Journey Man

As with all Amouage releases during the Christopher Chong era, Journey Man is a true assault to the senses. Upon it's opening your nose is brutally assaulted with high doses of Cardamom, Bergamot, Sichuan Pepper, & Cypriol. Its opening is Dry Green Leafy, Smoky, Oily, Woody, Citrusy, & Warm Spicy. So lets address the complexed notes. Cardamom is a complexed note. It smells both Warm Spicy & also Fresh Spicy. Think a Green Nutmeg-like baking spice. At the same time it smells Citrusy with Minty/Eucalyptus-like nuances. The note of Cardamom here in Journey Man is very nuanced because its made up of different types of Cardamom. Green Cardamom is Herbal & Spicy. Yellow Cardamom is Sweet & Spicy. Black Cardamom is late harvested & dried over fire. So it carries Earthy, Soil-like, Smoky, Peppery, Warm Spiced, Camphorous nuances. Camphor smells sort of like an Airy & Cooling mix between Minty & Mentholated, & is very sharp to the nose. White Cardamom is Citrusy & Minty. With nuances of Eucalyptus. Cypriol is another complexed note. Cypriol is often used by perfumers to mimic the smell of Oud, or to enhance the note of Oud. Depending on its usage Cypriol can smell Leafy Green. Motor Oil-like or both Oily & Woody, or Smoky. Sometimes even Leathery. In the opening of Journey Man you get the full complexity of both Cardamom & Cypriol. Which then blends seamlessly with the notes of Bergamot & Sichuan Pepper for very unique Spicy opening that smells absolutely beautiful In the cool Fall air. As the fragrance develops the two complex notes of Cardamom & Cypriol balance & show the many nuances of their depth & complexity as a Dry Leafy Tobacco note comes into play. The fragrance pretty much stays linier after the introduction of Tobacco for hours & hours, until somewhere long after 24 hours you're left with the skin scent of dry green sweet spiced Cardamom. Journey Man is often labeled a "Tobacco" fragrance, but its a "Cardamom" fragrance through & through. With Each additional note in this fragrance working to not only enhance & showcase every nuance of the Cardamom note itself, but all of the different types of Cardamom as well. No Amouage fragrance developed under the creative direction of Christopher Chong was without depth, complexity, & brutally offensive performance. It was the thing that made Amouage fragrances truly "Niche". I'm very happy to be able to say that all of my Amouage fragrances are earlier releases from Chong's era. Journey Man is not Unisex. Its unapologetically Masculine, & its performance is formidable. Down right diabolical. In the early days of Fragrance reviews Journey Man was often compared to smelling like YSL's "La Nuit De L'homme". ... & it does not. Absolutely nothing compares to the scent of Amouage's Journey Man. Journey Man is a warm spicy/fresh spicy Cardamom fragrance that smells like the color of its bottle. Perfect for the Fall, & also Winter.

Allow me to open my soul, for speaking of Journey Man is not debating a mere cosmetic, a superficial vanity to adorn the body of a mundane man. It is a true anatomy of the spirit, a descent into the abysses of consciousness and a subsequent ascent through the path of redemption. The opening is a violent punch, a brutal shock, a profusion of Sichuan pepper, cut by a bitter bergamot, sharp as a razor's edge. Some at this point may recoil in horror, considering it an "aggressive," "pungent" opening that suffocates the sense of smell. But isn't this the exact representation of the birth of consciousness? The awakening of man to a hostile world, where the truth assaults him before consoling him? Some feel in this initial aggression an almost divine glimpse, an audacity that defies the mediocrity of mass culture. And then, when the flesh is already numb from the punishment of the pepper, the fragrance transforms. We enter the second act, with the emergence of a dry, dense, profoundly masculine tobacco—but devoid of any cheap sweetness. It is the tobacco of men who have lived, who bear scars. Alongside it rises incense, the mystical signature of Amouage. This incense is not that of a joyful celebration, but the smoke of an empty church at midnight, a silent cry for transcendence. Beside it, a strange, almost ghostly note emerges: the smell of "damp earth," of mineral soil, as if the perfume, beneath the smoke, reminds us of our own mortal condition. Memento mori. We are dust, and to dust we shall return. In the denouement, the storm subsides. The leather emerges, but not a rough, whipping leather; it is a soft suede, a worn armor that has found peace. Cypriol oil brings a woody bitterness, but tonka bean and ambroxan provide a belated warmth, a silent reconciliation with one's own existence. This is the fragrance for the man imbued with primal courage, the one who will meet his father-in-law or face destiny head-on. Journey Man is a beautiful and tragic heresy. It takes the classic genre of masculinity and elevates it to the status of metaphysical drama. It's not a fragrance to please everyone, as most prefer the deceit of easy, sweet scents. It divides opinions because it forces the individual to look inward. It's the journey of a soul that accepts the fire of pepper, walks through the smoke of tobacco and incense, to finally find rest in leather and earth. Let those who have nostrils to breathe, breathe! And have a good trip...

