find many that are much better, and, more to the point, you know Amouage can do a lot better.

An oriental spicy fragrance, classified as fougère. To me, it’s not a fougère—I have my own perspective on that—but this is definitely an oriental spicy scent that leans more masculine than feminine.

Its longevity is solid, but for this fragrance profile, the projection could be a bit stronger. One criticism is that, with all due respect, if you’ve tried two or three Amouage fragrances, you’ve tried them all. I know this might sound a bit pretentious, and I acknowledge it’s niche quality, but subjectively, the whole experience for that price doesn’t offer anything extraordinary—not to me personally.

Amouage Enclave is a scent full of fine, ‘smoky’ spices that radiate as if they’re sprinkled over embers of fine, aromatic, dry wood. There’s no actual wood note, but the ‘culprit’ for this impression of woody notes is actually the leather note, a high-quality leather note well-blended with vetiver and labdanum, which is very prominent. In fact, labdanum, alongside vetiver and that leather note creating the impression of a wooden ember, is the most dominant in the entire composition.

As well-crafted as it is—there’s nothing to add or take away in this fragrance—overall, one can just shrug and say, ‘You know what, the fragrance is really nice, warm, intoxicating, and okay,’ but beyond that, any deep impressions that would make it a ‘must-have’ are entirely absent.

Originality: 5/10
Scent: 6/10, both objectively and subjectively. It’s high-quality, pleasant, glowing, spicy, and intoxicating but lacks the ‘wow’ effect that creates strong impressions.
Longevity: 8/10
Projection: 6/10

I have had an official sample from Amouage for a couple of years now, I can't believe I did not try this fragrance until more recently. That is the problem when you have a shit ton of fragrances along with samples.

Enclave to my surprise is a very nice & well constructed fragrance. It opens up with a beautiful spearmint & chocolate note. More so like those Andes chocolate mint thins? For those who know what they are, that is the smell I get & it is absolutely beautiful to my nose! The cardamom is very well blended as well as the other notes.

From what started as a fresh almost gourmand like opening going into the mid, the base starts to creep in & becomes a more earthy fragrance with the vetiver & patchouli coming into play. The cardamom remains throughout the base along with the vetiver & patchouli. I get no leather (thank goodness) as I can do without that note, especially with this fragrance, I was happy with how long this last on my skin. 8 hours if not a little more with medium projection. You will get noticed. This could be an all year round fragrance. Although, I think this will shine best in spring & autumn. It could also be a signature scent as well.

On the other hand, fans of this brand may be disappointed with this release as it is not the typical, strong, smokey, oudy middle eastern fragrance that their nose is used to. I personally think it fits their library as they need a fragrance or 5 like this to offset their normal themes. They have produced fresher fragrances over the years that are more designerish, yet still niche quality. This is one of them.

Every year for my birthday I always buy myself a new bottle of perfume & it normally expensive, this has just been added to one of the contenders for my birthday fragrance this year! :)

Really enjoyable opening that manages to showcase the childish note of spearmint and make it somehow sophisticated and alluring, the spearmint is supported by crowd pleasing spices, Enclave has a silky mid of faint Rose and cardamon that in all honesty gives off a designer perfume vibe... but without feeling cheap, it's just I've smelt these combinations in cheaper options, the dominating base of Amber extreme is "extremely" familiar from fragrances like layton and jpg le male parfum , in those it can make me feel nauseous but here it is blended better with vetiver and labdanum to curve those nose piercing sharp tones, Enclave is airy and at times dry with high quality naturals blended with modern synthetics superbly, I get average performance and good versatility, this is a crowd pleaser for sure.

Airy scent quite boring

Doesn't feel like an Amouage

Mint and Cardamom

not much else around here

As a business move, I get it. It's in the company's best interest to have a scent like Enclave for people who stumble into Neiman Marcus looking for Bleu de Chanel and accidentally land at the Amouage counter.

Is it terrible? No. Enclave was clearly carefully crafted to include bits and pieces of popular men's scents - the pine from Sauvage, the milky coffee from YSL L'Homme, the vanilla from One Million - and it's all tied together by a wintergreen topnote that reminds me of Aqua Velva aftershave. Given time, it opens up into a papyrus/tobacco middle that's a clever reference to the house's iconic Reflection Man. Of course, there's a cheap "woody amber" aquatic drydown, too, and a loud aquatic buzz that surrounds everything. Care was clearly put into this, but it's just not an artful genre.

I'm a snob, so I'm voting thumbs down, but if you're into this type of scent and have money to burn, Enclave is fine.