M. Micallef’s new men’s fragrance, Royal Vintage, is coming out this month. Micallef’s American distributor, Hypoluxe, was kind enough to send a sample for my review.
Royal Vintage is a little on the old-fashioned side in tone, judging by the timeless sophisticated elegance mentioned in the press materials and the emphasis on the car in the background. (That, to me, is a ’50s thing.) It has a pared-down note list of pink berries and bergamot (top notes), cypress and leather (heart notes) and patchouli and musk (drydown). It stays true to the note list throughout.
The pepper note is very strong at first. It mixed with the bergamot and a woody note to create something resembling Old Spice. It’s a bit urinous too, which is a nice addition. In the middle I can smell the cypress and a bit of cedar. The leather is a work-boot type of leather.
I’d recommend putting this on fabric. It lasts longer that way, the musk is more noticeable, and the patchouli takes precedence at the drydown. There’s a patchouli/menthol mix towards the end that’s pretty cool.
Royal Vintage is a perfectly acceptable fragrance, but the problem here is that it would be more refined if each note was easier to distinguish from each other. I don’t know how they do it, but sophisticated mainstays like Chanel have a soft but equal balance of notes. These notes smell jumbled, which hurts the overall effect of the fragrance. In the end, Royal Vintage is for a man who has poise, panache, but not a whole lot of distinctiveness.
Price Range: Very Expensive
Recommended Occasion: Any
Release Year: 2013
My Rating: 5
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