Royal Oud Creed 2011

Royal Oud opens with a gentle peppery green grass accord that most likely is derived from the angelica rising from its heart. During the early heart the peppery angelica dominates, deepened by a musky green galbanum and sandalwood tandem exhibiting an almost sweet pipe tobacco-like vibe but with a more green tinge, with faint hints of just barely detectable woody cedar staying well in the background. During the late dry-down the peppery angelica finally recedes, allowing the remnants of the sweet sandalwood and galbanum to combine with relatively clean musk to round out the development. Projection is excellent and so is longevity at 10-12 hours on skin.

Royal Oud is an enigma of a fragrance by Creed. It is quite green, very spicy, somewhat woody and relatively sweet. What I find missing, however, is the Oud. Oh, there may be trace elements of Oud in here somewhere, but to me this is more a sweet spicy woody composition than an Oud one by far. In all truthfulness, angelica is the predominant note to my nose and it is featured in all its peppery green glory. I find the composition quite pleasant and skillfully done on the whole and wouldn't mind wearing it one iota. What I can't completely ignore, however, is the near absence of the headlining note (which I am guessing is how Creed felt justified in setting its near scandalous $325 per 75ml bottle retail price) that comes off as somewhat deceptive. If Creed called the fragrance (as pompous sounding as it may be) "Royal Angelica" or "Royal Green Spice" they would have been much more honest to the purchaser. The bottom line is Creed may be potentially deceptive in its Oud name here, but Royal Oud is a fine green spicy woody composition despite this with excellent performance metrics that is certainly worth a sniff if you come across it earning a "very good" 3.5 star out of 5 rating. If you choose to sample Royal Oud and don't expect much in the way of Oud and don't pay retail you very well may be pleased.