Overture Man is an elegant fragrance, solid and fully present, but not of the loud, attention-seeking variety.
Overture Man is an elegant fragrance, solid and fully present, but not of the loud, attention-seeking variety. 
Image: Supplied/Prestige Cosmetics

In opera, the Overture is an instrumental opening setting the mood before the curtain rises and the singers enter on stage. It already involves the listener in a premonition of what is to come. The eye has to wait until the curtain goes up, whereas the ear has already perceived the nature of the drama. 

Overture Man conjures a tale of a gentleman, dressed for an elegant evening in a dinner jacket accented by a moiré silk cummerbund and bow tie. He takes his seat in the audience of the opera house with great poise and eagerly waits for the performance to begin, but before the orchestra finishes the Overture, a mysterious stranger gently taps his shoulder.

He rises from his seat and disappears into the darkness with nothing left of him but his bow tie on his seat and the enticement of his scent. 

Amouage Overture.
Amouage Overture.
Image: Supplied/Prestige Cosmetics

THE PERFUMER: KARINE VINCHON

Karine Vinchon is a French perfumer based in Grasse. Inspired by nature and exotic locales, she creates expressive, exotic scents and is known for using challenging and unusual ingredients.

Perfume composition is akin to painting for Vinchon (who is also a painter), an emotion-driven process. The name of the perfume, Overture, speaks about the opening of the opera. It’s a piece that alternates slow and fast rhythms to set you in the mood of what follows.

That’s why I used some contrasted raw materials, to reflect this alternation of rhythms. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The fragrance opens with a clear and assumed aromatic and vibrant boozy whiff. The feeling is realistic and the brandy shines as it reveals its bitingness. The booziness is strongest upon the perfumes opening and gradually settles in as it reaches the dry down, never fully disappearing, and leaving pleasant traces well into the final stages of the evolution.

A rather classic resinous floral heart is the second significant component to Overture Man. It brings a substantial comforting naturalness to the opening and also adds a soft resinous coating to the base, rounding the edges of the woods just a bit and really adding to the overall comfortable feeling of the creations. 

Finally, the smoky and woody base of the fragrances: full-bodied with substantial presence, the woods are reminiscent of high-quality heavy furniture or the inside of a wooden brandy distillery cask once emptied of its contents and left to dry. Smoke plays an important role in Overture: it accents the wood, providing it with character and dimension, but never overpowering it. 

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* This article was paid for by Prestige Cosmetics.

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