Reviews of Enclave by Amouage
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.
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
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
ADVERTISEMENT
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! :)
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
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.
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.
This fragrance opens with a strong mentholated mint note, which can be harsh and abrasive for some. However, it is balanced with a sweet labdanum base note. Despite this, the mint note still dominates and overshadows any other notes in the fragrance. It feels like Amouage is attempting to create a niche version of Versace Eros, but the result is a sharper and more unnatural scent. The sillage of the fragrance is good, but it can be overpowering for some.
While some may be able to pull this fragrance off, it's not for everyone. Personally, I find it too strong and harsh, and would prefer if the mint note was toned down. Overall, it's a pass for me.
While some may be able to pull this fragrance off, it's not for everyone. Personally, I find it too strong and harsh, and would prefer if the mint note was toned down. Overall, it's a pass for me.
Enclave goes on skin with a light, fresh spearmint with hints of soft cinnamon and cardamom spice before gradually transitioning to its heart. As the composition enters its early heart the natural smelling spearmint remains, continued to be supported by the soft cinnamon and cardamom spice, but now also supported by translucent floral rose and warm saffron. This slightly fiery "red hots" overall accord gradually cedes to at first a supporting vague synthetic woody amber accord that increases in intensity over time to take over the starring role about midway into the heart. During the late dry-down the synthetic woody amber accord dominates, as the rose and mint vacate, leaving remnants of the saffron and cardamom spice remaining in support through the finish. Projection is excellent, and longevity outstanding at nearly 20 hours on skin.
When I heard Julien Rasquinet was the perfumer behind Enclave, I was excited. Mr. Rasquinet is a real up-and-comer, with already outstanding compositions like The Moon by Frederic Malle under his belt. If capable of that kind of work among many others of interest, Enclave should be a safe bet, no? Well, in a word, "*No.*" Things start off well enough, with a pretty enticing natural smelling spearmint and warm spice open... But when the spearmint and warm spice join a thin, transparent rose in the early heart the composition begins to smell like fiery red hots candy, but with an odd soft detergent-like floral bent. Things go from bad to worse when the *real* star of the show arrives... a vague synthetic smelling woody amber accord that starts off in the background, but gradually takes control and overpowers most of the other notes, save the warm spice. The bottom line is the $340 per 100ml bottle Enclave is probably the talented Julien Rasquinet's worst work, earning a "poor" 2 stars out of 5 rating and an avoid recommendation.
When I heard Julien Rasquinet was the perfumer behind Enclave, I was excited. Mr. Rasquinet is a real up-and-comer, with already outstanding compositions like The Moon by Frederic Malle under his belt. If capable of that kind of work among many others of interest, Enclave should be a safe bet, no? Well, in a word, "*No.*" Things start off well enough, with a pretty enticing natural smelling spearmint and warm spice open... But when the spearmint and warm spice join a thin, transparent rose in the early heart the composition begins to smell like fiery red hots candy, but with an odd soft detergent-like floral bent. Things go from bad to worse when the *real* star of the show arrives... a vague synthetic smelling woody amber accord that starts off in the background, but gradually takes control and overpowers most of the other notes, save the warm spice. The bottom line is the $340 per 100ml bottle Enclave is probably the talented Julien Rasquinet's worst work, earning a "poor" 2 stars out of 5 rating and an avoid recommendation.
Stardate 20210610:
The top is beautiful. The juxtaposition of mint with spice is done beautifully.
But then as the top fades, all you are left with mediocre raspy woody AC and cardamom.
A shame really.
The top is beautiful. The juxtaposition of mint with spice is done beautifully.
But then as the top fades, all you are left with mediocre raspy woody AC and cardamom.
A shame really.
