What would a vacation be without a stop at the duty-free shop, and as is my way, I headed towards the corner that seemed least familiar to me. There it was, The One Royal Night. 100 ml for around €87 (Madrid), there was also a smaller size for about €65/50 ml, if I remember correctly.
I asked the shy young employee if she could explain the difference between the regular The One and the Royal Night, and she simply said, “You know Oud?” Oud, which wasn’t listed in any fragrance pyramid, neither here nor on various other sites, but could fit into the oriental concept. I had little time, so I quickly sprayed a sample on a card and moved on. There I smelled The One For Men, which I already knew, and thought to myself, “Oud, sure. Oriental concept and Oud right away. Nothing of that, at least no note I would recognize. Typical marketing and old wine in new bottles.”
Not that I’m an Oud expert, but after almost 2 years with Parfumo and countless different fragrances with various types of Oud, I like to think I know the substance a bit.
On the way back, I decided to test it on my skin, after all, I quite like The One since the EDP came out. This time there was a guy there. I asked him the question again about the difference.
“I smell some typical grapefruit and cardamom I know from the start with The One, but what is else inside the scent?!”
“Yes yes yes, exactly, the same but stronger, richer, more powerful, and oriental with additional Oud.” Oud again!
“Well, I must give it some time to develop on my skin, maybe I’ll recognize it.” What a fool, it smelled like this: see my The One EDP comment. Exactly.
Thank goodness I didn’t bring it for sharing or anything like that, that would really be no innovation or enrichment.
I had already been sitting on the plane for several hours, and thought they could finally close the toilet door, it was horridly drafty from there towards me. I tilted my head towards the emerging note, my nose came alarmingly close to my right wrist: That was me! The base note had revealed itself, and it was a sweetly filthy, indeed (praise the lord!) Oud note that belongs in the “fecal” category. I like Oud in certain combinations, but rose-saffron surely isn’t one of them, and fecal even less so. To me, the Oud in Black Afgano smells similarly, and unfortunately, I can’t stand it. Even though here it is only about one-fifth as concentrated as in Black Afgano.
The Oud becomes noticeable here from about the third hour, alongside the typical The One DNA of cardamom, orange blossom, and grapefruit. Quite a steep combination! The longevity is unfortunately also 8 hours +. Images began to form in my head, camel races, 50 degrees, maximum hairy sheikhs under their robes…(why should it be better for you). Not for me. This combination is too eccentric, too inappropriate, as if this Oud note had been completely artificially forced in there, just so one could say they released a flanker (by the way, a **-word/fecal language) with Oud. I don’t see the similarity with One Million or Code, even though I understand how this subjective assessment comes about. The base creeps along with a nasty dry note towards the end, but it has one thing, thankfully.
So I’m very glad I didn’t buy it, it simply wasn’t worth the money to me. Too artificial, too forced in the composition.
It’s just The One For Men with a fecal note, and it’s a mystery to me how people can enjoy spraying something like this on themselves in even stronger forms. But please, don’t say I didn’t warn anyone here.
Top Notes 
Basil
Cardamom
Heart Notes 
Nutmeg
Base Notes 
Sandalwood
Amber
Cedar
Labdanum
Desro
BS96
BertolucciK
Topfpflanze3
Patj1994
Licorice
Theris
Basti87
Aliana
Stan93
