Sunshine Man
Amouage (2015)

The opening comes in strong with a lavender-and-tonka blast. It almost feels like those two notes are racing toward each other—lavender pushing down into the base where tonka usually sits, and tonka trying to jump forward into the top. It barely works, and for a moment I thought it might turn abrasive. It gets close, but it stops just short of crossing that line.

The drydown reminds me a lot of Copper by Comme des Garçons. That vanillic, tonka-heavy base is very similar, though the opening is completely different. Up top, the heavy lavender gives a barbershop vibe, and for a minute I thought it would stay in that lane. Instead, it gradually calms down, smooths out, and shifts into a tonka-dominant scent with some soft woods. The sweet tonka has a slightly boozy tilt, and it’s impressively smooth—not synthetic or harsh the way some tonka-heavy designer scents can be.

Performance is solid, and it definitely works better in cooler weather. The main sticking point is the price. With Amouage, you really need to love the scent to justify it. Copper costs about half as much, and since Sunshine Man settles into that tonka-forward drydown for most of its life, it’s fair to ask why not go for something similar at a lower price? They’re not clones, but they share maybe 40–50% of the same territory. Overall: good scent, great drydown, but the value depends entirely on how much you love tonka and how tied you are to the Amouage name.

I've said it before and I will say it again: I struggle to think of a better recent collaboration in the perfume world than Christopher Chong and Pierre Negrin. These two have given us some of the best perfumes of the century. Sunshine Man starts with an effect of curtains being thrown open to reveal a bright summer sun. It's very bright, it's very hot, it's very big, and it takes you a few seconds to recalibrate your senses and your mind. Lavender and immortelle bring skin-hugging warmth and comfort, orange citrus brings a fresh and invigorating energy, and brandy glues all of these accords together while providing an ample dose of nose-tingling heat. Just like the summer sun, the perfume is going to bear down on you in full, bright, warming glory. Once the sun moves through the sky (the top notes dry down after a couple hours), high-noon brings forth accords of juniper, sage, and bergamot. It's uniquely fun and pleasant to see juniper, sage, and bergamot have such late entries into a perfume since most shove them into the top notes. The heart does not hit you like the opening does, but it still feels very bright and warm, like the sun is no longer in your eyes but has warmed the room around you. As time goes on, tonka and cedar begin to peak their heads out; the sun is fading, and getting cooler and relaxing, letting the warmth of everything around that has absorbed its rays throughout the day do the work for it. The energy and life-force of this perfume is truly wonderous to behold. It is sunshine and warmth and joy in a bottle. Drawbacks or negatives? None that I can tell. The performance is Amouage at its finest, and the materials used are top-tier. I cannot imagine life without this luminous sunshine in it, so it is truly a shame that Amouage has pulled it from our skies.

A fresh, sweet, boozy, immortelle bomb. Eye-Opening and enjoyable at first spray, though it becomes more difficult to wear in the sunshine as it dries down.

I don't know why everyone got so excited about this when it came out, a lot of then actively people annoyed by this supposed betrayal of Amouage's style. It's really just like Caron's Pour Un Homme, or Kilian's Straight to Heaven, which are both basically boozy lavender-vanilla-tonka scents. Except where Caron is refined, and Kilian is (a little) avant-garde, this, being Amouage, just has everything turned up to 11. It's still very nice but it really only needs a very small application.

This is Amouage's take on Roja Dove's Risque. Its worrying nobody else has spotted this. More so for me as I have clearly sniffed far too much in my relatively short time here. It is identical but slightly more woody (masculine) and less subtle.
Simply put Risque is Peach and vetiver and Sunshine man is peach and cedar.
From memory Risque made me think long and hard before turning it down. This would be a thumbs down as well but perhaps I need to live and let live now I am climbing after hundreds of samples onto an enlightened plain of understanding and accept that perhaps this is what the perfumer wanted to achieve and if so then it is done masterfully and indeed some people would even wear it. Definitely not a heterosexual male though. This is confident young woman territory fairly broad in application less so for work but definitely pleasure smart or casual. That's why as a guy you will get compliments because ladies will smell it and like it for themselves not because they are interested in its wearer.
Do I get a graduation prize?

If you want to smell like a walking bubblegum, go for it !

Sorry Amouage, I love you but I don't like this Sunshiny side of you :(