 | Spice and Wood by CreedI was really curious about this when I first saw the ads, seeing how long it had been since Creed did any of this genre that I've liked. There's initially nothing to it except the alcohol, and then a subtle, non-medicinal sandalwood starts to appear, with perhaps a bit of nutmeg and clove. It's already disappointingly weak, but the quietly natural quality of the wood is remarkable: not too soapy or sweet, aromatic or pungent. But even as I write this, it's so weak that I'm starting to have trouble really "finding" the center and the ancillary notes; I had the same problem with their Santal Imperial. Later, it does get a bit sweeter, with a similar blend of spices as in Trumper's Sandalwood but much less vanilla, if any, and maybe a little fruit or potpourri? I really enjoy this type of soft polished wood scent, much more than the harsher woods that some of the purists seem to like, but S+W just can't deliver the strength I'd expect from an expensive house. Call me when you come out with an EdP of it, Creed, and I might just buy some. What little I can smell is very good. 4th February, 2012. |
 | Aventus by CreedComing back to this after a while, I'm reminded how unique it is, at least at the beginning. It's a little green, a little woody, and a little fruity, but very well balanced, with all those elements contributing just the right amounts. It seems like it's taken some cues from the typical designer dreck of today, but not gone all the way toward conforming. I might liken it to Paco XS in its green sharp woodiness, but without some of the synthetic edge that gives me pause with XS, probably due to being less metallic. I know that some see Aventus as dull or weak, and while I'll acknowledge it isn't very strong, I think that its passivity is an asset; like Monsieur de Givenchy or Armani Eau Pour Homme, it won't assert itself enough to bother anyone but it's strong enough to be a presence in the background. Later on, it has some of the wet concrete or even newspapery vibe of Narciso Rodriguez, but without using much (any?) violet...a grayish khaki green that is clean but conveys the organic reality of the leaves on a bush. Overall a conservative but respectable addition to its genre, just be prepared to smell like a fresh newspaper during the later stages. 4th February, 2012. |
| | Orange Spice by CreedI almost did this side-by-side with Kouros since people make that comparison, but now I'm glad I didn't. It's maybe a bit akin to Kouros Fraicheur: soapy, and domineeringly so, with some legitimate neroli in the top notes but that gets buried under the slick, slimy, alkaline notes of a bar of cheap motel soap that someone peed on a little bit. It out-Muglers Mugler Cologne in that sense, but at least for now it's not as bad as I had dreaded from before. It's also a very dated, almost antique scent, which ought to be emanating from an old-fashioned low-end barber shop, not from a specific fragranced product, but just from the combination of all the soaps, lotions, tonics and creams being used inside all day. Another good scent for the dapper, well-groomed gentlemen aboard the Titanic in 1912. Still, because it passes so easily for heavy soap, it would fare much better than a lot of other antiquated scents, coming in right under the radar even today, when nobody would expect a man to smell this way. The base notes also smell a bit more like a deliberate personal fragrance, woodier and grassier, with even some leather I think, so it wins back some credibility there too. Overall, not a failure by any means, but I'm not exactly sure what to do with it and how to approach it. 4th February, 2012. |
 | Erolfa by CreedI 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. |
| | Acier Aluminium by CreedThis is a really unique brew; I'm not sure I've encountered anything similar at all. I was getting pretty bored reviewing a bunch of other Creeds, but AA can make you rethink super-sweet masculine fragrances. The bananas and metal are definitely there, and it's almost oppresively metallic at first on top of the fruits, spices and wood. After that clears up a bit, you start to recognize that group of spices and florals that you'd expect to accent a sandalwood fragrance, with the fruit still there, but not necessarily as banana. A slight green grassiness appears underneath after a while, which I didn't remember from previous testings, and it cuts the sweetness a fair amount...I'm kind of marvelling here at how it's going form more sweet to less sweet instead of the other way around. The only problem is that something in the mix starts to create more medicinal character in the basenotes, and maybe a bit of a cherry-like quality, but it's still not as bad as some of the more medicinal sandalwood scents out there. Only in the end do I realize that it's reminding me of a red candy apple, but in a way that I like which is a rare occurrence. Try this stuff out, it's a total trip. 4th February, 2012. |
