Amouage's generosity and commitment to unparalleled craftsmanship is portrayed in the Exceptional Extraits. Each of the perfumes in this exclusive collection is created through painstaking experiments to gauge the effects of various ageing times and concentration levels. The intention is to push the ingredients – as well as the perfumers’ talents – to the very limits of what they can contribute to the composition.

Amouage introduces a profoundly resonant new creation, Purpose 50 Exceptional Extrait. As a vital component of Oman’s heritage and identity, Frankincense has always been important to Amouage. The ancient material has featured in several of the House’s compositions over the years, and in 2023, it took on an especially totemic form in Purpose Eau de Parfum.

Composed by Quentin Bisch, under the direction of Chief Creative Officer Renaud Salmon, Purpose is a sincere and heartfelt expression of the totality of a frankincense tree. Using the sharpness of Pink Pepper, the shimmering heat of Papyrus and the grounding quality of a special, sand-grown variety of Vetiver to highlight and emphasise the many facets of Frankincense, Purpose Eau de Parfum presents the material in memorably larger-than-life fashion.

This time, Quentin Bisch aimed to re-anchor the composition, to re-root it – to make its connection with the earth and the land even stronger and more profound. The result of Bisch and Salmon’s efforts is an immersive, sonorous meditation on the primeval power of nature. Purpose 50 presents the familiar burst of Pink Pepper from the Eau de Parfum, the mystical aroma of Frankincense, the rooty earthiness of Sand Vetiver, the heated tempestuousness of Papyrus, the leathery dryness of Saffron – all recognisable from the Eau de Parfum, yet profoundly altered, as though they are resonating with earthly landscapes, rather than rising up to the heavens.

In addition, an accord of Sandalwood notes maintain the integrity and personality of Purpose with a creamier, woodier, arguably more meditative inflections, extending the effect of the composition into previously untouched dimensions. Finally, Bisch introduced a note of Vanillin into the base of Purpose 50. With its tender sweetness and almost romantic powderiness, it provides a striking contrast with the other facets while lending the whole an almost carnal physicality that pulses and resonates with irrepressible life.

Concentration: Extrait de Parfum, containing 50% pure perfume oils

Ageing: 4 weeks (2 weeks maturation + 2 weeks maceration)