Guest review by Vibert
There is something reassuringly familiar about Amouage Epic Man. Maybe it’s the prominent patchouli and castoreum that echo such grand, animalic fougères as Jules, Lauder for Men, and Morabito’s Or Black. Or perhaps it’s the geranium, spices, and leather channeling brawny leather chypres like Antaeus, Aramis, and Van Cleef & Arpels pour Homme? In any case, Epic, with it’s brooding, spicy, aromatic countenance, feels like a deliberate throwback. That is until its saffron, oudh, and incense reveal it as a thoroughly contemporary composition.
Amouage has always had a bent for grand, ostensibly “old-fashioned” structures, as evident right from the start in the original Gold and Gold Men. In fact, I’d argue that the house’s greatest lapses have occurred when it abandoned classical perfumery in pursuit of younger, trendier customers: the disappointingly bland and generic Arcus and Cirrus being prime examples. Epic Man follows on the journey back toward rich, weighty, complex compositions that house Creative Director Christopher Chong began with the Jubilation and Lyric fragrances and continued with the recent reissue of Ubar.
Amouage calls Epic Man a woody oriental fragrance, but if you ask me it’s a massive, spicy-leathery fougère. Amouage already offers a spicy fougère fragrance in its Ciel Man, but where Ciel is irrepressibly bright and buoyant, Epic is comparatively thoughtful, stern, and perhaps even somber in expression. Indeed, without its crisp, bracing myrtle, astringent myrrh, and characteristically shimmering Omani frankincense, Epic Man might be too ponderous for its own good. As it is, Epic exhibits a peculiar incandescent quality - it may be nocturnal, but it’s lit by a silvery full moon.
Year: 2009
Notes: pink pepper berry essence, frankincense, cumin, cardamom essence, saffron, mace essence, nutmeg, myrtle essence, geranium essence, myrrh essence, oudh, sandalwood, patchouli, leather, frankincense, cedar wood, musk, castoreum
A special thank you to Vibert for the wonderful review! Look forward to reading more from him in the near future.
There is something reassuringly familiar about Amouage Epic Man. Maybe it’s the prominent patchouli and castoreum that echo such grand, animalic fougères as Jules, Lauder for Men, and Morabito’s Or Black. Or perhaps it’s the geranium, spices, and leather channeling brawny leather chypres like Antaeus, Aramis, and Van Cleef & Arpels pour Homme? In any case, Epic, with it’s brooding, spicy, aromatic countenance, feels like a deliberate throwback. That is until its saffron, oudh, and incense reveal it as a thoroughly contemporary composition.
Amouage has always had a bent for grand, ostensibly “old-fashioned” structures, as evident right from the start in the original Gold and Gold Men. In fact, I’d argue that the house’s greatest lapses have occurred when it abandoned classical perfumery in pursuit of younger, trendier customers: the disappointingly bland and generic Arcus and Cirrus being prime examples. Epic Man follows on the journey back toward rich, weighty, complex compositions that house Creative Director Christopher Chong began with the Jubilation and Lyric fragrances and continued with the recent reissue of Ubar.
Amouage calls Epic Man a woody oriental fragrance, but if you ask me it’s a massive, spicy-leathery fougère. Amouage already offers a spicy fougère fragrance in its Ciel Man, but where Ciel is irrepressibly bright and buoyant, Epic is comparatively thoughtful, stern, and perhaps even somber in expression. Indeed, without its crisp, bracing myrtle, astringent myrrh, and characteristically shimmering Omani frankincense, Epic Man might be too ponderous for its own good. As it is, Epic exhibits a peculiar incandescent quality - it may be nocturnal, but it’s lit by a silvery full moon.
Year: 2009
Notes: pink pepper berry essence, frankincense, cumin, cardamom essence, saffron, mace essence, nutmeg, myrtle essence, geranium essence, myrrh essence, oudh, sandalwood, patchouli, leather, frankincense, cedar wood, musk, castoreum
A special thank you to Vibert for the wonderful review! Look forward to reading more from him in the near future.
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