Creed is one of the most talked-about fragrance houses today with people wondering why their products, especially Creed Royal Oud, are so expensive and if they live up to the hype. If you love Creed Royal Oud but can’t afford it, don’t despair as there are a few excellent clones and similar fragrances available.
Instead of inundating you with information about dozens of Creed Royal Oud clones, I have selected one that I believe smells so similar only a trained nose can tell the two apart, and another very close match – which is what you really want from a good clone. I’ve also chosen two fragrances that are not clones but have similar enough aromas to Creed Royal Oud at more affordable prices.
What is The Best Creed Royal Oud Clone? Lomani Intense Black is one of the best clones of Creed Royal Oud on the market for three reasons: it has a very similar fragrance, it is less than 10% of the price of Royal Oud, and it’s very nicely packaged.
The Fragrance Notes of Creed Royal Oud
It’s the notes that give a fragrance its unique scent. In Creed Royal Oud these are:
Top Notes
- Lemon
- Pink berries (AKA pink pepper)
- Bergamot
Middle Notes
- Cedar
- Galbanum
- Angelica roots
Base Notes
- Sandalwood
- Oud
- Tonkin musk
You’ll find more about these fragrance notes further down.
Why Fragrance clones exist
Lots of people love expensive niche fragrances. Unfortunately, not everyone can afford them which creates a market for copycat scents which are far less expensive than the real thing.
What do you get from the best Creed Royal Oud clones? Niche-style fragrance at a fraction of the price!
The Best Creed Royal Oud Clones
1. Lomani Intense Black
Lomani Intense Black is the best clone of Creed Royal Oud I’ve tested. Whoever created this clone has given us an amazing replication. Like Creed Royal Oud, Lomani Intense Black has exhilarating citrusy top notes of lemon and bergamot. It dries down to the same alluringly warm fragrance of wood and spice.
Fragrance Notes of Lomani Intense Black
- Top notes: lemon, bergamot, and pink berries (AKA pink pepper)
- Middle notes: cedar, galbanum, nutmeg, and herbal notes
- Base notes: sandalwood, agarwood (oud), white musk and incense
Why Lomani Intense Black is one of the best Creed Royal Oud clones
Lomani Intense Black has many of the same scent notes as Creed Royal Oud. These give it almost the exact same opening and dry down fragrance. You would have to be quite an expert to tell one from the other.
There is one blatantly obvious difference, however, but it’s not one that will disappoint you because it’s the price! To give you an idea, at the time of writing this article for the price of a 3.33 oz (100 ml) bottle of Creed Royal Oud, you could buy 30 same-sized bottles of Lomani Intense Black. That’s a huge difference. See the current price of Lomani Intense Black on Amazon.
2. Royalty by Alexandria
Alexandria Royalty is a relatively new fragrance that compares very favorably to Creed Royal Oud. It does have a very similar scent. The top notes are a little more citrusy than peppery but the base notes are close enough to make it a very wearable clone.
Fragrance Notes of Alexandria Royalty
- Top notes: lemon, bergamot, and pink berries (AKA pink pepper)
- Middle notes: angelica, galbanum, and cedar
- Base notes: sandalwood, agarwood (oud), and musk
Why Alexandria Royalty is a good Creed Royal Oud clone
Alexandria Royalty has many of the scent notes found in Creed Royal Oud. The lemon and bergamot are a little more powerful in the opening notes which suggests it has less pink berry oil in its composition. Once dried down, the lack of incense isn’t really apparent and it feels as nice to wear as Creed Royal Oud.
A particularly welcome difference is that Royalty seems to have better staying-power than Royal Oud. Again, this clone is cheaper but not as cheap as Intense Black.
This time the same price as a 3.33 oz (100 ml) bottle of Creed Royal Oud could buy 8 same-sized bottles of Alexandria Royal, so it’s still a great deal cheaper. You can find the latest prices on Amazon.
Similar Fragrances to Creed Royal Oud
1. Memoir Man by Amouage
Amouage Memoir Man has a very memorable fragrance as does Creed Royal Oud. It’s not a clone but is a scent that feels like it’s in the same league. Amouage has a reputation for using traditional Middle Eastern perfume ingredients such as agarwood, incense, musk, rose, and spices.
Fragrance Notes of Memoir Man
- Top notes: absinth, wormwood, basil, and mint
- Middle notes: rose, frankincense, and lavender absolute
- Base notes: sandalwood, vetiver, guaiac wood, amber, vanilla, musk, oakmoss, leather, and tobacco
Why Amouage Memoir Man is similar to Creed Royal Oud
Amouage Memoir Man is a fragrance masterpiece with a similar quality to Creed Royal Oud. An abundance of ingredients combine perfectly to give it a rich, woody and spicy aroma that will suit you if you like Royal Oud but fancy an alternative with the same high-class vibe. Remember, it’s not a clone but it is still quite a bit cheaper than Creed Royal Oud. Check out the current price on Amazon.
