Royal Blend

I've been holding out on reviewing this fragrance for a while. The beginning of this review is a little story of my history with this fragrance. While not important, I would suggest you read it if you're considering blind buying this fragrance. If you don't care, skip to the "Yapping over" part. I originally bought it around a month back or so in sought of an Angels' Share replica. I heard some good things about it, and blind bought it. In retrospect, not the greatest idea, but I digress. When I first got the bottle and opened it (A+ for packaging, if that's what you fancy), I was surprised. Not necessarily a pleasant surprise, just a "Oh wow, so that's what angel share is?". If you haven't gathered it yet, I've never smelled Angel's Share. My purchase of this fragrance was built upon layers of hype and mystery. Criticize me if you wish, I don't care, the torment this fragrance has put me through has ascended me to a superior plane of moral conscience and understanding. The initial notes I gathered were a distinct alcoholic, sharp scent with a nice bit of plum. It wasn't bad, but it didn't make me smell like a pie right out the oven. Far from it. But, in true fragrance collecting fashion, I gave it some time to macerate. I was hoping that things would sort themselves out as time went by, and that the harsh alcoholic smell would fade away. Three days later, my wish would be granted... for all the wrong reasons. When I sprayed this fragrance onto my skin and clothes, it smelled like the word CHERRY had just launched a full throttle assault against my nostrils. It was a violently synthetic cherry that was a pain to smell. At this point, I was trying to convince myself it was worth it and that I hadn't fallen victim to a terrible blind buy, but reality was starting to set in. Once again, I left the fragrance to macerate, for a longer duration this time. A few weeks pass, and I spray it on again. I am confronted with what I can only describe as mint and some semblance of... poison ivy? Some form of grass, but not quite there yet. I was beginning to lose my mind, because how in the world is THIS the smell I'm getting. I was beginning to think that my bottle was some kind of faulty batch. Had I not purchased this fragrance from a reputable source, I would've thought I got scammed, 100%. I wasn't going to write a hate review just yet. I gave it some more time, and put it back in the shelf, hoping that time would bring out some semblance of wonder in this bottle. Just recently, I sprayed some on my wrist. On the opening, I found myself confronted with a mixture of alcohol-esque harshness and that same minty smell. I was going to throw in the towel for good, but the fragrance quickly began to dry down into a soothing smell. I had finally unlocked (what I assume, at least) what this fragrance IS supposed to smell like. Yapping Over Royal Blend by French Avenue is in many ways what a comforting winter fragrance should smell like. On the opening, one might say it is unpredictable. The influence of cognac in this fragrance gives it a boozy touch that some might find a bit off-putting, but that's only for the first minute or so. After that time has passed, an assortment of delectable odors emanate : A soft plum, a sweetness formed from a hint of vanilla and cinammon, and some iris offering an element of brightness and complexity to the scent. I honest to god love this smell so much, I could bathe in it. I hope that my appreciation for it isn't exacerbated by this fragrance finally working for me, but in any case, it smells fantastic. If I were to smell this on another person around their neck, I would want to reach in closer, and closer - it just pulls me in that hard. Now, sensual fragrance talk out of the way, what are the metrics of this fragrance. Scent aside, I find the performance satisfactory. The projection on this fragrance seems fair. Nothing groundbreaking, but it doesn't leave much to be desired. Its longevity is additionnally satisfactory, ranging between 3 to 6 hours for me, a duration that some might find underwhelming. However, I'm sure it varies from person to person, lord knows I've had strange experiences with this bottle, so I'll leave that up to you guys? On another random note, I really like the bottle. It's cool, aesthetic, clearly ripping off Angels' Share. But hey, that's what we're here for, right? Is this fragrance masculine or feminine? For the first time, I can say neither. I can very well see a woman pulling this scent off, exuding an air of elegance , in the very same way that I can see a man pulling it off, giving off a distinct air of comfort and warmth. In summary, Royal Blend is a delightful fragrance that offers a lovely combination of savory, and edible notes. Is it blind buy safe? If I could guarantee you receive the fragrance as I have it RIGHT NOW? I would say yes. BUT GOOD LORD I DO NOT WANT YOU PEOPLE GOING THROUGH THE SAME ROLLER COASTER I DID. If you buy it, do be cautious. Those were my 2 cents. Enjoy.

