Parfums de Marly Herod EDP Dupes

#1Maison Alhambra Hercules EDP

Shares with the original: Cinnamon, Pepper, Tobacco Leaf, Incense, Cistus, Osmanthus, Vanilla, Musk, Cedar

Every note on Parfums de Marly's own list for Herod appears here — cinnamon and pepper, the tobacco-incense-osmanthus heart, the vanilla, musk and cedar. Owners mostly agree it is the real thing. One who macerated his bottle for five months puts it at ninety per cent, opening on the same sweet cherry-tobacco accord. A Parfumo owner says it replaces Herod for him in many ways, and finds it airier and more transparent at the start. A Fragrantica Club member calls it an excellent Herod dupe, very well done. So why 88 and not higher, on a perfect note match? Because one owner disagrees sharply and specifically: he finds it much flatter, much sweeter, more cloying and far less fresh than Herod. The fuller note lists published elsewhere suggest why — Herod is often described with Pepperwood, cypriol and amber, the dry resinous materials that keep it from tipping into dessert, and Hercules has none of them. Two practical notes. Give it a month: owners report an alcohol blast and four hours out of the box, seven to eight hours and much smoother after maturation. And it outperforms the original, which is Herod's known weakness.

Sources: Fragrantica owner reviews including a post-maceration assessment · Parfumo owner comparisons on both sides · Fragrantica Club · pyramid from Fragrantica, compared against Parfums de Marly's official list