I really like your statement at the end about not being able to recommend it. As a generation, we need to stop normalising being ripped off and the thought process that just because something is expensive means it's quality.
Aaron I really want you to try Psychedlique by Jovoy. Interesting house that leans on the art side I think. It’s a dark, boozy, ambered, opulent patchouli that leans gourmandish! Touches of rose and geranium as well. Beautiful,beautiful fragrance
I got my Sultan from Maxaroma at $400 for 100ml a few years ago and I think it totally worth that price. I really love it! I would think that’s one of the best vanilla scents. I also have Lune Feline that I also love and they’re different but Sultan’s performance is way better than Lune Feline. It lasts 12+ hours on my skin with moderate projection.
Carolina Herrera Gold Myrrh Absolute is far superior in my opinion. I have both but wear the Gold Myrrh Absolute much more often. You should review it!! I would also love to see your comparison of Royal Crown Rain and Creed Green Irish Tweed!! I love Creed but I prefer Royal Crown Rain over GIT.
I haven't smelled the CH since I'm a niche collector, but I'm not sure how the two scents are suppose to align, given the CH has cacao (not in Sultan) and the main accord for the CH is warm spicy (Sultan has minimal ambers).
Overall I'm actually impressed with the confidential line from CH. Only places that sell an actual selection are scent split and fragranceline. Recommend checking them out since they compare to any niche houses from a quality perspective.
Thank you for your review, could you please review some xerjoffs? Seems like you stopped reviewing them. They have so much to offer, especially the 17/17 collection (higher price range) You never reviewed one of them.
Can't believe you're actually reviewing this. Sultan is my all-time favorite scent, I paid full retail (€579) for the 100ml. First smelled it at RDHP which is on the 6th floor at Harrods. I use it as a special occasions fragrance. For those that haven't smelled Sultan, you can compare it to something like Initio's Absolute Aphrodisiac (closest comparable), but the scent can also be compared to the extrait version of Atelier des Ors' Lune Feline. I'm one of the people who thinks that to get standout, you have to pay standout money. The best premium niche scents in the market ALL cost a lot of money, including 50ml of Nishane's Nefs being 525, 100ml of Xerjoff's Alexandria II being 545, and obviously this being 100ml for 579. And this is without even touching the master tier brands beyond Royal Crown, like Spirit of Dubai, Boadicea the Victorious etc. Edit: In terms of performance, longevity will not be less than 12 hours. This is one of the better performing Royal Crown's in terms of longevity. Sillage heavily depends on weather and how much you spray. I remember once doing 10 sprays on a hot summer day in Knightsbridge and basically choking people out with the 10 foot cloak behind me. I would honestly rate the sillage an 8/10. To me, what brings Sultan value is what you call "a very nice vanilla scent". That "very niceness" is not something that I get with any other vanilla scent. It has a unique aura to it. The same way I have seen you discuss scents that give you tingles, I don't have anything else in my collection that gives me the type of sensation that Sultan does.
Calling Boadicea the victorious a master tier brand lol. It's a costly mistake to confuse hefty price tags for master perfumery my man. Alot of these brands are scam artists for the prices they are charging. I personally can't stand these Clive Christian-like thieves
@@RogersMJP I haven't actually smelled anything from BTV, but from my experience of smelling more expensive stuff, it is unquestionable that more expensive completely wipes the floor with anything in the 200-300 price bracket. What I dub "premium niche" undoubtedly is better than anything below it in the cheaper price bracket. Examples of premium niche incl. Alexandria II, Nefs (Shem/Mana also), Sultan, Ceylon, Turath, Rimal, Amber Aoud etc. No oud-rose, oud-vanilla, oud-honey in terms of quality comes anywhere near these scents in the price brackets below (all of these scents on a 100ml basis are north of €500 retail). And comments like "Clive Christian-like thieves" just showcase your ignorance. I've smelled almost the entire house of RC and not all of it is priced at 100ml for €570. E.g. they have that superior blend of Creed's GIT which costs 455 for 100ml IIRC. GIT is what, 240 now? Is it worth paying ~double to get rid of that grassy smell? Maybe it is, that's your choice to make (for clarity, I don't own either). To me, it is clear that RC has both superior blend quality and on average more uniqueness than almost any other niche house in the market at the €200 price point and above. The only outliers that come to mind are Amouage and Nishane.
