Waffeleisen

7:20.
Sunrise.
The clear cold of the last October night is still in the air
I am sitting on the stump remains of a once proud oak tree that adorned my grandparents' garden.
Unfortunately, over the years, this oak tree became a growing threat to the small bungalow house that stood under its proud crown.
The decision was made.
After over 40 years came the end of the oak.
Everybody pitched in.
The neighbours, my uncle, friends of the family and also I, shortly before my 20th year of life, had to help out.
It took several days, but in the end the remains of the oak tree lay scattered in the garden.
Everyone took what they could use
One of the neighbours built a wooden armchair from a particularly thick piece of wood.
Well, at least according to him.
Except for the stump there was nothing left of the oak tree.
And there I sat
Enjoyed the morning sun shining on the tree stump.
The peace of the waking up world and the coffee.
The smell of the wood and the stirred up earth.

5 years later came the end for the garden of my grandparents.
For health reasons, they were unable to make the 2-hour drive from Berlin to Brandenburg to the garden colony.
And so the garden, which my grandparents tended for 50 years and for me and my sister since we could think was a single, huge adventure playground, was sold.

For a long time I thought about writing a comment to Hamdani, because I would not wear the fragrance.
Nevertheless, he is something very special to me, something very intimate.
It's a memory capsule for a time long past

When I spray it on a fragrance strip, I can smell the wood again, the churned earth mixed with leaves, the smoky remains from the grill and the stone slabs.
It brings up all the beautiful childhood memories (caught grandma stealing strawberries)

Now if you'll excuse me
I have to go back to the garden.

It's 1996.
Soon I'll be 15.
I sit with my girlfriend on a bench, in some stuffy warm Berlin subway station.
Her name was Jessica.
We talk about all sorts of things.
About what you just talk so much in a still very young relationship.
We're getting closer.
She's lying in my lap.
Tell me about her dreams, her problem and her No - Future attitude.
I put one hand on her belly and rub her hair with the other.
Her perfume's going up my nose.
I don't know it, but it smells nice.
People walk by and look at us strangely as we lounge on the bench like that.
We don't care.
There is here and now only us, the bank, the scent.
Nobody would understand us.
I'm going to go through her hair again.
Again her perfume rises into my nose.
We talk about our common future.
Make plans.
Talk about travelling to Italy, Spain, Greece.
Dreaming of living somewhere free.
Just the two of us.

2019
Jessica's long gone.
Remained are the memories.
The good and the bad.
And your fragrance: Sculpture
I spray it into the air and sit again in the stuffy warm Berlin subway station.
Her name is Jessica.
It's 1996.

Royal Oud by Creed is one of the fragrances in my collection that impress me again and again.
There's something very unique about him. Depth.
A depth that makes me pause every time I sniff the bottle.
Now it has, however, also, like all Creed - smells, in the long term a large disadvantage: The price

And so it didn't take long until I went on the Internet to look for an alternative.
After all there is an "interpretation" of almost all Creed - smells by other houses.
Alone with the Aventus variants you could probably build a small throne.

But from Royal Oud? Nothing. Nothing. Not even a bad fake I could find.
It seems almost as if a halfway authentic replica is not possible without driving up the price.

Until now.

Royalty of Alexandria Fragrances is about to close this gap.

Unlike his luxury brother - Royalty starts more fruity, a light citrus note.
The pepper gets through, but not as strong as Royal Oud.
The characteristic wood note can already be easily perceived.

After about half an hour the fruity note recedes and the wood composition emerges more strongly and now dominates until the end.
This is also the time when it becomes more difficult for my nose to recognize really serious differences.

But something strikes her: missing depth.
Depth that Royal Oud would show at that time.
Depth that makes Royal Oud so special to me.
Depth, which I miss at Royalty unfortunately.

In terms of duration, both don't take much. Also with royalty the fun is unfortunately already over after a few hours (4 - 5).
The projection also decreases after about 1 hour and becomes very close.

Royalty meets the fragrance composition of Royal Oud to 95 percent, but weakens at draught.
Not a king, but a duke.