Royal Vintage

Continuation of my acquisition of M. Micallef's fragrances (on the male side). When I saw the notes and the comments, I rolled my eyes. Another Aventus clone. Great. I almost put this one off the list (or at least at the bottom of the priority list) but I got a good deal and I ended up going for it. What a great decision that was! Let's get this out of the way: if you own a dozen Aventus clones, this probably isn't for you. Myself, I had only decants of the original Aventus and Hacivat. My problem with Aventus is the overbearing sweetness and the transition to a birch tar-heavy mid which I don't love on my skin. My problem with Hacivat is the oakmoss just being too much and ending up into straight up BO territory, especially if I get warm. Royal Vintage is the remedy for both! The opening here is apple (or so Fragrantica says, I'm not so sure but at least I don't smell pineapple) which I was worried about but it ends up just being a touch of sweetness and doesn't take as much space as pineapple does in most Aventus clones (especially Al Fursan!) and the absence of birch tar replaced by thyme and cypress is an absolute blessing. It's aromatic, super smooth and eliminates all that hindered my enjoyment of the Aventus DNA. Fantastic work! Longevity is decent, not outstanding but better than the terrible batches of Aventus and lasts a few hours longer than my decant (which is from an older batch) so about 6-7 hours. Projection is pretty good, not as much as Club de Nuit (that'd be a feat) but still very good (I got several comments since I started testing it 2 weeks ago). So, to those who hate Aventus or Hacivat for the reasons I mentioned, get a decant and give this one a chance, it might change your mind. Unfortunately I believe it's been discontinued, which is a shame and a misstep IMO. Super good stuff.

The original Royal Vintage is my most worn fragrance. It's the closest thing I have to a signature scent, so I'm familiar with the scent quite well. With that being said, I was able to spot a few differences in this new edition. Don't get me wrong, the scent itself is still a masterpiece, and is unmistakably still Royal Vintage. However, there are texture and developmental differences that are noticeable to me with each and every wear. The original is juicier, zestier, creamier, and fuller. While this new rendition is fruitier, drier, greener, and ashier. The leather is nonextant in this version, replaced by moss, so the overall scent feels lighter, whereas the original is more nuanced and leathery. The good news here is that the scent is still smoky and remains just as addictive, although it lacks the soft musky creaminess the original has. The article of the new bottle 'design' mentioned G. Nejman as the perfumer, while the original was produced by none other than Jean-Claude Astier. This could very well explain why there’s been a change in the note pyramid. Same scent profile with minor 'tweaks'. I do think both versions are excellent, and on scent alone, I’m happy to own both -- but if I had to choose, I'd go with the original. Regardless, this fragrance is my number one.

I wasn't convinced initially by this fragrance, that I purchased following reviews of reliable members in here. Let me also disclose that I'm not a fan of pineapple in fragrances, if you know what I mean. At such a point that I thought about reselling my bottle. Well, after a few wearings, I have to say that my opinion changed radically. It is fruity on top, yes, but so green, smoky, peppery and fresh that it definitely stays in the masculine territory. The base is a musky moss so well done that it shows undertones of green tobacco, like a previous reviewer has already observed. The projection was low to average, with a 4-5 hours longevity on my skin, but after 1-2 months of opening the bottle (and wearing it now in the heat), it has shifted to strong projection (in the first 1-2 hours) and a longevity of 6-7 hours. For the best! From ok to a solid like for me, possibly on its road to love! Great release by Micallef!

The only Aventus contender This opens more green more smoky than Aventus it has a green smelling fruits Very fresh in the opening smoky at the heart woody in the dry down. I can smell green Tobacco in the fragrance its very elegant and extremely mannish. If I compare this one with old royal vintage I would have to say the old one is much better and will always beat Aventus for me because it has very mannish leather note with more green and elegant fresh opening. Sadly the new one does not contain the leather note but it’s still smoky and green some people will say leathery but not me. I think they added balsam of peru in this one but not leather . I would love if micallef returns to the old formulation. This one Gets 9.5 out of 10 If you love Aventus for the green smoky notes then this is a must for you

Pretty awesome. The smokiness gives this a backbone that lifts it above Frapin Orchard Man or Floris 1976, but still retains that moreish apple note.

