Question about the Creed line (need suggestions)

I just need a few replies.

I want the darkest Creed scent. I've only smelled 3 of their scents so far (Royal Water, Silver MW, and, just today, GIT). SMW & GIT are both amazing. GIT a lot more so (it smells more... one-of-a-kind-ish than SMW does in my opinion). I just smelled Royal Water last week and that was amazing as well... very exotic smelling. It just SMELLED expensive.

But I'm really looking for a Creed scent that is classy but dark. I'm a metal-head, damnit. A metal-head with a hindu background, so I tend to gravitate toward musky herbals/florals more than I do the "fresh" or "sweet" or "citrus" style scents. I love spicy smells, but 99% of the ones I've been introduced to smell like your average tube of oil sold at Indian market stores. For example, Frederic Malle's Noire Epices smells like a cheap bottle on essential oil from your local Indian food market or whatever. Maybe it's exotic to some people, but not to me. (Actually, I read Vilbert's review of it and what he described sounded damn close to what I was looking for)

I do want to smell my age (32) and I don't want to smell like a clean-cut, suit-wearing, success story. I want to smell exotic and sophisticated at the same time (if that's possible).

Anyway... I'm almost sure I'm going to go for a Creed scent, but I just smelled Terre d'Hermes and I must say, that stuff is vicious! If I do decide to go with Creed, I'm really close to going with Bois du Portugal based on what fellow basenoters are saying, but is there an obvious one I'm missing based on what I've explained?

Oh, and I forgot to mention... GIT did have a dark edge to it, actually. Despite being fresh, it wasn't that "out of the shower" fresh that I'm not crazy about... it was a very exotic fresh that was borderline dark. I don't know... I just got a sample and I've only worn a little bit once today. I do remember Royal Water being exotic, for sure, but not quite dark. SMW wasn't dark at all.

I guess it doesn't have to be Creed, but so far they have been the most stunning to me as far as originality and the surprise of what you are smelling (that and d'Orsay's Chevalier).

Gothic might work, but goths are sort of wimpy so I don't want to smell frail and lonely.

Shit... I don't know what I want. I keep trying to find that perfect scent, you know? Haha.

Maybe I'll look into that C&S. I might get a different impression from it, who knows. Thanks, adonis!

No offense taken! You're exactly right... I am not square at all and I don't want to smell like I just played a round of golf with King Whoever or like a "suit" either. Anything "preppy" or "player-esque" is definitely not my taste. Whatever it is, it's got to be exotic. I carry scents really well, so I'm pretty sure I can find what I'm looking for.

Maybe a more aggressive Bulgari pour Homme Soir with a bad attitude. I don't want a trail of people vomiting behind me or anything, but it's gotta have the exotic edge (which usually comes with a higher price tag).

I keep sniffing the Terre d'Hermes on my arm while I'm writing this and it is for sure in the round-about category of what I'm looking for.

I've had Dzing! suggested to me before. I'm glad you wrote this, because it tells me it's an avenue I want to pursue. I own Bulgari Black, and while it is exotic for sure, it's too sweet for my tastes. I'll look into the Divine scents too. You're also the 3rd or 4th person to suggest Serge Lutens as a house in general, so again, good input.

Thanks!

Neal... you and adonis have both recommended the C&S, so I'm going to take the hint...

I have Encre Noir on my to-try list actually, so I'm glad you confirmed that. Thank you.

I local guy who sells this told me it's not a good one compared to the others he had. He offered to open one of the Creed bottles out of the 4 he had, so he let me try Royal Water. He also had Himalaya, Tabarome, and another one I'm forgetting.


Thank you! This is important to know. I'm certainly not into trends... never have been, never will be. I started wearing Monarchy shirts before they got big, and stopped as soon as my friends started stealing mine and buying their own. hehe.

Thanks for the directions.

Okay, so thanks to DustB, alex_d, Craig, sirsmellzalot, & cutypi = I will be ordering samples of Acer Alluminum & Royal English Leather as well as thoroughly exploring the Serge Lutens house. I'm also adding C&S No. 88 and Avignon to the sample order. Based on other people's input, I can't wait for Antaeus!

Thanks for the input everybody. As usual, you guys rock. I really appreciate it.

There's no such thing as a mind inducing chemical. Last time I checked you are born with a mind & there is no chemical to induce it. If you don't have one, you're out of luck. I'd be worrying about that more than women. No offense.

Oh, and I would spend $140 any day to feel good about myself without breaking the law.

Heerst: Oh wow... I'm really glad you posted this! I went and read the reviews for this, and found that some of the reviewers I respect the most here (foetidus, SirSlarty, JaimeB, Kaern) said things that all spoke to me in a very agreeable way. In regards to what I've asked for in this thread, this seems to be Creed's take on what I'm looking for. Throughout the reviews, everyone seems to agree about Royal Delight's superb sillage, projection and longevity. Some of the terms used are "quality", "unique", "exquisite", "mature", "strange and beautiful", "opulent", "masterpiece", "complexity", "mysterious seriousness", "exotic", "rapturous", "rich", "thick", "heady", "intoxicating", etc etc etc. I don't think I've seen more than a few fragrances on this site with so many praises on one page. I'm also taking note that all of the negative reviews for this one have only 2 or 3 lines/sentences of information and the reviewers themselves are people I generally disagree with anyway.

These particular comments caught my attention:
L'aventurier: "Thinking of all the 200 fragrances I've tried so far, I can't really think of anything else in particular that smells like this".
foetidus: "Its rich and naughty and even a bit arrogant."
iMaverick: "As with many leather-chypres, it has a dirty animalic impression, but this composition keeps it noticeable but reserved. The dirtiness soon segues into the oriental base quite similar to Himalaya, but Himalaya is more a modern, meditative, altitudinous scent, while Royal Delight is sophisticated and more dark and sensual."

What I'm getting a sense of in regards to this particular fragrance is basically a dirty, leathery, but classy floriental that is smooth, deep, powerful, and dark and is a good balance of all of its notes & characteristics. I also really love animalic scents (from what I've smelled so far)... musks, civets, indoles, etc... I have yet to smell a fragrance that uses these ingredients irresponsibly, and I don't think I want to, but from what I know about Creed's fragrance line in addition to the fact that Royal Delight was one of the last niche scents Creed made (1993) using all natural ingredients, I seriously doubt these elements will offend me.

Here's my only real concern (aside from the price!): A few people have commented about this fragrance being "sweet". Now, whenever people mention that word in a review, I tend to be immediately on guard about the fragrance. In general, I do not like fragrances that have an edible/sweet scent. I really do not like scents that make you want to eat or drink something... that is a little silly to me. I recently purchased L'Instant de Guerlain pour Homme, and I came REALLY close to returning/exchanging it because of this. Luckily, I put a real effort into being patient with its dry down and I began to notice a very classy, warm, & comforting accord toward the end of its heart and throughout its base, which made me want to keep it.

I'm going to dig through some older forum posts and see what I can find out about this, but I'm going to address this particular fragrance in another post since it's more of a narrow topic and I still want to get input about other possibilities. Thank you very much, Heerst!

To be honest, until I begin to be able to identify notes and learn the proper terminology for expressing myself in this context, I don't think I have a clue what I'm looking for. Hah! You may be right, though. I do get the impression that Creed's line of fragrances all sort of lean toward the clean or fresh side. The thing is, I'm asking for a scent with a lot of different characteristics, and my emphatic demand for a fragrance to be dark could be swayed by scents that have a non-predominantly dark element.