@@DivineFrag I completely understand where you are coming from. But raw materials and packaging (unless the bottle or cap includes diamonds or gold) does not equate to £500+. If the staff were fairly compensated for their work (£25+ an hour) it still wouldn't explain this price. The fact alot of this money is going straight to the profit margin is insane. It's like spending £3,000 on a Gucci scarf. Then again, this is coming from a middle class man so each to their own
@@RogersMJP I agree - the final product (for Sultan at least) was constructed, I would guestimate (!), for around 150 all-in per 100ml. I think Aaron has described it before that ~60-80% is left as margin for the retailer typically (i.e. £100 in revenue typically has cost of goods sold around £40, allowing the remaining £60 to cover the retailers rent, utilities, taxes, labor etc.) It's important to note that there are certain unique angles that still benefits the purchaser of a brand like Royal Crown. Here's an example: go on Fragrantica and look for reviews of their two 2022 releases (Nizam and Nocturna) - you'll see that it's basically just me (lol). So one angle is accessibility: RC is not an accessible brand, even sampling is expensive (I paid €80 for a 6x2ml) and very few places stock them. A Swedish boutique called Escentica carries 5 or 6 of them IIRC, outside of that, you're s**t out of luck looking for them. RDHP also doesn't even have the 6 up on their website anymore when I smelled them in May 2022 in Harrods (the mall for rich folk in Knightsbridge, London). This accessibility factor spills over into a uniqueness component: if something can't be bought and it's not duping anything, you have what is in essence a unique fragrance. Royal Crown in London is the equivalent of wearing Amouage in Estonia - you'll never find it. Again, I'm not trying to convince anybody to blind-buy it. But I would ask people to give Sultan a shot, at least for a sample. And I want to challenge those that are experienced at smelling niche fragrances: is Sultan, as Aaron says, "just a very nice vanilla" or does that downplay the fact that there is a serious lack of masculine-leaning vanillas in the market today and that this, as a result, could be one of the best date-night gourmands in the market today. I leave that question up to the reader.
@@DivineFrag Oh yes I've been to Harrods a few times. It's where the rich folk go when they have nothing important to spend their money on. I would say that the only great thing to come from that store was Roja Dove and Rose-petal jam...that's about it 😂
Hi Aaron, please try Jasmine Oud by Royal Crown. It is the most refined and exuberant Jasmine I've ever smelled. Royal Crown is probably my 2nd or 3rd favorite house as their quality is consistent throughout their catalog.
To be fair, Royal Crown makes everything local. This includes the bottle, the crown, and even the box it comes in. But for 400 quid, I at least expect to get 100ml. Come on now. I was not the biggest fan of Sultan, but Royal Crown makes really good stuff. I would ask you to try Ytzma. - a gorgeous fruity and spicy dry fragrance. That's probably their best fragrance, along with Al Kimya, which is a beautiful rose.
They have some challenging stuff - Ytzma is one, Habanos is another, Noor was challenging too. Most of their stuff isn't that challenging to wear though, e.g. they have a Tuscan Leather dupe (Upper Class), and a Green Irish Tweed dupe (Rain). Several more summery smelling fragrances that aren't that challenging, e.g. Nizam, Celebration. Their ouds mostly are unchallenging, thinking Oud Santal, Sultan, Khan.
@@pasf4118 What's unappealing about RC's packaging? It's a nice, heavy case with a high quality interior (just like the Xerjoff), the bottle is a massive standout (just like Xerjoff), and Sultan's scent quality aligns with the more expensive ones from Xerjoff (Alexandria II, Ceylon etc.)
I will forever support Aaron, just as well as George Zaharoff. Genuine people who give you what you pay for. Awaiting 7 Feb so I can buy everything from Maxaroma 😁
You're not really missing out on much. Imperator and Nocturna are also worth a look. They have a couple really aggressive scents as well, thinking of Habanos mainly, but Ytzma as well. A lot of their fresher stuff is pretty plain/boring.
