Epic for Man by Amouage: Travelling the Silk Road

Epic, Amouage’s tribute to the two great cultures of the Orient, Arabia and China, is the poet’s vision of “the ornate ceilings, the deep mirrors, the oriental splendor”. Loaded with probably every precious traditional ingredient, resin and spice, brought from “the ends of the earth”, and essentially overloaded with frankincense, this masculine oriental composition, however, manages to appear very contemporary, perhaps thanks to the unexpectedly dry, at times airy manner in which the perfumer (Randa Hammami of Guerlain Cruel Gardenia and Oud Sensuel fame) blends the sumptuous, weighty components, making the blend rich but not allowing it to overwhelm the senses.

Epic for Man will perhaps please the lovers of frankincense more than the fans of oud. To me, frankincense is the star note of the scent. There is a lot of it right from the start, where it is fired up by a veritable cornucopia of spices, from saffron (a lot of), nutmeg (quite a bit), cardamom (some) and cumin (just a tiny hint). The note steps off the center stage for a while in the middle, letting the spicy-floral geranium, myrrh and some oud to shine through, but then returns in full force in the base, where it is smoldering on the darkly-sensuous background of leather and patchouli. This base, which seems to be strangely cold and smoky at once, might be my favorite part of the development.

I find Epic for Man to be unequivocally masculine, yet have no trouble wearing it myself, and imagine that a lot of women who love hardcore incense would enjoy it too.
Available from Amouage and its usual stockists, $170.00-$210.00

Please visit the official web presentation of Amouage Epic

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