Stephan Humbert Lucas Taklamakan vs Amouage Outlands

Resins and incense are a category where the difference between a good and a boring fragrance is small but the cost of a mistake is large. Both here are from the upper price bracket and both lean on benzoin, incense and labdanum. Taklamakan does it in fifty millilitres with plenty of vanilla; Outlands with a pyramid of more than twenty notes.

Property	Taklamakan	Amouage Outlands
House	Stephan Humbert Lucas	Amouage
Concentration	EDP	Extrait
Top notes	bergamot, osmanthus, neroli	cardamom, bergamot, lemon, sichuan pepper, elemi, incense
Heart notes	patchouli, coffee, chinese cedar, iris	patchouli, rose, orange blossom, cumin, geranium, saffron, anise, coriander
Base notes	vanilla, benzoin, incense, cistus, guaiac wood, sandalwood, musk	benzoin, labdanum, amber, incense, opoponax, vanilla, birch, musk, oud
Profile	sweet-woody with incense and coffee	ambery and resinous, spicy
Longevity (community rating)	8–12 hours	10–14 hours
Sillage (community rating)	Moderate, close to the skin after three hours	Moderate to strong
Full bottle	€170 / 50 ml	€430 / 100 ml
Price per millilitre	€3.40	€4.30
Decant 5 ml	€28.50	€45
Decant 10 ml	€52	€75

Taklamakan is narrower and sweeter: patchouli with coffee and iris in the heart, vanilla with benzoin and incense underneath. So many people read it as a desert-gourmand fragrance rather than an incense one. Outlands is its opposite in conception — the pyramid has more than twenty notes, including cumin, anise and saffron, and the base has oud and birch besides the resins. It's a fragrance that changes all day and is hard to describe in one word. The price difference is large: €45 against €28.50 for five millilitres. If you want incense as a frame for something warm, Taklamakan is the cheaper and more direct route. If you want something complex that opens up over hours, Outlands is the one for which a decant is practically mandatory — €430 blind is a serious number.

Which is sweeter?

Taklamakan. Vanilla is its first base note, and its main accords include powdery and ambery. Outlands has vanilla only deep in the base, with resins, spices and oud above it.

Why does Taklamakan come in a smaller bottle?

Because the house sells it in 50 ml, while Amouage sells in 100 ml. So on the shelf Taklamakan looks half the price, even though the difference per millilitre is smaller — €3.40 against €4.30.

Are they suitable for summer?

Neither is a first choice for the heat. Both are resinous and dense, which quickly becomes tiring in the sun. If you must, Taklamakan is lighter, because it has bergamot and neroli up top.

Which is better for someone who doesn't know incense?

Taklamakan. Incense is one of several devices in it rather than the main theme, so it's less tiring for a nose used to sweet fragrances. Outlands is a more honest but also more unforgiving introduction to the category.