@@MoahGentle I don't think that there are many nice vanilla scents (where vanilla is the key component). The biggest problem with vanillas is their tendency to lean feminine (if not be outright feminine). Great examples include Guerlain's Spiriteuse Double, Micallef's Note Vanille, Diptyque's Eau Duelle, Xerjoff's Bouquet Ideale etc. A couple are pretty close to the edge too, so maybe unisex (Goldfield & Banks' Silky Woods, Atelier des Ors' Lune Feline, Initio's Absolute Aphrodisiac). The only true unisex vanillas in my head are Nishane's Ani, YSL's Babycat, Rosendo Mateu's No5, and LO's Vanagloria. I might've missed something, but these are the ones I've tried (I'm completely ignoring amber-vanillas here!) What makes Sultan worth the pricetag? To me, there is nothing in the market that does what Sultan does. It has a unique aura to it. Trust me, I know that sounds like typical fragcom BS, but when people talk about mesmerizing scents (typically labelled as "man-eater" or "womanizer"), I never really got what that meant until my significant other wore Bouquet Ideale. I have that same sensation from wearing Sultan as a "man-eater" fragrance would have on me if my SO wore one. To me, Suitan is a more refined, masculine take of Initio's Absolute Aphrodisiac. I'm mainly getting dense vanilla sweetness with a very fitting combination of woods. What Aaron calls "a very nice vanilla scent" in this video is something that perfectly aligned with my senses and made it a must-have. And I say this as somebody that has a massive amount of gourmands, incl. Angels' Share, Black Phantom, Intoxicated, Lune Feline Extrait, and more. Yes, the price is absurdly high, but we can clearly say the same thing about rose-ouds. The fact that Oud Satin, Akaster, Favonius etc are available for relatively cheaper does not take away from the unique qualities of scents like Alexandria II, Nefs, Ceylon etc. I don't give Royal Crown special treatment just because Sultan happens to be my favorite scent of all-time - most of their stuff to me is a dud, and I have far higher hit-rates with brands like Initio and Xerjoff. The only scent that has gotten close to what Sultan did to me is Imperator (and maybe also Nocturna, but that is basically an alternative take of God of Fire to my nose).
I traded a 10ml Creed sample for a 8ml sample of this. It smells like a luxurious marshmallow. I love to wear it to bed because it's so sweet and cozy. Idk if I would pay $400 for it though. But imo none of the creeds are worth $400 either.
Thank you so much Aaron for superb reviews, It is always fascinating to watch, your knowledge and passion create a wonderful viewing and listening experience🎆
400 quid!? 🫣 Out of my price range. I'll stick with Naxos, Just bought 100ml for £166 🤗 'Whatta Beast!' 😁 Probably the most I've spent on one frag as most of my collection is designer but the performance is insane on me 🤗
I would have expected from a perfumer to know that "70% alcohol" does not mean that the rest of 30% is perfume oil. The alcohol is diluted to a 70% by a mix of perfume oils AND other solvents, fixatives etc, hence you cannot tell the perfume concentration out of alcohol volume.
royal crown has some great fragrance like imperator, Khan and absolute. but Sultan gets the most love from the fragrance community, I personally think Sultan is overrated and agree with you it's just a 7/10 fragrance, but it's £400 😬
Funny how you never mention Labdanum as a compound. In my opinion Labdanum is one of the most beautiful scents. Labdanum + Vanilla are the backbone of the Amber accord, one of my favourite accords. The queen of scent combo’s.
Metallic vanilla.... Sounds just like Metallique by Tom Ford! For me, it works, but I'm sure that is a very very delicate balance which 99% of the time would not.
Metallique smells like feminine vanilla dryer sheets. Sultan smells like a chocolate hostess cake with vanilla cream filling. Just to give you an idea of what they smell like, they're very different.
@@paulysci925 Ah sure, I wasn't suggesting the fragrances were similar, just the concept of "metallic vanilla" - of course there would be many ways to skin that cat! It's just the first thing I thought of when he said that "wouldn't work".
Roja doesn't really do that many traditional gourmands. You can get Sweetie Aoud which is a tad more feminine and just as showstopping as a gourmand as Sultan is, prices are nearly identical between the two if you pay full retail for Sultan. Royal Crown ran a 15% promo on Christmas, so that would priced a 100ml at just above €490. Edit: Just so I don't forget, Roja frequently does 10% off as well, if we're comparing apples-to-apples.
I don’t own any Royal Crown, but I personally love the bottle and cap design. But they are WAY overpriced. And the reviews on fragrantica are very underwhelming.
imo it is worth if you have a small collection and limited exposure to gourmands. This would take up all the wear that you'd normally give to scents like Black Phantom, Intoxicated, Angels' Share etc. I have all 4 (the 3 Kilians and Sultan) - if you asked me what to get for date night, and you have the $ for it, I would get Sultan and not buy any of the Kilians. Kilian is merely more accessible (available in stores, lower price).
@@DivineFragI have angels share and sultan. I definitely like sultan more. But there has to be something out there that’s got more dimensions than this but thats still made as well as sultan.
