Feuille Verte by Creed, 2006

FOR THE 2006 LIMITED EDITION (FATHER'S DAY RELEASE) For years, I have read rave reviews about FV. Those reviews, coupled with the juice's price and exclusivity have elevated it to near iconic status. However, now that I have finally sampled it (at great expense), I do not get what all of hubbub has been about. Let me first dispel a myth: It smells nothing like green leaves, or like walking through a forest after the rain, or like any of the other similarly lovely but misleading imagery that some people have expressed. It is a chypre. It smells like a chypre. Specifically: (a) The TOP (the best phase but very fleeting): A citrus-infused green smokey oakmoss that is the epitome of what a green chypre accord should smell like. Unfortunately, it disappears in about one minute. (b) The MIDDLE (interesting but also very fleeting): A much more muted oakmoss now haunted by a carroty overtone, which I deduce is just an interesting residual effect of the top giving way to the base, not an actual carrot seed note. This phase also lasts only about one minute. (c) The BASE (very unexpected but most persistent): An even more muted oakmoss dominated by a very well blended composite of...get ready for it...soap and paper towels. Laugh if you like, but I dare you to experiment and think about it seriously. In a strange way, it evokes the scent experience of washing your hands with a luxurious bar of soap and then drying them off with a few paper towels. It is that scent experience bottled. Strange and interesting? Yes. Worth the hype and money? No. Ultimately, FV is a well-sourced, well-blended, refined, and light soapy/powdery/aldehydic chypre, but it is otherwise unremarkable and in no way worth hundreds let alone thousands of dollars. This is especially the case given that projection, sillage, and longevity are all decent, but no better. P.S.: Oakmoss and vanilla are not middle notes; they are base notes, unless Creed is using some sort of synthetic duplicates that happen to be lighter molecules. (Contrary to popular belief, Creed does use some percentage of synthetics, albeit less than that of naturals.)

I'm not a fragrance aficionado, but I do enjoy great smells and have a deep appreciation for quality colognes. From the Creed line I currently own and absolutely love Silver Mountain Water, Green Irish Tweed, Millesime Imperial, and like but not love Virgin Island Water. That being said, on to the review. First off, I ordered some samples from theperfumedcourt.com, one of them being Feuille Verte. From what I've read around the forums here and other places, that site is a relatively safe place to reliably buy authentic samples of colognes/perfumes. One of the samples I ordered was Green Valley. I've had a really small sample of it before, and it smells exactly the same. So I'm thinking they sent me authentic juice. Going on the assumption that I got a correct sample, Feuille Verte is absolutely horrible. I just cannot understand how it can be praised so highly. I've let multiple people smell it, guys and girls alike, and none of them hesitate after I spray it on their skin to tell me it smells like bug spray. And it does! Off! bugspray to be exact. Even after 15 minutes, 30 minutes, and hour, 2 hours...it still not a pleasant smell. Doesn't even come close to being pleasant. I figured since I like Green Valley and love Green Irish Tweed, that this legendary green scent would be right up my alley. Such a disappointment. But then again, I'm not an expert. Just your average Joe with an above average appreciation for good smelling scents. And this definitely failed to meet my standards.

Feuille Verte, or "Green Leaf" is an incredible fragrance of extremely high quality. As of now, it stands as the best release of 2006, and easily holds its own against the best that the house of Creed has released over the past 240 years. Yes, its that good.

The olfactory experience starts with a sharp, piney and fresh top notes of lime and madarin. These top notes awaken you to the olfactary experience you are about to undertake and command attention. The lime is especially attention drawing. After 15 minutes, its onto the middle notes. Here is where you will experience the "Forest smell" of Verte...the oakmoss brings about that earthy smell. It is kept in check by the wonderful vanilla and Bulgarian rose notes so as not to deter people wary of vetiver-type earthy notes. After that phase subsides, you experience the drydown, which is simply superb...instead of the usual Creed ambergris/musk/vanilla drydown, you are treated to a jasmin note of the highest quality. And this completes the olfactory journey of one of the finest fragrance creations around. All of this is provided to you with a guarantee of good sillage and longevity. If you are a fan of "green" scents, or just a fan of fragrances in general, you need to try this.

The only negative is that, for now, this is a limited edition fragrance. Its a disappointing that Creed doesn't have plans to add this to their permanent line.

Rating: 9.5/10