Purpose vs. Purpose 50

Amouage, this year, released a follow-up to the much-discussed Purpose, turning up the concentration to a stunning 50%. How does it compare? 

In 2023, Amouage debuted three new scents added to the Odyssey collection, and ScentXplore was there to get the first smells. Purpose, Search, and Lineage left attendees ooh’ing and ahh’ing, and out of the same collection, Guidance would go on to skyrocket Amouage to a near household name. 

Out of the three, Purpose was the one that moved me the most. A polarizing take on frankincense, the idea was to show the beauty of the knotted Boswellia sacra tree in all its desert glory. 

While frankincense is noticeably present, the fragrance contains so many elements encircling the feeling of that sacred smoke. Dry woods of papyrus, sand vetiver, leathery saffron, and suede pull the moisture out of your nasal passages like a combo cleansing breath and dryness of a hearty Tuscan red wine.

You smell greenery basking in the sun, and it starts to feel like a meditative forest – sacred incense tendrils and twisted trees leading you on your way. You smell warm earth rise, grassy and mineral underground warming under the sun with woods.

An accord called Mystikal does some magic here – a blend of elements of oud, amber, incense, and spices. It’s aptly named because it’s known for its chameleon-like ability to transform a fragrance into something ethereal and exotic, seemingly shape-shifting within a formula. In Purpose, it makes the fragrance even drier, smokier, and lends a mysterious ambered spice. 

There’s something floral on the breeze, far off. Rose, pink pepper, and pimento berry add an airy lightness to what is quite a potent and projective fragrance. It’s also quite polarizing, with rabid fans and very loud detractors alike. 

When perfumer Quentin Bisch got to work on making the extrait version, he knew he couldn’t simply take such a deeply dry, intense sillage and ratchet it up even further. It wouldn’t work. If they were going to turn this up to a whopping 50%, there would need to be something to soften it. 

Enter vanilla. 

The base in Purpose 50 – sandalwood, bold vetiver, papyrus, Akigalawood – is pulled more to the surface, and this iteration certainly smells hefty, woodier, and earthier. The fragrance has a certain weight.

But the vanilla note tenderly smooths any harshness or dryness over and gives the perfume a captivating softness, even despite the weight of the base and the significantly noticeable increase in concentration.

The desert dryness is still present, but nowhere near what it approaches in the first one. The perfume takes you by the hand in this forest and leads the way gently through. 

As prominent as the vanilla is, it doesn’t trample over any of the elements from the first. It still feels under an arid sun, earth, leaves, frankincense bark, and sap baking under intense rays.

Eventually, the vanilla seems to retreat, and the world we knew from the original Purpose comes a little more to light. However, if you weren’t a fan of that one due to its unapologetic earthy dryness, here, all of those edges feel rounded. That smoky feeling in the back of your throat, while not completely gone, is moderated to a gentleness that leans toward a sweetness. 

This is just as meditative an Odyssey, but Amouage and Bish tiptoed the fine line of the dichotomy in making something stronger, yet more delicate.  

Which version of Purpose speaks to you the most? Share your thoughts in the comments section.