I've had a smell of Sultan, and to me it smells pretty much like, I think, off the top of my head, I could be wrong, but Montale sweet vanilla smells pretty much the same, and you get twice as much, for a quarter of the price, so it would be a no from me.
Any Royal Crown runs circles around a Montale. Most Montales have a clear syntheticness to them which is not at all present with RC. Obviously the price is an issue, but it's all about your value assessment and disposable income.
@@DivineFrag yep I agree, I don't have the cash for the royal crown, but for a similar smell for a quarter of the price, I'll have to go for the cheaper one.
@@DrRDW Heavy disagree. No other vanilla comes close to Sultan, doesn't matter if we're talking the Mancera/Montale price tier, Marly price tier, Nishane price tier. If you want elite quality blend, you pay big bucks to get it. Sultan is a vanilla like no other, and if you've smelled enough vanillas, you'd know that.
I'm not sure if it's still available there, but if you're London-based, go to Harrods and on the 6th floor in the Roja Dove Haute Parfumerie, there's a small Royal Crown stand. Sample it and you won't regret it. This is the number 1 showstopping gourmand in the market today and nobody knows of it. Yes, it's expensive, but everyone talks about Nefs from Nishane with far more hype and that costs even more (that is also a showstopper, just not a gourmand).
Nah not worth it, i brought the 100ml ended up given to a relative as it doesn't project at all! Worth 100 pounds at best! If you look close at the bottle its kinda tacky etc
Royal Crown is a line that is ALWAYS overpriced for what they sell. The product would STILL be over priced at HALF the asking price. Just not worth the money by any stretch.
Absolutely uninterested in this brand - I wouldn't have paid for it had I even been wiping my ass with 100€ bills. To me that's a brand for tasteless Ric people that need expensive, not quality products (not saying it's not quality). I just think the goal was for it to be sold to rich, tasteless people.
I really like your statement at the end about not being able to recommend it. As a generation, we need to stop normalising being ripped off and the thought process that just because something is expensive means it's quality.
Aaron I really want you to try Psychedlique by Jovoy. Interesting house that leans on the art side I think. It’s a dark, boozy, ambered, opulent patchouli that leans gourmandish! Touches of rose and geranium as well. Beautiful,beautiful fragrance
Fair assessment, I have tested six fragrances from their collection and I found myself uninspired by all of the ones I tested. Solid review 👌
Same here.
Out of the 28 vanilla fragrances I've picked up in the last year, Sultan was hands down the best one. No contest.
I got my Sultan from Maxaroma at $400 for 100ml a few years ago and I think it totally worth that price. I really love it! I would think that’s one of the best vanilla scents. I also have Lune Feline that I also love and they’re different but Sultan’s performance is way better than Lune Feline. It lasts 12+ hours on my skin with moderate projection.
LF now has an extrait flanker too since like 2020, that one gets an extra 2-3 hours of longevity and leans more on the darker base tones.
Carolina Herrera Gold Myrrh Absolute is far superior in my opinion. I have both but wear the Gold Myrrh Absolute much more often. You should review it!! I would also love to see your comparison of Royal Crown Rain and Creed Green Irish Tweed!! I love Creed but I prefer Royal Crown Rain over GIT.
Oh, yeah, I would agree with you there. I love Sultan, but I’d way rather wear Herrera Gold Myrrh Absolute.
Totally agree with your assessment.
I haven't smelled the CH since I'm a niche collector, but I'm not sure how the two scents are suppose to align, given the CH has cacao (not in Sultan) and the main accord for the CH is warm spicy (Sultan has minimal ambers).
Overall I'm actually impressed with the confidential line from CH. Only places that sell an actual selection are scent split and fragranceline. Recommend checking them out since they compare to any niche houses from a quality perspective.
@@DivineFrag In one word: Vanilla.
Ordered Daddy and came in the mail today and I absolutely love it! Nothing compares to it.
Did you have the old formulation? Has it changed?
@@lvcheather hasn’t changed. Highly recommend it.
Would love to hear your take on Louis Vuitton Afternoon Swim. One of the house’s top sellers.
I love your Ethylmaltol T-Shirt
Big fan of your fragrances. So gutted that your stuffs almost always sold out!
Im just gutted that they dont ship to canada would have had 3 ATH frags by now
They do a restock every Friday.
Maxaroma releases his new line Tuesday 02/07
What is the name of his cologne
@@jts4248 its his name Aaron Terence Hughes he rereleased 8 or 10 of his previous frags
My number 1 fragrance. I love how it gets soft after a while and that vanilla is so warm and enjoyable.