| | Vétiver by CreedThe unsung vetiver: everyone mourns its passing but it always seems strange to me. Initially it makes me think of Mugler Cologne or Original Vetiver with added soft florals and a cold slab of stone underneath. The florals (rose?) soon start to compete more seriously with the granite slab, and I feel like the green component from that south Indian grassy plant (what's that stuff called again?) gets forgotten about in the fray. It doesn't have the smoothness or moistness of a Gendarme scent, but the inclusion of very clean florals reminds me a bit of that line. I'm not sure what it's trying to accomplish at this point, but being vetivery doesn't seem high on the list. By the late mid notes, the florals have somehow been replaced with leafy herbs, so at least we've returned to the green territory that I was expecting, but it's just too resinous and not grassy enough. Still, it's a perfectly usable green scent as long as you don't need it to smell like the legions of vetiver-specific fragrances. 4th February, 2012. |
| | Elite by FlorisI was ready for another rant, since I hated this stuff beyond words on the last few wearings, but it just isn't bothering me as much this time. Floris Elite spawns out of the mud as a sharp, anisy, 80s-style tobacco powerhouse, though admittedly without that one screaming lemon topnote that they used to use sometimes. It's got some green, but it's a minty green...more like spearmint than peppermint, which helps, but I still don't think it's necessary. It has the dusty, rustic hay-like notes of VCA Tsar or Aramis Devin, or more specifically Nicolai's oddball Vie de Chateau, but with more wood and smoke than green. As the smoke gets stronger, I remember it now: envisioning a stale ashtray in an old woman's apartment that had accumulated years of old-style perfume residue and talcum powder. For a while in the mid notes, I do find some reasonably convincing incense, but as the smoke gets more sour and less sweet, the ashtray is inescapable. By the base notes, nothing else is left. Hermessence Vetiver Tonka did this to me alongside its nutty notes, as did VdC and Tsar to a lesser extent, but I can't think of any other scent that just screams "I'm not wearing cologne but I'm a bigtime chain-smoker" as much as Floris Elite. It's not as bad as I remembered, but still not really useable for me. I'm sure it would be great in a gentlemen's club a hundred years ago, with rich, well-dressed men smoking countless cigars and swilling brandy, sweating in their pompous army uniforms. 15th December, 2011. |
| | Eau de Santal by FlorisA lot of people like this one among sandalwood scents, but to me it's really an odd mix. Of all the sweet, vanillic sandalwoods, I recall thinking that this stuff takes the cake, going beyond the sweet concoctions of Trumpers Sandalwood and Truefitt Spanish Leather, though I'm not getting that as much this time. The opening is still reassuringly sharp, but with a very christmas-wreath sharpness and some leather underneath. There's a period in the mid notes where I find a surprisingly smooth and suave nutmeg, without its usual bite, and this fits nicely over the coniferous wreath notes. This phase is like a more refined and balanced Rocabar, with less vanilla. I thought I remembered cherry cough syrup emerging from the forest notes last time, but now I'm only getting smooth and slightly medicinal wood. Finally it hits me, though: some kind of unearthly mango or banana, the same that appears in spades in Lucky Number 6, making a sort of fruity oriental over the wood. It's much more restrained here, though, and doesn't upset the overall balance. If I didn't recognize this surprising connection, and a sudden similarity to Gucci Envy in the final base notes, I'd have just said Floris Santal is an unnaturally sweet woody oriental. Since I found those links, though, and especially the fruit component, I've warmed up to it as if I suddenly got where the scent is coming from. 15th December, 2011. |
