Lyric Man (2008)
by Amouage

A quality, well-done bergamot and lime make for a great opening, but I don’t smell that accord in this opening… the angelica blasts immediately from the bottle of dominate the opening accord… no bergamot and lime for me… just angelica. Angelica is a usually a hit or miss fragrance for me and the angelica in Lyric misses – I’m neutral about its particular olfactory presentation in Lyric, but its presence denies me my enjoyment of the opening accord. When the angelica abates enough I get a little galbanum but I don’t get rose, orange blossom, ginger, or nutmeg. I get saffron. Saffron is another note I try to avoid – if it’s too strong in the accord, it overwhelms everything else and I find it a bit unpleasant. Unfortunately saffron is a note that has outstanding longevity and for me it doesn’t disappear once it note its presence… I never lose the saffron, so, to my nose, the base notes are contaminated by the saffron note. I can’t judge the base any more than I can judge the opening or the heart.

I am assuming that Lyric is like other Amouages in that it uses quality materials. I think those quality materials are very well assembled, so, in spite of my dislike, I can’t give this a thumb’s down. It is a quality fragrance but the angelica and saffron ruin it for me.

Lyric Man has gotten some very enthusiastic press since its release, but I’m not dancing in the streets about it. Don’t get me wrong – the stuff smells fantastic. It’s a well constructed woody rose scent, with a big, sweet plummy note, oriental spices, and heady florals at its heart, all balanced by dry frankincense and just the lightest dab of piercing oudh. It’s also smooth and well blended, with a seductively deep, soft, mahogany surface that's a close match to its bottle.

Trouble is, high quality rose fragrances for men are now easy to come by in the niche market, and Lyric Man needs to shoulder its way into line with competing scents from Montale, Eau d’Italie’s Paestum Rose, and Czech & Speake’s magisterial No. 88, to mention just a few. In fact, if you switched out Lyric Man’s plum for peach and pulled out the already subtle oudh, you’d have something very much like Nahéma parfum!

As perhaps the most costly of this lot, the new Amouage would need to blow all of the rest out of the water before I’d consider a bottle, and it just doesn’t. I frankly think that No. 88, Nahéma, and Paestum Rose are just as well made as Lyric, and that Montale’s Black Aoud and Aoud Damascus are more striking in character. So while I have to rate Lyric Man positively, I recommend sampling several other masculine roses before shelling out for it.

Top Notes: Bergamot, Lime
Middle Notes: Rose, Angelica, Orange Blossom, Galbanum, Ginger, Nutmeg, Saffron
Base Notes: Pine, Sandalwood, Vanilla, Musk, Incense
A rose is a rose, is a rose... but in this case, so much more than a rose! The spicy and oriental notes abound to escort and support the rich, pure Damask rose in this scent. Her only floral competition is orange blossom, and the rest of the spicy, resinous crew make her smell pretty green and just a little bit earthy. This is going to be a trip to wear!

A muted rose fragrance that feels very clean, in the same kind of clean style as Gendarme. Overall, Lyric Man is like a soapy, very soft rose supported by very light spices and frankincense. Very fresh, clean and ethereal, while still maintaining a bit of musky sweetness.There's no way this could ever offend anyone, and that's a great feat for a rose fragrance. It's surprisingly unisex and even has a very fresh note that you could describe as something akin to cucumber-musk.

Everything here is impeccably balanced and the quality is very high - there's not a hint of anything that smells "obviously" synthetic or unpleasant. My only peeve is that it's slightly boring and lacks a bit of "kick" or "life," if you will. I'm very impressed with Amouage's releases these days and this is another one to add to the list of good ones.

8.75/10

Lyric for Men is a gentle rose and frankincense scent that is very refined and impeccably balanced fragrance. It is so tightly blended that I had to several wearings before I began to identify the notes here - and they are very hard to identify because they blend so seamlessly.

The opening smells like like a light dusting of saffron over a very pure rose scent which might contain a bit of geranium to give it depth. To connect the rose to the frankincense are some familiar incense mid tone notes that smoothe the contrasts or remove the sharp edges - possibly nutmeg and/or cardamom that leads to the almost mystical scent of the Omani silver frankincense. After the rose it is the frankincense that is the real star of this fragrance. The rose and silver frankincense blend wonderfully well and leads to a light wood base that smells like cedar + patchouli to me. If there is oud in this blend, it is very lightly done and is a more ethereal oud like a light Indonesian agarwood that might add the wood dry lift that I smell trailing behind the silver frankincense note.

This is not a deep or dark rose scent and there are no big dramas or contrasts. It is a low tone poem of similar notes. But it is a very rewarding and wonderfully uplifiting rose, frankincense and wood mens perfume. Good stuff!

Amouage Lyric: it is no doubt one of the best (if not "the best") Rose based fragrance. dense like a rosed based sherbet. Beautiful accord of rose petals mingle with other florals accords in the opening...it;s unmistakebly "red" in color/feel...as in red roses. By mids, angelica add to the bite (white smoke like effect) which is so familiar (creed angelique incens)...basenotes holds the rose notes till the end with lovely sillage.
This one is for special occassions, especially evenings where you would like to make your presense felt in a soothing at the same time, mesmerising way. Initially it may feel generic..but couple of wears down the line, it'd be irreplaceble. one of the best rose based scent out there.
13 August 2009