OneMadHatter

I am currently sorting out a whole lot of my fragrances. You know how it is, the collection takes the upper hand, you need space for new things, but some of them you just got fed up with or you didn't get warm with the scents. Real Parfumo-First-World-Problems...

After some sorting out, I was drawn back to the city centre to hunt for one or the other olfactory highlight. Since I've been very niche oriented lately, this time the task was to search in the lower to middle designer segment (and that's exactly where I classify the Guerlain).
First stop: A well-known perfumery for the middle to upper price segment including niche. Sew, nothing to it.
Then to a drugstore with a capital "M".
And I have to tell you about it, because it almost didn't work out with me and Guerlain
So I'm testing myself through the ranks like this and a female employee approaches me. Asks if she can help me and show me some scents.
Of course she can! Right at the beginning she went for L'Homme Ideal, but in the EdT version. Horrible water, right back.
"Well, try this one" and handed me the EdP. And what can I say:
Bull's-eye. Cute, but not too cute. Spicy, but not oriental. (cardamom perhaps?)
Definitely almond and a wonderful fruit (many say cherry, I can understand, but rather a very dark one). The art: Everything without even the slightest hint of femininity. Sensational. And projected has the part. What a board. So I mumble to myself in the drugstore that I smell marzipan (almond) and a vanilla or tonka and something fruity. She replies in complete horror: "Certainly not. It's a leather scent."

At this point imagine the emoji with the two eyes almost falling out of your head.
For real? A leather scent? For a moment I doubted my (at least in my imagination) quite trained nose. But then one or two more scents made me doubt the trained staff. So I stopped the consultation and sprayed the thing on the skin. Off home with it. I was really frustrated. I almost didn't buy it. But then I just couldn't keep my nose off my arm. And that smell made up for everything. It's like an instant good mood scent. Wanted. Until it was gone (and that took time).

What I also do not want to disregard: The scent comes across very naturally. Every nuance smells as if it had just been freshly ground, pressed, fermented. With all the synthetics, you have to emphasize that already today.

The conclusion:
I then ordered it on the Internet.

And just to put it bluntly: I find this scent sensational. I could never find myself in this Aventus Creed Batch Hype and was therefore all the more sceptical about it.

But this one was recommended to me, so I had to test it.
And what can I say: This is how I imagine Him, the most expensive ashtray in the world. Not that I've ever smelled it, I don't even smoke with pleasure. But it could be. Inside is a burnt cedar match. The butler's. It's glowing and smoking. Next to it the charred 50s, oh no, 100s of the Sheikh himself, with which he just lit the Cohiba Behike 2006. Because Royal Oud smells like money. Of success. Of fucking noble guys in fucking noble clothes. Expensive it smells. Almost royal. Well, it's called ROYAL Oud. Where the royal is actually very dominant. Not much to see of the oud for now. When it does, it just flashes from time to time through the noble ashes. If you are looking for a real oud fragrance or a real oriental, you are wrong with RO. At Creed in general.
Lemon, yes, over and over again. Refreshes the ashes over and over again. Makes it wearable in any season. And any time of day. But Oud? Rather rare. There's a little bergamot in there too. It comes from woods, actually. But very little oud.

He doesn't need that either. He's damn beautiful just the way he is. Wooden, fresh, smoky.
Sometimes I imagine that when I wear it, my chin sticks out 2cm higher than usual. It's probably resting on the ashtray
The royal ashtray.