| | No. 89 by FlorisHere's a traditional man's scent: a spicy, slightly floral fougere, with some wood already evident in the opening. Santos meets Azzaro, with a little bit of Trumper's Marlborough. It has the usual anise, but it's well-buried among the other bracing aromatic herbs. Possibly a little violet as well. It hints at heavy floral darkness, as seen in Van Cleef and Arpels, but never fully heads in that direction. What's strange to me about this scent is that I recognize so many parts of it, but I'm not quite sure where to file it away mentally: with the green scents, the barbershop spice, the masculine florals, or even the sweet orientals because a bit of vanilla pokes its head out during the base notes. Breathing warm air over my test spot brings out an amazing orange-blossomy vanilla, which if it were stronger would be as interesting as Endymion, or as Caron PUH's vanilla, minus the powder. The final base notes are mostly just expensive soap, but very convincing and not feminine at all, like a hint of Richard James. Even though I don't like the middle phase so much, I'll give it a thumbs-up for its boggling, chameleon complexity, and for hiding feminine notes so harmoniously in certain places in the base. Intriguing. 15th December, 2011. |
| | JF by FlorisWhat a fool I was to think that I'd be done with this bunch after Cool Water, Green Irish Tweed, Truefitt Freshman, and Caswell-Massey Greenbriar! This one opens with smoother, gentler (more Gendarme-like) sweet watery florals, compared to the sometimes surprising sharpness of Cool Water. It very quickly develops the same golden Burberry Original-type herbs that are in Freshman, and in fact I almost get to the point of not distinguishing JF from Freshman. I think, however, that this one has more clear, sweet florals in it, presenting an almost unisex rendition of this popular scent family; any woman who likes Cool Water on men might like this on men or on herself. I think that this aspect makes for a fascinating twist, and at the same time makes for a phase of the scent that I'd rather skip. Whatever is in that set of herbs that they're using, makes me think of wintergreen a little bit, and not fondly...an all-too-common occurrence. Fortunately that note backs off a bit by the end, reverting back to something very close to Cool Water, and Freshman doesn't do this as much. I still think that Greenbriar is the most balanced of these, but JF comes out pretty well in the end also, though very Cool Water-like. 15th December, 2011. |
| | Cefiro by FlorisOne of the few Florises (Flores?) that I've seen in person in a store, and I'm realizing now how different it is from how I remembered it (i.e. different from their #127). It starts as an airy, light floral, initially a bit more on the feminine side of unisex...reminds me of the women's version of Clinique Happy, which I used to like on the lady in the next office at work. A bit of mint appears to "soapen" it up a bit, and bring it back toward masculine territory, sort of a la Himalaya. At this point, encountering it with no prior knowledge, I would be hard to convince that I should even consider it. As I wait for the mid notes to change to the base notes, it looks like I'm going to be disappointed because instead of changing, they mostly just vanish. Only the vaguest trace of expensive soap smell remains, and I'm not sure that it's not just wishful thinking. And (just what I needed) there's a tiny bit of licorice left at the end to piss me off. This is what I remember the old slimy Dove soap smelling like from years ago, and it's not a pleasant memory. 15th December, 2011. |
| | Limes by FlorisTrying to recall the other English lime scents as best I can while doing this, the Floris is probably closest to Trumpers. It's right away the driest, dustiest of these old-style EdCs, and has a bit of the sharp herbs of Wellington or Blenheim, though it's admittedly a bit hard to tell where the fresh lime rind sharpness ends and the herbal sharpness begins. I also think there's a trace of the florals that I associate with the less "barbershoppy" English houses (i.e. Floris and Penhaligons), which sometimes feminizes them a tiny bit. I don't think it maintains its lime identity very well, though. Trumpers dies off quickly but remains pure, and Truefitt is sweetened up a bit and strengthened with synthetics but is still clearly lime. The Floris dies off and degenerates into dust, with a bit of popcorny-smelling wood at the very end. 15th December, 2011. |
