Maxime

Inspired by Invictus but not just a cheap interchangeable version of it. It starts less fruity then it goes into an oceanic salty, woody accord with leather undertones. No bubblegum factor here and very little sweetness overall. Maxime is less attention grabbing, safer for work. The performance is on par with the current Invictus but this goes for 15€. Having both I find myself reaching out more for this one.

Great fragrance for summer. Fresh, masculine... epic!

OK, let's see if I can do a review of this Invictusesque scent without comparing it to anything else. Maybe pretend that it's not an out and out clone of something else. No, not possible :) The opening is very good. A fruity dry floral scent with definite pineapple notes. The pineapple is quite strong, bordering on the cloying, but it's held back a little by the nutmeg. That spicy earthiness is the perfect foil to the sticky sweetness. The cardamom is there, with a deep warm woodsy glow. I'm not really getting the salt, but slow deep sniffs indicate it must be there. I assume this is Avon not going down the ambergris and sea notes route. It dries down to the sweet citrussy olibanum, in essence a milder form of the opening. I'm not sure I'm picking up any leather, and I wouldn't think there was any cinnamon either had I not read the ingredients. Mild cardamom certainly, but not cinnamon. I've recently tried another fragrance that's an out and out dupe of Invictus, and that's Milano Man Triumph. As an aside the Milano Man range is fascinating. A cheapy smell alike bunch that's not on this database. Available from UK discount stores such as Home Bargains they're remarkably good and only .99p for a 50ml boxed spray bottle. Anyway, Triumph is the Milano Man version of PR Invictus. Whereas Avon have gone down the mandarin leaf and pineapple road, giving a deep sweetness, Milano Man have gone heavy with the ambergris. That gives their version the saltier heft. Of these two versions I prefer the Avon. Back to this Maxime, and it's wonderful ace up the sleeve. Longevity. This is remarkable, and not something you'd expect on a low price product. I applied some to my neck, and I put some on my forearm. On my other forearm I sprayed a little of the Milano Man Triumph to see how quickly it would fade. Remarkably they were both still noticeable after 12 hours. With the Triumph it was mainly a light ambergris skin scent. The Maxime still had a warm sweet fruitiness. Even at 16 hours the Maxime was still lightly detectable. As for what was on my neck that became a mild skin scent after about 10 hours. Sillage is moderate, though I imagine if you really splashed it on you could clear a room in the first few hours. Overall I have to say this is most impressive by Avon. I'm not talking about it's comparison to any other scent, I'm just talking about this fragrance and how good it is. If warm sweet fruity scents are your thing then you can't go wrong with Avon Maxime.

Lets not mince words. This is Aventus clones for those who don't want to shell out for it. Look, ain't no shame in my game here, given the preponderance of Aventus clones, is it really good value for money? Lets just skim through it - opening citrus burst ✔️ - woody drydown ✔️ - sweet base notes ✔️ There are differences. Say in around a year's time, Creed reformulate Aventus so it can be cheaper - then this will be it. I like this particular clone more than others (Nightflight shouldn't count as a clone as it predates). Its cheap and cheerful and a fair spritz lasts a few hours, albeit with light sillage. Bottle kind of makes the point obvious that this is a clone with its weird Roman Empire bottle design. I think this is good for the summer but also for work. Its a decent scent in itself. Not too bold or complicated, maybe a bit sweeter than you'd expect. Deep down, you won't be unhappy with this at its price point if you like Aventus. But its more just a way to use Aventus more sparingly.

Reminds me a lot of Invictus EDT