Cover Decision and Existence, the final two fragrances that round up Amouage’s Odyssey Collection
Decision and Existence, the final two fragrances that round up Amouage’s Odyssey Collection
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Tatler+
Inspired by a personal journey through Oman’s Jebel Shams, Amouage’s Chief Creative Officer Renaud Salmon reveals the story behind Decision and Existence—the final perfumes completing the Odyssey Collection
When Renaud Salmon, Chief Creative Officer of Amouage, set out to climb Jebel Shams—Oman’s highest peak—he wasn’t merely chasing a view. What he found instead was a story that would become the emotional backbone of Decision and Existence, the final two fragrances in the house’s Odyssey Collection.
Salmon’s creative process rarely begins with the materials of perfumery. For him, it starts with experience. “It all started with the objective to ascend and reach the highest peak of Oman. And it’s a very, very long hike to get to the top,” he recalls. “You first take a three-hour drive, then you park, and then it’s a seven-hour hike to get to the top. So it’s quite a commitment.”
The hike starts at an elevation, where one is surrounded by nature. While it is a dry landscape, there are green elements around but these become less and less the further you venture. That solitude, and the wild beauty of Jebel Shams, would set the tone for what would ultimately be bottled.
One of the elements, if not the most important one, that stood out for Salmon were the juniper trees.
Midway through his ascent, Salmon encountered these trees that were unlike any he had seen before: twisted and skeletal, almost sculptural in their gnarled forms. “The juniper trees from the mountains of Jebel Shams in Oman are really dry. They have very intricate shapes and nearly look like sculptures,” he says.
At over 2,500 metres above sea level, these trees stand exposed to frequent lightning strikes. The intense heat fossilises the sap, splitting the trunks wide open. Remarkably, many survive these brutal encounters and continue to grow.
“It’s a beautiful analogy for life. In life, you can be hit by something you cannot control. It could be a disease, losing someone you love, or being made redundant at work. It could be very personal, and that I think could be experienced at some point in time by anyone,” Salmon reflects.
“Ultimately, it’s your decision to decide—are you going to give up? And that’s why the fragrance is called Decision. Are you going to consider yourself dead like what this tree could consider itself? Or are you going to keep growing? I felt it was a very powerful message.”
Naturally, the next step for Salmon was to turn this story into a fragrance. This emotional premise became the foundation for Decision. Translating it into fragrance was the work of perfumer Quentin Bisch, a frequent collaborator of Salmon’s.
“He’s someone I love working with when it comes to creating fragrances. He really understands the stories and and he comes up with a very clear vision,” Salmon shares.
The result opens with a jolt of brightness—citruses and aldehydes designed to echo that flash of lightning cutting through the sky. Next comes the Juniper Berry oil, its dry, aromatic quality evoking not only the tree itself but also, as Salmon cheerfully admits, “a little of that gin-and-tonic note.”
Vanilla appears in the base, symbolising renewal and comfort, while Frankincense harvested in Oman weaves through the composition, binding it together with its clean, peppery warmth. “Frankincense is part of Oman’s identity,” Salmon says. “You smell it at the airport, in people’s homes—it’s everywhere. It’s also the signature that unifies our work at Amouage.”
Above Quentin Bisch
Above Renaud Salmon
Quentin Bisch
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The clouds at the summit
If Decision reflects a moment of confrontation and choice, Existence offers something altogether gentler. Upon reaching the summit, Salmon found the much-anticipated panoramic view shrouded by a sea of clouds.
“When I reached the top, I was a little bit, I would say disappointed because I could not see what people had promised me—which is like an amazing view all around because there was a sea of clouds,” Salmon admits.
However, the experience stirred a different kind of reflection as it brought to mind The Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog, the Romantic-era painting of a lone figure contemplating a vast, obscured landscape.
Perfumes have the power to trigger very strong memories, and that’s exactly what Salmon experienced when Bisch first presented the fragrance to him. In the fragrance, this ambiguity is recreated through a delicate balancing act. The central note is lily of the valley—or more accurately, a reconstruction of it. Why a reconstruction? It’s because the flower itself yields no extractable oil.
“This is the magic of perfumery; there is not a single drop of lily of the valley oil actually in the fragrance because lily of the valley is a flower that we don’t extract in perfumery. It does not contain enough oil,” Salmon shares. “So what does the perfumer need to do? The perfumer needs to recreate with other flowers and ingredients in order to [achieve] the smell of lily of the valley. And this is what I love because it’s like you’re asked ‘are you smelling the reality, or are you smelling the outcome of your memories and imagination?’. So that’s why I loved actually the idea of lily of the valley.”
The result is a photorealistic rendering that transported Salmon instantly back to his childhood in Belgium, where, as a boy, he and his brother would gather and sell bunches of lily of the valley each May Day.
“It took me by surprise,” Salmon shares about his first time experiencing Existence. “It was very powerful. And this is the beauty of my work. I don’t want to be prescriptive because if I am very specific about what I want, I’m going to get what I ask for.”
Supporting this bright, nostalgic centre is a soft structure of musks and frankincense, conjuring the impression of floating clouds. Labdanum and benzoin lend depth and a quiet warmth. The result is a horizontal fragrance, as Salmon puts it, one that seems to hover rather than ascend—a sea of fog in scent form.
Above While ascending Jebel Shams, Renaud Salmon encountered trees that were unlike any he had seen before: twisted and skeletal, almost sculptural in their gnarled forms
While ascending Jebel Shams, Renaud Salmon encountered trees that were unlike any he had seen before: twisted and skeletal, almost sculptural in their gnarled forms
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The signature of Oman
At the heart of both compositions lies frankincense, not simply as a fragrance material but as a historical and cultural emblem.
“Frankincense is infused into everything in Oman,” says Salmon. “You smell it when you arrive at the airport, in people’s homes—it becomes part of the country’s olfactive identity.” Sourced from trees in Wadi Dawkah, a Unesco World Heritage Site, the resin serves as a canvas upon which the rest of the composition is built.
“In a way, it’s a little bit like a canvas and you can paint anything on it. And it’s probably the best canvas because it ties everything together and it creates a beautiful patina in our fragrances,” Salmon adds. “So this is why we love to use frankincense at Amouage, because it gives our fragrances their very own distinct signature.”
Beyond the ingredients, what distinguishes Amouage is its rigorous approach to craft: high concentrations of perfume oil, extended ageing periods, and meticulous attention to how the final product evolves on skin. “We want the fragrance to stay with you throughout the day," Salmon adds, “not disappear by lunchtime.”
Above Decision by Amouage
Above Existence by Amouage
Decision by Amouage
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The Odyssey, complete
With Decision and Existence, Salmon brings the Odyssey Collection to its close—a body of twelve fragrances, each shaped by his personal experiences but designed to resonate far beyond them.
“I’m the creative spark but these are not autobiographical,” he insists. “It’s really about [emotional] patterns that I try to bottle and that I hope will resonate with people. And there is nothing more satisfying than seeing how some of these fragrances have been widely adopted by people around the world and how people connect deeply with some of them.”
That philosophy appears to be working. The collection, particularly the fragrance Guidance, has found enthusiastic audiences worldwide, including in Singapore, where Salmon has received stories of wearers who have made the scent part of their most significant life moments.
In the end, Salmon’s work feels less like an act of self-expression and more like a kind of emotional translation. Nature provides the raw material, personal experience offers the narrative thread and the finished fragrance gives the wearer a means of writing their own story.
