Malay Aklan by Montagne

As you get into the world of fragrances, one thing becomes clear…Creed has a name because it deserves to have a name, I would love to tell you otherwise as their prices make them hard to collect but I tell you, when you first smell a Creed you notice that it’s DNA is very hard to replicate and their scents tend to have a very natural feeling to them (specially the Millesime series).  Why am I talking so well about Creed for a review about Montagne? Easy, so you know how high my expectations are, so you know that when I review an inspired expression of Creed’s Millesime Imperial, I will be brutal and I expect to be impressed, anything less will become an instant NO from me (I’m looking at you Armaf).

The Opening

Malay Aklan opens up very fresh, marine, bergamot, fruits… but none of it is heavy, everything is airy as though it sits on top of your skin like dew on a big leaf, it opens up so fresh that you wonder if it’ll perform, if anyone around you would be able to tell you are wearing it, you doubt yourself for a second there and perhaps over-spray to compensate….then you get it, the scent bubble, the beautiful and natural scent bubble that makes you think of mandarins for a second, shifting into fruits later without losing that marine salty undertone that yells fresh at you. It never becomes cloying,  its never insulting, never animalic, never leather, just fresh…

The Mid & The DryDown

On the listed ingredients, there’s Iris, I can’t notice it…for me iris is always powdery and this fragrance never goes  powdery for me, …..but, the musk! Oh how magical is the musk and the sandalwood! What is the dry down for me? This is hard to describe, but I’ll try. Usually, chemical-induced fresh fragrances lose their opening notes and mid notes too fast and basically  turn into the heavy base wood note, whatever that is. Malay Aklan dries down to its sandalwood and musk base but it doesn’t lose that fresh feel , it stays airy and marine, in fact…and I know this is weird, for me the change from opening to dry down is not exponential, its linear (but not in a negative way, linear in a keep-enjoying-me-linear), the clean vibe stays and hours after applying this you can sniff the same DNA still, that’s a big deal with fresh fragrances that lose potency over the day…this loses potency but it’s still there, up to 9 hours later….it’s still there! It’s crazy, it’s almost too powerful for a “freshy”.

Compared to the Original

So I was finally able to test it, on skin, against the original, however, I could only do it once and I put MI on my skin and later put Malay, so, it’s not a deep dive per se as I wasn’t able to do my multiple day comparison test. However, this is where I stand: On my skin, with my chemistry, they are fairly similar but I detect more fruit on MI over Malay, there’s some watermelon DNA that isn’t listed for MI but that I can detect. Now, this is where it gets interesting, I hate the watermelon note (perhaps why I can detect it), it just doesn’t jive with me, now, it disappears on MI eventually so not too bad but, still, the point stands. I’ll say this, they are not completely alike but Malay Aklan is very close AND, unlike other houses that I’ve tried…Malay feels as natural as Millesime does, you don’t get any chemicals at all, it feels so clean. So, if you put them on test strips without names…most people would say they are the same fragrance (on the opening) and on the dry down Malay’s performance is over the top, it’s quite ridiculous, so that depends if you like that or not. If you are a fan of the watermelon note…however….you should pursue MI over Malay. If you ask me which one I would buy? That’s easy, Malay everyday, pound for pound there’s nothing on the Creed version that makes me think it should get my money.

A word of Caution

I like aquatic fragrances to go to the gym, or I did in my 20s, as a test, I decided to wear Malay for the gym, I put 1 spray on the chest and drove to the gym. Did cardio first so sweat a lot, the scent bubble became too much for the gym, TOO MUCH. On the gym I am very self-conscious of strong smells and Malay was off putting with “lemon pledge” DNA that I was not happy with. This was my fault, I shouldn’t had wore it for the gym! No one complained…but, I’m 6’2, over 200 pounds and have a big beard, people don’t usually stop me on the street to talk to me.

Conclusion 

I’ll be honest here, I got this fragrance thinking that if it didn’t work out, I would give it to my 12 year old son (who  has a healthy collection of Armaf bottles because of this same reason), worst case scenario, they don’t work for me…I buy the original and he gets the inspired expression. First time I tried Malay Aklan, I was impressed by the scent, but, truly believed it wouldn’t perform, it was too airy to perform I told myself and I made a note about measuring longevity….I have a note, 9 hours later that simply says “WOW, still there”.

I had my doubts about projection…so I tested that, I can say you would get 1.5 hours of solid projection, mind you, this is not Beast Mode, this is not going to leave a trail of scent wherever you go, this is the projection you want at a house party (even when its outside) where someone close can smell it without making the air around you so dense no one can ignore it. I’ve worn Malay Aklan three times, it has grown on me further with every wear, its a fantastic scent and one that I truly believe benefits my collection, should you buy it? Well….maybe? If you like Millesime Imperiale, then yes, 100%, if you don’t know it…try it first, it’s well done and playful, but so are tons of other fragrances that are as interesting. If you ask me “Should I buy this to replace MI?”, then the answer is Yes.

 I give this fragrance a solid 8/10 for itself, a 10/10 if I consider it costs $40, a 8/10 with how close it is to the original. I am happy its part of my collection, looking forward to Summer so I can use this a ton!