Détour Noir

CONTEXT: 65yo professional gentleman with the mature, old-school tastes one would expect from a man my age. I've been collecting fragrances for six months now and have about 100 fragrances. These are just one man's humble opinions. Your mileage may vary with taste and age. From the moment I received my first bottle of Détour Noir, four months ago, I absolutely loved it. So much so that I purchased two backup bottles. My first impression was a smooth and creamy vanilla/fruity/floral opening on a darker woody/cardamom foundation. It had no sharp opening edges AT ALL, unlike so many other ME fragrances. It was sublime. The longevity was relatively short, about 2-3 hours before becoming a skin scent. The sillage was likewise limited, perhaps an arms length. And this was using five sprays - three on neck, one on each wrist. I wore it again last night after a few months of trying out other frags in my rapidly growing collection, and WHOA! This gem has matured like a really cute adolescent girl who develops into a voluptuous knockout! As I said above, I loved it from first encounter, but ohmygoodness, it's become an order of magnitude better! I used only two sprays on the neck and, wow, it's difficult to articulate the changes, but I'll try. The smooth creaminess is still there, but underneath newer, much more defined cardamom, pepper, bergamot and patchouli notes, all resting on a frame of the sandalwood, guaiac and vanilla. The longevity has doubled to about six hours and the projection is absolutely monstrous. For close quarters or dates I'm going to have to limit application of this one to a single spray on the chest under my shirt. The atomizer is QUITE robust. You get a LOT of juice per pump. Recommend that you exercise some restraint when applying this. Sadly, I cannot compare it to PDM Layton as I haven't invested in that one yet. When I do, I'll edit this accordingly. It's a masterpiece of perfumery. Kudos to Al Haramain on this one. Bottom Line: -------------- NEW-----4-MOS Scent:--------10/10-----11/10 Longevity:-----4/10------8/10 Sillage:---------4/10------8/10 Value:---------10/10-----20/10

Détour Noir by Al Haramain Perfumes begins with the intriguing match of fresh apple and lavender, interwoven with whispers of jasmine and almond, where the almond contributes a nutty sweetness. Once developed, the scent unfolds with a spicy floral bouquet led by cardamom, geranium, and pepper, but moderated by a soft touch of violet and heliotrope, preventing the scent from sliding towards cheap, piercing notes. Détour Noir finally settles on a rich vanilla-sandalwood foundation, toasted by notes of amber and musk, radiating a balsamic warmth. There is a need to balance the abstract elements within the Détour Noir scent, resulting in the perfect fusion of opulence and simplicity. In terms of its performance, this parfum fragrance has good longevity lasting for 6 to 10 hours with sillage that projects confidently for around 3 to 4 hours until it damps down to a soft shroud, but maceration improves its character by smoothening out whatever raw notes of synthetics or menthol were perceivable in the first products to market. Frequently cited as a 'strong competitor to Parfums de Marly's Layton, with about 85 to 90% similarity in apple and vanilla and spice notes,' Détour Noir is differentiated by its similar price tag and lack of compromise on quality, aside from its oddly shaped packaging. In all, its a sophisticated fragrance appealing to the masses that radiates gentlemanly finesse for those seeking an introduction to expensive amber spices in fragrance form.

I've been eyeing this fragrance for over a year and I finally got it a month ago. I got an old bottle, and when I say old I mean from 2021, so the liquid in mine is this deep, dark yellow. And I never had to macerate mine (for obvious reasons), anyway. I never smelled the original Layton, so I can't tell how good of a clone it is, however, on its own, it is an amazing perfume. The opening is spicy, powdery, fresh, and spicy, slightly sweet. Me personally, I don't get a lot of apple, but maybe it's cause of the age and blending. As it dries down, it still remains powdery, but it's sweeter, smoother, and it gets real addicting. Ignoring the horrendous bottle design, the fragrance itself lasts for a while, maybe it's because I have a bottle from when the fragrance literally launched, but it performs insanely well, it lasts over 10 hours on my skin, projects for 4 hours for me, and this stuff STAINS my clothes, in a good way, I still smell it on my jacket that I sprayed it on a week ago. I can't guarantee that everyone will like this fragrance as much, nor will they have the same experience due to batch differences and skin chemistry, but for me, this smells amazing, lasts for hours, and it's cheap too. Absolute 8.5/10, I just wish the bottle didn't look like that.

Notice: Fragrance newb here, who is also broke, so take my review with a grain of salt! This is my daily signature wear, I am absolutely loving this fragrance! The opening hits you with the beautiful apple and lavender and sweet floral notes, then as time goes on the vanilla and bergamot slowly comes on, smoothening it, the sandalwood, cardamom and pepper in the base is done excellently, makes it spicy and masculine, but its perfectly wearable in warmer weather too! Definitely wouldn't say its unisex, it is pretty masculine in my opinion, but on my girlfriend, the floral notes shine a bit more. I consistently get 12-14 hours of longevity, I spray it in the morning, then it fills the room for the first two, then projects to about arms length for another 5 hours, but then it is still noticeable, only in the last like 2 hours does it truly fade to my skin. Gets compliments in the office too! For me, it's a 10/10, can't wait to have the chance to try Layton somehow. UPDATE 07.27: I finally had the chance to try Layton in a luxury boutique. On my skin, in the opening, I could tell it's much more sophisticated, deeper and richer, but the drydown smells exactly 1:1! That's insane! Imho, one of the best dupes on the market that I tried so far!

PdM Layton is my most complimented fragrance I have in my collection. I have a deep connection to it as it is the fragrance I wore on my wedding day and on my sister's wedding, who sadly passed away a few years ago. I've owned bottles from 2017, 2019 and 2020. Ever since 2020, Layton has gotten worse in sillage and performance and then it was reformulated in 2021 going from 78% volume to 82% making it a shadow of its former self. Since then I have refused to pay a premium for what is now a watered down travesty. I was recommended Détour Noir from a friend who found this fragrance through the YouTube frag community and said it was the most highly recommended dupe for Layton. Normally I don't care for cheap dupes as I have been bitterly disappointed by them in the past but for £28 for 100ml, I decided to give it a go. WOW OH WOW THIS STUFF IS ABSOLUTE GOLD!! This smells 90% identical to my 2019 Layton. The opening is slightly different but the dry down is a carbon copy to my nose. The performance is incredibly good for the price. I have just purchased 4 back up bottles in fear of a major reformulation because of the high demand I'm sure this will get. I'm sorry PdM but I will never buy Layton again.