Cuba Prestige

I've never smelled the Mugler everyone compares this to but I'm a huge fan of Intoxicated by Kilian. I can't justify paying for a full bottle of Intoxicated but I've had a fair few decants which have served me well. It's very much one of my favourites and my idea of perfection for wearing on a nice autumn evening. Because of the cost I've been looking for an alternative. 007 by Alexandria Fragrances is extremely close. Close enough in all respects not to really matter too much. The longevity is superior on that one too. In addition and out of curiosity I ordered Cuba Paris Prestige because I'd read of the Intoxicated similarities. I've previously had a reasonable experience with Cuba Gold which is a less polished Le Male. So, is Cuba Paris Prestige a substitute for a fragrance costing upwards of twenty times as much money? Well you know the answer to that. What you get is closer than you'd imagine. Closer than the cost would ever lead you to believe and especially in the first half an hour. Slightly rough as expected but nowhere near rough enough to turn you off it. Its really very good indeed. The longevity is poor compared to either the real deal or Alexandria Fragrances 007 but obviously that can be countered with reapplication. I've had it on all morning, it's lunchtime now and I'm getting frequent wafts of Kilian Intoxicated from it however. That's exactly what I was looking for. Sweet beautiful smooth coffee. Worth the money and well recommended.

Update: I recently decided to experiment using this scent as a base for other Mugler fragrances, given its linear nature and excellent value. I noticed that, after about the 3 hour mark, this began to subtley resemble parts of Pure Havane and Pure Malt. As a result, I made small decants of Pure Malt, Pure Wood, Pure Tonka and Insurrection Wild II, and applied them on top of Cuba Prestige after about 2 hours. The results were encouraging: Pure Malt - Markedly increased projection and added chocolate vibe. Pure Wood - Increased projection AND longevity, with almost a sweet cherry vibe after ~1 hour IWII - Increased density and sweetness of scent, increased projection, with added vanilla at ~3 hour mark Pure Tonka - Increased sweetness and overall scent quality at ~3 hour mark. This combination would probably work better if Tonka was applied FIRST. On average, each scent received 1-2 MORE compliments than usual per use. However, more testing will be required to clarify whether this was due to the increase in projection, scent appeal, or the fact that the combination was just "different" from what I normally wear. So that's it. I've previously referred to these combos as "Super-Men", with props to Reggie for suggesting the Pure Malt-A*Men layering. If for some reason you don't like Cuba Prestige as a stand alone fragrance, you may want to give it a try as a base to give your other Mugler frags a boost. For this price, it's worth a go at least. Cheers.

I absolutely love this fragrance - especially because of the VALUE FOR MONEY - you can't go wrong for the price. I paid about $13 for almost a 100ml "cigar". In terms of the comparison with the original O.G. (A*men), after smelling them side-by-side, you can tell it is not completely the same. BUT, I feel Cuba Prestige takes out some of the louder/aggressive aspects of A*men and keeps the sweet/chocolaty/amber-ish aspects so that it makes it relatively more wearable on a regular basis in the Spring/Fall/Winter. There is no doubt that the Mugler fragrance is stronger, projects more, and is more apt to leave a scent trail wherever you go. Cuba Prestige, in my testing, DEFINITELY lasts just as LONG as A*men (e.g. 12+ hours guaranteed - and at times I really have to scrub myself when taking a shower in order to completely remove the lovely scent from my body). Another reviewer on here said that Prestige removes the start/top of A*men and keeps the mid and drydown/base smell and I would definitely agree with that. I could go on and on about this but just to be fair and play devil's advocate: the only thing about Prestige that knocks it against A*men, in my opinion, is the sort of metallic/alcoholic smell you get on initial spray. It takes a few minutes to disappear but once it does, you can't stop smiling to yourself about the fact that you just paid $13 for a scent that can compare to the legendary A*men.

Cuba Paris' Cuba Prestige was my first experience of the Cuba Paris line of fragrances. Much like I find in most Cuba Paris fragrances, Fragrantica missed a note or two. In this case a slight coffee note and caramel, much like the scent this copies, Theirry Mugler's A*Men. The scent is gourmandy but with those notes it makes Cuba Prestige a real gourmand. This is A*Men in length and smell, minus the tar open (which I don't really mind.) It blasts you with a citrusy and vanillay scent from the start and the vanilla just sticks throughout. It don't really have any noticable notes other than the vanilla like notes like coffee and caramel to my nose. I happen to like A*Men and gourmands but this I am a little unsure of this one due to the vanilla blast that it gives over most of the other notes. Cuba Prestige is only really beat by A*Men in one real mode, projection. A*Men's projection is nearly heavy while this is a solid moderate that lasts about 30 minutes to an hour tops while A*Men will do it for hours. I have to give Cuba Paris Cuba Prestige an 8.2 mainly for the price compared to A*Men in most places (I gave A*Men a 8.6). Under $10 for up to 3.0oz/90ml vs. $40 for 1oz/30ml of A*Men. Sometimes you trade quality for price.

@mkpunk @carlitos Now I am pretty sure. Cuba Prestige Gold (US name) or Cuba Prestige Legacy (name in Europe) is a VERY GOOD clone of PC 1 Million Intense. So far it is still absent from the Fragrantica DataBase. Together with Cuba Prestige (or Cuba Prestige Classic if you prefer), Cuba Paris has two magnificent clones in their Prestige line. I do have both frags now (bought 1MI last week and CPL last month) and: - Both are Woody Spicy! - There is a very strong resemblance in the opening, middle notes and base notes! Cuba's fragrance lasts about 20% less than 1MI but this Paco Rabane frag tends to be a beast in longevity and projection. Let's wait for Fragrantica to include it in the DataBase to make better comparisons. I have done the simple test of having 2 sprays of each in the back of my hands. I asked 6 different people to smell my hands twice (10 minutes and 1 hour after spraying them) and all of them thought it was the same fragrance. On the other hand the info in the Fraglux site is a simplified one. The real notes of Cuba Prestige Legacy are: Top Notes: mandarin, cardamom, black pepper and saffron Heart Notes: rose, neroli and cinnamon Base Notes: leather, orris, patchouli and sandalwood ... a xerox copy !!!