Amouage
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
The lime and bergamot arrive with a fleeting, almost tart brightness that's gone before you can properly grasp it, immediately giving way to a rush of pink peppercorn-sharp ginger and green, stem-crushed galbanum. There's an aromatic bite here, sappy and alive, that hints at the intensity to come.
The rose blooms—and blooms big—saturated with saffron's leathery, honeyed warmth and nutmeg's dusty sweetness. Orange blossom adds an indolic richness whilst angelica maintains that verdant, slightly medicinal edge that prevents the florals from becoming saccharine. It's a molten, resinous rose that feels weighted with precious oils and ancient ritual.
Frankincense asserts itself alongside pine's sticky, coniferous bite, creating an almost church-like atmosphere softened by creamy sandalwood and a suggestion of vanilla. The musk grounds everything in skin, whilst the spices continue to hum quietly beneath—it's warm, woody, and surprisingly intimate after such a bold performance.
Lyric Man is Amouage's unabashed love letter to rose, but this isn't some demure English garden affair—it's rose drenched in spice-souk resins and lifted on a cloud of lime-spiked brightness. Daniel Visentin has orchestrated something paradoxical here: a fragrance that feels simultaneously ancient and startlingly modern, as if a Silk Road merchant stumbled into a contemporary perfumery with pockets full of frankincense and saffron. The rose at its heart—bolstered by that opulent trifecta of saffron, ginger, and nutmeg—reads less floral and more like molten gold, warmly metallic and richly textured.
What makes this compelling is the constant push-pull between the green, almost bitter galbanum and angelica against that lavish spice work. The citrus opening promises freshness, but it's a feint; within minutes, you're deep in ceremonial territory where orange blossom weaves through rose petals like incense smoke through silk curtains. The pine and frankincense in the base give it a resinous, cathedral-like quality that prevents it from ever becoming cloying, whilst sandalwood and vanilla provide just enough creaminess to soften the edges.
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3.5/5 (94)