Backstory for this cologne goes as follows. My younger brother was at Nordstrom and he sampled a bunch of the Parfum de Marly’s on the counter top, and he told me that Layton smelled absolutely phenomenal. Having not smelled it myself, but trusting in my younger brother’s taste, I decided to look into Layton.

Layton, as a fragrance profile, seemed very alluring. It is supposed to be this floral apple spiced fragrance. And that in itself sold me. So, I looked into PDM Layton dupes. I found out that Al Haramain Detour Noir is supposedly the best Layton dupe.

Unfortunately, it appeared that Detour Noir was not listed on FragranceNet. Not trusting anything outside of FragranceNet, I looked for the closest second option. That is when I stumbled across Lalique White in Black, supposedly a pretty well crafted PDM Layton dupe.

So, as with all my other fragrances, I put it in my cart and blind bought it for $33.38.

Author’s note: No, I am not a shill for FragranceNet. My only experience with online discounters has been FragranceNet (through virtue of my father using it before). I have now come to learn about other fragrance discounters that are legit, such as Jomashop.

First impression:

Man. Within the first spray, my mouth began to salivate. I was immediately washed over with this amazing cinnamon and apple smell. It also smelled pretty citrusy, in the sense that there was a noticeable sour aspect (in a good way, may I add) that made my parotid ducts spasm. (This happens to me whenever I smell or taste something sour)

As it dried down, it noticeably got much more spicy. Like it noticeably got a warmer spice, and it smelled heavenly. I wouldn’t go as far as comparing it to baked goods as I don’t really smell a sickly sweetness, but man does it smell like a nicely spiced treat.

Towards the tail end of the dry down, it begins to smell strongly woody. Like a spiced earth with very faint vanilla undertones.

Overall, it smelled phenomenal.

The only shortcomings with this fragrance was its projection and longevity. Projection felt nonexistent and the longevity felt like an hour at most.

After maceration:

No difference. Really, there was no difference. I kept it in my closet for months until now. It doesn’t smell any different. For better or worse, maceration didn’t do anything.

Summary:

If you like to smell of spices, tasteful citrus and green apple, then this is for you. Do not expect crazy performance or longevity. It’s a solid 7/10.

Bear with me, I am new to the fragrance hobby. I only knew of popular designer fragrances so this was suggested by a friend of mine who dabbles in perfume.

He told me if I’ve heard of Parfums de Marly, which I have not. I looked into them and saw the collection of perfumes they made.

After perusing their collection, I was drawn to Herod. I’ve always been fascinated by tobacco smells so I figured fuck it why not. Of course I’m not buying Herod, so I bought its dupe Hercules by Maison Al Hambra from FragranceNet for $18.89.

As I was about to checkout, I double checked the notes one last time before purchasing. I saw the cinnamon note, and I made a judgement call. I HATE cinnamon. Cinnamon in itself is amazing, but it just seems that everyone doesn’t know the word “moderation”. Every time I want to try something cinnamon related, the only thing I pick up is cinnamon. It’s like society is forcing me to do the cinnamon challenge from the 2010s.

Regardless, I said why not it’s only ~$19 and if I don’t like it I’ll just give it to someone in my family.

First impression:

I was surprised. I HATE cinnamon. I hate it because people go a bit too hard with it so it just tastes or smells too strong. But this? This was a nice mellow spiced smell at the first spray. There was an immediate sweetness too, but it was nicely balanced.

As it began to dry down, I loved it more. There was that tobacco smell and that incense vibe that felt reminiscent of my childhood in the Middle East. The incense wasn’t a prominent note, but it was more of a background player. To give you an idea, imagine you burned incense in a room and you gave the walls a smell. You can tell there was incense burned, but it wasn’t obvious until you inspected closer.

Throughout the entire time, there was the sweetness that I couldn’t really pinpoint. The more I smelled, the more I was thinking “what is making you sweet but not cloying?”

It turns out this vanilla is so beautifully crafted or blended. It’s obvious that there is a sweetness but it wasn’t like artificial vanilla. The only way I can describe it is that if you touched vanilla bean paste with your hands and you washed them. It isn’t pungent, but you can very much tell it’s a vanillic scent. In essence, the vanilla was there but not in your face.

