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Pure Malt - don't get the hype !?!

post #1 of 30
6/9/12 at 2:10am
Thread Starter 
I have searched for a 100 ml bottle of Pure Malt and Pure Havane for 5-6 months. Found out Sephora France sells them, so ordered one of each and a L'Instant de Guerlain eau de Parfume Extreme expecting to order extra once this arrived safely (always test a shop before I make major big purchases)

FYI
I hate A*Men
I dislike chocolate scented frags
I kind of like cacao scent in frags
I expected Pure Malt to have a boozy character, but I only get that note for 1 hour then it's only caramel & chocolate dry down for 8-10 hours

I DON'T GET THE PURE MALT HYPE !

I will layer this with Jaipur Homme EDP to see if I like it better, but smelling if chocolate definitely is not me, which is why I hate A*Men
Pure Malt alone makes me a bit nausea to be honest ......

Consider me disappointed .....
Pure Malt is well constructed, but a masterpiece - I don't think soooooo

Will test Pure Havane tomorrow.....

Thoughts ??
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post #2 of 30
6/9/12 at 2:14am
I like Pure Malt, but it's not mind blowing for me. I like Pure Havane a little more. I wouldn't pay the prices they are going for on EBay and other places, but they are quality fragrances that I keep in my regular rotation.
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post #3 of 30
6/9/12 at 2:40am
Between Pure Malt and Pure Havane I prefer Pure Malt, but I can understand you don´t like this. If you like cacao, maybe you´ll prefer Pure Havane although I warn to you: All A*Men flankers (except Pure Shot, wich is a flanker only for the name) have a drydown similar to the original A*Men (more lighter, but it´s almost the same).
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post #4 of 30
6/9/12 at 6:20am
If you got them from Sephora you can likely sell the bottle off for close to what you paid for it, so no harm done really.

I still find myself craving PM and PH every once and a while, even with gourmands/sweet frags like SDV, LIDGE, EDB, HM etc. at my disposal. Longevity and projection are fantastic too
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post #5 of 30
6/9/12 at 7:34am
I like Pure Malt as well as all the other flankers associated with A*Men. Having said that, I like Pure Havane a bit more than Pure Malt.
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post #6 of 30
6/9/12 at 10:13am
I like PM, but it's not one of my favorites. I would say that the hype is mostly due to the fact that it's discontinued and hard to find.
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post #7 of 30
6/9/12 at 10:37am
Thread Starter 
Will try to layer PM with Jaipur Homme EDP first before deciding whether to sell it or not.....

As said it's okayyyy sort of, just expected more from the bouzy note than 1-2 hours and then a gooey mid and dry down of chocolate - caramel note for 8-10 hours

Where can you use this - clubbing maybe, work/office not sure, children's birthday definitely......hmmmmm

Will try Pure Havane tomorrow - am wearing Dior Homme Intense layered with L'Instant De Guerlain Eau Extreme tonight, smells great on me !
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post #8 of 30
6/9/12 at 10:42am
Sounds like you bought the wrong fragrances since you don't really like any of the notes that these are known for. Pure Havane would be the most likely fragrance you'd enjoy, because it's far removed from A*men and basically smells like a French vanilla candle.
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post #9 of 30
6/9/12 at 11:05am
I totally understand here is how my flankers rank

Pure Havane
Pure Coffee
Pure Malt
Pure Shot
Pure Chili
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post #10 of 30
6/9/12 at 11:11am
It seems to me that in a forum like this, one scent will always tend to rise to the top in mystique and desirability somewhat related to its inability to easily acquire. I have a bottle and think it's okay, but hardly worth some of the inflated prices I see. But then too, if someone is really made happy paying $250 for a bottle, so be it.

