The "Official" Creed Spice and Wood discussion thread

another positive review for Spice & Wood (and the Royal Exclusive line in general), echoing a lot of the exact same points i've been making over the past couple weeks:

http://www.cafleurebon.com/creed-spi...age-of-equals/


Creed Spice and Wood is the follow-up to last year’s Sublime Vanille. Spice and Wood is the second in the Royal Exclusives collection celebrating Creed’s 250th anniversary. Sublime Vanille was a wonderfully subtle fragrance that finished out a strong 2009 for Creed on a high note. Spice and Wood shares both the same complex subtlety on display in Sublime Vanille and the trend of finishing a year on a high note as its predecessor.

Spice and Wood was created by Olivier Creed and as his inspiration he took the romance of Antony and Cleopatra. M. Creed chose to pair notes from Italy and Egypt in each phase of Spice and Wood to create an olfactory marriage of the historical lovers’ countries of origin. I’m not sure how much it really represents the masculine and feminine ideal in the end but the one thing it does do is live up to its name, Spice and Wood.

The top is a delightful fruit mix of bergamot and lemon. The third fruit is apple, tart and juicy, as it shows up right after the citrus mix recedes a bit. Now you might be asking shouldn’t this be called Fruit and Wood? The heart removes that notion as a spicy rose appears which is made even spicier by additional clove. The wood is provided by a sheer white birch and it is kept so light it never dominates the heart as it is the spiciness of the clove which makes the first, and lasting, impression. The base switches things up as cedar takes the woodiness of the birch and intensifies it but it never takes it to that cedar place where that is all you encounter. Instead the cedar is kept reined in and joined by oakmoss and musk to create a long lasting ending that lasts without becoming insipid. Spice and Wood functions as close to a skin scent as exists from the House of Creed. For something this good you might not want to share it with anyone else.

Spice and Wood has average longevity and below average sillage. As mentioned above, Spice and Wood stayed close to my skin in the same manner as Sublime Vanille did previously. If you liked the sillage of Sublime Vanille then you will know what to expect from Spice and Wood.

Spice and Wood is another example of M. Creed’s ability to employ a subtle hand to create a fragrance of maximal impact. While Antony and Cleopatra may not immediately spring to mind while sniffing Spice and Wood words like beautiful and complex might be more apparent to someone wearing Spice and Wood.

-Mark Behnke, Managing Editor

Is Creed putting a degree of unpredictability into their fragrances now? Aventus is all over the map in terms of projection and longevity for me. GIT always provides the same predictable pattern, Acier Aluminum has it's own easily understood way. Millesime Imperial is very predictably 1.5-2.5 hours long on both Mrs. J and I. But Aventus.....there's no rhyme or reason to it. Some days I cannot even hardly smell it with 4-5 sprays. Despite my criticisms/conundrums regarding Aventus, it's still one of my most used scents. I'm curious to see if S&W performs for you in a similar fashion. I'm very excited to try it.

Don't know why it didn't hit me when I first tested Spice and Wood, but it immediately hit me when I tested another scent for the first time in over a year....

Bois D'Orage.

So much so, that I'd say Spice and Wood is likely partially inspired by Malle's Bois D'Orage...unfortuneatly, I find Bois D'Orage (French Lover) the far Greater scent, with not only a far more pleasant presence, but a far stronger one.

Hmm that does not sound good to me, I was not a big fan of French Lover.

I initially didn't make the correlation, as it'd been so long since I'd smelled the Malle line.....and also partly due to the angelica root note in Spice and Wood being less strong than in the Malle. But after smelling Malle's Bois D'Orage again(after having experienced Spice and Wood), the correlation was immediate.

I wanted to be wrong here, I was begging for my prediction to be false:

But essentially that's exactly what it is, a bois D'Orage/cedar/pepper EDC, minus some clove and add some black pepper.
from this thread:
http://www.basenotes.net/threads/256...et-s-speculate...

I had the opportunity to get a sample of this and gave it a full wearing last night.

It is super nice if you love woody frags, just not $550 nice.
I will stay with my new 10 Corso Como Uomo for $120.

Also received a nice sample of Windsor and love it to bits, but again not at the size and price being offered.

If I could get these new Creeds at $200 each for a 1.7 oz bottle, then I would probably cave in...they are both very pleasing on my skin.

I think as much as I am dissapointed in it, lovers of Bois D'Orage/French Lover, and the CDG woodies, who don't require sillage/longevity, this may be love at first sniff, but like you said, not $550 nice.

When I was wearing it last night Dullah, I was remembering what you had said in an earlier post about lovers of CDG Woodies might like this. It has only mild sillage and medium longevity, but smells wonderful for sure. Of the two (Windsor, Spice and Wood), I would probably spring for Windsor, just because I am heavy on woodies, and own nothing remotely similar to Windsor.

