Xerjoff built MV Augusta around its collaboration with the Italian motorcycle maker MV Agusta, launching it in 2020 as a limited release tied to the racing world. That partnership has since ended and Xerjoff no longer sells the fragrance, which makes this one of the more awkward bottles to shop for. It is also one of the house’s most distinctive leather compositions, so it pays to know exactly what you are hunting for before paying collector prices on the secondary market.
What Does Xerjoff MV Augusta Smell Like?
MV Augusta opens with Calabrian bergamot and clove, and the clove is not polite background spice. It lands immediately, giving the citrus a hot, faintly medicinal edge that reads closer to saddle soap than fresh cologne. Within the first half hour the heart takes over: iris brings a cool powdery facet, ylang-ylang adds a banana-creamy richness, and incense threads smoke through everything.
The drydown is where this fragrance earns its following. Leather dominates, but it is smooth, buttery, well-tanned leather rather than anything birch-tar harsh or rubbery. Labdanum resin thickens it, tonka bean rounds off the spice with gentle sweetness, and patchouli with musk keep the base earthy and skin-warm. Compared with Tom Ford Tuscan Leather, this trades the fruity raspberry note for florals and smoke, landing somewhere more restrained and adult.
Performance
Community consensus puts longevity at 8 to 12 hours on skin, and most wearers get a full workday out of four sprays. Projection is strong for the first two hours, enough to fill a room, then settles into a moderate aura that stays noticeable for several more hours before turning skin-close. On wool coats and scarves it survives overnight.
The tradeoff is versatility. This is dense, spicy leather built for cold air. In summer heat the clove and resin can turn sharp and cloying, and in an office it will announce itself. Treat it as a three-season fragrance at most.
Best Clone Or Alternative
Dua Start Your Engines! is the closest widely available match, and Dua openly names MV Agusta as its inspiration. The note list mirrors the original almost exactly: Calabrian bergamot, clove oil, olibanum, ylang-ylang, leather accord, musks, tonka beans and patchouli coeur. It omits the iris and labdanum, so it reads a touch spicier and less powdery than the original, but the buttery leather character is intact and Dua sells it at extrait strength. At $36 for 34 ml from theduabrand.com against roughly £107.95 for 50 ml of the original, the value gap is enormous.
What the original still does better is polish. The iris gives MV Augusta a powdery floral elegance that the clone flattens out, and the blending is more seamless through the transition from spice to leather. Given that the original is discontinued and stock is drying up, Start Your Engines! is also becoming the only realistic way for most people to smell like this at all.
When To Wear It
Fall and winter are its natural habitat. Cold air suits the smoky leather and keeps the sweetness in check. It fits evening wear, date nights and special occasions far better than daytime office duty, and it works on anyone, since the composition is unisex despite its masculine-leaning marketing.
Who Should Buy It
Buy it if you love refined leather fragrances and want something with real presence that is not another Tuscan Leather clone with a raspberry topping. Collectors who regret missing the Xerjoff release should also track down decants while retailers still have stock.
Who Should Skip It
Skip it if you want a versatile daily scent, if heavy clove bothers you, or if you dislike floral facets in your leathers. Anyone balking at secondary-market pricing for a discontinued bottle should simply go straight to the Dua.
Final Verdict
MV Augusta is a well-built, distinctive leather that deserved longer than its limited run. Strong performance, a clear identity, and a genuinely close affordable alternative make it easy to recommend, provided you shop it at the right price or accept the clone as the sensible route.