Mercedes-Benz Man Private
Mercedes-Benz (2018)

Love this one. Private Man is an underrated fragrance from an equally underrated fragrance house that's primarily known for making high quality vehicles. A masculine long lasting launch that really envelopes the skin without making people head for the exits. My reviews are very generic so I'm gonna end it here.

9/10

Buysblind's review gets this one right. This is Olivier Cresp's Oud Malaki flanker, skewed away from exotic, smoky spices towards a woody-lavender ambiance. It's very sophisticated by current designer standards, and it impressively hangs together as it moves into the resinous drydown (the base is both durable and intriguing).

This is a very good release from Mercedes, regardless of what age group it's best suited for (though I agree with the reviewer below that it's probably best for the 30 and up crowd). The cypress accord is rich and spicy, and it rests nicely over the smooth, rounded woody base. Private reminds me a lot of Oud Malaki, another underrated little gem from Chopard. Overall, this is a spicy woody fragrance with a dark amber hue running through it creating a fragrance that is sophisticated, and somewhat mature and serious. It's definitely more of a business fragrance or personal scent than anything to wear to a club or on a date, especially if you're young. Still, I have to hand it to Mercedes, they didn't miss a step here. The whole composition has good, quality notes, and rather than release another men's sweet woody amber like every other company's doing nowadays, Mercedes took it in a more traditional, classic direction and added something to the industry that's more needed these days--an elegant men's fragrance that doesn't pander to the mass market with cliched trends. They should be commended for that. I get good performance from Mercedes Benz Man Private. Final rating: 8/10, maybe 8.5 considering the bargain prices that it goes for.

Side note: Ambroxan is listed as a central component to the composition, but I don't really pick up on it that much. Either it's been camouflaged really well, or I just don't understand the note, because I would have never guessed that it's here.