Interlude

A high point in the art of perfumery. This is the fragrance that showed me how creative niche fragrances could be and more or less inoculated me against most anything you can find at Macy’s. Interlude Man was my first experience of a scent with true transitions. I have never experienced a scent that changes so dramatically from opening to dry down. The oregano note in the opening was definitely jarring the first time I smelled this, and yet it didn’t throw me off. Unique, but it fits. Once the brief bergamot/herbal opening dies down, the resin smoke comes in. I had never experienced anything like this and it blew my mind that a fragrance could smell like this. This smoky, semi-sweet ambery vibe vividly evokes a bubbling chunk of opoponax on charcoal. It is heavenly. The smoke lingers, but the sweetness of the amber comes to the top. What started as a nearly aromatic scent has now become a dense, sweet, resinous amber. When I sniff this stage the smell has so much depth that it seems like a bottomless abyss of resinous beauty with the smoke still lingering. Late in the drydown (and I’m talking 8+ hours in) some of the creamy sandalwood and leather shows up. Interlude man lasts until you wash it off. And you’ll still probably smell it after that. Interlude Man is a stone cold masterpiece. Not everyone will enjoy it, but it speaks volumes to me. Kudos to Pierre Negrin and Christopher Chong.

Is it me or like many other Amouage's as well as other companies that used to give you quality, longevity and projection for 1/2 of the current prices have become castrated. I remember sampling Interlude 10 years ago or so, it was so strong, it was clogging, you could not escape this fragrance. It came from your wrist, punching it's way inside your nostrils, demanding attention. You indeed could smell it days later on your sleeve. Now that I bought it yesterday.. I give a solid full spray on my wrist and after 10 minutes I struggle to get natural wafts of it. I have to bring my nose to my skin 5cm close, then I can smell it. Also, the scent changed... it's sweet, way more approachable then it used to be. Either my nose evolved (or devolved!) and now I can actually enjoy it, or it was made this way on purpose. Also, some people are rightly speculating, perhaps they make the OG's less potent, so that you reach for the Extrait editions.

I really wanted to try the women's version of this but alas it was not meant to be. So I had the sales assistant spray this men's one on a test strip for me to smell. As a woman, at first sniff I quite liked it. I continued to smell it and with each sniff it just got better and better. I'm sure by about the 5 minute mark I came across as some kind of addict as I couldn't stop sniffing it. As a female, I found it so damn sexy! I had no idea of the notes in it at the time I smelt it and for the record, I despise oud, but I couldn't detect it, at least not on paper. Any man wearing this, I'm so here for it. It's so good that if I smelt it on a man, I might dribble a lil from my front bum 🤭 Interlude Man could easily take a female from good girl (not the perfume) to 🎵I'm a man (I'm a goddess), I'm a man (I'm a virgin), I'm a man (I'm a blue movie) ...🎵 Berlin style!

When making the comparisons between Afnan Supremacy Incense and Amouage Interlude Man, I have to say, other than the initial "in the air" scent, these dry down VERY similarly. Interlude has more of an herbal, almost licorice note while Incense is softer. Interlude is definitely more complex at first sniff, but after 20 minutes it blends (like Incense) into the more broad "this is a nice scent DNA" vibe. I LOVE this. I wanted to compare them both side by side. Yes, if I was a more wealthy person, I'd use Interlude Man, but I have to admit, this is one of those cases where the dupe is close enough to not need it. After I finish my sample of Interlude, I'm going to buy a bottle of Incense, as its too close to notice a big difference.

One of the best fragranceso all time and i will die on this hill for the rest of my life. nothing else preforms or smells like this. It is the dark blue beast. It smells like a dark blue dragon. It is this very dark medival herbal smoky incense and resinous masterpiece. Amouage Interlude smells like a man left bundles of herbs and resins inside an ancient stone church, only for a dark blue dragon to set the whole place ablaze. Thick church incense, burning woods, smoky herbs, and glowing amber fill the air while the cold stone walls disappear behind waves of blue black smoke. It smells sacred and powerful. If this were a song it would be Судно by molchat doma.