My nose is not as discerning as many here, but it smells very similar to A*Men and all the other flankers to me. Then too, I am not in the age range of those that seem to foam at the mouth for Pure Malt.
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post #11 of 30
6/9/12 at 12:09pm
it just isn't for you, not trying to be smart but there isn't a single fragrance on the face of the earth that doesn't get criticism or is hated and considered repulsive to a certain group.
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post #12 of 30
6/9/12 at 12:32pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by silentrich View Post

Sounds like you bought the wrong fragrances since you don't really like any of the notes that these are known for. Pure Havane would be the most likely fragrance you'd enjoy, because it's far removed from A*men and basically smells like a French vanilla candle.

This....I on the other hand love PM more than PH (sold my bottle of PH) and on my skin PM is different than A*Men until the last stages of the dry down when its a skin scent.
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post #13 of 30
6/9/12 at 12:52pm
I must admit that I adored PM when it first came out. I also really liked PH. Fast forward to a few days ago; wore PM and was very much underwhelmed by it. It just seemed a bit... weak. I then wore PH and much preferred it to PM. Next day I wore the original A*Men and loved it. I honestly think that the original may be the best with PH in a very close second. Might have to wear ToF tomorrow if the weather is poor again and see how that one plays out; didn't like it at all on first wearing, so the bottle has been collecting dust. I find it fascinating how tastes change and evolve! I guess I would describe my taste now as being more mature with an unfortunate penchant for liking the really expensive stuff!
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post #14 of 30
6/9/12 at 1:43pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by silentrich View Post

Sounds like you bought the wrong fragrances since you don't really like any of the notes that these are known for. Pure Havane would be the most likely fragrance you'd enjoy, because it's far removed from A*men and basically smells like a French vanilla candle.

Well if you look at the notes on fragrantica, chocolate is NOT mentioned as a note - so I thought it smelled more like malt whisky and honny (beeswax) and maybe a hint of caramel.......

I only paid €75 each for both my Pure Malt and Pure Havane in 100 ml, so no big deal there.......

But honestly thought I would enjoy it so much that I had to order 2-3-4 extra bottles in case it really will be going totally out of production. It is still produced in France for a limited number of markets - www.sephora.fr have both in stock, but only ship to European countries - so I had no problem getting both as soon as I found out I could buy them on the Sephora.fr site and have them shipped to Denmark.
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post #15 of 30
6/9/12 at 1:48pm
Thread Starter 
Double post.....
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post #16 of 30
6/9/12 at 1:56pm
I'm not into the whole gourmand genre so I wasn't surprised to not find any of the Angel line alluring
I will mention though that I do like L'instant EDP and Jaipur!
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post #17 of 30
6/9/12 at 5:19pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by amw9490 View Post

I like Pure Malt, but it's not mind blowing for me. I like Pure Havane a little more. I wouldn't pay the prices they are going for on EBay and other places, but they are quality fragrances that I keep in my regular rotation.

Absolutely true.

I find myself craving Pure Malt and Pure Havane once every few months, alternate wear them a few days, and am good for a few more months. They don't seem to worm their way into my everyday rotation, however.
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post #18 of 30
6/9/12 at 11:54pm
IMO, almost all of the fragrances in the Pure line are better than Malt namely Coffee, Havane & ToF
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post #19 of 30
6/10/12 at 12:19am
Pure Malt and Pure Havane are both good.
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post #20 of 30
6/10/12 at 12:57am
I own and enjoy Pure Malt, get plenty of female compliments wearing it. I'm not a big fan of the original A-Men, but Pure Malt has an incredible opening. Has bags of sillage, projection and longetivity. The only thing that stops PM from true greatness, in my opinion, is the later drydown. One Basenoter described that stage as smelling "plasticy" and i have agree with that.
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post #21 of 30
6/10/12 at 2:28am
Pure Malt is a nice scent and all, but certainly overrated. Pure Havane I prefer, but I really get very little to none of the tobacco in it, or that of which would make this scent represent its name. IMO Taste of fragrance is the best flanker, and deserves all the spotlight.
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post #22 of 30
6/10/12 at 3:16am
There seems to be a trend that includes PM, Dior Homme, and L'Instant PH EdP. You get some "fireworks" up top but then the base doesn't offer enough note contrast. Some apparently don't mind it.
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post #23 of 30
6/10/12 at 3:31am
To like Pure Malt you have to love A*men, or at least like it. PM is designated as an A*men flanker, so one would expect to share part of that DNA somewhere.
To my nose all from this line are wonderful, original fragrances that I enjoy wearing. A hype of some fragrance, or any other product is just that and no one is obligated to jump in. Like someone said here you can sell them here with NO problem. And then you'll have more money to buy whatever strikes your fancy, isn't that great?
But this timendon't go blind buying, even if there's a lot of hype here ; )
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post #24 of 30
6/10/12 at 1:15pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ivan D' Great View Post