My first few wearings of Amouage Journey Man and I'm very impressed. Comes across as mature, masculine, dry and a little rugged. I will be wearing this more and updating my review here but here are my instant impressions without delving too much into the note breakdown. Journey Man lives up to its name and to me, the scent stimulates my imagination of how the journey along the spice route may have smelled. The opening of Journey Man is gorgeous with its neroli, bergamot, juniper, cypriol and Szechuan pepper. I'm not picking up much cardamon. Each note sings as they jostle for attention for about 10 minutes. The neroli sometimes feels like it doesn't belong in the opening jostle, but you miss it when it fades out of attention and then welcome it back. In the mid the neroli and bergamot fade away first and the cyproil and juniper are joined by leather, incense and tonka. This creates a warm peppery aroma with a little spiked greenness and a hint of sweetness. This scent reminds me of another with a similar dry spicy vibe that I have in my collection by Penhaligons called As Sawira. 'As Sawira' is again a dry spicy scent but has some floral notes of rose and jasmine making it lean unisex. Journey Man is unmistakably masculine. Wearing Journey Man and 'As Sawira' side by side they complement each other very well and could be a powerful his and hers combo for a couple who enjoy spicy scents. Initial impression is that it would be best suited for the cooler weather and I am still undecided if this is a dressed up or dressed down scent. It could easily be either. My limited time wearing leads my gut feeling to that it's smart-casual, maybe flannel shirt smart jeans and boots type of scent. I think this would be too potent for the office and I doubt it will appeal much to those below 35. For a younger nose Journey Man may certainly be a challenge with that peppery incense. I highly recommend sampling first and not blind buying. For older guys with more seasoned noses this awakens the senses with something a little more unique and an experience that very few scents have offered in recent years. I'm middle aged and could easily wear Journey Man as a cool / cold season, out of office signature scent.

As a city dweller who doubles as a farmer and medicinal grower, child of the forest, and incurable traveler of the Americas top to bottom, this scent unlike any other has captured that mystified life being simultaneously intertwined with wild nature and estranged from it — the ways those earthly, rich, wholesome sensations which held me in the forest keep themselves alive during the long spells spent away from it, conjuring twisted meanings and bizarre fascinations. The strongest impressions I get from the whole ensemble are more robust and intricate than any of the notes listed: caustic Artemisia and Myrtle vapors, trampled and muddied Brambles and equine forage, the incensial beyond-body odor rank of Coffee plantation, incestuous mingling of a herd dog’s mane and Wool sebum, Alpine pond sludge, Rainforest camp fires, putrefied Bitter Orange and Lime, overripe Banana flowers. When I close my eyes and spray my face, it feels like what it’d be to find warmth in the middle of a cool misty forest, in an old decaying hollowed out tree, and crawling inside to discover yet another inside-out world teeming within. As for the composition... Journey is blended so perfectly and stays that way until it has faded out completely a day later. There isn’t any one note that is overly prominent, either in the nose or the dry-down. It is such an electrifying balance of hot and cold, refreshing and funky, lite and heavy that it just begs you to keep inhaling deeper trying to chase that elusive acrid something — the Cypriol, I believe. The Juniper, on the other hand, is so well hidden it wouldn’t register to you unless you’d had it in your head that’s what you were smelling (I still choose not to have it in mine). The Musk and Tonka used are so thin and ethereal, it’s hard to ever get a pure glimpse of a sweet base in this perfume without active modulation by the green and spicy textures married to it. Amouage are really who turned me on to using exotic savory spices like coriander, nutmeg, pink pepper, or caraway. It seems so fitting then that their best men’s perfume would be crowned with the most singular top note of all these: the Szichuan Pepper.

I normally would not advocate for blind buying amouage, but I did here. I was able to get someone’s 85% full 50ml bottle for under $95, so I didn’t even hesitate. Initial impressions (tester strip): “Woah.” That was my reaction. Extremely layered, such beautiful quality and blend as expected from amouage. It’s not fair for me to label something a masterpiece after my first sniff of it, especially for it being on a tester strip, but it’s pushing into that territory. I’m getting sweet and extremely deep smelling resins paired with the smoothest blend of spices I’ve ever smelled in a perfume. It’s mouthwatering (not gourmand) and the tonka and leather complement each other so perfectly. I will give a proper review after 3+ full wearings, as of now, 9.7/10 Edit after a couple full wears; yes this does live up to the glaze I was giving it in my initial impressions. Amouage Journey Man is a unique perfume from start to finish. It opens up very aromatic and sweet, but the sweetness does not come from a gourmand aspect whatsoever, it’s like a sweet pepper note (assuming coming from the sichuan pepper). However, the pepper is not sharp at all, and the aromatics mixed with the sweet pepper in the opening combined with a very realistic tobacco note give off an almost sweet sauce smell. It’s actually really unique, and it smells so incredible. As a matter of fact, you could classify this as a gourmand in that aspect, although the perfume changes. As the perfume develops, the sweet “saucy” vibe remains, but there’s a touch of leather and a really nice sweet tonka from the base. If you want an amouage complexity and quality perfume that doesn’t have a basic scent profile, but that is also relatively easy to wear and versatile (not for warm summer days, but this thing works surprisingly well in all weather to me. I wore it in Florida and in the Midwest and it did very well in both) then Amouage journey man is an amazing pick if you don’t want a clean and slightly boring amouage like reflection man. 9.7/10 is my final rating. Really gorgeous perfumery and execution, good performance, good bottle, good everything!