Epic Man
Amouage (2009)

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.

Epic Man is what we've come to think of–or perhaps used to think of–as a fragrance for manly men: a dry and pungent mix of herbs and spices, incense, leather, woods, and animalics. The pyramid lists "berry essence," patchouli, and geranium, but a fruity floral this ain't. Rather, they provide just enough juice to combat desiccation, like mink oil rubbed into the leather. (Without that, you risk ending up with something like Orlane Derrick.)

One review called out an overbearing sweaty cumin note, but as someone who rejected Puig Quorum and Sung Homme for that reason, I didn't find any such issue with Epic. It's not even close to the superb Eau d'Hermès in that department. (If you smell BO, maybe it's you.) Also, while various reviews make Epic sound like some sort of monster fragrance, I haven't found it so in my admittedly cautious application.* Not that I'd use it to act out an Axe Body Spray commercial, but a couple more spritzes wouldn't have hurt anyone.

A full bottle is likely on my horizon.

* Then again, my wife came home hours later and caught the sillage from across the room.

TLDR: Extraordinary (4.8/5). BOOM! Epic explores the wearable limits of excess. Wonderfully complexity. Masterfully blended. The dirty oud in the base adds depth to the marked incense notes that center this giant fragrance.

This fragrance projects strongly and has nearly eternal longevity. When I first got a 50 NO bottle of Epic Man (available from Amouage botiques, mostly, although sometimes the small bottles turn up at other retailers), I was certain I'd never use it all. It was too strong, too intense. Yet I just bought a second bottle because the first ran out. Of course, much of the time I am in Dubai, where what might, diplomatically, be termed "stronger" scents are more tolerated by people generally and where the high heat and omnipresent air conditioning do create a scent-crushing effect that makes fragrance bombs more wearable. Nonetheless, used carefully, you may find that this fragrance is more versatile than you might think after a first exposure.

(By the way, for those folks who have complained about reformulated, diminished Amouage products, the new bottle (magnetic cap, product of Oman) smells identical to, and performs just like, my old
(circa 2010) one.)

The opening here, on my skin, is all about spice souk levels of colliding smells. There is a bit of fruity sweetness at the very first, but that element is submerged under a kaleidoscope of spice. Yet somehow the blending works to create a coherent whole.

The base is a dirty, animalic leathery incense/oud affair that at once recalls and mostly surpasses the monster fragrances of the 1970s and early 1980s. Again, it probably shouldn't work as well as it all does.

But for me, it is the "melodic" bridge in the heart notes where a cooling minty and green geranium pops up to provide just a brief respite before smokey myrrh notes signal the renewing storm that blows me away. When I have dared to spray Epic Man in high heat, the geranium's appearance is most noticable.

But today, I am in unseasonably cold early spring Chicago and snow is forecast for later. This type of day, where the cold is made worse because you're not quite acclimated to it at the moment, is when my Western nose most appreciates Epic Man.

If you love your fresh ambroxan frags or regularly spend time reflecting on whether or not a scent will drop panties, boxers or whatever other sort of undergarments light your fire, then this fragrance is one you will want to avoid. For other folks, however, there may come a time when you reach a point of fragrance satiety and need a blast to restart you olfactory hunger. Epic Man is precisely what is needed in such situations. Of course, like all potentially dangerous substances, this fragrance needs to be used with great care. Judiciously applied, at carefully selected times, Epic Man is wonderful.