Amouge Bracken Man

Bracken Man

House: Amouge

Release: 2016

Fragrance Notes

Top Notes: Lemon, Bergamot, Cypress, Lavandin, Nutmeg, Clove

Heart Notes: Geranium, Cinnamon, Cedarwood, Sandalwood

Base Notes: Patchouli, Musk

Review

After many decades of attempts at reinventing the fougère, this 2016 release from Amouge by perfumers Olivier Cresp and Fabrice Pelligrin signals a return to form with no sense of pastiche. This is a refined, expertly-blended statement piece with strong performance on projection, sillage, and longevity. This is a spiced version of the genre, and a patchouli bomb for the ages, but one kept lighter with lavindin and bright citrus opening and a beautiful use of sandalwood/cedar notes to dry things out in the heart.

In our wear of a 2020 decant, Bracken Man opened spicy and surprisingly soapy, but very well blended and pleasant. We missed the citrus note in our first wear, but enjoyed it in subsequent trials. The clove is very present and persistent, but not overwhelming, balanced nicely with nutmeg’s warmer and sweeter profile and the camphoreous lavandin. The geranium note includes a hint of metal that brightens the sweet cinnamon and wood heart. as the patchouli pushes through.

Moss notes are minimal. This is not a musk bomb as much as a spiced patchouli, thankfully. After an hour or so of the spice and wood, which was relatively linear, this drops into a much gentler stage with some ambery notes, with the warmer aspects of the nutmeg still present.