| | Spanish Leather by Truefitt & HillAnother member I know proclaimed this stuff to be completely devoid of leather, and I see what he meant in the sense of how soapy and sweet it is. The very top notes are surpsingly dry and citrusy, with spices way down underneath as in Trafalgar. The lavender comes out in front, so as usual I feel like I need to wait it out, but it doesn't take long for a sweet resinous leather/soap to emerge, with spices similar to those in Bel Ami but not as overdone. It does get sweeter and soapier into the mid notes, and less truly leathery, but for those of you like me who hate things as nightmarishly sweet and floral as Creed Royal English Leather, it's not nearly that strong. Still, a little bit of the bubblegum note from REL is in here, and it gives a slight candy vibe which I could do without. There's a lot of vanilla in the base as well, which doesn't help. This fragrance is trying to wear many hats, and not entirely succeeding with all of them. I think it's trying to have more leather content than Trumper's ill-named Spanish Leather, but it doesn't quite know how to do it. Ultimately, I still like it because the end result of this failed multitasking is a very creamy wood fragrance, close to Davidoff's Zino, but you have to be careful with it because it's so sweet. 5th December, 2011. |
| | Grafton by Truefitt & HillWe've arrived back at the English barbershop: a little fruit and light florals on top of anise, wintergreen (?) and sweet spices. This is very sweet, but it's also well-balanced, and nothing sticks out at me in excess. It could be one of few barbershop fragrance that I really like, and I think a big contributor to this is sandalwood...just a little bit of Egoiste underneath everything else. I almost don't know what to say because so many of this genre involve me complaining about them overdoing one note and spoiling what seems like it should be such a conventional, no-brainer scent. It has some of the same dusty, moderated sweet spice as in Trafalgar, but it's in much stronger company here with the woody notes. The one drawback here is that there's a little smoke in the base which isn't terribly well done, and has some of the waxy, oily character of Preferred Stock, but it's hardly noticeable. 5th December, 2011. |
| | Clubman by Truefitt & HillI was almost going to call this a clone of Paco XS, but I think it has too much sharpness and not enough dull, cold, sweetness. It starts as a brisk, cool, slightly sweet minty herbal, probably closer to Live Jazz than XS. It somehow also carries a twiggy-ness that reminds me of some vetiver and light green scents, but this is mostly supressed by the mint, and by what I'd call a more raw version of the other green herbs you find in Cartier Roadster. Later, it gets to be dustier, akin to peppermint but not actually peppermint. It makes me think of ivy, but not the believable ivy in Hermes Gentiane Blanche or Sisley Eau de Campagne, rather a fake chemical simulation. I realize I'm not being very helpful by giving this a thumbs-down just because I don't like mint, but there's simply nothing redeeming for me here. 5th December, 2011. |
| | Trafalgar by Truefitt & HillFirst of all, even though the juice is blue, the scent is definitely not...Freshman should have been this color. You start with an unusual combination of lemon and nutmeg, a very light high-pitched soapy citrus over sharp, non-sweet woody spices. I'm sure it's one of many men's scents with this combination, but one of very few that I can smell the two simultaneously...a miracle of un-blending which I like a lot. As the lemon fades, some sweetness comes to the woody spices, yielding something like Santos, or Curzon, containing notes that normally fall into a heavy "winter" category, but are executed rather lightly. There's just a trace of anise, but I don't mind it because the nutmeg is so dominant. To some extent, this is the type of scent I wanted to find in some of the older Trumpers (Astor, Eucris, Curzon, Marlborough), but many didn't quite fit the bill or were too weak. It has just a trace of the distinct floral (carnation?) in Marlborough, but I mostly only notice this if I "revive" the mid notes by breathing warm air over the test spot. Trafalgar is also slight smoky, but avoids the over-the-top ashtray aura that kills Floris Elite. Even though it's not very strong in the base notes, I like what they've done here. 5th December, 2011. |