I think I might really love this one. It wasn't love at first sniff though. I smelled the original Angel's Share at Sephora, and, unfortunately, this doesn't come as close as influencers would like you to believe. Angel's Share has a richness and booziness that this one just doesn't have. It almost smells like gold if gold had a smell. It smells expensive. However, Royal Blend does do a really good job of capturing the overall feel of its inspiration. Sure, it's not exactly the same, but what's here smells really good. The fruit listed is plum, but I get more of a red apple note from it. That note is also accompanied by some spices (cinnamon is the most dominant) and some floral notes, but what I detect is more of a symphony of floral notes rather than just an iris-dominate scent like they also list. It's not like the original Dior Homme or anything like that. I do pick up on some type of boozy note, but it's not extremely prominent. Then it settles down into some soft woods with a decent amount of smokiness. I would say the biggest difference is that original maintains its zing for a little bit longer while this one starts to smell a bit stuffy a lot sooner. If Angel's Share never existed and this fragrance was released by a well-known designer brand, I could see people losing their mind and calling this one a masterpiece. However, since it is a clone fragrance, the overall rating does have to take into account how it compares to the thing it's trying to imitate. As a clone? This one is an 8.75/10. It smells very much like Angel's Share, but it simply doesn't smell as elegant or luxurious as that scent. As a stand-alone fragrance? I think I would give it a 9.25/10. I really do appreciate this one the more I wear it, and I only see that score increasing over time. The fragrance has enough depth and complexity to bring joy to people who are deep into the hobby and own many other fragrances, but it's also a scent that most people around you will enjoy as well. It's rare that a fragrance is able to do both of those things extremely well, and that's why this one gets a high rating from me. My only gripe is the bottle. It looks like glass, but it feels more like glass infused with a lot of plastic. I hope the scent doesn't deteriorate over time due to that. The box it comes in is extremely fancy, and I think I would rather them relocate that money to better glass than to a cardboard box that is eventually going to get tossed or put in storage. Royal Blend is making me re-evaluate how I collect fragrances though. Do I want to save money and own a million fragrances? Or would I rather own less than 100 fragrances but have them all be masterpieces? If you're the latter, just save up money and get the real Angel's Share. Right now though, unfortunately, I'm the former, but I'm perfectly happy with this interpretation.

It’s the best one to date. Opening is a little boozier and less fruitier than AS. 30 mins in and you can’t tell whether you sprayed Royal Blend or AS, it really is that close on the dry down. I sprayed this on my hand at a shop and got decent longevity (8 hours). My mother said she could smell a nice fragrance (it was projecting off of my hand even 2 hours after). I own Khamrah and Sharaf Blend. Royal Blend is not the same as those so if you have either of those, get Royal Blend and put those other two to the side. I’ve smelt kismet angel and cocktail intense, both fragrances that do the AS DNA really well but Royal Blend takes it to another level. The negative reviews on performance I’m assuming are from people who have brand new bottles. With a lot of French Avenue fragrances they could do with a bit of maceration and they only get better as time moves on like my bottle of French Avenue The Shadow (Ombré Nomade clone). Smelt Royal Blend yesterday in a shop and I ordered it today. Will submit another review once it arrives and I will definitely let it macerate. Based off of testing the fragrance I rate it as follows: Scent profile: 9/10 Closeness to AS: 9.5/10 Performance: 7/10 (will perform better after maceration) My verdict: If you do not own any Angels share clones then this is the one to get. If you own Khamrah or Sharaf Blend, it’s worth picking up Royal Blend as it’s a totally different fragrance (Khamrah and Sharaf blend do not clone angels share). If you own cocktail intense, kismet angels or enigma deux (all really good AS clones), the only thing better about royal blend is the actual quality of the fragrance. Entirely up to you if it’s worth buying just for quality.

I gave this its first full wearing as my scent of the day and it's really, really good. Smells about 95% close to the OG Angel's Share. There are obvious differences in richness and quality but the scent profile is extremely close, so if you've been aching to get your hands on a clone/dupe that actually smells like first batch, original Angel's Share then you can count on this. I brought my 1st batch bottle of Angel's Share with my newly obtained bottle of Royal Blend to my buddy's perfume shop and we both marvelled at just how close the two are scent wise. From the atomizer, they're almost identical. For people complaining about the performance, I'd suggest if you want something that performs as well as the OG Angel's Share, then buy Angel's Share. For those of us who don't expect the same quality from a $30 dupe as a $300 niche, here's what's up... Longevity is good. I got 7.5 hours before I could no longer detect it. Projection was moderate for the first 1.5 hours before settling in closer. From my skin it never did project very far but that's okay. Not every fragrance needs to fill a room. Sillage was pretty great though and lasted almost the length of the fragrance. Every time I moved my head around at my desk I caught wafts. Quality is pretty good for the price but it's the scent that's most important and this, again, is very, very close. I've wanted to get a real dupe of Angel's Share for a looooong time because I love the fragrance but I don't want to use my 1st batch bottle up because, you know, there's never going to be another 1st batch. So, French Avenue, THANK YOU! I 'm going to sell or gift my bottle of Khamrah now. LOL

Update 5/19/2025 My full bottle harshness is gone and its smell improve to match my decant and it's really good. Performance is solid, strong projection and very longevity. And today I got a chance to test angel share in the shop. The opening is similar but different enough to easily distinguish both fragrance, AS is clearly has higher quality in the opening, its less sweet with no plum, more round and deeper. After the opening AS smell almost the same as RB, the main different is AS is more woody and less sweet. After 1 hours the different become less and less, about 2 hrs and I can't tell the different anymore. --- First Impression I never smell angel share or khamrah. But I decided to bought a decant of Royal Blend to test what angel share smell like. The opening to mid is heaven. Smooth boozy fruity sweet and faint sourness with vanilla and cinnamon as background, very airy and quite dry or dusty. I can sniff close to the skin and it's not pungent and in the air it has strong and far projection, very well blend and high quality I assume. I can only wish this part last till dry down. but when it dried down the boozy is gone, plum got tone down and vanilla tonka tone up. Performance is great 9 hrs longevity but I didn't catch on how much projection last. Now I got a full bottle of Royal Blend. sadly first day of opening the bottle it has strong alcohol scent for first 15 secs before I can smell a fragrance, Now I wait 2 weeks for it to mature and the alcohol scent is gone but the overall scent is still not up to my decant quality. But I knew it'll be there soon.