Imitation Woman

Fate Woman was the last Amouage that I loved. But while Fate was mostly an homage to vintage Bandit, Shalimar and Opium on my skin, Imitation Woman is completely new. I’ve been scratching my head to try and figure if it reminds me of anything, and it doesn’t. There’s a general vibe, a nod to genres and a way of saying ‘this is how they used to make em’, but Imitation is a beauty on its own, at least for me, although I’m sure this won’t be one of the popular ones. It’s too weird, too ‘in your face’. Maybe that’s why I absolutely love it! The inspiration behind is 70’s New York, but for me is mostly late 70’s to early/mid 80’s. Early 70’s were still pretty much green, chypre fragrances, and hazy dreamy florals. Think Halston, Scherrer, Chloé, Anaïs Anaïs, Private Collection; fragrances were tough just like the women and the conditions in New York, but there was space and time for a more dreamy world, seen through a haze of erotic florals. Imitation lands somewhere between 1977 and 42nd street; seedy, gritty, colorful and bright just like a neon sign on Times Square. The opening aldehydes (not as big as I wished for, but there for most of the duration) give room to the blackcurrant, the juiciest, highest pitched, most authentic blackcurrant that I have smelled. It’s uber sweet and gives fruitiness a whole new meaning. It’s fruity in the same way vintage Poison or Black Orchid are fruity; not the same by a long shot, but the same carnality and sensuality, hidden behind a playful façade. The licorice, which usually is my nemesis comes soon after, but it is done in such a beautiful and mature way, I keep wanting more of it. There’s a ‘secret elixir’ feel to it, just like a shot from an unnamed bottle served to you at Studio 54 while you’re chatting with Grace (Jones of course)! She would have rocked it back then. The heart brings a honeyed orange blossom and skanky jasmine together, creating a more extravagant 80’s floral heart, with patchouli (earthy and heady), incense (dry and smoky), and sandalwood instead of long gone animalic notes. The beauty and the beast. ‘Pretty’ florals along ‘dirty’ base notes with rough edges to remind us that Bright Lights Big City is also dangerous. Imitation feels like a girl that lives somewhere uptown. There’s a different feel than living downtown, and a bigger sense of security. But she loves to party, and she knows that the real living is somewhere along midtown, Coney Island or the Bronx. She doesn’t mind getting dirty, but she always has perfectly manicured red almond nails and a healthy supply of hairspray. And when she leaves the comfort of her suburban enclosure, she lights up a cigarette, gets of at Times Square, and follows the flow. It might not be Studio 54 every Saturday, but she always finds the right place. Imitation smells bright, ‘happy’. There’s a certain innocence underneath, a sensation that youth is eternal and the world is one big bite, that Saturday nights last forever and the sun will always shine brighter this side of the Brooklyn bridge. Slightly ambiguous, Imitation manages to blend the beauty with the grittiness. It is both clean and dirty, and it’s New York before the Giuliani cleanup that eliminated, along with murder and crime, the rogue diversity that made Manhattan. There’s a scene in The Deuce’s second season opening (HBO, highly recommended) where we see Candy walking along pimps, prostitutes, drug dealers and hustlers. She’s wearing a fur coat and a white silk ensemble that looks like Halston. While she smiles to some familiar faces on her way to a new disco, there’s a melancholy reminding her that some years before she was on those streets asking 30 plus 10 for her services, and a strength that shows her that she’s past those years, somewhere better, but not quite there yet; there are still obstacles in her way. It’s Christmas 1977, the snow is falling, and Candy smells of Imitation. She might not have the uptown living just yet, but she embodies the scent perfectly! My favorite release of 2018.

