Rose Aqor, Oud Ulya, and Vanilla Barka are three of six new attars that Amouage has launched recently in an attempt to straddle the richness, glory, popularity, and complexity of its old legends and the increasingly draconian restrictions placed on perfumery in the eight or so years since IFRA forced Amouage to retire its original olfactory beauties. Do the new additions live up to the greatness of old? No. Do they come across as real, authentic attars? Also no, in my opinion. Are they terrible? Well, it depends on which ones you try and your personal tastes. Are they worth the money in question? That answer, like most things involving perfumery, cannot be anything but purely subjective and individual, but I will tell you that I personally have a lot of issues with these new “attars.”

Amouage attars via Amouage’s booklet on them. Photo of the photo: my own.

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