From the frankincense trails of Dhofar to the salons of the avant-garde, Amouage is the olfactory equivalent of silk ink splashing across a blank canvas. Independent and proudly Omani since 1983, the brand has redefined the art of Arabian perfumery with some of its most artistically complex fragrances such as Interlude Man, Reflection Man, Jubilation XXV, and Honour Woman. With creative director Renaud Salmon at the helm, the brand has since taken a more experimental and atmospheric approach to fragrance-making.
The storytelling arc has now turned a new page with the final chapter of the Odyssey Collection, in which Salmon experienced a creative awakening on the cloud-veiled cliffs of Jebel Shams, the highest peak in Oman. A four-hour trek on foot, Salmon encountered a sight that stirred his imagination: “When I arrived at the base of the mountain and started walking, something caught my eye,” he said in a statement. “Across the terrain were what looked like conifers at first, but when I got closer to them, I saw they were juniper trees—their branches twisted into unusual shapes.” These trees often bear the scars of electrical storms, with trunks split and fossilised by lightning. Most don’t survive, but a few do. In Omani lore, they are often seen as mystical, with their wood ceremonially burned in homes, much like frankincense.
With this image in mind, he pressed on toward the summit, soon engulfed in clouds so dense they erased the ground below. It was in this moment of stillness and silence—suspended between earth and sky—that he felt both free and grounded. “It was an experience I can’t even begin to put into words. I knew I was connected to the earth and yet, I also felt as though I was floating. The disorientation was profound, but curiously serene and liberating,” he said. These opposing emotional states—one charged, the other serene—distil the essence of Odyssey’s final two fragrances: Decision and Existence (100ml for RM1,650 each). Together with French perfumer Quentin Bisch, they bring this multi-chapter collection to an introspective close.
Distinct in tone yet conceptually cohesive, Decision bursts forth with piercing notes of bergamot, juniper, frankincense, and myrrh, while Existence dissolves into a delicate blend of lily of the valley, aldehydes, rose, and benzoin. As with all Amouage creations, imagery plays a key role. Both fragrances are presented in the house’s emblematic flacons, decorated with Omani-inspired motifs. Decision’s seagull-grey bottle reflects its focused intensity, while Existence arrives in a gentle celadon, in tune with its airier nature. Belgian artist Louise Mertens lends her dreamlike visuals to the external packaging, featuring a bark cross-section for Decision, and a soft, cloudlike abstraction for the latter.
Decision and Existence are now available online and at escentials boutiques.
