Creed Royal Water annoyance.

Royal Water is another on of the Creeds that is very "batch" specific for me. I have owned a 1oz. bottle and had three other official Creed, carded samples and all have differed greatly.

Two of the samples were heavy on the cumin, one more so than the other, one of the samples was almost completely citrus that faded very quickly and the bottle,(thankfully) was a nice, integrated mix of supposedly all that Royal Water is but it seemed to really lean toward the feminine side of unisex where all three of my samples seemed more masculine to me.

I appreciate the natural ingredient factor, the "millesime" idea but I find it too frustrating to deal with these inconsistencies on a regular basis.
I hope your wife enjoys the Royal Water!

I think it may be the repeated exposure for this one, Renato. It took me a few tries to uncover just how annoying I find Royal Water. Its the florals. There is just something irritating and feminine about them for me but it grew with each time I tried, at first I quite liked it.

I have been eyeing a tester that's for sale at a store near me... to pick or not to pick.. ahh!

Royal Water does lean toward the feminine side, but I feel I pull it off very well. A couple of days of scruff on the face, coupled with a modern slim suit, two or three buttons unfastened on the shirt and you'll get nothing but positive reactions. It took me some getting used to, but I'm glad I stayed with it. Now, with my dry skin, lasting power is just ok, but oh well.

Royal Water is one of my favorite Creeds. I only have experience with my bottle, so I cannot comment on batch variation.

I have no problem at all wearing it, feel good wearing it, and to my nose, it smells more masculine than feminine. It never occured to me that it wasn't suitable for a man to wear. I find that it performs wonderfully in the very hot climate here.

Based on this thread as well as others it does sound like Royal Water is one of the least liked Creeds and that there very well may be batch to batch variation. So I'm probably in the minority of Basenoters in being a fan ot it. I don't get any cumin from it and find that the florals are quite tempered.

noggs

All batches of RW that I have tested were consitent in character. I tend to think RW leans to the Masculine side- - untill the drydown that is. The peppermint is so wonderful in a many way but the floral drydown reminds me of something geriatric and remains to be the impeding factor of my purchase.

It's a masculine... If you consider Elton John to be masculine.

Creed lists Royal Water as unisex.

I can accept that, but I do think it would work better on a woman.

I think it is okay, but nothing I will ever buy.

Yeah, it's certainly listed as a unisex but that's kinda after they tell you it was made for/ to celebrate Princess Diana's life. ???????????????????
I guess it'll work differently on different skin.

While there are frags that people will smell and go "oh that's definitely a man's/woman's fragrance", there's a whole bunch that fall firmly in the middle. Male and female in fragrance is so subjective and more a matter of perception than anything.

If the frag works on you and you like it, use it. If not, don't. I wouldn't stop wearing a scent I like just because some website said it's for a woman (or a man, for that matter). One of my iPdiF scents is listed as both masculine and feminine on a bunch of different sites, including iPdiF's site - not unisex, but the different sites list it as either masculine or feminine.

I don't care for feminine scents on me, this scent doesn't strike me as feminine, and no one has come up and said "Oooooh baby, you smell so girly". So I don't care.

I think it's very unisex - women complain that it's too masculine and men complain the opposite!

About liking it once and not liking it later - I have a carded sample and a bottle, and they smell very different. The sample is missing most of the sharp and bright topnotes, and is much more "ambre-greasy" than the bottle. If I would have tried the sample before buying, I never ever would have bought the bottle, yet the bottle itself smells wonderful. The drydown is the best part - like many creeds it "glows" when it dries down. It's not an outlandish or super original fragrance, but to me anyway it's just wonderful.

You may have tried different batches or something.

I just bought a bottle off imaginationperfumery and to me it smells "unisex," which means too masculine. It's really beautiful and well blended, but I don't care for those types of scents *on me* and the notes really suit one of my brothers, so it's going in the mail.

So far, I have not enjoyed any of the unisex scents other ladies have been posting and raving about. I have to layer them with florals for wearability and have not found an exception to that. Since I like light fragrances, I often end up trying yet another to see if I like it any better, but I always come to the same conclusion. Wouldn't mind sitting next to a man with it on. Same with this, really nice.

(Everything seems to check out, as far as this being authentic, but the slip of literature on the inside is in Arabic and there is no date stamp. Just wanted to point that out for reference.)

I have completely changed my mind, after testing this in hotter weather. I don't detect any florals in it that some of you refer to, and it still smells like it would be great on a man, but I am addicted. Glad I didn't send my bottle off, haha!! I usually hate musk, too, but this seems natural and when it dries down, my skin smells so clean I can't believe it... even after helping my husband all day on a hot construction site. I wish I had sprayed it all over that day. Keeping this for myself and wanting to try more, now!

Have also seen a lot of men say Royal Water is too feminine and women say it's too masculine. This bottle I have would suit both, but I think it leans toward the masculine side, especially in the beginning and middle. I got it at imaginationperfumery, but like I said, the insert was in all Arabic. I can smell the notes and it seems real to me. The printing on the box tends to fade out toward the bottom, but everything is spelled correctly and the cap has that authentic plastic insert. The cardboard box is textured, very sturdy and it is definitely the real frosted glass bottle. fyi

It's mine, all mine, I'll have to send my bro a sample and let him decide if he wants one, too. He'd probably like Selection Verte better, anyway. He can buy what he wants for himself.

I don't understand this Arabic grey market stuff, but I imagine this bottle was meant for them. Is something wrong with that? Not sure, but I like it, so there.

And this wasn't too expensive the way I bought it, considering how much everything else costs these days. I am being very selective in what I'll purchase and keep for myself, now, because of it. The samples I got for my family were a big hit, too. Sister loves Himalaya, of all things.

Has anyone tried purchasing Creed off beautyencounter (formerly known as perfumebay?) I read SoCalWoman got a fake off there, was wondering if anyone else did. They are the only discount place I can find for Bois de Cedrat, another winner in my book. Not that complicated of a scent, but I like the natural smell of the lemon and it doesn't remind me of furniture polish.