I’ve spent some time (3-4 months) with these 3 and retail, and I feel that for me the decision is fairly clear again. Same as last time. Full wear days, Florida, skin and collar sprays. No AI, as always, safe to read here folks.

Parfums De Mary Layton:

Spicy, but balanced, smooth yet mentholish. I was able to snag a couple of 10ml decants and spend some time with it. This is a modest statement scent when wearing 1-2 sprays, if that makes sense. If you spray it normally, you’re going on a journey of bergamot, jasmine, a peppery menthol, and eventually into sandalwood, then a hint of vanilla creeps in later in the dry down. If you overspray like I did the first time (stupid) the entire room is going on that journey with you willing or not. Obviously the benchmark in these tests. It’s not overly complex, a lot of notes stick around throughout the wear curve, but it still presents as a quality fragrance at every stage. Love this scent but growing tired of it only recently, will revisit this winter. 

Bujairami Date Night:

I waited a bit for this one as well, the nice smelling gentlemen was involved here too. I watched his video where he had an entire roster of Layton clones on the table and he ranked this one in the top 3 IIRC, I’d kinda forgotten about this house and never tried any of their takes, so I dove in. First impressions are excellent, opening is slightly more peppery and less menthol, but retail has both, so still close. Dry down is missing some backbone, overall the fragrance is flat for me, it never really smooths out like retail does, and longevity is slightly less than retail, less than Orientica, but better than Detour Noir. We all hate %, you guys didn’t like my sarcastic TV resolution comparisons, so we’ll keep it simple. Would I buy again? No. 

Detour Noir:

Easy buy. The OG. Cheap, strong, close. It’s cheap enough that I bought it simply to see how well it actually holds up against 2 significantly more expensive clones. The opening is strong, if you spray this 10x the fire department shows up. It does however nail that menthol opening though, it’s just turned up to 11. The dry down is basically non existent, or you’re nose blind by then, hard to say here. If you’re disappointed by Layton clones and are into layering, keep a bottle of this around to bring life to a weaker bottle you might have. Layton isn’t for everyone, which makes this one really not for everyone. You’ll call it Vick’s VaporRub and move on.

Orientica Xclusif Oud Bleu: 

I don’t even know where this was recommended to me, but I’m glad it was. Opening? Nails it. Dry down? Almost nails it. It’s a bit flat, but as we discussed earlier Layton isn’t inherently complex, so flat can almost work (Detour Noir). Orientica will supply you with a few notes in the dry down that the others mentioned here do not, you’ll pick up the sandalwood, you’ll pick up the vanilla. Are they at retail levels? No. Is the wear curve similar to retail? Kinda, it’s a bit more linear. Is it the best out of the 3 clones here? Yes. Longevity seems to best the others here as well. Only cons are bottle design is incredibly plain if you care about that and the cap kinda sucks. Overall would I buy again? Yes. Unless Montagne comes in to the collection.

Speaking of that. There’s an obvious player missing here, Montagne. That’s not by design, I just don’t own it yet. I feel Monty might edge this out knowing how well they do similar DNAs. I like to let their scents sit at minimum a month, and I’ve had the others here for 3-4 months. So that would’ve just delayed this even more. No one needs 4 Layton clones, so I’ll use one up before we try their take.

✌️ 

PDM Layton clone reviews