Erolfa (1992)
by Creed

I was having a hard time remembering the differences between this, Millesime Imperial, and Hugh Parsons Traditional which is a lot like MI. The very first notes are just a little watery and spearminty; it's definitely a more herbal aquatic compared to MI's fruity aquatic, which I had forgotten. The mint gives it a different kind of sweetness compared to the melon in MI, but to about the same degree. It's definitely less tropical, and depicts a slightly rougher sea, though not nearly as choppy as Bulgari Aqua. As refreshing as they are, I don't entirely like the onslaught of gin-like herbs here since it's too much like Live Jazz or Himalaya: too cold to be completely appealing. I do catch an undercurrent of "perfumeyness", which I'm sure is from some terribly expensive ingredient, but I'm just not convinced that it has a place in an aquatic. I appreiciate how Erolfa splits the difference between the dark, stormy, salty aquatics and the tropical, sweet, fruity ones, but something just seems a bit unfriendly here. I think Tommy Bahama Very Cool fulfills this genre more effectively, though by the time Erolfa has lost its herbs in the base notes, the gap between them narrows quite a bit and they're very comparable.

4th February, 2012.

I don't know the Creed line very well. I've been sampling them fairly randomly lately. Scorecard: Really like Irisia (bought it.) Had to try Love in White after having read Luca Turin's review. (More to follow.) Original Vetiver, Himalaya and now Erolfa. These three are all of a piece for me. They're quite similar in overall shape and could easliy have been three submissions to the same client brief requesting a fresh men's scent of the broad mid 90s - mid 2000s style. You know, easily recognizable as a fresh, fruity, 'ozonic' masculine (ie. generic) but with its own name and a narrative/description/fantasy that gives the appearance of comparative distinction (ie. mine's better than yours.) Here is the disjointed dance of the contempo-masculine. A blanket, clannish similarity balanced with the appearance (but not the fact) of distinctiveness.

So, Erolfa. Melony, buzzy. Aquatic and ozonic (two words that, so far as I can tell, have no intrinsic meaning in fragrance, but have gained descriptive value through repitition.) Not much different, therefore not much better or worse than many others of its time.

There. I've offended the Creed fans. Now, to Luca Turin. Erolfa could just as easily have been a response to the client brief that gave us Beyond Paradise for Men. They are remarkably similar, varying in exactly the contempo-masculine manner described above. To Creed's credit, Erolfa came only four years after its step-uncle Cool Water, but twelve before BP for Men.

9th September, 2011.

Wonderful fragrance!!!! Erolfa opens with an oceanic aroma and then, and oh then does this turn into something nice. Neiman Marcus sent this to me as a sample and boy was I hooked!!! Erolfa does lean towards Imperial and GIT, yet it is somewhere caught in the middle. I love this fragrance, can't wait for the body wash to get here so that l can use both to allow the fragrance to last longer. Don't get me wrong, I sprayed (1 sprits) on my hand and that was 3 hours ago and I still get a great whiff of this great stuff. I just like smell this stuff!!!!

7th May, 2011.

This scent has a fresh citrus marine fragrance that reminds you of the sea. Its a quality scent and would be perfect scent for your vacation or the Summer time. For me though it reminds me of a lot of supermarket deodorants that have the similar marine fragrance. When you smell it even though it is high quality the fragrance will not be unfamiliar to you.

23rd April, 2011.

I think a few perfumes incentivates human kind stupidity. When you see someone endorsing a perfume with a "supported soccer team" attitude (usually males), everything gets so sad. I've seen scents compared to cars, and that's absolutely silly, I've seen people wearing a scent thinking they look more beautyful (IMO scents are related to personality and taste, to charisma and sensuality and not to appearance) and I've seen many other amenities that don't even worth to spend words about. I dont' agree with Luca Turin when he says Erolfa is cheap and vulgar as I actually like it, but I completely agree with him when he says you can wear certain types of perfumes only if you dream to buy a black Audi TT with your year-end bonus. And, sadly, Erolfa seems to be among them.

Thumbs up for Erolfa as it smells so good, thumbs down for the "soccer supporter / the richer the better / look what I've got" attitude.

10th March, 2011. (Last Edited: 4th April, 2011.)

I love it! It has a very realistic ocean-breeze smell. Citrusy, salty, and woody. It reminds me of my childhood when I grow up by the coast. It smells like a dried up old wooden quay with sea salt on it. Ahhh.. I love that smell. But Erolfa must have been reformulated when the new bottle came. The old was dirtier, and smelled quite sour after some hours, and had excellent longevity. The new version has the same notes, but it is more crisp and fresh, and it lacks the sour note at the end of the day. It has been toned down a bit, so the longevity was better on the old formulation. I prefer the new fresher version, becuse it doesn`t got that sour note I could detect in the old bottle. Put on a nice iron white shirt, stylish jeans, 4-5 sprays of Erolfa, and you are ready for the beach party! Highly recommended!

25th January, 2011.