| | Freshman by Truefitt & HillThis is T+H's Cool Water clone, but like CM Greenbriar, it comes across as more natural in the top notes, with more realistic florals and herbs. Here, as in 1805, "barbershoppy" elements start to manifest themselves very soon, in the form of a clean but spicy wintergreen that takes over after a few minutes. It intrigues me how much their clones of popular designer scents are so true to the original at first but then deviate into more traditional, "gentlemanly" territory, like a Trumper's scent. The wintergreen becomes more dusty over time, but gains a new sweetness like honey, and doesn't bother me like most wintergreen because it's warmer and greener, rather than icy and sharp. Because of this, the scent manages to be warm and cool at the same time like Geir. Toward the base, the florals come back very strong, with one that's very perky and natural that I only notice after not sniffing at it for a few minutes. The only problem is a bit of a metallic tinge on the sweet basenotes, Ultimately, this is a very nice entry into the Cool Water family, with some hidden surprises. 5th December, 2011. |
| | 1805 by Truefitt & HillThis is T+H's Issey Miyake clone, but it starts out weaker, sweeter, and more natural than Issey, with more realistic lemon and less of that sharp plastic vibe. It does develop a little soapiness after a few minutes, which I guess is the English barbershop goodness finding its way into an otherwise very modern scent. The soap briefly brings a clear powderiness along with it like that in Trumper's Skye, only not so much. I'd say 1805 combines elements of Issey's dry aquatic with some from a sweet aquatic (L'eau Par Kenzo). It's weak in the end compared to Issey, though I realize that's a pretty tough comparison. I also notice that the sweetness and other non-Issey-like components dissipate by the end, leaving something that's once again fairly close to the original, but more rubbery, and the rubberiness gets worse over time. May not be worth it overall. 5th December, 2011. |
| | Green Valley by CreedI'm very excited about this one, because I view it as the Creed that out-Creeds their star player, Green Irish Tweed, in spite of (or thanks to?) their similarities. I think that they've captured some of the points I liked about my long lost Gendarme Green, and combined them favorably with GIT. The opening is a crisp, sharp, sweet blue-green, which turns very astringent very quickly with a short-lived lemon and a longer-lived spearmint. This all sounds very familiar I'm sure, but GV is dustier and grassier than GIT is at this stage. The mint and herbs give it a more mountain-meadow vibe, whereas GIT is down on the plains where it's warmer but the AC is on via the cooling influence of the violet. GV even brings in just a trace of those strong, pithy herbs that seemed so over the top in Chevrefeuille Original. All this time it's been a bit shifty and uncertain, but once it finally settles down, the base is one of the cleanest, brightest, truest grass scents I've encountered. It has less fruit and more sunshine than Greenergy or Bobby Jones, and not as much violet as GIT, as if sweet herbs from Burberry original or D+G original had been introduced. The biggest advantage GV has over GIT, though, is its strength and longevity. I can smell the full grass experience pretty strongly after many hours, under circumstances where GIT would have faded to a mere violet memory. Being forever in the shadow of GIT, GV doesn't get talked about as much, but is very worthwhile to seek out as a substitute or on its own. 6th November, 2011. |
| | Santal Impérial by CreedI remembered this being extraordinarily weak from before, and it is in fact so weak that it's difficult to review (unless my vial has gone bad). It's a decent sandalwood, not too medicinal, not too sweet, with more of the scent of just plain wood than a lot of other sandalwood scents give you (maybe they added some cedar?). It's very smooth, and it has some of that tantalizing, semi-perfumey, expensive-smelling Creed base that they use a lot. Unfortunately, later on it gets kind of sweet and sticky, but by this point it's so weak that it could smell like maple syrup and it would still seem light. Some Creeds I'd be willing to pay the price for, but if step one in my decision is just being able to smell the damn thing, then this one is having a hard time getting past that stage. Plus, considering how many other sandalwood scents are on the market, I think it's time for me to move on. 6th November, 2011. |
