Club de Nuit Uńtōld Armaf

“Dick, you’re FIRED!” would Robocop respond to Armaf attempting to copy BR540.

First of all, I want to mention that I generally have no issues with dupes or Armaf; on the contrary, it allows students like me the opportunity to smell more than just Club Mate and armpit sweat, but also to enjoy a niche fragrance. Club de Nuit Intense Man Limited Edition is, in my opinion, the fragrance we wished for after the reformulation war of Creed Aventus. I would almost claim it is a masterpiece to be able to offer such performance and quality at such a low price. I love the scent and find the hype was definitely justified. As you can see from the rating and the start, I won’t be praising it as much from now on, but rather sharing my honest experience with the scent.

It was a day like any other; I was sitting in the library, preoccupied with searching for new perfumes instead of productively studying for my upcoming exams. What can I say, this forum is both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, you find like-minded people who understand you; on the other hand, you end up buying significantly more than you intended due to the omnipresence of the topic.

So, I looked for what else there is besides BR540 to avoid another bread & water diet, and I came across Untold. I checked YouTube to see what the general feedback on the scent was. The result seemed to indicate it was another hit; a quick search online showed it was even available. The fragrance gods seemed to be favoring me once again more than I probably deserved. I ordered it right away and eagerly waited for it to finally arrive. I opened the box faster than kids open their presents on Christmas. I first had to realize that the packaging and the interior were not as nice as I was used to from CDNIM-LI. I thought to myself, it doesn’t matter; I always tell women to look at my inner values to have a chance.

Cap off, spray on the skin, and bring the snout close.
The first impression was, “Did I just spray perfume or cheap disinfectant on my arm?” (comparable to the disinfectant used in supermarkets during lockdown). So, my enthusiasm took a nosedive, and I thought, “This perfume is supposed to have 95% similarity (YT) to BR540.” I couldn’t agree with that at all, but some reported that it was supposed to reveal its magic after 30-40 minutes. I waited and sniffed at the spot with careful intervals and slowly began to perceive a sweetness that was similar to BR540, but that very sterile metallic smell was constantly in the foreground, making it hard for me to enjoy. However, I held on to the hope that it could still turn out well with the scent - although I’m not thrilled about fragrances that take 30 minutes or longer to find themselves - but it was also significantly cheaper. 50 minutes later, still the unpleasant disinfectant feeling for me, with some pleasant sweet aspects, but not 100% comparable to BR540. The sweetness is fascinating, but with repeated sniffing, the combination with the metallic scent almost leads to heartburn, to put it exaggeratedly. This shows that inner values are sometimes represented by the outer, and I shouldn’t take it too harshly in the world of women. Nevertheless, one should evaluate the scent as a perfume for itself and not as a dupe. Unfortunately, my judgment is the same; the scent is too sterile and metallic for me, there is sweetness present, but it is so enveloped by the chemical accents that it spoils the “composition” for me. Despite being on a tight budget, I decided to buy BR540; the scent is simply much rounder, and I don’t have to wait to enjoy my fragrance. I believe the multitude of good reviews is also due to the fact that most people haven’t had the chance to smell the original, and that’s a good thing because only then is a truly objective evaluation possible. I’ll compare it to books. Dostoevsky has ruined all literature for me because everything I read afterward simply doesn’t shine in the same light. Everything I read, I compare to that, and I must conclude that it has significantly influenced the way I perceive literature. It’s the same with BR540; I smelled it and perceived it as something unique, and now I find it hard to perceive “similar” scents as they are because they probably don’t have the same capabilities to create such a fragrance as MFK. BR540 is my blueprint; of course, one can surpass it, but one should also come up with something creative to avoid a 1-to-1 comparison. All in all, I believe it is an average scent, which is not a bad thing, but for anyone looking to replace BR540, this scent is definitely not it.

I chose the reference to Robocop deliberately, and I think it describes the situation quite fittingly. BR540 represents the policeman Alex Murphy before he was brutally murdered. Armaf tried to bring him back to life by turning him into a robot, but robots have their strengths and weaknesses. In the case of Untold, the weaknesses are indeed more significant than the strengths. The metallic smell, the longevity (max. 4h), and the thankfully not present sillage make it, at best, an average scent for me. Maybe I was unlucky with the delivery or other reasons why the scent doesn’t come off positively for me, but as it stands now, I cannot recommend this scent, especially not as a blind buy, which of course doesn’t have to reflect the broad masses.