Uncomfortable. “Life imitates art!” Or so says Amouage in the brief. Well, life is frequently uncomfortable as is art, so I guess the phrase fits – but life and art here, according to Amouage and Pierre Negin, is very uncomfortably fruity. There are enough fruity damascones, acetates, esters, C14, and/or ketones - and who knows what else! - in this perfume to create more than a couple other perfumes, at least in the opening of Imitation Woman that is. It is one of those perfumes where I sprayed it on myself and had the near instantaneous thought: “Oh dear God, what I have done?? I have to go into the office today and I decided to wear this?!” Green apples, oranges, peaches, berries, bananas, and plums abound in shocking quantities of neon juices, crystalline sugar, and oily glossy zests that constrict the floral undertones gasping for air. The rose is trying. The ylang-ylang is trying. The orange blossom is trying. They need to try harder because their floral notes are epically losing a battle to their fruity notes. It is almost too much, like watching a moment in a comedy film or tv series that is so uncomfortable you look away while your stomach churns. Those aldehydes – the C14s, and probably some C8s and/or C10s as well – explode into being, like you were just pelted by some prankster on the street with a balloon full of some concentrated fruity liquid you dare not wonder the identity of. Choking back panic and maybe tears, you hope to get home as quickly as possible and start scrubbing. Rather quickly things begin to calm down, but it’s going to feel like it takes forever. What was desperately trying to come through as rose in the opening fortunately becomes a blackcurrant note that is fruity, a bit jammy rosey, and slightly green and sulfurous, and a very welcome turn of the steering wheel away from the onslaught of fruit. It keeps going in this direction gathering speed as a fruity and earthy floral of a dark plummy rose variety. Then, as if taking a hard turn on a dime, a frankincense note bursts onto the scene that holds back on the incense smoke and presents... fruit smoke instead? If you can, try to imagine an incense smoke that smells purple fruity rather then strictly smokey, and you’ve got it. It’s bizarre yet captivating. The final dry down goes to a more standard frankincense note overlaying plenty of smooth patchouli and sandalwood for a lasting, calming yet uplifting effect. Life imitates art, and the most memorable art and the most memorable lives are bold and daring. So, I guess, this is encouraging us to be boldly and daringly fruity. I know a few people who are very fruity, and it seems to work well for them. For the reasons of boldness and daring, and certainly not for the least of reasons that it is very well composed, I have to give Imitation Woman a lot of respect. Negrin and Chong have given us many masterful perfumes under the Amouage name, and this is definitely one of them. You’ll just have to decide if it’s your style of bold and daring.

I have been here to write the review of Imitation woman quite a few times before. It's like a deja-vu moment for me. I could never write it. By the time i can put pen to paper (fingers to keys on the keyboard) I forget all about the notes and whatnot that constitute this fruity bamboozlement that is Imitation W O M A N! and yes, I'm a man. and it's also true that I got this for my girlfriend who (thankfully) rejected it but it was always love-at-first-sniff for me (I'll tell you all about it soon) and I only decided to let it go because it would have stayed in the fam (wink wink) Okay, I'll confess. I have no review to write for this sweet confusion called Imitation Woman. the notes are beyond me. I'll leave it to Kafkaesque to write a snobby academic essay on the note breakdown and unfurl other chemicular (is that a word?) mysteries. I'll just say what happened and how I felt. I take these saxophone lessons and have no prior experience in music. Dabbling a little in music theory with an amazing teacher. I bought the cheapest saxophone money could buy and kept daydreaming about being the next Coltraine in about forty more years (provided I practice ten hours a day or so). So I got the sample and sprayed a couple. Swear to god, if my saxophone had a smell it would be this. this sweet, fizzy fruity, jammy, ylang-ylang-y, bamboozlement coming out of the neck and horns of the golden alto. It's cacophonic sillage choking the neighbours next door. I call up my girlfriend and rave about it. "If my saxophone had a smell, this would be it", I remember saying. And i swear i didn't even see the "An olfactive imitation of New York City’s multiculturalism in the 1970s this floral aldehyde fragrance is a tribute to an iconic era" scribbled at the back of the sample card. The description is spot on and Pierre Negrin is a genius (duh!) The guy also made Black Orchid and comparisons can be drawn. Not to say they are similar by any stretch of the imagination but... they have similar dark backbones. Nocturnal animals of different kinds but built on the same chassis, as it were. I spray it every time i practice the sax (progress is sloww but steadddyyy) and I'm transported to the heart of a world marked by excesses, flamboyance, and richness.

