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.