Do Amouage Imitation Man - the first words that popped into my mind were NEON and HARD CANDY when I bought it, don't regret a single cent.
I would love to see if Santal Extreme would come back in production and maybe with some twist, some violet on the top...
Thank you for your review, could you please review some xerjoffs?
Seems like you stopped reviewing them.
They have so much to offer, especially the 17/17 collection (higher price range)
You never reviewed one of them.
I would be very interested in Aaron reviewing Roja Burlington 1819, Qatar, Manhattan edp, Danger por homme
Can't believe you're actually reviewing this. Sultan is my all-time favorite scent, I paid full retail (€579) for the 100ml. First smelled it at RDHP which is on the 6th floor at Harrods. I use it as a special occasions fragrance. For those that haven't smelled Sultan, you can compare it to something like Initio's Absolute Aphrodisiac (closest comparable), but the scent can also be compared to the extrait version of Atelier des Ors' Lune Feline. I'm one of the people who thinks that to get standout, you have to pay standout money. The best premium niche scents in the market ALL cost a lot of money, including 50ml of Nishane's Nefs being 525, 100ml of Xerjoff's Alexandria II being 545, and obviously this being 100ml for 579. And this is without even touching the master tier brands beyond Royal Crown, like Spirit of Dubai, Boadicea the Victorious etc.
Edit: In terms of performance, longevity will not be less than 12 hours. This is one of the better performing Royal Crown's in terms of longevity. Sillage heavily depends on weather and how much you spray. I remember once doing 10 sprays on a hot summer day in Knightsbridge and basically choking people out with the 10 foot cloak behind me. I would honestly rate the sillage an 8/10. To me, what brings Sultan value is what you call "a very nice vanilla scent". That "very niceness" is not something that I get with any other vanilla scent. It has a unique aura to it. The same way I have seen you discuss scents that give you tingles, I don't have anything else in my collection that gives me the type of sensation that Sultan does.
Calling Boadicea the victorious a master tier brand lol. It's a costly mistake to confuse hefty price tags for master perfumery my man. Alot of these brands are scam artists for the prices they are charging. I personally can't stand these Clive Christian-like thieves
@@RogersMJP I haven't actually smelled anything from BTV, but from my experience of smelling more expensive stuff, it is unquestionable that more expensive completely wipes the floor with anything in the 200-300 price bracket. What I dub "premium niche" undoubtedly is better than anything below it in the cheaper price bracket. Examples of premium niche incl. Alexandria II, Nefs (Shem/Mana also), Sultan, Ceylon, Turath, Rimal, Amber Aoud etc. No oud-rose, oud-vanilla, oud-honey in terms of quality comes anywhere near these scents in the price brackets below (all of these scents on a 100ml basis are north of €500 retail).
And comments like "Clive Christian-like thieves" just showcase your ignorance. I've smelled almost the entire house of RC and not all of it is priced at 100ml for €570. E.g. they have that superior blend of Creed's GIT which costs 455 for 100ml IIRC. GIT is what, 240 now? Is it worth paying ~double to get rid of that grassy smell? Maybe it is, that's your choice to make (for clarity, I don't own either). To me, it is clear that RC has both superior blend quality and on average more uniqueness than almost any other niche house in the market at the €200 price point and above. The only outliers that come to mind are Amouage and Nishane.
@@DivineFrag I completely understand where you are coming from. But raw materials and packaging (unless the bottle or cap includes diamonds or gold) does not equate to £500+. If the staff were fairly compensated for their work (£25+ an hour) it still wouldn't explain this price. The fact alot of this money is going straight to the profit margin is insane. It's like spending £3,000 on a Gucci scarf. Then again, this is coming from a middle class man so each to their own
@@RogersMJP I agree - the final product (for Sultan at least) was constructed, I would guestimate (!), for around 150 all-in per 100ml. I think Aaron has described it before that ~60-80% is left as margin for the retailer typically (i.e. £100 in revenue typically has cost of goods sold around £40, allowing the remaining £60 to cover the retailers rent, utilities, taxes, labor etc.)
It's important to note that there are certain unique angles that still benefits the purchaser of a brand like Royal Crown. Here's an example: go on Fragrantica and look for reviews of their two 2022 releases (Nizam and Nocturna) - you'll see that it's basically just me (lol). So one angle is accessibility: RC is not an accessible brand, even sampling is expensive (I paid €80 for a 6x2ml) and very few places stock them. A Swedish boutique called Escentica carries 5 or 6 of them IIRC, outside of that, you're s**t out of luck looking for them. RDHP also doesn't even have the 6 up on their website anymore when I smelled them in May 2022 in Harrods (the mall for rich folk in Knightsbridge, London). This accessibility factor spills over into a uniqueness component: if something can't be bought and it's not duping anything, you have what is in essence a unique fragrance. Royal Crown in London is the equivalent of wearing Amouage in Estonia - you'll never find it.
