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Comparison

Aoud vs Diaghilev

Side by side. Scored honestly.

← Compare different fragrances
Notes overlap
Unique to Aoud
Unique to Diaghilev

Side by side

Comparing the originals — price, breadth, listed-note depth.

Original price
$560
Aoud
$515
Diaghilev
Season coveragetied
2/4
Aoud
2/4
Diaghilev
Note depthtied
6
Aoud
6
Diaghilev
What Aoud smells like

Opens with a dense, almost medicinal saffron-stained rose — vivid and slightly animalic before the oud anchors everything into dark, resinous territory. The heart is where it earns its price: rose and oud locked together in a smoky, leathery embrace that reads as genuinely opulent rather than synthetic. The dry-down softens through sandalwood and amber into a warm, skin-close finish with long-lasting sillage that still announces itself hours in — projection is bold for the first two to three hours, then intimate. — Cold-weather evenings, formal occasions, anyone who wears fragrance as a statement rather than an afterthought.

What Diaghilev smells like

Bergamot opens with cool, citrus-edged brightness that fades quickly into a powdery iris heart — the kind that reads as expensive skin rather than floral. Oud adds a dark, resinous backbone without going overtly smoky, while sandalwood and amber soften the whole structure into something warm and almost edible at the dry-down. Musk keeps projection intimate and close, leaving a slow-fading sillage that lingers on fabric for hours. Dense, deliberate, and unrushed — made for cold evenings and people who wear fragrance as a statement rather than an afterthought.

How they overlap

Aoud and Diaghilev share 3 notes (oud, amber, sandalwood). The same note name doesn't always mean the same scent — different houses use different vanillas, different woods, different musks — but a multi-note shared spine usually does indicate genuinely-comparable wear character. The remaining notes (3 unique to Aoud, 3 unique to Diaghilev) are where the divergence happens.

The buying decision

Diaghilev is the cheaper original at $515 compared to $560 for Aoud — about 8% less. Both wear best across the same fall/winter — they're interchangeable on weather fit.

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