I put this on for the 1st time today...this is a very complex fragrance...the top note for ME was a sharp cedar which I didn't like at all (oddly, the Creed boutique description says this is a BASE note---not on me)...it receded within 30 minutes and gave way to patchouli and birch...it followed with an apple and clove scent. Bear in mind that this is a first impression and subject to revision. This one did not project and seemed to last 4-5 hours.

I just received a flacon of this a few days ago. Before receiving it I was kinda regretting ordering this blind with the so-so reviews here. I've been wearing this the past few days and I have to say I love it! I don't get any overtly fruity notes. To start with I get a blast of cedar and pepper. There is a hint of apple that starts to come out though it is a dry, spicy apple rather than a juicy, sweet apple. Gradually the birch and rose make an appearance though the rose is well blended so it doesn't stand out on its own. I only use 2 sprays of this and get average sillage and longevity, nothing to complain about. I also don't see any similarity to designer fragrances. This is masculine and well blended. I'm really enjoying this a lot and my wife loves it on me.

I too am not too blown away by this fragrance, at least not as much as I have been from other Creed fragrances. It lacks the wow factor, and Ive worn it a couple times now so I have a pretty good feel for it. I am curious to try Sublime Vanille

I wanted to like this... I really did. But it's become more like an office cologne for me. Just... something I wear, it doesn't even really phase me to wear it.

I'm totally in love with this fragrance. A cheaper synthetic version might be Bvlgari Man. A slight better version might be Poivre Samarchade by Hermes. However, nothing compares to the quality of this and much to my surprise, it is highly wearable. I completely enjoy this fragrance. Creed is going uphill again!

With talk of Bvlgari Man and Poivre Samarcande (two that I do like), this sounds like it might even have similarities to Bang, another that I really like. I will definitely check it out. My Creed money is still looking at Aventus, however, unless this blows me away.

Comparisons to Poivre Samarcand, the CDG Wood series, and French Lover have me thinking that this thing is probably loaded with iso e super.

If it turns out that there are wildly disparate opinions regarding longevity of this, I'd be willing to chalk it up to something like that. That might be the case with Aventus, too. Obviously in Aventus there's some strong chemical that projects like crazy and has a tendency to cause olfactory fatigue that is being used in abundance.

If that's the new direction that Creed is heading in.. well, I'll be sad.

I wore Aventus today. 2 Sprays had great lengevity and sillage on me. when I got back in my care after the TG meal, I could still smell it. It was still going strong on my sweater where I applied. I could always notice it was there but in such a way that it never bothered me. With Spice and Wood, the same thing. Whether SW contains Iso E super is of no concern to me. It smells great, doesn't give me a headache, and lasts on my skin. One could put Bang in the same category but the is a huge difference in quality.SW has other noticeable things going on besides the spicy pepper. Its a comforting fragrance.

I received a wonderfully generous sample of Creed Spice and Wood from Bergdorf's Mens Department, and wore it for five days. I still have a day or two in the vial, but I must say that it is a very nice spicy/woody fragrance that does not live up to the hype and expectation. It is a soft, somewhat sophisticated, low projection, modern fragrance. The fancy jug the fully volume comes in and the limited edition moniker and high cost are a disconnect for me. It is all right, and I wear it happily, but I am not crazy about it. While I have come to appreciate low projection, I still appreciate longevity, which this does not have. There are a lot of wood-spice combination fragrances out there all relatively deserving of our interest and hard earned cash. This is one of them.

So, I have a whole bunch of Malle samples I get showered with at Barney's that I never use, so I decided to try on this one sample of Frederic Malle Bois D'Orage that I had kicking around and as soon as I sprayed it on my skin and smelled it I said, “Holly, F***! This is Spice and Wood!”

I mean, I love my bottle of Spice and Wood, and it’s easily one of my favorite Creeds (I tend to like the sawdust notes I get in frags), but this is, for all intents and purposes, the same frag. Actually, after having them both on separate arms right now and sniffing, I would say Bois D’Orage is the straightforward woodier scent and Spice and Wood has an ever-so-faint underlying sweetness to it—which I like!

It’s hard to be totally unbiased when you know which frag is which. Nevertheless, I’m putting in an order for a bottle of Bois D'Orage right now!

UPDATE: 13h later and Spice and Wood is still going strong on my skin. Bois D'Orage, not a trace (not even if I put my nose right onto the skin and inhale deeply).

On a shopping/sampling spree in NYC, I took back to my hotel room sample strips of Spice and Wood, Tobacco Vanille, Equipage, and Midnight in Paris. I left the sample strips on the desk in my room, and went out for the night.