| | Silver Mountain Water by CreedI'm reviewing this right after Himalaya, to keep with the alpine-themed Creeds. Above all, I've always noted how unique this stuff is, different from anything else I've tried except maybe Herrera for Men, which shares the dark berries and spices. SMW is also very cold, but in a good way, unlike Himalaya. It begins with an exhilarating, boozy, sharp fruitiness, almost like a berry analog to the melon in Millesime Imperial, combined with semi-sweet wine. After a few minutes, I start to detect dark rose (or something similar) underneath, and tinges of very sharp spices creeping in, giving a little bit of christmas-wreath vibe, but not as much as in Herrera because there's less persistent fruit. I'm not much of a skier, but for me SMW strongly evokes a snow-covered conifer-dotted mountain range, in spite of how it's really only using a tinge of fir or juniper, and isn't a conifer scent overall. There's some mint and eucalyptus in here as well, which normally I wouldn't like, but it's played with a very subtle hand. What also amazes me here is that there's a consistent undercurrent of something rich and "perfumey" that smells very expensive, but it's not too heady or feminine and it cuts the sheer coldness of the scent just enough. I love the sour berries and frosty herbs of the base, but I wish they were a little stronger. Black, white, burgundy and silver, for me SMW is a brilliant achievement as a crisp, sharp, icy fragrance. 5th November, 2011. |
| | Himalaya by CreedThis is the lesser of Creed's cold, "mountainous" fragrances. It starts out as a very airy, cool citrus with mint and florals. Very soon the not-too-sharp citrus and mint assume the guise of that woody, dusty green that reminds people so much of Paco XS. Here it has a very sudsy soap quality to it, whereas XS is more sharply green. At this stage, it's probably the most sudsy soap scent I know of, even though it's not specifically a soap scent. As the wood starts to come back in the mid notes, it unfortunately brings with it some of that sweet cherry/wood note that a lot of designer brands have, which I don't particularly like. It also begins to get mustier here, and has lost all of the amazing freshness of the top notes, all the while getting more medicinal from the "cherry wood". It's almost like a failed Gendarme scent, having started out bright and soapy, but fallen into a musty, sickly rut. The herbal notes give it an unpleasantly cold edge, which is much colder than is necessary to create a cool, refreshing scent, but not sharp and tantalizing either, the way that some of the better icy aquatics can be. It's a summer scent trying to achieve winter by being really cold like Silver Mountain Water, but does so in an uninviting way. Overall, I'm just not drawn it by either XS or Himalaya. It would be a hard choice between this and XS if the price difference weren't so huge. Consider SMW instead. 5th November, 2011. |
| | Baie de Genièvre by CreedI had forgotten how "barbershoppy" the opening is on this one, with moderately sweet but very sharp spices (and unfortunately the alcohol really smells strong in this one). It's got a little lemon and lavender, but it's mostly bold cinnamon and nutmeg, with the bright herbal note of the juniper cutting through it. I'm not sure if they've added just a trace of vanilla, but something that's in here right from the very top notes acts as a slightly sweet, smoothing influence over the spices, keeping them in check. It's very dusty in spite of how resinously sweet it is, and gets more medicinal as the base wears on. The base is frankly disappointing compared to the great top notes. I can see why people place this on the spectrum between Epicea and BdP...I'd say this is more convincingly woody than the super-weak former, but doesn't get as heavy into florals as the latter. What bothers me is that there is a plastic-ness to it all, almost like slightly burnt insulation; I'm sure incense fans would just say it's incense, but it doesn't quite sit right with me because it's unpleasantly smoky and burnt. Arguably reminiscent of a roaring fireplace perhaps. 4th November, 2011. |
