Afnan 9PM vs Bois 1920 Oro Nero: Same 7.9 Score, One Clear Winner (Round 37)
AlHimyan Perfume Battle — Round 37
A 2,357-Vote Crowd Favourite Against a 63-Vote Florentine Secret
Round 37 puts our longest-running champion in front of the hardest kind of opponent: a fragrance almost nobody has voted on. Afnan 9PM arrives with twenty-one straight wins and 2,357 Parfumo ratings behind it. Bois 1920 Oro Nero arrives from Florence with 63.
Both fragrances score exactly 7.9 out of 10 on Parfumo. That is not a coincidence we engineered — it is the reason this matchup is interesting. When two perfumes are rated identically by the people who wear them, the tie has to break somewhere else. It broke in a place that matters a great deal in the UAE.
A note on our data this round. Fragrantica has been unreachable from our systems for several weeks (it returns a hard 403 to every request). We did not estimate a Fragrantica score, and we did not substitute a different website in its place. Every number below comes from live Parfumo pages that we fetched three separate times to confirm they agreed. The scoring weights were redistributed evenly across both perfumes, so neither side is advantaged by the missing source.
The champion: Afnan 9PM
Released in 2015, 9PM is the fragrance that taught a generation of UAE buyers that an accessible price and serious performance are not opposites. It is ranked number 70 in men's perfume on Parfumo out of a database of tens of thousands, which is remarkable company for a bottle at this level.
The opening is apple and bergamot lifted by Provencal lavender and cinnamon, and it reads sweet and slightly fizzy in the first ten minutes. Lily of the valley and orange blossom keep the middle from turning syrupy. Then it settles where it always intended to go: vanilla, tonka bean, patchouli and amber, warm and dense and unmistakably a night fragrance.
Top Notes
AppleProvencal LavenderCinnamonBergamot
Heart Notes
Lily of the ValleyOrange Blossom
Base Notes
VanillaTonka BeanPatchouliAmber
The challenger: Bois 1920 Oro Nero
Bois 1920 is a Florentine house that traces its name to 1920 and has never behaved like a marketing operation. Oro Nero, released in 2017 and composed by Enzo Galardi, is the darkest thing in its Oro line. Where 9PM is sweet, Oro Nero is spicy-leathery and smoky.
It opens on saffron and clove over orange and bergamot — an immediately adult combination that does not try to be likeable. The heart is a woody spine of cedar, patchouli and sandalwood softened slightly by ylang-ylang, and the base is leather, vanilla and amber. Reviewers describe it as a fragrance for a well-cut suit rather than jeans, and one long-standing Parfumo reviewer calls it a genuine hidden gem that suffers only from the house sending no free bottles to influencers.
Top Notes
SaffronCloveOrangeBergamot
Heart Notes
CedarPatchouliSandalwoodYlang-Ylang
Base Notes
LeatherVanillaAmber
Head to head
The verdict
Winner: Afnan 9PM — 22 straight wins
The two fragrances are tied on scent, and Oro Nero actually edges the champion on longevity, 8.3 to 8.2. That is a real result and worth saying plainly: on the merits of the juice alone, this was a draw between equals.
The gap opened on value for money, where 9PM scores 9.1 and Oro Nero scores 6.8. Those are the opinions of the people wearing each fragrance, not our opinion. Afnan 9PM sits at AED 131 for a full 100ml bottle, which works out to AED 1.31 per millilitre for something ranked in the top hundred men's fragrances in the world. Oro Nero is an Italian niche release in a different pricing universe entirely, and its own wearers are the ones marking it down for it.
There is an honest caveat on the challenger's side. Sixty-three ratings is a thin sample, and a fragrance with that few votes has usually only been bought by people who already knew they would like it. Oro Nero may well be the better-made perfume. It is simply not the better-value one, and after twenty-two rounds that has been the pattern that decides this tournament.
Who should wear which. If you want compliments at a dinner, a wedding or a night out, and you want them reliably, 9PM is one of the safest purchases in this price range anywhere. If you want a dark, spiced leather that almost nobody around you will recognise, and price is genuinely not part of your decision, Oro Nero is the more distinctive bottle. They are not competing for the same evening.
Questions we get asked
Is Afnan 9PM similar to Jean Paul Gaultier Ultra Male?
The comparison comes up constantly in reviews, and the sweet fruity direction is genuinely in the same family. They are not identical, and 9PM dries down warmer and more vanillic. Try it on skin before deciding it is a stand-in for anything.
How long does 9PM actually last?
Parfumo wearers rate its longevity 8.2 out of 10 across 2,272 ratings, which puts it in the above-average band. Individual reviews frequently report eight to twelve hours on skin, and longer on clothing. Skin chemistry moves this more than most people expect.
Is 9PM suitable for the UAE summer?
It is a heavy, sweet, warm fragrance and it performs loudly. In peak humidity we would apply it lightly, or keep it for evenings and air-conditioned settings where its projection is an asset rather than a problem.
Do you stock Bois 1920 Oro Nero?
Not at present. It appears in this tournament as a challenger drawn from our research pool, not from our shelves. If you want us to source a Bois 1920 fragrance, message us and we will look into availability.
Is 9PM for men only?
It is marketed to men and Parfumo classifies it as a men's fragrance, but it is worn widely by everyone. Sweet gourmand fragrances travel across gender lines more easily than most.
Shop the champion
Authentic brands, delivered across the UAE with cash on delivery available, and a seven-day return window. Afnan 9PM comes back to defend a twenty-two-round streak in the next battle.
Ratings sourced from Parfumo on 17 August 2026 and verified across three separate fetches. Fragrantica was unreachable at the time of writing and no Fragrantica figures were used or estimated.