If I hadn’t known that Amouage Jubilation 25 was new, you could have convinced me that this was the perfume that the snake dabbed on Eve when he handed over the apple. You could have told me that the scent of Jubilation 25 so mesmerized Adam that when he bit into the apple he thought it was something wholesome, like a vegan burrito, instead of a naughty apple, and I would have believed it. After all, Jubilation 25 smells like a blend of flesh and paradise.

Amouage released Jubilation 25 in 2007 to celebrate its 25th anniversary. Lucas Sieuzac, who won Fashion Group International’s Rising Star award in 2004, hit it out of the park when he created Jubilation 25. The Amouage website lists Jubilation 25’s top notes as tarragon, rose, lemon, and ylang ylang; its heart as davana, labdanum, rose, and frankincense; and its base as amber, musk, vetiver, myrrh, and patchouli.

Surprisingly, given the list of notes, Jubilation 25 smells to me like a carnal, sheer rose-fruit chypre with a dusting of cumin and a twist of lemon. It is a woman’s smell, not a girl’s, and a confident, sensual woman’s smell, at that…

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