In 2023, Amouage released what instantly became one of its most admired and feted creations: Guidance Eau de Parfum. Composed by acclaimed perfumer Quentin Bisch, under the direction of Chief Creative Officer Renaud Salmon, the scent reinterpreted the Amouage triad of Rose, Frankincense and Ambergris, while remaining faithful to the House’s identity and breaking new ground in terms of what connoisseurs could expect from an Amouage creation. With its distinctive blend of Pear, Hazelnut and Sandalwood, Guidance brought a truly contemporary sense of grandeur to what was already an extraordinary range of compositions.

A year on, Salmon and Bisch have returned to the unique landscape they created in Guidance Eau de Parfum and cast it in an even more mesmerising light. The result of their efforts is a new addition to The Guidance Collection – Guidance 46, an Exceptional Extrait that heightens the contrasts and reveals more of the mysteries at the heart of the Guidance story.  

When creating Guidance 46, Salmon and Bisch chose to take their cue from one of the Eau de Parfum’s most memorable characteristics: the striking distinction between its quieter facets and its more assertive elements. Their intention was that in Guidance 46, these contrasts would be even more singular, more arresting and more alluring.

“We thought it would be fascinating,” says Salmon, “if Quentin didn’t remove anything from the original formula, but instead added certain ingredients to make all the parts of the structure stand out against each other with greater power and complexity.”

Amongst their key conceptual touchstones were the notion of a ‘loud whisper’, an image of a jellyfish, as well as Irving Penn’s photographs of flowers. Although they’re vastly different from each other, all three convey a sense of delicacy and translucency while also evoking power, a certain magnetic allure and a suggestion of danger. These are the precise qualities Salmon and Bisch wanted to showcase in Guidance 46 – characteristics that would act as an even more irresistible pull into the world of Guidance.

What they ultimately created is a remarkable study in light and shade, fragility and strength, subtlety and ostentatiousness -- paradoxes brought together with an immediacy that can be achieved only by the art of perfumery.

At its opening, Guidance 46 – containing 46% perfume oils – is almost surprisingly weightless and luminous. The familiar Pear note floats into view as though carried by the gentlest of floral-tinted breezes. With the addition of Bitter Almond and Pink Pepper facets, the connection between the fruit and the Hazelnut is even more haunting and nuanced than in Guidance Eau de Parfum.

However, before long, the siren song reveals that its delicacy is deceptive. With their authoritative elegance, Rose, Saffron, Sambac Jasmine and Osmanthus expand the whole to grandiose proportions, drawing the wearer deeper within the perfume’s spell. Frankincense sustains the enchantment, a material which Bisch employed “as a guide unveiling an epic of a thousand-and-one wonders. I imagined that this frankincense, which guided sailors in time immemorial, would now invite us to the heart of a hidden garden. Here is a mystery, revealed by a few wisps of smoke.”

Finally, the enticement becomes completely irresistible, as the woodiness that was present in the Eau de Parfum takes on a darker, more commanding hue, thanks to the addition of Georgywood and Cypriol. At the same time, the musky, skin-like quality of Ambrette lends a caress of opulent intimacy, and, by echoing the Pear from the opening, a sense of clarity and cohesiveness. In combination with the Vanilla, Sandalwood, Cistus , Ambergris and Akigalawood from the Eau de Parfum, all these elements form a creamy base of unparalleled, multi-layered richness.  

As noteworthy as the impact of the materials is the balance with which they have been presented, as well as the tremendous, swoon-inducing diffusiveness and tenacity of the overall composition – a testament to the abilities of Bisch and Salmon to create an exquisitely emotional olfactory journey… and to sustain the mystery at the heart of The Guidance Collection.

A note on the Exceptional Extraits

The Exceptional Extraits are amongst the most precious creations from the House of Amouage. Each of the perfumes in this exclusive collection is the result of painstaking experiments to gauge the effects of various concentration levels and different ageing times. The aim is to push the ingredients to the very limits of what they can offer to the composition: allowing them time to reveal all their most hidden facets. In the case of Guidance 46, a concentration of 46% of perfume oils and an ageing time of 4 weeks were selected as the optimal levels to bring out the full effect of the extraordinary paradox achieved by Salmon and Bisch in this unique piece of work.

Presentation

In order to reflect the magnificence of its contents, the Guidance 46 bottle is a breathtakingly elevated rendition of the iconic Amouage flacon. In keeping with the other Exceptional Extraits, it features rich, lustrous inner lacquering, in the vividly translucent shade of pink used for Guidance Eau de Parfum. On the outside of the flacon, a gradient colour effect emphasises the composition’s remarkable contrasts.  

The exterior of the packaging once again features the distinctive visuals of Belgian artist Louise Mertens. Using as her starting point the organic, intermingled shapes she showcased on the packaging of Guidance Eau de Parfum, she has emphasised the colour contrasts and added dazzling, golden swathes to reflect the heightened, irrepressible drama of Guidance 46. As with the other Exceptional Extraits, gold dust adds an elegant finishing touch on the packaging.

Guidance 46 can be purchased online at www.amouage.com, at Amouage boutiques and distributors worldwide from June 2024.