Scented Snippets New Fragrance Review: Amouage Fate Extrait / Baroquerococo at its Best

by: Ida Meister

Amouage Fate for Women is no wallflower, no shy cringing violet to begin with. She is a big-boned lusty "hunk of burning love" (thank you, Elvis).

In eau de parfum strength she feels like a perfume anyway, with her over-the-top opulence and heavily brocaded presence.

Enter the newest member of the family: Fate Extrait.

Amouage has successfully given birth to a new Mae West.

Or perhaps a Francois Boucher.  I'm going to let you decide; I'm still on fence, leaning more heavily towards Mae West, who was one outrageously smart and resourceful woman.

Mae West

Baroquerococo.

She's magnificent, intense, batampte (that's Yiddish for 'tasty'); bursting with life, spicy, juicy. We don't welcome waifs here, boys.

We want a woman and we want her now.

If you think that the original Fate had meat on her bones, think again.

The extrait is so rich, ornate, fleshly; she's a generous woman who's bursting out of her Merry Widow.

Fate Extrait heralds back to the power perfumes of the late '70's-80's: dense, almost chewy in texture, low-pitched and high volume. Think Opium, Cinnabar, Coco parfum: indolent, sensual, almost overpowering, long-lasting. Sillage which either entices or murders, depending upon one's taste [and application!].

Polarizing, to say the least – and commandingly charismatic.

[Now, charisma is a double-edged sword: it often connotes approach / avoidance, especially in perfume and political realms.]

Bergamot is a breath of fresh air, but it's off and running, leaving no memory of its introduction – because the spices kick in immediately, absconding with heart notes, fierce and vivid. The rose, narcissus and jasmine provide a narcotizing element: languorous, persuasive, soon to be wed to a cornucopia of base notes. The base notes are sinfully abundant; eventually, one is submerged in this opaque potion. You will be held captive indefinitely, because Fate Extrait is tenacious. Eventually, you are enveloped in spicy powder, a cocoon of resins that enfold you and don't let go.     

Do you actually want to be released, is the question.

I thoroughly enjoyed sampling Fate Extrait; it made me feel like I was in pre-war Berlin, listening to Kurt Weill in a cabaret where men dress as women, perhaps – and the joint is buzzing like a hive with attempted seduction, cigarette smoke and plenty of hooch.

Reclining Nude by Boucher

Conversely, I might be a cavorting Boucher nude, and the fragrance would be indicative of the prevailing atmosphere: suffused with every sort of excess imaginable.

Amouage Fate Extrait is a memorable experience, either way.

I'm always appreciative of Christopher Chong's keeping me in the Amouage loop!

Thank you, thank you for my sample <3

Notes: Top: Bergamot, cinnamon, chili, pepper Heart: Rose, narcissus, jasmine, frankincense, labdanum Base: Vanilla bean, frankincense, benzoin, castoreum, patchouli, oakmoss, leather