Decision 42

Amouage classes Decision 42 among the amber woody aromatic fragrances. The house opens the composition on pink pepper, bergamot, cardamom, neroli and cinnamon, places olibanum, juniper, myrrh, sandalwood and a rectified pine tar in the central tier, and sets the base on patchouli, cedar, vanilla and labdanum.

A sharper bolt

In the extrait, Decision’s lightning grows sharper. The house credits neroli and cardamom, chosen for their freshness, and cinnamon, chosen for its radiance; pink pepper and bergamot strike first.

A darker juniper

The juniper, which the house surrounds with olibanum and myrrh, is darkened by Javanol, a synthetic woody molecule, by patchouli and by a rectified pine tar. Amouage wants it darker and smokier than in the eau de parfum.

A livelier base

The house says it brought more life to the base by adding vanilla and labdanum. Cedar and patchouli complete this foundation, which it describes as dark and smoky, in keeping with an existential question it wants more piercing.

What the label declares

Denatured alcohol and fragrance open the list, ahead of tetramethyl acetyloctahydronaphthalenes, a synthetic wood, patchouli oil and water. Bergamot peel oil and Atlas cedar oil come right behind, with limonene, linalyl acetate, pinene and linalool.

Further down are citral, cinnamal, isoeugenol and bitter orange blossom oil, the source of neroli, alongside eugenol and geraniol. Vanillin, benzyl benzoate, carvone and coumarin close the list.