Before I start to describe this scent profile, you should know a couple of things before buying this fragrance. Ultimately, this is not an original release, but its smoky undertones strongly resemble those of Creed’s most popular fragrance. It is also the best bang-for-buck alternative since it can be purchased for little more than one-fourth of its retail price on fragrance discounters. Now then. Let’s get into its note breakdown. TOP NOTES To my nose, it opens with a beautiful, photorealistic note of pineapple-like juicy bergamot, comparable to the most expensive niche fragrances on the market. There is an undertone of pink pepper in the opening, just enough to add a touch of piquancy to the citrus. The comparison to the Creed is most apparent here, and I believe most fragrance enthusiasts will see the closest similarities. HEART NOTES The best part is the fragrance heart, where we are introduced to the smell of Mediterranean cypress. I love how they took a different route here, adding something new to this genre. It adds depth and character and starts shifting in an aromatic and woody direction, a wise move from Micallef. Jasmine plays a subtle role and adds a touch of delicate indolic sweetness without ever becoming overpowered. BASE NOTES Combining smoky patchouli and oakmoss provides a nice woody contrast to the citrusy opening and aromatic heart. I love how the brand achieved these denser notes while feeling light enough and never entering old-school masculine territory. On some other websites, leather has been mentioned as an included note, but it’s not here, and it’s better not to expect it rather than be disappointed by its lack. Musk plays a supporting role in the base, providing a smooth and sensual finish. OVERALL It is a fragrance that exceeded my expectations, which I set according to what this product is. It’s a great alternative to Creed’s masterpiece and something always good to have in the collection when you want to smell better than your average designer scent. This M.Micallef creation is more like a sharp suit – classic, sophisticated, and guaranteed to turn heads. Read the full review at scentgrail dot com

Definitely of and in the Aventus family. So let's get that out of the way. If those type of fragrances bore you, then there isn't anything in here different enough to make it worth trying, so you can stop reading here haha. But if you do want to know more... When Royal Vintage opens, the oakmoss is definitely present and up front, and the fragrance will remind you very much of Hacivat. I don't like Hacivat, personally, so I was worried that it was another oakmoss leaning Aventus sibling, which I wouldn't be too happy with. Oakmoss is too green and bitter to me most of the time, especially in Hacivat, so that wouldn't be an enjoyable wearing experience. I prefer sweeter/more citrus fresh fragrances, even if oakmoss is a note and ingredient that adds to the sillage and projection of a fragrance. But then as it dries down and creeps toward the mid (20-30 minutes in, if not sooner), the oakmoss calms down. It's still there, but it settles and some of the other top and mid notes start to break through. The citrus/sweetness starts to merge with the oakmoss, and instead of smelling more like Hacivat, it actually starts to lean heavily in the direction of Cedrat Boise. To me, that made it better. Fragrance is subjective, and I know Hacivat is popular, so I'm only making these comparisons for the benefit of people who may share my tastes, or want details and comparisons to other fragrances they are familiar with. As far as performance, I can't speak to longevity and sillage too well as I was just sampling and testing it on this run, but it felt like a fragrance that will stick around and do well. On the stronger end of 'moderate'; closer to 'long lasting' than 'weak'. Sillage was decent, very comfortably 'moderate' and nowhere near 'intimate', and the the places I sprayed Royal Vintage on my skin had a clear oil/shine for a long time, so it doesn't disappear. Worth sampling, if you're after an alternative to the many Aventus-style fragrances. But if you're tired of those and think this might be different - it really isn't. If you've smelt Aventus, Hacivat or Cedrat Boise, then you'll be massively underwhelmed.

I just got this one today, and I have to disagree with most negative comments regarding the "old smell" and cigarette buds. Based on my first impressions, this is a smoky batch of Aventus with a similar, if not better, performance than today's Aventus itself. It is a full winter now in my part of the world, which doesn't allow the fragrance to develop to its full potential, which will happen in a couple of months when the temperatures start to increase. The only difference I get is a green cypress note and quite a friendly oakmoss note. This is a win-win scenario since I got it from my local discounter for 77 EUR for 100ml. I'll see how it performs in the spring when I plan to do a full review on scentgrail.com. Stay tuned. :)

its just nice, not worth the high price with the poor lasting and sillage, regret buying

I wanted to like this, I really did. I got a sample after reading reviews on here, it sounded nice, and sprayed it on paper first and it was kind of harsh, but had a personality of it's own and I started imagining all the places it might be worn, art galleries, running about the city doing errands, it seemed an energetic on-the-go masculine sort of fragrance. I had something else on though and I had to wait til that was all gone. Completely clean skin now, I applied it about an hour ago and it's just awful on me, just not something I would wear and it's giving me a headache as well. It smelled much better to me on the paper than on skin, it's usually the other away around. It has a horrible dated feel to it, the opening reminded me of a lot of the generic men's fragrances from the 1970's, even hints of the Avon ones my Aunt (who sold it) gave me every Christmas and birthday. It has that sharp generic quality on the top. It's very synthetic smelling to me, and it's drying-down to something fruitier and sweeter, but that still doesn't save it or make it any more pleasant to me. It actually is making me feel queasy and I can't wait to wash it off. It smells very dated and harsh and generic and there are far nicer, better put-together fragrances around I would prefer to wear. 2/10

Idk if there's anything wrong with my tester but this smells terrible to me. I really do enjoy their other ones tho.

