Heya Happy Huffers,
Today we look at a fragrance often given the boot or a meh from reviewers. I think it suffered from Amouage’s name as a bombastic, sillage and projection monster house. A crew you could rely on to blow the back of your head off and keep people around you confused, if not concussed. I too love their deep, rich and powerful fragrances but here is something different….
Lyric Man by Daniel Visentin for Amouage 2008
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, lime
Heart: Rose, angelica, orange blossom, galbanum, nutmeg, ginger, saffron
Base: Pine tree, sandalwood, incense, vanilla, musk
Straight out of the nozzle I get a citrus blast with that waxy feeling that saffron gives me (like imagine feeling the skin of a ripe healthy orange or the stem of a hyacinth, both of these feelings remind me of the smell I get from saffron) and before long I get a greenness that is probably angelica and some zing which I will attribute to the ginger, it all adds up to something only mildly rose-ish. Then something happens and the whole fragrance seems to shimmer and shift into galbanum mode. A soft, fuzzy, rounded galbanum that is nowhere near as cool as in CHANEL No.19, here on my skin is a warm and spicy galbanum with a very pretty rose holding it up. This is lovely. Lyric Man is the most casually wearable Amouage I have yet had on my skin.
Photo Stolen WikiMedia
As we get further in to the fragrance wear it warms considerably and I can’t work out why, it could be orange blossom, vanilla and sandalwood but Lyric Man is blended beautifully and I think the whole lot just sing alongside each other in a lovely harmonious whole. The heart is where I feel Lyric Man really shines in a completely unpretentious way. I can imagine it becoming a very easy wear, go to fragrance for a guy or woman. Daniel Visentin has made a fragrance as smooth as a piece of green glass, long rubbed by the seashore and transparent yet still quite dense. The notes so ethereal yet intertwined beautifully and very late in the development the musks come through giving the feeling of having been worn, lived in, healthy yet used body smell. All this overlaid with a subtle spicy rose, a woodsy greenness.
Photo Stolen Flickr
Yes, I can understand that expectations were not met with Lyric Man but if you put all that aside and wear it just for itself it is a lovely fragrance. A soft, muted, wearable fragrance that I think you could wear even to the office, unless you have a frag-phobic workplace. For dates and dinner, killer, and quite an unexpected scent. I think it could be the hook that catches your partners attention and though there are plenty of unisex roses out there now none are like Lyric Man.
Further reading: What Men Should Smell Like and The Non Blonde
Libertine carries the Amouage line for Australia and has 100ml/$364 Delivered within Australia
Beauty Encounter has 100ml/$220 deep discount currently
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $4/.5ml
I would like to thank Michael Edwards for generously giving me his Lyric Man. Don’t forget Michael Edwards Masterclass: Sydney & Melbourne<<JUMP. If you are in Sydney or Melbourne DO NOT MISS THIS. These opportunities do not come along very often….
Lyric Man,who knew that Amouage could nail comfortable and casual so well? Have you tried it? Do you have a favourite Amouage?
Portia xx
Australian Perfume Junkies 
The only Amouage that I really enjoy and frequently wear is Lyric Woman. Most of the others develop a strange herbal quality on my skin, not in a good way. But Lyric offers beautiful roses and incense and keeps me sniffing my own wrist. “Relaxed” is a very good word for it. My beautiful deep-ruby bottle had gotten pushed back behind some new acquisitions, so thanks for reminding me to bring it forward and wear it.
I have resisted writing a post about the late lamented L’Arte de Gucci, because I hate it when bloggers write about stuff that real people can’t find and smell, but I can’t resist mentioning it here. I find the edt screechy, but the Edp is one of the loveliest deep dark roses ever made, very unisex in my opinion. It falls in some perfume-tragedy category of The Best Stuff Always Gets Axed. If you ever see that elegant black bottle, do grab yourself some.
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Hi there FeralJasmine,
What a complete shit that Amouage is usually a fail for you. It’s one of the houses I can count on to compliment my chemistry and I have quite a few fragrances, as well as the soaps, body washes and body lotions.
Did you ever try the Lyric Men? I think it would probably sing for you too.
L’Arte de Gucci, I read about it frequently but have never sniffed it.
Portia xx
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I shouldn’t say that Amouage is one of my all-time favorite houses (athough I’ve had a few misses with some of them). But in the Great and Grand scheme of things, I’ve come to discover that no one – virtually, no one – does balls-to-the-walls classy masculines so beautifully, whether you’re going for drama or delight. And yes – any woman could wear them, and this woman certainly has! I can’t say why or how I’ve missed Lyric Man, but I did. Which should be amended, just in case! 😉
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Hey Pretty Lady,
Nice to see you.
This is the calmest of the lot Sheila. A veritable hanging out with the crew frag, lunch, bar b q, soccer match or shopping fragrance that is still so gorgeous in its quiet, sultry manner. I can imagine falling in love with someone because of the magic of their day to day scent.
Portia xx
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OMG yes! Which is why I hope never to encounter either Epic Man or Memoir Man in the wild. Resistance would be futile and I WOULD be assimilated! 😉
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That reads like a bad thing?
Um, who could or would resist a man cool and aware enough to wear Amouage? I’d go happily, just to see.
Portia xx
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The sample I got for Lyric Man was off so I couldn’t get the right impression of it. But I will re-test it whenever I come across Amouage somewhere at a store – your review makes it sound very nice, I want to smell it.
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BUMMER Undina,
Yes, very nice. I think you very well may like it. We do snap on some of our frags.
Portia xx
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I wear Lyric Woman and love it, the edp in gorgeous ruby bottle as described by FeralJasmine. I have also worn and liked Jubilation 25, but Lyric snuck up on my slowly and now it’s my favorite. I just purchased the sumptuous body cream too. After reading your review I will beg samples of Lyric Man from my trusty parfumerie “for my husband” ha ha.
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Hey there Fifi,
I love the Amouage creams, washes and soaps. They make the whole experience feel so uber luxe for me.
He He he You should take your husband in and spritz him liberally with Lyric man, you also. Then you can be scent twins for the day.
Portia xx
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