Testing the Amouage waters.....which one will I drown for; Epic or Reflection

Don't forget Dia Man......I think that's better than any of them.

You've got to try all of them. All of them have their respective champions.

Personally I love Gold and Amouage XXV.
I have bought a sample set recently and am going to try Dia & Ciel.

Dia seems to be quite a chameleon from what I've read.
Epic is supposedly a fantastic incense fragrance.
Lyric ofcourse is rose dominated.

Amouage is a luxurious line and the quality is top notch and so is the feel that you get when you hold a bottle.
Unless you have a particular disliking to any particular note that Amouage has, you should try them all.

You're gf has impeccable taste. I think Tribute or Homage are the one's you need, not any of the diluted Amouage's.

I love Epic Man... Reflection Man seemed kind of generic to me. But try 'em all! The only women's one I have tried so far is Ubar, which is very nice, and worth a sample.

Agree that you owe it to yourself to try all of them if you can - it's an impressive and distinctive line up. When the line arrived here I was eager to sample all of them and in the rush Reflection did seem to come off as a little 'been here before' in the face of the others but that's possibly to be expected in such heavy hitting company - these scents have strong personalities. Reflection now is probably my favourite (well, Homage is but that's a slightly different story) for the simple reason that it is more 'wearable' for me, while the others generally require a bit of thought as to whether I would wear them or not. As a side note, I'm one of those who seem to be anosmic to Dia . . .

There's a distant connection to Joop via the jasmine and smooth sandalwood, and also their very smooth characters, but Reflection is wholly better in regards to quality of ingredients and composition, in my opinion. Joop! lasts longer and projects more and is more synthetically sweet. Reflection is rather sweet but the sweetness is much 'lighter and airier' - it's sweetness is moonlight shimmering off a placid lake at midnight whereas Joop!s sweetness is more like a laser pointer into your eyes. Well, ok, that's a weird analogy but let's just say Joop!s sweetness is much heavier, thicker, suffocating, and cloying. Reflection's progression on my skin is something like aromatic opening of rosemary and petitgrain -> early heart with noticeable orange blossom, some allspice (the red pepper berries listed in the top notes) is anchoring this along with the woodier facets of the petitgrain but neither are very prominent yet)-> a wonderful iris note filled out with the ylang ylang segues into the later heart where the jasmine and allspice begin to take center stage, now being filled out with a hint of vetiver and patchouli and a good dose of very smooth, mysore-esque sandalwood -> eventually florals fade almost completely and the smooth and sweet woody base remains, at first smelling almost like a powdery vetiver and over time becoming more and more sandalwoody (with a trace of patchouli present to add body, depth, and some 'darkness' to the drydown). If you like orange blossom, iris, and/or jasmine, I think you'll love this scent. You have to like powder, too, but it's not as powdery as some scents and imho the powder is always well balanced and "filled out" with woods or other notes - it never becomes a thin/cheap powder.

If you like Epic (I am assuming you mean Epic Man, since you didn't specify) I definitely think you need to check out Jubilation XXV. Jubilation XXV eventually becomes almost as incense heavy as Epic, but goes through a beautiful transition to get there, starting with a thick blackberry and winey davana opening, then into a spice prominent heart, which eventually becomes a spiced/dried/fruit/frankincense and woods melange.

I also think you should check out Lyric Man, if for no other reason than it being an amazing rose-dominant scent for men.

Ciel is somewhat similar to Silver although it is more "blue" in color and feel, and develops more. Ciel is a GREAT springtime scent, and always works well on cool but sunny days with open blue skies. One of the absolute best in that situation.

And yes, I do think you should check out Reflection. It's one of my absolute favorite scents. Be sure to give it a few wears (as with most of the Amouage, but especially this scent, Ciel, and even Silver, all which are a bit more "mainstream in their approach") as it has a lot of hidden charms that can get lost in the experience of the first wear. Actually, that's also very true for Lyric Man - it may smell very linear on the first wear but there is a lot of complexity and notes weaving into and out of the rose note which is the ribbon threaded throughout the center of the composition.

Dia Man is worth a sniff too, if only because so many here seem to love it, but I am not a fan. The florals against the woods and resins in this one end up making it smell a bit like peanuts, in a strange, oily kind of way. I do like the heart and base but the first hour or two are rather blah and at Amouage prices, that's a deal-breaker for me.

