First of all, I haven't tested many dupes to their originals. But Trono was the first fragrance I ever bought, I bought it without smelling Layton. And I'll be honest, I really hated it even in first sniff. The medicinal mentholic opening and incredibly boring, barebones drydown that is just woods and vanilla, not even well made at that.
I assumed Layton would smell similar, so stayed away from it all this time even though I had started to explore niches fragrances, until my curiosity got the better of me recently. I actually do not love Layton either, mostly because I get a similar medicinal opening with it too, but Layton also had a fruity, almost apple pie-like quality to it that made me like the opening so much more. But the drydown with Layton was extremely good. The way everything comes together in this creamy, woodsy feel with an oriental kick to it, but unlike Trono, I don't get the notes seperately at all, it's blended to perfection.
So I immediately tested my Trono taht had been sitting inside my closet since the week it was bought (well I use it as a room spray from time to time as I don't want to throw it away) and comparing the two is just not even a competition, it's like getting a fake Louis Vuitton wallet for 10 bucks from a street vendor, and thinking you just got something that is worth at least 50x the price! Sure, the LV wallet is overpriced as hell, it's just a regular but well made wallet, and you can get an amazing wallet for quarter of its price. But the one you bought will fall apart in 2 months, and it stinks cheap leather.
Also, maceration thing is a complete lie. This fragrance has been sitting inside my dark closet for close to a year, I spray it like once every 2 weeks to see if the smell changes, but not at all. Trono smells exactly same as the day I bought it. Maceration can make fragrances stronger, but it's not going to change a badly blended, low quality fragrance to a great one.
As I've said, I've smelled more designer and niche fragrances than clones (not because I'm a snob, but because of availability). And after reading so many comments praising this with stuff like this is the best available Layton clone, I asked myself "Is this actually the standard for dupes?" Because, If Trono is considered one of the best Layton clones, I'm curious how close other dupes really get. Because even at a really low price I don't think this fragrance is worth the money at all.
