Avant-Garde M. Micallef for men

A very kind member here sent me a miniature of Avant-garde.
To my nose, the opening reminds me of Dune for Men: sweet sirupy citrus, very light and soft. I could imagine this very well on a woman too.
I am used to quite hard and edgy perfumes, so for me Avant-garde seems above all comforting, as Tigerlilian put it, and optimistic.
I don't get any tobacco, leather or cocoa on my skin. If you really look for it, there is something a bit in that direction, but if you don't, it is a dryer version of Dune. Which is not a bad thing to have on you at all !

A sensual scent to set my heart all aflutter! Avante-Garde is truly that indeed--contemporary and edgy with a gorgeously warm citrus opening, rather masculine to start with a very scant aquatic/melon undertone that occasionaly glistens through 'til the end.

As Avante-Garde warms up, I get some dry cacao and leather which is a little rough but at the same time, seductive. Then the leather starts to soften and smoke with a hypnotic curl of sweet tobacco...

Thicker it becomes with the resinous depth that tolu balsam offers--pure, earthy, spiced deliciousness. The scent of tolu balsam I think is similar to palm or date sugar--big, darks chunks of gritty sweetness, like a really dirty and rich clump of conventional brown sugar but with some dark yellow, burnt grassy edges. Tonka contributes some smoky hay-like vanilla that accents the sensual, leathery drydown just perfectly.

If you love leather fragrances, Avante-Garde is a must try--comforting, strong and naturally edgy.

A male scent you say? Well for me it morphs into a bombshell of a unisex fragrance! Oriental spicy, yes, I get that. A grand entrance is made in the beginning with orris(root) and sweet, heady, rich tobacco (reminds me of walking into a top- notch tobacco shop I used to frequent in downtown Ansbach, Germany ...) mmmmm). Tonka beans, incense (and perhaps some leather to give it some masculinity) seal this delectable olfactory dream. Don't really get the citrus but it's nice to know it's there; same thing with the cacao: I have to really try hard to detect it. It is very elusive. I do get vanilla but maybe that's the cacao.
Luckyscent.com lists the notes as:
Bergamot, grapefruit, cocoa bean, tobacco, incense, Russian leather, tonka bean, grey amber.
Very well done.
P.S. At drydown a dead ringer for Baldessarini Ambre` mixed with Bvlgari Black.

This scent has good lasting power. When it opened I could really smell the cacao in this, but not your usual gourmand scent there's something still kind of dirty about, which is great because as it dries down it really turned into a warmer more clean scent on me. It's a nice scent, but I go for something a little more dramatic. If your looking for something different, yet safe than this is the scent for you.

The main notes of Avant Garde are lemon, yellow flag, iris, cocoa, tobacco, incense, tonkabeans, tolubalm.
From these I did not expect it to be quite as sweet as it actually is. It is supposed to be unisex, but comes off somewhat slightly more feminine to my nose (but that seems the trend for masculine scents recently). It does however get more masculine as it moves along. It's also got an unexpected fruity opening, with the top notes reminiscent of watermellon sweets. I am not familiar with the yellow flag note, so cannot really fairly comment on it, but my guess is that's were the fruityness derives from. It then moves swiftly into more of what I was expecting with the cocoa, tobacco, incense combo warming the fragrance up nicely. It becomes more and more appealing as the notes develop. However there is always a slight odd "lipsticky" type scent that permeates giving the whole composition an odd slant (my own skin chemistry could be the culpruit for this though!). The dry down is comforting balsamy and vanilla like from the tonka and tolu resin. All in all, I believe the fragrance perfectly named as the scent is certainly an unexpected and odd chocolate fragrance. But ultimately well blended and unique. I highly recommend sampling before buying as it's highly unusual but perfect if you are looking for something different and, well, 'avant-garde' !