| | Epicéa by CreedVery very weak. It starts out as a soapy green pine, in the family of Duc de Vervins, but with a little more wood (even in the top notes!). The wood is surprisingly believable, and hints at an incense quality such as you'd find in Zagorsk. As it dries, the green lightens up and sweetens up with some heavy orange peels, reminding me of the gradual sweetening via cinnamon leaf in Bowling Green. Its also anisy...maybe not enough to put me off completely, but enough for me to feel like it detracts from what little there was to this scent in the first place. In the end, the base begins to have a dustiness which for some reason I dislike compared to other dusty wood-bearing scents, and maybe a little Coca-Cola from the fizzy, anisy spices. I once commented that Equipage could show Orange Spice a thing or two (in a more leathery direction), and I think that both Equipage and Rocabar could show Epicea a thing or two in the sweet woody department. It just doesn't remind me of a forest. Time to go back to sleep. 4th November, 2011. |
| | Richard James by Richard JamesThis is a very interesting masculine floral; compared to its kin (D'Orsay Le Dandy?) it should be very thick and heady, but somehow it manages to be light and transparent. It opens as a kind of thin musk, with that group's usual sweetness toned down a lot, and offset by what I take to be just a bit of spearmint. The florals are already there (carnation?) but everything's held in check by a good dose of sharp spices that are close to the blend in Santos, though less dusty in the base. The spices seem to back off after a while, leaving wood to accompany the florals from before. I'm amazed at how dark and serious the florals are, yet not cloying or heady; I don't think I've ever seen a fragrance pull this trick off so well, though now I know I'll have to revisit Santos (and the Concentree!) and Floris #89. It's also not powdery in the usual sense (iris?) but has a different sort of sweet chalkiness that you might still attribute to talcum powder. I think the only useability problem with this stuff would be encountered in the men's room at an upscale restaurant or hotel. Namely, I've debated sometimes whether it either smells like an expensive liquid soap, a pleasant commercial air freshener, or as the worst case, a urinal cake or pad (unused, mind you). I also remember having the same thoughts about Le Dandy, and I think that it suffers from these associations a bit more because it has more fruitiness, so RJ is off the hook for that. Generally, though, I'd more likely treat it as a very thick Bulgari-type linen/laundry scent. And when I think of everything I disliked in Van Cleef and Arpels, Hammam Bouquet, JHL, C+S #88, or Ungaro III, this stuff manages to skirt around all of their pitfalls. 29th October, 2011. |
| | Encre Noire by LaliqueAt one point, I recalled this being too sweet and "perfumey", but looking back I think I was confusing it with Grey Vetiver. It does start out inky, a little bit reminiscent of sharpie marker solvent. It's fairly strong, and burns a bit, but with actual sharp vetiver and not just the initial alcohol. It's not too sweet, but not too bitter or dirty either, and fairly woody, with a bit of the reedy/papery quality that I generally like. I think above all, the green grassiness is more believable here than in most vetiver scents, and borders on the brightness found in non-vetiver-centered green scents like Bowling Green, Bobby Jones, or Duc de Vervins. It's also clean and fairly fresh, but without having the explicitly soapy clean of scents like Mugler and Creed OV...more like the clean scent of rain washing over the leaves of trees in a thick forest, and hinting at the wet grassy smell of Sisley Eau de Campagne or Hermes Gentiane Blanche. It's really well balanced, not leaning too far toward any extreme, and I'm constantly surprised how cheap it is for something that you could arguably call niche. This would be an excellent intro to vetiver for a newbie, and worth owning permanently in a collection. 29th October, 2011. |
| | Virgin Island Water by CreedWhen I bought the vial, I wasn't optimistic, expecting it to be too sweet, too weak, too feminine, or too gimmicky (coconut!?)...I ultimately liked it enough to buy a decant. It's very transparent to begin with, with notes being hidden by the alcohol, but the alcohol doesn't burn. Lime rinds, coconut juice (not coconut milk!), light airy florals and grasses emerge, reminding one of a tropical drink...not necessarily an actual one (pina colada / mojito hybrid?) but a smell that one would easily ascribe to a tropical drink in a tropical place, even though the booze only enters in much later. It would fit in well with the Tommy Bahama line. On tissue paper, it's less sweet and more grassy than I recall on my shirt or skin, where it became a semi-sweet, creamy, but not heavy coconut. Either way it's very clean in