Again, I'm not trying to convince anybody to blind-buy it. But I would ask people to give Sultan a shot, at least for a sample. And I want to challenge those that are experienced at smelling niche fragrances: is Sultan, as Aaron says, "just a very nice vanilla" or does that downplay the fact that there is a serious lack of masculine-leaning vanillas in the market today and that this, as a result, could be one of the best date-night gourmands in the market today. I leave that question up to the reader.
@@DivineFrag Oh yes I've been to Harrods a few times. It's where the rich folk go when they have nothing important to spend their money on. I would say that the only great thing to come from that store was Roja Dove and Rose-petal jam...that's about it 😂
I have this and it is a banger can't believe you're actually reviewing it I think it's a beautiful masculine vanilla and it is well worth the money
You must be well off then eh.
@@TreVader1378 400 pounds for 50ml of a nice vanilla scent "well worth it" lmao
@@MoahGentle you haven't smelled it or worn anything like it especially in the summer amazing
thank you for reviewing the very expensive brands, so we know what to avoid Aaron
Hi Aaron, please try Jasmine Oud by Royal Crown. It is the most refined and exuberant Jasmine I've ever smelled. Royal Crown is probably my 2nd or 3rd favorite house as their quality is consistent throughout their catalog.
The 1 store in Rome is closed. Super bummed because it is too exp for a blind buy. Thanks for your review.
You really have to try Le Labo Another 13 I know you will love it I get compliments maybe everyday from that one fragrance
To be fair, Royal Crown makes everything local. This includes the bottle, the crown, and even the box it comes in. But for 400 quid, I at least expect to get 100ml. Come on now. I was not the biggest fan of Sultan, but Royal Crown makes really good stuff. I would ask you to try Ytzma. - a gorgeous fruity and spicy dry fragrance. That's probably their best fragrance, along with Al Kimya, which is a beautiful rose.
They have some challenging stuff - Ytzma is one, Habanos is another, Noor was challenging too. Most of their stuff isn't that challenging to wear though, e.g. they have a Tuscan Leather dupe (Upper Class), and a Green Irish Tweed dupe (Rain). Several more summery smelling fragrances that aren't that challenging, e.g. Nizam, Celebration. Their ouds mostly are unchallenging, thinking Oud Santal, Sultan, Khan.
if I have to spend that much I'll just buy Xerjoff and get a packaging that's actually appealing + very good scent
@@pasf4118 What's unappealing about RC's packaging? It's a nice, heavy case with a high quality interior (just like the Xerjoff), the bottle is a massive standout (just like Xerjoff), and Sultan's scent quality aligns with the more expensive ones from Xerjoff (Alexandria II, Ceylon etc.)
I will forever support Aaron, just as well as George Zaharoff. Genuine people who give you what you pay for. Awaiting 7 Feb so I can buy everything from Maxaroma 😁
You are so right, absolutely.
@@megasoid I have been under a rock. What is going on the 7th. Sounds like Naxos is nicer as well
MaxAroma sells counterfeit Tom Ford Grey Vetiver. I wouldn't buy anything from them. Or is that a joke?
@@conan111169 Naxos and Sultan aren't similar, Aaron is merely comparing the naturals in the two scents. Naxos is way more popular, and far cheaper.
@@conan111169 Maxaroma is releasing Aaron’s rebranded frags
I have Sultan, I love it. So expensive, though. Absurdly expensive. The pricing has made me not want to explore the house further.
You're not really missing out on much. Imperator and Nocturna are also worth a look. They have a couple really aggressive scents as well, thinking of Habanos mainly, but Ytzma as well. A lot of their fresher stuff is pretty plain/boring.
Been waiting more than a year for this review.
Could you review Blessed Baraka from Initio?
Where is the music? 😢
Holy shit Aaron! This is the single most educational video you've done for me. Absolutely so helpful for my perfumery. Thanks so much.
Have it and love it.Paid under $300.00 Canadian for 100 ml at a discounter.
@M B Not OP, but love Sultan very dearly. It's among a handful of standouts from RC. If you like sweeter vanilla-driven gourmands, this is a must-try.