2. Gucci Pour Homme II
Gucci Pour Homme II is often compared to Creed Royal Oud. I had to find out why. Pour Homme II is like a subtler version of Royal Oud. It has the same citrusy bergamot top notes toned down by the light powdery bitterness of violets. The black tea note is cozy and almost reminds me of chai tee and the cinnamon gives it a sweet, spicy edge. The overall effect of Gucci Pour Homme II is a rich warm fragrance that is reminiscent of Creed Royal Oud, but not a clone.
Fragrance Notes of Gucci Pour Homme II
- Top notes: bergamot and violet leaves
- Middle notes: pimento, black tea, and cinnamon
- Base notes: tobacco leaves, musk, myrrh, and olive wood
Why Gucci Pour Homme II is similar to Creed Royal Oud
These two are similar because of the fresh bergamot aroma in the opening notes and the musk and wood scents in the base notes. Both can be classed as woody, spicy fragrances.
So if you like Creed Royal Oud you might like Gucci Pour Homme II as an alternative that gives off a similar vibe. A sure sign that this is a great fragrance is it’s often out of stock! You might be lucky enough to get your hands on a bottle! See the latest price on Amazon.
An explanation of Creed Royal Oud fragrance notes
It’s the perfect mix of ingredients that give Creed Royal Oud its spectacular aroma. But how? What is each ingredient and what does it add to the fragrance?
Creed closely guards the full list of ingredients because they don’t want to make it easy to copy. These are the ones they are happy to share. Guessing the rest is what makes the clones similar but not exactly the same fragrance.
Top notes
1. Lemon
The fresh citrusy lemon scent in perfume cones from lemon essential oil. The oil is cold-pressed from the lemon peel. It takes the peel from 450 lemons to produce 3 oz of lemon essential oil!
2. Pink berries or pink pepper
The pink berries used to produce the essential oil used in perfume come from the evergreen tree, Schinus Molle. They are sometimes referred to as pink pepper but are not related to peppers.
PIn berry essential oil has a fresh, intense, sweet-spicy aroma with a light floral note.
3. Bergamot
Bergamot is a fragrant citrus fruit from the Citrus bergamia plant. It is common throughout the Mediterranean and produces fruit the size of oranges and the color of limes. Unlike other citrus fruits, bergamot has a distinctive, heady fragrance that’s slightly acidic, bitter, spicy and floral.
The essential oil used in perfumes is cold-pressed from the peel. It takes about 100 Bergamot fruits to produce approximately 3 oz. of Bergamot Essential Oil.
Middle Notes
1. Cedar
Cedar has a clean, balsamic woody odor. The essential oil used in perfume is produced from the foliage, and sometimes the wood and roots.
2. Galbanum
Galbanum is a resin ingredient essential in the chypre family of fragrances and adds a distinctive spicy bitter green note It is extracted from an umbelliferous (umbrella-like) Persian grass.
3. Angelica roots
Angelica roots have an aroma of earth, musk, and pepper, with a hint of citrus. The essence of angelica roots is obtained through steam distillation.
Base Notes
1. Sandalwood
Sandalwood comes from trees in the genus Santalum class which are woody, flowering plants. It has a creamy, spicy and freshly cut wood aroma.
Sandalwood oil is extracted by steam distillation whereby steam is passed through the powdered wood.
2. Oud
Oud is an oil extracted from Southeast Asian agar trees. The tree must be infected with a specific mold (Phialophora parasitica), which causes it to react by producing a dark, scented resin. Infected wood is chipped then soaked in order to distill the oil from them.
OUd has a warm sweet woody aroma with balsamic notes. It’s an aromatic and complex scent.
Oud is possibly the most expensive wood in the world. Sometimes referred to as ‘liquid gold’, it is ounce for ounce more expensive than gold.
3. Tonkin musk
Tonkin Vietnamese pure musk oil is one of the rarest in the world and ounce for ounce is more expensive than gold. Musk is a strong-smelling secretion from a gland in the abdomen of male deer. The glands are harvested from deceased animals, chopped and soaked in alcohol to extract the required fragrance.
Musk has a strong, animalistic, woody, aroma. Most perfume makers now use only synthetic musk for obvious reasons.
A final word on Creed Royal Oud
If you’re after a Creed Royal Oud clone that’s a fraction of the price of the real deal, then I recommend you try Lomani Intense Black.
If you want something similar then Royalty by Alexandria is a good choice.
If you really want Creed Royal Oud but it’s the price that’s holding you back you could purchase a decant – a small vile decanted from a larger bottle and usually in 5, 10 or 15 ml sizes. Shop around on the internet for the best price but beware of fakes!