My first whirl of Enclave was on a blustery spring day and I sought it out for the cool-warm promise of its listed notes. Such juxtapositions are hard to pull off and I was curious whether this one would succeed. There's a lot going on in Enclave for sure but it's all emerging from a minty overrun. The herb that will take over your garden if not properly contained threatens to do the same initially for Enclave. Here it is fresh and cooling and pretty realistic, but associations with toothpaste will arise nevertheless. The rest of the perfume emerges from this somewhat chilly cloak with a degree of difficulty. It's in the mode of a square-jawed spicy gents' scent with pepper, cardamom and cinnamon combining with woody-amber stuff and a touch of leather, all providing the requisite butch front for the floral sweetness that is pushed firmly back like a dirty secret. So far, so conventional and then there's the mint on top. I find it difficult to make my peace with it; it's a bit like a takeaway packing mistake the dessert crammed into the same container as the rest of the meal.
Eventually the mint recedes, but now the problem shifts from the muddle of the earlier stages to the desultory nature of what's left a forgettably middle-of-the-road woody-spicy mood-flattener.
Eventually the mint recedes, but now the problem shifts from the muddle of the earlier stages to the desultory nature of what's left a forgettably middle-of-the-road woody-spicy mood-flattener.
If i had to blind sniff enclave man, i would bet money that it was released by parfums de marley! Its sharp, strong and smells overly synthetic. Specially if, like me, you have a bad habit of rubbing ur nose on ur fist every few minutes like a junkie!
Perhaps it does its intended job at a distance. And most people forget about what they are wearing after spraying it on, leaving a trail for other to smell. But they way i am consumed by fragrances, enclave man rubs me totally the wrong way.
Perhaps a lot of amouages do at some point in their development, but over the years i have learnt to be patient with them. In doing so i have changed my opinions about quite a few of the. Dare i say i have actually fallen in love with some. But even in the drydown, where most amouages shine, this one was merely passable.
Perhaps it does its intended job at a distance. And most people forget about what they are wearing after spraying it on, leaving a trail for other to smell. But they way i am consumed by fragrances, enclave man rubs me totally the wrong way.
Perhaps a lot of amouages do at some point in their development, but over the years i have learnt to be patient with them. In doing so i have changed my opinions about quite a few of the. Dare i say i have actually fallen in love with some. But even in the drydown, where most amouages shine, this one was merely passable.
Welcome to the Amouage mass-appeal fragrance, the Amouage scent Parfums de Marly fans have been waiting a lifetime for, and the scent that old-schoolers clutching their bottles of Amouage Gold Man (1983) and waiting for the perfume end times have been fearing for years. Is it really as dire as I make it sound? Well, no. There is no shortage of legacy catalog that Amouage is usually good about keeping around, and some of those sell really stupidly well, so Amouage Enclave (2020) doesn't much threaten to disrupt the status quo, but gives guys usually more into brands like the aforementioned PdM or Maison Francis Kurkdjian something to bite on. Enclave is part of the "Renaissance Collection", which features inspiration from locales and scenes around Oman. The perfumer here is Julien Rasquinet, and he does a good job of merging a bit of "that ol' Amouage" with the mass-appeal foundation here. Categorically, this is a chypre because of the labdanum and leather base, but there is a lot of other stuff going on that steers it more towards something like Montblanc Explorer (2019) or Salvatore Ferragamo Uomo Urban Feel (2019). Also, the entire collection is issued without gender, but the gendered bottles usually imply who's gonna want to wear these, and are mostly on point.
The opening of Amouage Enclave is a minty cardamom and pink pepper bomb. Amouage decided to join Western designer perfumes with the abuse of pink pepper and to a lesser extent cardamom with this collection, and Enclave is no exception. The mint is the real make-or-break factor here, and does sort of come across a bit toothpasty like Dirty by Lush (2002), but I sorta dig that myself. Cinnamon is another major player, but not heaped on like it is in Amouage Crimson Rocks (2020), which is also from the collection, and not smelling of candy. The heart mixes a jammy rose and denatured "Western" patchouli, the thick non-green stuff slathered into most mass-appeal orientals and "fruitchoulis" conjured up by the likes of Armani and Gucci anymore, but it works. Some parts of me feel like this may have been a workprint for a men's Crimson Rocks at some point, because the rose/cinnamon/pink pepper combo is very similar, but Enclave goes its own way towards the finish. Vetiver, pasty/musky labdabum, ambrocenide (a woody-amber), and the same leather molecule found in Montblanc Explorer finish this out (evidently called Saffiano after the leather of the same name). Wear time is more like a classic Amouage at all-day length but projection is just shy of monstrous in the way 2000's Amouage was. Best use is fall through spring, and this feels pretty generalist.