What @sumsar said. There's an underlying smoky + stankiness to this

Mossy, metallic Aventus DNA without any of the sweetness.

an absolutely grotesque fragrance. imagine the inside of a run down casino in a backwood dump town in the middle of nowhere, where all the patrons are washed up burn outs who are playing penny slots and chainsmoking cartons of cigarettes for hours on end, and then someone sprayed a generic cologne on and those two smells combined. that's what this absolutely horrendous thing smells like. I've smelled weird colognes, and colognes i didn't like because they were too sweet, but i could understand how someone could like and wear those. i don't see any reason why anyone would like this unless they love smelling like they sleep on a bed of cigarette butts. hideous by any measure, not blind buy worthy and not worthy of even existing. saying this reminds you of aventus is like saying a dog turd in the street reminds you of a chocolate eclair.

It's horrible nowhere near Aventus smells like old man crossed with a forest people saying this is Aventus clearly haven't used Aventus.

Now how these greens, cypress, moss, patchouli and thyme manage to wrap it all up in a flat-out vanilla accord like that? I'm sure, I don't know... this is sheer Ani vanilla with the earthy greens to me. Close your eyes it almost goes cheese cake, with the pine instead of citrus, so yeah, real nice construction, shape shifter, see it stays solid in the -5°C, 23°F frozen fog baiscally. Straight up: endearment hit once every few months or so them Micallefs that's why, standardly they're must-haves, early in the journey too. After which an hour or so in, get the masculine, moss, all previous turned earthy brown, no peppery smoke although can easily and greatly imagine some haha. Get the slight aventus feel to it, somewhat. Definitely midweek all purpose, 'vintage' in the sense of maybe some dopeness from the 90s reput in action, but not a vintage fragrance, as having an all through out proeminent fresh element to it and the nice night-out feel as pretty much dominant from the mid on.

Amazed by this. Earthy, cold green, a bit joyful, definitely get the bitter Cypress, Thyme, Musk and Amber blend, get the Moss note, might be the first time I smelled that, very forest photorealistic. Smoothly built, it's not a dark scent just pure masculine. Brings home well. Think all the above in like an: Ani manner, or canvas. But no Vanilla, no Ambergris, no Benzoin, at least not listed. Think Ani without the gourmand citrus cheese cake situation? And think Layton without the florals and fruits. Similarities like that just up my personal alley, since not having too much of an appetite for variety these daze, this one hit just right. Very pleased with the purchase, had my eyes on it for a while and been in luv with Desir Toxic and Osaito for quite a while now, the instant crush magic of both those never went away.

As people have written before me, this is basically Aventus without the pineapple sweetness. The first thought that came to my mind was that it smells like a cigarette smokers’ jacket, or a can with water and cigarette butts - which does probably not sound very appealing. I usually like smokey fragrances, but the ones I like are mostly pretty sweet, warm, and spicy. This fragrance is cold, herbal, and metallic. It does not have any listed smoky notes, but rather gives off the illusion of damp, old smoke due to the mixture of what I think is the cypress, thyme, moss, and patchouli. It is very masculine and an acquired taste. 5/10.

Awesome manly fragrance: elegant, confident and sexy. Performance is pretty good: I can still smell it after 3h then it becomes a skin scent but still noticeable by others. Likely one of my top 5 all times fragrances. As an owner of Aventus also, I can say there is a similar DNA for the smokiness backend, but in no way someone would ask if you are wearing Aventus instead of this. Searching online it can be found at a pretty good discount: I got it for about 110€ for 100ml, totally worth it.

Quality blend, citrus with smoke and oakmoss. Casual and formal. Superb compliment getter. Great for all seasons. Like Aventus, early smokey batch Projection below average. Sillage average. Longevity weak to okay. Because of it's expensive online price I recommend other cheaper similar Aventus scent profile, impressions or Hacivat 50ml.

Gorgeous, elegant, sophisticated and very modern smell. This is a better, less synthetic and fruity-in-a-better-way variation of Bleecker St. for me. I appreciate the most the oakmoss, apple and thyme in this juice.

Starts as a somewhat fougere-ish fragrance, then as it dries down it gets more fruity and Aventus like, it smells like an earthy and aromatic more grown up Aventus, I really like it.

I am selling a 100ml bottle. Used a few times for 99 EUR. Shipping within EU at best. More info PN

Green and smoky type of Aventus with animalic and rubbery notes. Hints of Grey Flannel from GB.

Smells like the clothes of a cigarett smoker 🤢