a way that doesn't invoke typical soap, but maybe just hints at the tropical-scented bath products that your resort hotel has provided. Only once I'm pretty far along timewise do I explicitly smell the booze component, basically a limey rum, turning it back a bit toward mojito territory. The coconut is still going, though, and I'd say it projects farther, so most people smelling the base on you would smell primarily coconut. This scent is extremely well-composed...an example of an expensive brand bringing out an atypical fragrance that would have been aggressive, overblown and tacky, like a $3 air freshener, if it had been made just to be marketable by a designer brand. Instead, Creed has kept VIW quiet, restrained and realistic, thus making it way more wearable than the disaster that it could have been. Also very plausibly unisex. 16th October, 2011. |
| | Story by Paul SmithThis is an interesting compromise between the bright soapy green of Mugler or Creed OV, and the dark moist sharp green of Eau de Gentiane Blanche or Eau de Campagne. Initially it's like a sharper Mugler, with a wet, ivy-like soapy green, not very sweet but very astringent. Then, while other scents become soapier at this point, Story becomes greener: an earthy forest green, with some dirt but not much, so that it still remains clean. It's mainly ivy from this point forward, which is cool and refreshing for summer, but one caveat here is an underlying rubberiness, imparting that sense of "eau de shoe store" that I find in a small number of fragrances. It's not as bad as in some others I've tried, though. It weakens quite a bit after this, getting duller and dirtier as it completely loses that initial sparkle. There's a little bit of spearmint in what's left, and it feels like it's trying to bolster both the strength and the freshness, but not making much inroads toward either. Overall this isn't a bad offering, and is admittedly pretty cheap, but if you've got the money, I'd consider the four aforementioned scents, or even the archetypal Paco Rabanne. But if someone starts selling bottles of "Paul Smith Story Minutes 0-5", I'll buy one! 10th October, 2011. |
| | Caron Pour Un Homme by CaronI'm approaching this again with some trepidation, me not being a fan of lavender or powdery notes, and merely tolerating vanilla. Fortunately the opening lavender is already toned down enough (with powder!?) to not bother me with that sweatiness that it sometimes has, though it gets slightly worse before it gets better. However they've done it, what would normally come across as stinky armpit BO for me, becomes this strange, hollow, crisp planty aura, like a clear distillate of Christmas wreaths mixed with the sharp herbs of Yatagan. Until this point, the powder had faded away and was only detectable if I wiped the residue from the tip of my nose after sniffing. Finally, during the last gasps of the lavender, the powder is back with more vanilla. All that remains after a while is a clean, powdery vanilla, which could be perfectly unisex. It's quite surprisingly light and airy, considering how many times I feel like I've been choked to death by vanilla or powder. 10th October, 2011. |
| | West Indian Limes by Truefitt & HillI'm reviewing this one before I get to the others, because it stands out from their line; it's the strongest, longest-lasting lime scent that I've encountered in a long time. (Which isn't saying much, and I suspect the reason behind this is that a lot of it is synthetic.) The top notes are very crisp and sharp like Trumper Limes but quite a bit stronger, again like cutting into an actual lime. It weakens a bit after the initial citrus blast, but maintains that dirtier, slightly woodier scent that the rind itself has after everything's been squeezed from it. Beyond that, it starts to get sweeter, and even a bit candy-like (hence my suspicions of synthetic notes), but a fairly natural lime rind still obviously remains, along with some light woods. While Trumper GFT's undying lemon note is more convincingly natural than this, the Truefitt is still pleasant enough, and not nearly as bad as comparable designer atrocities, so I don't count this against it. I also don't see GFT as being enough of an apples-to-apples comparison. So if you want one of the myriad English lime scents, don't want it to be gone in a flash, and don't mind if it's got a more synthetic tinge to it, then this is your winner, hands down. 8th October, 2011. |
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