To like Pure Malt you have to love A*men, or at least like it. PM is designated as an A*men flanker, so one would expect to share part of that DNA somewhere.
To my nose all from this line are wonderful, original fragrances that I enjoy wearing. A hype of some fragrance, or any other product is just that and no one is obligated to jump in. Like someone said here you can sell them here with NO problem. And then you'll have more money to buy whatever strikes your fancy, isn't that great?
But this timendon't go blind buying, even if there's a lot of hype here ; )

Testing PM and PH was not possible, as no testers were available anywhere in the world, unless I knew some who owned them, which I don't, so either I blind bought them or thought about how great they would be/could be.

You get it
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post #25 of 30
6/11/12 at 12:14am
I recently finished testin both Pure Malt and Pure Havane. On my skin, Pure Havane seems to have better longevity than Pure Malt. From what I remember reading online a lot of people say that Pure Havane's longevity is not as good as Pure Malt. I love both Pure Malt and Pure Havane, but if I had to pick one or the other, I'd go for the Pure Malt. I definitely think that both are well worth the money. If A-Men is too strong for you, one of the other flankers should be more wearable. I paid $125 for my Pure Malt a week ago and would gladly do it again, and I bought the Pure Havane on Mugler's webpage 2 weeks ago. I'm seriously thinking about grabbing a backup bottle and really hope that they re-release Pure Malt soon. Is it over-hyped, maybe, but I love them both!
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post #26 of 30
6/11/12 at 8:24am
Good but not great imo.
original A*Men has a better dry down, Pure Malt a better opening.
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post #27 of 30
6/11/12 at 9:29am
Waiting for CHSeifert's take on Pure Havane\\:-/
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post #28 of 30
6/11/12 at 12:33pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shaka View Post

Waiting for CHSeifert's take on Pure Havane\\:-/

Still waiting to post about Pure Havane, but so far I like it better, because the sweet cherry pipe tobacco opening is decent, and the dry down does not have as much caramel and chocolate on my skin as Pure Malt has.......

But still prefer at least 5 tobacco frags over Pure Havane - might get 1 bottle of each as backup though, since both frags are better than Okay, but just not masterpieces or even GREAT, they just didn't WOW'ed me.
Still both frags are solid - but won't cry if I can't find any of them in a shop in 3-4 years time, when I run out of the juice......

I will cry if Kouros, Opium, Body Kouros, Egoiste, Platinum and several other frags are totally impossible to find, but not cry if I can't find 2 chocolate based boozy/sweet cherry frags that is very hard to wear to office, work and are more suited on a night out - but not clubbing since projection is rather weak on both compared to A*Men, which I happen to hate......

If only Pure Malt had more of the boozy feel, I would love it......only get 1-2 hours of the liquor scent
If only Pure Havane had more of the tobacco feel, I would adore it.....only get slight tobacco note and far more cherry sweet pipe tobacco, which is done FAR better in the $25 priced Bogart Pour Homme......
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post #29 of 30
6/11/12 at 5:32pm
At first I did not really care for Havane...then I wore it a few more times...then I fell in love with it. One of my favs, if not the fav.
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post #30 of 30
6/11/12 at 8:48pm
Pure Malt is an aura of A*Men with a whiskey note. Its is fine for what it is.
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