@@DivineFrag There are many nice vanilla scents, what makes this worth the super high pricetag? Curious
@@MoahGentle I don't think that there are many nice vanilla scents (where vanilla is the key component). The biggest problem with vanillas is their tendency to lean feminine (if not be outright feminine). Great examples include Guerlain's Spiriteuse Double, Micallef's Note Vanille, Diptyque's Eau Duelle, Xerjoff's Bouquet Ideale etc. A couple are pretty close to the edge too, so maybe unisex (Goldfield & Banks' Silky Woods, Atelier des Ors' Lune Feline, Initio's Absolute Aphrodisiac). The only true unisex vanillas in my head are Nishane's Ani, YSL's Babycat, Rosendo Mateu's No5, and LO's Vanagloria. I might've missed something, but these are the ones I've tried (I'm completely ignoring amber-vanillas here!)
What makes Sultan worth the pricetag? To me, there is nothing in the market that does what Sultan does. It has a unique aura to it. Trust me, I know that sounds like typical fragcom BS, but when people talk about mesmerizing scents (typically labelled as "man-eater" or "womanizer"), I never really got what that meant until my significant other wore Bouquet Ideale. I have that same sensation from wearing Sultan as a "man-eater" fragrance would have on me if my SO wore one. To me, Suitan is a more refined, masculine take of Initio's Absolute Aphrodisiac. I'm mainly getting dense vanilla sweetness with a very fitting combination of woods. What Aaron calls "a very nice vanilla scent" in this video is something that perfectly aligned with my senses and made it a must-have. And I say this as somebody that has a massive amount of gourmands, incl. Angels' Share, Black Phantom, Intoxicated, Lune Feline Extrait, and more.
Yes, the price is absurdly high, but we can clearly say the same thing about rose-ouds. The fact that Oud Satin, Akaster, Favonius etc are available for relatively cheaper does not take away from the unique qualities of scents like Alexandria II, Nefs, Ceylon etc. I don't give Royal Crown special treatment just because Sultan happens to be my favorite scent of all-time - most of their stuff to me is a dud, and I have far higher hit-rates with brands like Initio and Xerjoff. The only scent that has gotten close to what Sultan did to me is Imperator (and maybe also Nocturna, but that is basically an alternative take of God of Fire to my nose).
I traded a 10ml Creed sample for a 8ml sample of this. It smells like a luxurious marshmallow. I love to wear it to bed because it's so sweet and cozy. Idk if I would pay $400 for it though. But imo none of the creeds are worth $400 either.
Thank you so much Aaron for superb reviews, It is always fascinating to watch, your knowledge and passion create a wonderful viewing and listening experience🎆
would you mind reviewing Tygar by Bulgari?
Your aesthetic goes hard af.
@8:22 excellent approach... For £400 you should... Agree! 👏🏼🙂
It’s a nice scent. I’m wearing it right now. Smooth and very easy to wear. But not worth the money.
Hey, Aaron! Can you review fragrances from Penhaligon’s Portraits collection?
400 quid!? 🫣 Out of my price range.
I'll stick with Naxos, Just bought 100ml for £166 🤗 'Whatta Beast!' 😁
Probably the most I've spent on one frag as most of my collection is designer but the performance is insane on me 🤗
Aaron how do you apply frangrances. How many sprays? Can you Share this with us? Thank you love your channel.
Hi Aaron, please review Diptyque-Vetiverio EDP or Amouage-Jubiliation XXV
I would have expected from a perfumer to know that "70% alcohol" does not mean that the rest of 30% is perfume oil. The alcohol is diluted to a 70% by a mix of perfume oils AND other solvents, fixatives etc, hence you cannot tell the perfume concentration out of alcohol volume.
Correct!
Hey, Aaron! Can you please review Voce Viva by Valentino?
Had mine for awhile and sold it. Prefer Tihota Indult instead
Bought a decant and for me it smelled like burning vanilla but it was ok but for me is to expensive for what it is
royal crown has some great fragrance like imperator, Khan and absolute. but Sultan gets the most love from the fragrance community, I personally think Sultan is overrated and agree with you it's just a 7/10 fragrance, but it's £400 😬
I think Sultan is a 10/10 fragrance (the smell!), but as a whole, you cannot rate it more than a 7 or an 8 due to the pricing.
I just purchased this. Ath haze. Ath legend. And ath onyx. Im excited for them all!