I wish I could tell you. I really look forward to trying Original Santal, and also Invasion Barbare, based on what I've heard, but haven't had the opportunity to sample either, yet. I think L'Aventurier has sampled them all - hopefully he'll chime in.

I've tried all three in question (OS, Reflection and Invasion Barbare), and all are significantly different from each other, to allow for all to be in the same wardrobe.

Original Santal- I do get the similarity to Joop!, but the fruitiness is less with OS. My main notes that I get are Sandalwood, Cinnimon and Ambergris (which believe it or not ruins OS for me)
Invasion Barbare - Often compared to Le Male, IMO that comparison is pretty far off. This is a very high quality fragrance, and honestly, my nose isn't nearly good enough to pick this apart (though, admittedly I haven't really tried, I just like relaxing with this scent on), but primarily I get a bright and powdery lavender and light vanilla (it's not nearly as rich as, say, A Taste of Heaven).
Reflection - This, to my nose, is the most complex of the bunch. It's a swirling combo of lavender, jasmine and iris to my nose. I DO, get similarities to both Joop! Homme AND Burberry Brit (in fact, I think someone was wearing Brit the other day, and upon passing by me, I could have sworn it was Reflection), yet it smells NOTHING like Original Santal. Gone are the spices and cinnimon, this is far brighter, and it has a dusty quality to it.

I think Reflection is far more wearable on a regular basis than Epic, which is a bit too austere and almost aloof to wear regularly. Maybe you could buy a bottle of Reflection and pick up a decant or multiple official samples (2ml each, and only $6 a piece from Parfums Raffy) of Epic.

Alternatively, consider purchasing from Fascination Perfumery in the UK. With the exchange rates as they are, you can pick up 50ml bottles of most Amouage for < $130.

IMO, JubilationXXV is the best of the line. Sillage and longevity are fantastic. 2 sprays is all you need. Footbridge to heaven! I have mixed feelings about Reflection. Sometimes I think it`s ok, other times it almost make me sick! Yes, I can indeed detect the same "aura" as in Creed Original Santal and Joop Homme. It is high quality in Reflection.. My top favourites from Amouage are Dia, Jubilation xxv, Silver, Ciel and Epic. Epic is a great scent, but I don`t always know what occasions to wear it. It smells very luxurious.

Not tried Jubilation yet but am madly in love with epic lady

It took me several wearings, but after a while it "clicked"

I might just give up on my Amouage explorations.

I have written some very polite and reasonable inquiry to the firm and they have responded in such a rude, inconsiderate manner... almost like they would say: you're unimportant, buddy, we don't need you, we don't care about you, we only care about the billionaires we get a chance to serve.

This is the first time I write this type of message here and I apologize for it but, yes, given the extraordinary amount of high-end choices one has nowadays, I don't plan to give my money to a firm which obviously thinks its customers are worth s***.

Addict - I am curious who you contacted and what they said. If you don't want to post it here perhaps you can PM me. I only ask because I have dealt with them over a problem with the cap on a bottle I received and they quickly shipped me a replacement cap free of charge, along with quite a few free samples.

I've always found my dealings with them to be pleasant - it upsets me to hear of your experience as I tended to think Amouage was one of the niche houses that really offered a more personalized experience than most (for instance, the way they include with each fragrance a hand signed Amouage tag by the person who assembled/filled/inspected the bottle).

To you guys who own Epic. How many sprays do you use? Is it enough with only one?

I think Amouage Reflection has some strong similarities with Fleur du Male.

dreamchaser, did you ever decide on a scent?

I would say that they are practically the same

Jubilation XXV, a woody oriental not far from Invasion Barbare (also a woody oriental) in overall quality.

It's also more satisfying than Homage or Tribute, who leave me hungry like most parfums/attars. They smell great, though.

-and that`s not a bad thing!

A great house for sure and at the moment, my personal favorite is Epic Man. Just divine. I have a small sample that I'm nursing.

Reflection and Fleur du Male really only have sweetness + orange blossom in common. Reflection is far more camphoraceous, has less body, is more natural smelling, and is less woody in the top notes. While there are some similarities, they are nowhere near the same scent. If you want a scent that smells a LOT like Fleur du Male, but higher quality, look into Xerjoff's Oesel. Those two share a lot of DNA.