Aromatic Conflict Black

So first off, notes on this page are way off, they should be: Top notes are Violet Leaf, Rosemary and Bergamot; middle notes are Orris, Olibanum, Myrhh, Labdanum, Vanilla and Amber; base notes are Leather, Agarwood (Oud), Sandalwood, Patchouli and Cedar. Ok next, this is top 5 in my collection right now, actually I group this with the original aromatic conflict. Aromatic conflict is a clone of amouage interlude man, and this, (aromatic conflict black) is a clone of the flanker, interlude black iris man. The oregano was toned down, with a new iris accord (orris and violet) added. When I first started getting into sampling from Alexandria fragrances, golden rush just blew me away, it's a clone of jubilation xxv man. As I continued to sample from Alexandria's offerings I started to take an interest in what they had to offer from "amouage" a house I never knew much about, or many of the other niche houses out there for that matter(I'm still discovering). So I read a lot about aromatic conflict and looked up interlude man, and I was hesitant to want to sample it. Then I saw they released aromatic conflict black which removed a "controversial" oregano note. So I decided Id get a sample. First spray and I was just blown away, I ordered a bottle that day. I then had to see what the original was like so I got a sample of that and eventually a bottle of that one too. I like them both, almost equally, probably slightly favor aromatic conflict black, but I like the subtle differences in both enough that I had to buy a bottle of each one. This is such a perfect fragrance in ever way to me. The blend of leather, insense, everything here just is so smooth. It's a relatively linear scent, there's not much transforming where some other amouages can change drastically from opening to dry down. This thing radiates! The sillage and longevity are enormous, I can actually smell the trail of this one unless I oversprayed (which I have) and there is no trail because it engulfs the room you enter. Longevity is ridiculous, I'm wearing it right now 9 hours later it's still projecting on my skin, which almost all fragrances won't last on my skin that long, so I need to spray on clothes. On clothes with this forget it, it's there till you wash it out. I've recently started sampling (25 now, with 4 full bottle purchases) the real deal amouage fragrances, and I still haven't sampled the original interludes because this one is so good I just don't see how it could be better, and if it is I'm afraid I won't use what I have here, so perhaps when I run out I'll look into the original but for now aromatic conflict and aromatic conflict black are stellar. And as far as quality vs the original, like I said I haven't sampled the original, but I've sampled 25 other amouage original fragrances and the quality of Alexandra's offerings, and not just aromatic conflict, but most of their fragrances would probably fool most people in blind testing for quality. Right up there with quality of other name brand $300+ bottle niches. This is probably more suited for a man, it's better in cooler weather but I've worn it during the summer on cooler days. If you like insense and leather, and you haven't tried interlude man yet, definitely worth sampling this one. Overall this is magnificent, top 5 in my collection and top 3 from Alexanderia, I've sampled over 160 of their fragrances.

Great fragrance. Not the best clone of interlude Man Black Iris as this amps up the vanilla and sweet amber. (I notice this is a trend in Alexandria, so it might be their musks come across to me as vanillic). That said, this is more wearable and versatile than the original. Smooth and bold. Unabashedly masculine but still sweet and put together.

Very strong fragrance and the vanilla is overpowering to the point that this is sickly sweet. Gives me a headache after 20 minutes. Not sure what the original Amouage fragrance that this is replicating smells like, and I love some of Alexandria's other scents (Golden Rush and Invidia are sublime fragrances), but this one was a huge disappointment.

Smells like a mix between Interlude Black Iris and TF Black Orchid. Not bad, but I don't want Black Orchid and want IBI so I'll just buy the Amouage.