Sadly not readily available in Vietnam😢
Funny how you never mention Labdanum as a compound. In my opinion Labdanum is one of the most beautiful scents. Labdanum + Vanilla are the backbone of the Amber accord, one of my favourite accords. The queen of scent combo’s.
Metallic vanilla.... Sounds just like Metallique by Tom Ford! For me, it works, but I'm sure that is a very very delicate balance which 99% of the time would not.
Metallique smells like feminine vanilla dryer sheets. Sultan smells like a chocolate hostess cake with vanilla cream filling. Just to give you an idea of what they smell like, they're very different.
@@paulysci925 Ah sure, I wasn't suggesting the fragrances were similar, just the concept of "metallic vanilla" - of course there would be many ways to skin that cat! It's just the first thing I thought of when he said that "wouldn't work".
Thanks Aaron.
HI AARON!
No background music? 🥲
Would like to know what you think about Bentley for man intense.. its a chipie
He already reviewed it over a year ago on another channel : Frag-Mental
I think with that much price ROJA is much safer place to invest.😏✌️
Roja doesn't really do that many traditional gourmands. You can get Sweetie Aoud which is a tad more feminine and just as showstopping as a gourmand as Sultan is, prices are nearly identical between the two if you pay full retail for Sultan. Royal Crown ran a 15% promo on Christmas, so that would priced a 100ml at just above €490. Edit: Just so I don't forget, Roja frequently does 10% off as well, if we're comparing apples-to-apples.
I don’t own any Royal Crown, but I personally love the bottle and cap design. But they are WAY overpriced. And the reviews on fragrantica are very underwhelming.
Is it worth it? I've no idea how much Burmese oud and the other ingredients cost.
imo it is worth if you have a small collection and limited exposure to gourmands. This would take up all the wear that you'd normally give to scents like Black Phantom, Intoxicated, Angels' Share etc. I have all 4 (the 3 Kilians and Sultan) - if you asked me what to get for date night, and you have the $ for it, I would get Sultan and not buy any of the Kilians. Kilian is merely more accessible (available in stores, lower price).
@@DivineFragI have angels share and sultan. I definitely like sultan more. But there has to be something out there that’s got more dimensions than this but thats still made as well as sultan.
I've had a smell of Sultan, and to me it smells pretty much like, I think, off the top of my head, I could be wrong, but Montale sweet vanilla smells pretty much the same, and you get twice as much, for a quarter of the price, so it would be a no from me.
Any Royal Crown runs circles around a Montale. Most Montales have a clear syntheticness to them which is not at all present with RC. Obviously the price is an issue, but it's all about your value assessment and disposable income.
@@DivineFrag yep I agree, I don't have the cash for the royal crown, but for a similar smell for a quarter of the price, I'll have to go for the cheaper one.
@Celixify it's not worth the money regardless of disposable income.
@@DrRDW Heavy disagree. No other vanilla comes close to Sultan, doesn't matter if we're talking the Mancera/Montale price tier, Marly price tier, Nishane price tier. If you want elite quality blend, you pay big bucks to get it. Sultan is a vanilla like no other, and if you've smelled enough vanillas, you'd know that.
There are fragances that are nice but not $350-450 nice!
How much?! For that price i would want it taking me out on the town 😰🙈
I'm not sure if it's still available there, but if you're London-based, go to Harrods and on the 6th floor in the Roja Dove Haute Parfumerie, there's a small Royal Crown stand. Sample it and you won't regret it. This is the number 1 showstopping gourmand in the market today and nobody knows of it. Yes, it's expensive, but everyone talks about Nefs from Nishane with far more hype and that costs even more (that is also a showstopper, just not a gourmand).
Nah not worth it, i brought the 100ml ended up given to a relative as it doesn't project at all! Worth 100 pounds at best! If you look close at the bottle its kinda tacky etc
R.I.P. Paco Rabanne 🙏
I don’t feel like a Sultan 🤣🤣🤣
Royal Crown is a line that is ALWAYS overpriced for what they sell. The product would STILL be over priced at HALF the asking price. Just not worth the money by any stretch.
I didn't like it! Give my decant of this away.
Absolutely uninterested in this brand - I wouldn't have paid for it had I even been wiping my ass with 100€ bills. To me that's a brand for tasteless Ric people that need expensive, not quality products (not saying it's not quality). I just think the goal was for it to be sold to rich, tasteless people.
Kitsch bottle. Over the top. Not my taste.
First*
@M B idk I was just bored on yt :(
I really hope it smells nothing like naxos. Because I want to get this but hate naxos