Royal Oud Creed 2011

I must admit, I have never been too keen on Creed fragrances. They didn’t seem special or unique, and often overpriced in my opinion. Royal Oud however, is a whole different story. This fragrance is in a league of its own. Even though the name suggests oud, it’s not the main player here, this fragrance is all about the beautiful cedar and sandalwood playing together.

Opens a bit harsh and pungent, but let it sit for about 5 minutes, and watch the magic unfold. I know this seems like a big statement, but in my humble opinion, this would be a fragrance a member of a royal family would wear, whether it’s a prince or a king. That’s how good this stuff is. Royal Oud is not loud or shouting or aiming for attention in any sort of way. It projects just enough to let others get a whiff here and there. It has no need to be loud, cause the smell itself
is out of this world. It knows its worth. It smells so expensive, and it’s blended to perfection. Lasts a good 8 hours, and performs well, which is to be expected with its price tag. You don’t have to wear a suit and tie for this one, but be aware that people will take notice of you. I have heard some say, that it also smells like money or a very wealthy person, and I tend to agree with this. It’s a fragrance that can seem both masterful but also intimidating.

I wore this one time, and I will never forget this experience. I was walking towards a light signal, and it was red.. So we stood around 3-4 people, waiting for the color to turn green. A woman beside me, looked at me without saying anything, she was just starring… I looked at her but she said nothing. She just looked mesmerized, and I could see a curiosity in her eyes, before she walked away as the light turned green again. If you have ever got a compliment from someone, without them even opening their mouth, you know that you’re wearing something special. Julien Rasquinet, thank you for giving us this timeless classic.

Oh well, I thought I would have never said this, but... Royal Oud is great. Hands down. It just works perfectly. It’s rich, elegantly powerful, it has a ton of personality, it shows an amazingly crisp clarity of notes. The issue is that it has nothing to do with oud, and I really mean nothing, but once you know and accept that, it’s really good. And “royal” indeed. Basically it is a delightfully complex and overall quite “bright” blend of super crisp spicy cedar notes (real – or however, really good – cedar, for once!) infused with some balsamic pine-floral greenness, slightly bittersweet too, oddly dark and quite new to me (the “angelica” note, I suppose), an invigorating slap of aromatic citrus-bergamot with a juicy peppery vibe, all layered on Creed’s trademark synthetic “sparkling musky ambroxan” base.

It may seem a simplistic déja-vu, but it’s actually quite unique. It’s truly a superb, almost loud rich spicy-green woody blend with a truly palpable feel of crystal clarity, of uplifting golden crispness, with a fantastic thin shade of dark. I get an intense “forest” vibe out of this, but filtered through a very mannered and refined lens. It smells round and sophisticated, at once powerful but bright and distinguished enough not to smell too obtrusive. Plus, the woody accord is plain great – it’s truly pure wood, extremely aromatic and realistic, something miles above the majority of woody scents. It just feels “stereo”, if you get what I mean, and very modern in its texture. And also it has that subtle, elegant, confident and very distinctive sort of balsamic-green feel provided by the angelica note (again – just a guess: I never smelled this material before, so I’m not sure if it’s that, but most probably it is). It’s basically a sort of balsamic absinthe-like note with a pine feel, so to speak. It blends amazingly well with pepper, cedar and the fresh citrus notes, and it also creates a sort of subtle bitter herbal vein with a subtle, exotic “poisonous” feel. This gives Royal Oud a very pleasant, and again, quite creative sort of “dark green” shade which is really perfect for the mood – counter-balancing the bright crispness of cedar, citrus and pepper and the designer-oriented dustiness of musky ambroxan.

For once this is something genuinely unique, distinctive, totally versatile, amazingly refined and absolutely compelling quality-wise and performance wise (beast longevity, Dolby projection). Still overpriced, a bit linear and ridiculously mis-named, but terrific.

8-8,5/10

If you’re a blazer and designer jeans wearing guy, 45 and up, and need a fall and winter signature, this is it. Or, if you’re a graying, deep orange silk jumpsuit wearing guy, with a V-12 powered Bugatti, then, yes, this is for you, too — ‘cept this guy can wear it in the dead of summer if he wanted.

Class or decadent crass, this is your scent.

My bottle has become nuclear, so i only spray twice in fall or winter. Lol

This and Spice and Woods are my favorite creeds.

Side note:
Instead of wasting their time with these variations of Aventus, Creed should release a Middle East exclusive of Royal Oud. In it, put real, noticeable, amounts of oud and watch it fly off the shelves.

Just make the overall composition super high quality and, no matter what the price tag says, watch it FLY off the shelves.

Just my two cents…

Royal Oud is the most diverse classy scent I have in my collection. Great for a wedding, great of a business meeting, perfect for a classy night out on the town, great in the summer and spring, good on a fall and winter day. Absolutely perfect for the office (barring the price that is).

Royal Oud is an oud for non-oud lovers, much like Oud Wood is for those who want a bit of a flirtatious oud. Royal Oud opens spicy with a sweet edge. You immediately sense the woodiness from the oud but it is never dank or damp it is more arid in its approach. So again the opening is spicy yet there is a sweetness and depth. There is this smokiness floating in the background yet it remains fresh and classy and invigorating the entire time. The lasting power is all day and what is weird is this. In the summer it is more spicy/sweet in the cooler weather it is more smoky/sweet and the woods is deeper.

This fragrance never ceases to amaze me. It is something that once you put your nose on it, will immediate give you that "its a classic" feeling. It never overbears yet never underwhelms. If I could give something a 6 out of 5 it would be this.

Very classic scent! There is no oud in this one (my personal opinion).
Cedar/sandalwood/angelica are so good blended in this one.
Fougere & sandalwood is my final experience with this one. If I didn’t knew oud at all I would say that the name is very elegant choosen, but I detect no oud in this one so for the name it’s a big dissapointment…but believe me when I say that this is one of the best fougere / green / sandalwood based frangrances.
Very elegant and light to wear.
A must have for the gentlemen among us!!