The only drawback I’d say upon first wear was the longevity. For a winter scent, I was expecting 8 hours. I was lucky if I got 4 or even 5 hours.

I was very excited to wear this in the cooler months and had my fingers crossed that maceration would make it last longer, so I sentenced it to my closet for 5 months.

After maceration:

I’m not going to bullshit you. This shit became so much creamier in the dry down. The opening was still nice and balanced, not extreme spice but not devoid of character.

The vanilla and tobacco were having this sensual tango. I imagine that this is what a premium Cuban cigar would smell like if it weren’t lit. It didn’t smell of smoke, and definitely did not have any smokiness. I find smoke notes kinda repulsive, so you just have to take my word for it.

On the first day of rocking this cologne, post maceration, I received a compliment from my friend. More specifically, he said he can tell I’m trying to get a certain person’s attention. He described the smell as something that he doesn’t expect in a lecture hall.

I asked him if it was flagrant or strong, he said it was “lagom” or the optimal sweet spot. He said he would definitely turn his head to see who is wearing this, as it seems to ask for attention.

I was happy with this feedback and decided to keep Hercules for days where I’m dressed more nicely and have an overlap with my crush.

Summary:

If you want to dabble in spiced and sweet fragrances that seem alluring, youthful yet confident, then this fragrance is for you. The tobacco isn’t pungent, it’s perfectly complimented by the vanilla and spices.

I would rate this a solid 8.5/10.

Ahh, Ajmal Evoke Gold for Him. One of the best blind buys I’ve ever made.

I was looking for an office friendly scent, and Google said that Prada L’homme is one of the friendliest yet beautiful smelling colognes that a man can utilize.

Now I don’t have “fuck you” money but I do have “spare” money. So I searched for the clone or dupe of Prada L’Homme which led me here.

Upon reading the notes, I knew I would love it and that I can “safely” blind buy Evoke Gold for Him from FragranceNet for $28.34.

First impression:

Having never smelled the original, I didn’t have an idea of what to expect.

First spray out of the box, and I fell in love. I was immediately blasted with a mouthwatering neroli and pepper. I know the notes say that, but this is my honest to God first time where I smelled the notes that they’re supposed to have.

I was addicted to this smell. I kept on smelling it and my brain immediately began daydreaming of a field of flowers and that warm fuzzy feeling of fresh laundry.

Then it begins to dry down into this beautiful earthy and honestly somewhat rosy smell.

I will say, the only disappointing thing about this is the longevity. I feel like it doesn’t last more than an hour, maybe two at the most.

As with all clone fragrances, I decided to spray 10 times onto a notecard and put it in my closet.

After maceration:

After 4 months of sitting in the darkness of my closet, I decided to try it.

I may be biased or even placeboed, but I do think that the scent did deepen. It smelled stronger. More particularly, I did begin to smell a woodsy note.

Unfortunately, it didn’t last. I was hoping that it would last longer after it sat in the dark, but I don’t think I’m getting more than 2 hours of this scent.

Compared to the original:

Because of how much I loved Evoke Gold, I decided to pay for a travel sized Prada L’homme. I blindfolded myself and asked my brother to spray each of my hands with one of them. I let them sit for a minute or so, then I went in for a smell.

On my first whiff, I was immediately surprised by spices. I correctly identified which one was the dupe and which one was the OG, because the OG just had this spicy aspect that wasn’t just black pepper. I don’t know how to describe it, but it just made my mouth water more than the other one.

With the dry down; there was a subtle yet noticeable difference. With the OG, there is definitely less earthy and more floral, at least to me that is.

Now would I say this is a perfect 1:1 clone? No.

Now would I say that it gets the job done? Yes. Yes it absolutely does. For the price tag, you are getting an amazing take on the original Prada L’homme.

Summary:

You should get Evoke Gold for Him by Ajmal if you’re looking for earthy, floral and slightly spicy scent. It definitely is in the mass appealing category, and I would recommend it if you’re beginning to dabble in perfumes.

This would be an excellent first buy. It’s simple, elegant and most importantly inexpensive.

In short, my final rating of this is a 8/10.