Imitation Woman is exquisitely beautiful and brings modern, everyday relevance and ease to the chypre category. I prefer it to Amouage’s Jubilation 25W, finding it an easier reach. This is not a girlie-pop mall fragrance, but one for perfumistas who have been around the fume block (and the world) a few times and now only have time for a flawless luxury trip; I’m thinking the Bristol in Paris; It is gorgeous and easy in the same way. There are no rough edges. Imitation perfectly balances syrupy richness and ethereal radiance, light and dark, black fruit and incense, evoking Paris in the 80’s more than NYC in the 70’s. It’s closer to Dior Poison than to Halston, although it is not as brash as either and considerably more beguiling than both. It inhabits another intoxication dimension. The notes are perfectly balanced and moderated while lending the fragrance a truly stunning and unmistakable presence. Its masterful restraint makes Maison Crivelli fragrances feel like a trip to a NJ turnpike gas station; you don’t need Dawn dish soap to wash it off, and more importantly, after hours of evolving play, you won’t want to. When I wear it, Imitation quite literally makes my day, or night. There’s something sparking and musical in the dark shadows, like the thrill of a Stradivarius floating from the choir of a candle lit church in Venice. It is La Traviata on Saturday night at the Met, not Donna Summer at Studio 54. The aldehyde/chypre aspect is mind blowing. It makes me feel sorry for Rue Cambon. How can it be so stunning, yet easy to wear every day as well as on special occasions ? Imitation is like nothing out there; It is set apart- a true masterpiece. I think it’s my all time Amouage favorite (thought that’s a tough one!) with Memoir woman as the super-wow, winter ‘flanker.’ I can’t get over it. I’ve never been more tempted to buy a back up bottle of a $400 fragrance. I’ll have to wait until Lent is over. And, did I mention that GEORGEOUS bottle?!?! I could go on...

AMOUAGE Imitation Woman Pierre Negrin 2018 Unisex imo “Life Imitates art” Like this fascinating bottle the scent itself as well is neon colored and a chameleon. It sounds strange but after smelling the scent the term makes sense. First of all the scent is very unique and different than all other Amouages. Secondly the combination of notes is very interesting. White ORANGE BLOSSOM, JASMINE and ROSES in the opening are surrounded with captivating mix of BLACK CURRANT BUDS which is not juicy (it’s not the fruit itself, it’s buds!), ALDEHYDES which is not soapy or frosted, and LICORICE which is not sweet neither Anis. YLANG-YLANG in the opening is not tropical like sweet or sour. Nothing in this scent can’t be imagined with the list of notes. It’s one of the most difficult to put into the words. All the notes are somewhat abstract and something which you haven’t experienced before. The result is vivid, a little bit vinyl like but not synthetic, nor cloying. It’s very enchanting, it’s airy enough yet vibrant without being sticky or headache-inducing. After wearing it a couple of times you will notice that it’s astoundingly wearable, versatile and charming yet totally unique. The drydown is heavenly and polished , even intoxicating, with SANDALWOOD, PATCHOULI and INSENCE while all the other notes stay there until the end creating this magical concoction. This scent is called here Chypre Floral which it is not. I don’t know why so many scents are called as “Chypre” nowadays without its characteristic note pyramid. Men’s counterpart is not for me. It’s very artistic but too plastic imo. Definitely worth to try though. EDIT: Bought it later and it's gorgeous. Thank you for reading, I hope my review was helpful. I would appreciate a lot if you want to follow me on IG and/or YouTube (English subtitles): @ninamariahperfumes It gives me a lot of motivation to write more. 🤗