3
Is this a joke?
It is going to be a struggle for me to say anything about the fragrance itself, because Aoud Extraordinaire serves as an insult to the intelligence of niche fragrance hobbyists all around the world. Strap in, this is going to be a slaughter.
Before even spraying the fragrance, the price tag of €720/100ml sets the expectation high, yet when putting it on, you are met with off-the-charts levels of disappointment. Aoud Extraordinaire opens as a very generic fruity fragrance with a creamy-sweet structure and some floral nuances. Essentially, the scent is adjacent to the fruitchouli profile traditionally worn by women and does not have any separable edge in the air over fragrances that can be found for as little as €20-30. Relative to these cheapies, the Roja will obviously outshine them for blend quality, given the lack of synthetic edges, but that clearly is not enough to warrant purchasing this product. There is no significant evolution as the scent dries either: the fruits eventually are equaled by various floral notes with vanilla, musk and white florals making up the ultimate base structure. Like many other products in the line, the oud qualities here are not well pronounced and the scent has zero oriental/woody feel for several hours.
Accords: fruity-creamy-sweet-floral
But most of all, what Aoud Extraordinaire showcases is that their feminine fragrances within the Aoud line need influencers pushing it over social media. Much like Enigma Aoud Parfum, this fragrance was sent out in PR as it was predictable it would be a flop. Now those same people are not only trying to upsell us on this dead average product, but also on fruity-floral fragrances being unisex - when has this category ever been viewed as something to be sold to male consumers? That makes it impossible to take Roja's marketing outlet seriously, because the concept of integrity is completely lost on these dishonest parties. Ultimately, we have a product that, albeit not synthetic, still suffers from numerous amounts of products: generic profile, no blend upside, very high price point, mediocre performance (intimate-to-arms length sillage + 5-6 hour longevity), being pushed by people who'd never buy it etc.
But perhaps the most puzzling part is why would the brand even put this out? Roja appears to be trying to target female consumers with a majority of their releases in 2024 (Elysium pour Femme in 2 concentrations, Isola Sol, Aoud Extraordinaire and maybe even Lost in Paris), yet nothing is sticking. Creed is trying to diversify their portfolio in the same way, but brands should never forget the hand that feeds them - when the core of the catalogue is driven by scents targeting the men's market, there's only so much to be achieved with a pivot like this and if you do pivot, it needs to be a home-run, not a three-and-out like the one Roja has here.
Before even spraying the fragrance, the price tag of €720/100ml sets the expectation high, yet when putting it on, you are met with off-the-charts levels of disappointment. Aoud Extraordinaire opens as a very generic fruity fragrance with a creamy-sweet structure and some floral nuances. Essentially, the scent is adjacent to the fruitchouli profile traditionally worn by women and does not have any separable edge in the air over fragrances that can be found for as little as €20-30. Relative to these cheapies, the Roja will obviously outshine them for blend quality, given the lack of synthetic edges, but that clearly is not enough to warrant purchasing this product. There is no significant evolution as the scent dries either: the fruits eventually are equaled by various floral notes with vanilla, musk and white florals making up the ultimate base structure. Like many other products in the line, the oud qualities here are not well pronounced and the scent has zero oriental/woody feel for several hours.
Accords: fruity-creamy-sweet-floral
But most of all, what Aoud Extraordinaire showcases is that their feminine fragrances within the Aoud line need influencers pushing it over social media. Much like Enigma Aoud Parfum, this fragrance was sent out in PR as it was predictable it would be a flop. Now those same people are not only trying to upsell us on this dead average product, but also on fruity-floral fragrances being unisex - when has this category ever been viewed as something to be sold to male consumers? That makes it impossible to take Roja's marketing outlet seriously, because the concept of integrity is completely lost on these dishonest parties. Ultimately, we have a product that, albeit not synthetic, still suffers from numerous amounts of products: generic profile, no blend upside, very high price point, mediocre performance (intimate-to-arms length sillage + 5-6 hour longevity), being pushed by people who'd never buy it etc.
But perhaps the most puzzling part is why would the brand even put this out? Roja appears to be trying to target female consumers with a majority of their releases in 2024 (Elysium pour Femme in 2 concentrations, Isola Sol, Aoud Extraordinaire and maybe even Lost in Paris), yet nothing is sticking. Creed is trying to diversify their portfolio in the same way, but brands should never forget the hand that feeds them - when the core of the catalogue is driven by scents targeting the men's market, there's only so much to be achieved with a pivot like this and if you do pivot, it needs to be a home-run, not a three-and-out like the one Roja has here.
2 Comments
Ninamariah 7 months ago
1
Do you know that this scent was made to be layered with other scents in Aoud collection to give the deep fruity touch to them for those ones who like to have additional fruity flavors? It actually works very well in that way.
NicheOnly 7 months ago
1
I'd bet any amount that just became the go-to excuse for the brand's sales folk after this product absolutely flopped. Layering is already a gimmick only pushed forward by empty souls with no ability to create original content, now imagine doing that with a fragrance that is in the 99th percentile for cost...