Epic Man
Amouage (2009)

Epic Man is indeed epic in its profile. Pink pepper, frankincense, cumin, cardamom, saffron, mace, nutmeg, myrtle, geranium, myrrh, oud, sandalwood, patchouli, leather, cedar, musk, and castoreum. That's a lot and you can tell there is a lot packed into this perfume, though personally I had a hard time distinctly discerning a lot of the individual notes; you'll have to take Amouage's word for several of them. The initial opening is an explosive morass of those Eastern spices and touches of gorgeous frankincense, and they do dry down to a cleanly green and resinous geranium and myrrh heart, whereafter the woods and animalic leather of the base seem to burgeon and grow to outsized proportions within a few hours. The perfume manages to be dry yet sticky, breathable yet thick, clean and also dirty, light and fresh yet very rich and complex. And always very big and very loud. If epic equates to "everything to the max", this perfume is it. The evolution of it is superb, with each dimension revealing themselves one after the other like the progression of a walk deeper and deeper into a lush forest where the West and the East collide.

Now for a caveat, and a lesson from Perfume Reviewing 101. This perfume does not work with low skin heat, low environmental temperatures and low humidity. The first time I wore it I thought it was much less an epic of Homeric proportions as it was a haiku. Later on in warmer temperatures, and while I was also being more physically active, I went back to Epic Man and firmly confirmed that it needs heat to really shine. In the wrong conditions it's going to be wan and messy to the point of probably being disappointing, but in the right conditions it will be eardrum-ringing symphonic and it will pull one of the best traits of the best Amouage perfumes by undulating back and forth between the heart and the base - like characters in a play exchanging positions on a stage - before ultimately ceding to the rich, animalic and woody base notes after many, many hours.

Epic Man is a He-Man-esque superhero of the outlandish cartoon or comic book variety. It's hard to imagine this colossal character actually existing in our mundane little reality. It's an 80s masculine cologne modernized and blurring the lines between Arabian and French perfume styles and tastes, while cranking the whole up to Defcon 1 nuclear warnings. Epic, indeed.

A delight. Do you know the smell of a damp and musty basement? Add the most penetrating greens, opulent resins, smoking wood, also a patchouli so multifaceted that it delights you with all its stages: mentholated, green, camphoric, earthy, musty, wet. Amouge specific resins, first class raw material. I love this perfume, I consider it an excellent combination, between the western French style and the oriental one. A must for lovers of oriental-green-resinous and leathery fougeres.

I completely slept on Epic Man in favor of some of my other favs. Honour, Jubilation, and Fate, but this is solid. I will say that longevity isn't the greatest, though I'm not a stickler for this. From top to bottom, this one is great. It's a fresh aromatic fougere with an animalic and leathery base, mainly ebanol, cypriol, and maybe some real oud that sits really close to the skin. Epic is definitely green, but less herbaceous, and more sharp terpenic (think evergreen trees) and citric (mainly bergamot). It has that rich nutmeg accord that Honour Man has and a healthy dose of pink pepper. It's opening is slightly reminiscent of Montale's Red Vetiver and Aventus, but this is more of the effect rather than the notes. It comes out of the box swinging and then quickly transfers to a skin scent base that is really well blended as it's not just vanilla/musk. It actually does smell like oud or approximates it really well. It's not just the synth oud mixes that shoot for Sri Lankan oud. It has a smoother Thai/Cambodian feel. I can tell there is ebanol in there too, but it's nicely blended.

Overall, this is a great fresh aromatic fragrance, that's not thin as most are. This has the base to match to the top. This could go office or night out or everyday wear. I might pick it up for summer daily.

This fragrance may require additional testing as it did not seem to last very long on my skin. It's possible that it could be a bad batch, so I'll need to investigate further. In terms of the scent itself, I detect a pleasant blend of cedar, leather, and musk in the drydown. However, the myrrh and incense notes appear to have faded or are overpowered by the oud note. The castoreum note is present, but not particularly problematic and remains in the background. Overall, my initial impression is that it is a pleasant scent, but not particularly noteworthy.

Opening is divine; warm, sensual, peppery. Unfortunately there is a note in the body that's the same ingredient as a common insect spray in my country. I kept thinking I must have sprayed for mosquitos, but no, it's the perfume. I know it's not the fault of the perfume maker that this happens, but it's not something I can wear.

Reformulated, Oman version, circa 12 hours after spritzing twice.
The herbaceous accord is still going strong, but now, I am getting a very, teeny-tiny hint of Vicks Vapor-rub. Before you turn up your now cleared out nose, this is a minuscule accord. It's minty, but less "green"; more like a mint julep. No, there's no boozy accord here.
If there is real Oud in this juice, it bears no resemblance to the Oud I get with Malle The Night or Oud Assam. Indeed, the leather and Cedar play more important roles here. And while Civet isn't named, there is a similarity wafting. I can see why some might akin this to tangy, body odor, which, for me, is not a bad thing, especially if it's connected to a lover.
It still tingles my nostrils, long after the dry-down. Sillage is big; bigger than arms-length. Projection is very strong for the first few hours, and while it does settle down, it continues to rise up off of the skin.
Epic is a strong scent for a strong man, best worn with a camel-hair, 3/4 length coat in the winter. However, it would work just as well, sailing the ocean blue on a 50' yacht with a white shirt and Sperry Topsiders.
This is great juice with a stank that's right up my alley.