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Meander by Amouage has the melancholic dewy woodiness that I love to bring out on a rainy day. It's all frankincense, and sandalwood with some subdued floral facets floating around. It's morose, yet gorgeous.
In a house full of heady complex perfumery, Meander is always overlooked due to its simplistic nature. This to me makes it unique in the house of Amouage. The bottle is 💯
Loads of cardamom for me. It's like a creamy, cardamom dessert, but just slightly too woody to be a gourmand. On card it smells like Santal 33, on skin it's way better, the vetiver stands out more.
So to start out... Meander is a perfect name for this perfume, the vibe is a meandering one. I've followed perfumer Mackenzie Reilly on social media for a few years now (I think?) and it's good to finally see/smell her work coming through and certainly for such a high profile brand as Amouage, to be honest she's really made two fantastic perfumes for the Renaissance collection, Meander being my favourite. I saw a couple of reviews but they were from the usual brand sycophants who may have been sent free product so their positive view is met with scepticism. I shouldn't have been so cynical though, but it didn't sound like my bag, or like quintessential Amouage. I blame the reviewers. I think Meander falls more inline with Imitation or Portrayal than it does with Interlude or Epic (all the Man ones of these BTW) which is that it's a floral scent at heart, but surrounding by a swirling, changeling sort of vibe. The opening to me smells very airy, slight and mineral, misty olibanum, and that watery papyrus note you get, by immediate thoughts were... BE GONE THE SPECTRE OF SANTAL 33! YOU'RE NOT WELCOME HERE! Glad to tell you that effect only lasts for a few seconds before everything starts to build, but in a super gentile, civilized manner, Meander is the whimsical antidote to Enclave's full on woody, amber and Amouage Incense thickness. This only lightly nods in the direction with a lemon and pine tinged olibanum, but it's so veiled, vignette in the fabric of this scent, it's barely there at all. A transient, plastic, saffron twang at about the 5-10 minute mark is then gone just as quick. Orris or carrot are listed here in the notes and I'm not sure I get them from this a vague first impression but there's definitely a powdery, sweet element to this perfume. Then the knotty, earthy but fresh tentrils of a rooty vetiver perhaps? start to ground this fragrance. As it progresses it gets nicer and, nicer, a mixture of cool and aloof and warm and cuddly. I guess all this contrarian talk means that Meander performs a successful balancing act which is really what perfumery is all about, balanced harmonics. I hastily wrote this review without properly wearing this perfume at least once. I judged it on a single spray on my wrist but I think I can make something of an evaluation based on that and say that this is very good. To the point I'm tempted to get it. The colour of the bottle is Celadon or Baby Yoda green which is really lovely too.
I like the scent, it’s powdery but in a non-feminine leaning way for men. It’s not a beast mode scent that Amouage is know for. This is probably an appropriate duration for longevity and silage but disappointing if you come to expect more. I don’t know if I would buy again unless I get it for a steal, but happy I do have it in the collection.