Amouage Enclave looks to compete with the various Gucci Guilty pour Homme (2011) variants, the various heavy hitters from Parfums de Marly like Layton (2016) and could almost be a more-youthful take on Amouage Interlude Black Iris (2020) released just ahead of this new collection. The woody-amber base and smooth dry down on the way there alongside the dynamic mint and spice will defintely turn heads with the "beastmode br0" backwards hat Instagram types that like to pose with bottles while doing pushups on the roofs of their cambered Subaru street racers (pardon while I vomit), but the rest of us not so obsessed with validation may find this a bit too "witness me" for use. Regardless, Amouage Enclave isn't quite the "Metallica Black Album" sellout release from the brand, as it's just weird enough to keep mallrats in love with Paco Rabanne Invictus (2013) from embrancing it, and still costs more than triple the retail of what they use, but gets dangerously closer to "compliment juice" than anything released under Christopher Chong's watch, even if the rest of the "Renaissance Collection" is more "French perfume" by comparison. Enclave is the second-best behind Amouage Ashore (2020) and too likeable to find any real fault but also a bit too soulless for me to enjoy on myself, although I'd not be upset catching it in the street on someone else. Thumbs up.
The opening of Amouage Enclave is a minty cardamom and pink pepper bomb. Amouage decided to join Western designer perfumes with the abuse of pink pepper and to a lesser extent cardamom with this collection, and Enclave is no exception. The mint is the real make-or-break factor here, and does sort of come across a bit toothpasty like Dirty by Lush (2002), but I sorta dig that myself. Cinnamon is another major player, but not heaped on like it is in Amouage Crimson Rocks (2020), which is also from the collection, and not smelling of candy. The heart mixes a jammy rose and denatured "Western" patchouli, the thick non-green stuff slathered into most mass-appeal orientals and "fruitchoulis" conjured up by the likes of Armani and Gucci anymore, but it works. Some parts of me feel like this may have been a workprint for a men's Crimson Rocks at some point, because the rose/cinnamon/pink pepper combo is very similar, but Enclave goes its own way towards the finish. Vetiver, pasty/musky labdabum, ambrocenide (a woody-amber), and the same leather molecule found in Montblanc Explorer finish this out (evidently called Saffiano after the leather of the same name). Wear time is more like a classic Amouage at all-day length but projection is just shy of monstrous in the way 2000's Amouage was. Best use is fall through spring, and this feels pretty generalist.
Amouage Enclave looks to compete with the various Gucci Guilty pour Homme (2011) variants, the various heavy hitters from Parfums de Marly like Layton (2016) and could almost be a more-youthful take on Amouage Interlude Black Iris (2020) released just ahead of this new collection. The woody-amber base and smooth dry down on the way there alongside the dynamic mint and spice will defintely turn heads with the "beastmode br0" backwards hat Instagram types that like to pose with bottles while doing pushups on the roofs of their cambered Subaru street racers (pardon while I vomit), but the rest of us not so obsessed with validation may find this a bit too "witness me" for use. Regardless, Amouage Enclave isn't quite the "Metallica Black Album" sellout release from the brand, as it's just weird enough to keep mallrats in love with Paco Rabanne Invictus (2013) from embrancing it, and still costs more than triple the retail of what they use, but gets dangerously closer to "compliment juice" than anything released under Christopher Chong's watch, even if the rest of the "Renaissance Collection" is more "French perfume" by comparison. Enclave is the second-best behind Amouage Ashore (2020) and too likeable to find any real fault but also a bit too soulless for me to enjoy on myself, although I'd not be upset catching it in the street on someone else. Thumbs up.