When I returned to my room around midnight, the entire room reeked of Tobacco Vanille. Yikes. Too strong.

I tossed the sample strips into my suitcase, and unpacked them about a day later.

Then, about four days later, I sniffed them all again, and let some of my fragrance fan friends give them a sniff too. The most unexpected thing happened. There was no trace of the Tobacco Vanille left. Equipage and Midnight in Paris - very little of them left either. Spice and Wood, on the other hand: still hanging in there, and my friends all said something like, "Wow, this is great stuff."

I never would have guessed that outcome, based on initial impressions.

Not sure if this amazing longevity story is enough to make me purchase Spice and Wood. It does say something about the quality of this fragrance. It is indeed fine stuff. Subtle upon first sniff. I'm sure it gets better with repeated wearings.

I like the scent but the bottle is huge and for me that is a big commitment. Price is not a factor, but I have to love the scent to buy that much, if only I could get vintage tabarome for that much volume.

There isn't really anything else out there like Spice and Wood. Creed seems pretty careful to avoid creating Royal Exclusive fragrances that lead to cost comparisons with cheaper lines. That said, it doesn't resound as anything particularly original to me, either. Somewhere in between mainstream and niche lies the scent profile of Spice and Wood - it has a nice rendition of apple and birch, and a somewhat staid kitchen spice drydown that I don't particularly care for. The longevity of it is really good, though. One of the better Creeds in that regard.

I agree with David Bond that volume is the biggest drawback to purchasing Spice and Wood (and any of the Royal Exclusives for that matter). If this came in a 2.5 oz bottle, it would already be in my collection. But as it stands, there's no way I can justify having 8.4 ounces of it. That's somewhere in the neighborhood of 4 years of ownership, possibly longer. By the time I get two thirds of the way down the bottle, I'd start worrying about the top notes of the remaining juice getting corrupted by the 6 ounces of air it's keeping company with. Creed might want to consider diversifying the flacon sizes with this line.

that's an odd juxtaposition my brain is having trouble reconciling.

hehe seems that way, right? but I think any comparison to the Malle line or other scents is misguiding. the idea that you can buy French Lover or something similar and get a "cheaper" version of Spice and Wood seems a bit untrue. In this sense, S&W is unique. However, let's face it - a masculine scent with light fruit on top, relatively low-key woods in the middle, and a spicy drydown isn't groundbreaking. I give Creed kudos for avoiding an overdose of cedar and pine, and switching it up with a nice birch and sandalwood heart. The apple is a welcome departure from citrus and/or lavender. But I'm reminded too much of Bois du Portugal with the wood part, and the spice really isn't all that dynamic. Does anyone know exactly what these spice notes are comprised of exactly? I interpreted them as rather sweet. In any case, it's a nice one to have it you can afford it - unfortunately, I can't!

I think MOONB's point re the size of the flacons is a very good one. I do like S&W and did buy the big flacon, but it will take a long time to use it all. I have gotten compliments in my office on it...the women find it "subdued, but very classy and pleasant." I think this is what Creed was aiming for with this one.

Not much wood, not much spice, not much of anything, and zero longevity - another loser from Creed.

Palisander by Comme des Garcons by the fantastic nose of Yann Vasnier is a superior wood and spice in every facet of the scent. I can't even smell the Creed after 6 minutes, forget 6 hours.

Absolutely agree.

It's a light fragrance meant to be sprayed quite liberally, hence the large bottle size.

Definitely not similar to French Lover/Bois d'Orage..I get light fruits at the top, a finely rendered spicy clove in the heart, and pungent cedar with accents of birch .. none of these are in French Lover. Spice and Wood has low sillage but excellent longevity..it easily lasts 6+ hours on me. Its wonderfully effortless to wear..one of the few spicy-wood concoctions which does not come off as a redneck lumberjack with onion breath screaming in your ear or a loud-mouthed ancient replica of all things garish and extreme from the 1970s.

Well put.

Malle has good note rendition and beautiful conceptualization (Une Rose is lovely), but quite honestly it's obvious from first sniff that the quality of ingredients isn't on par with Creed's. While the note rendition is good, the note clarity and separation is only fair. Every Creed I've ever tried, including Spice and Wood, has had impeccable note clarity and separation, and in S&W, although I can't quite make out what the spices are (out of ignorance), it's like I'm smelling a birch tree that somehow found its way on my hand. The very fact that the scent doesn't smell like some conventional '80s power frag throwbag is no small feat. This fragrance is definitely well-made.

I agree if this was in a 4oz or even 2.5 oz I would have this already. Sadly the quantity is too much, I would not even know what to do with it if I had it. The royal exclusives I have smelled are good enough to be pleased but not good enough to buy outright. If I could find someone to do a split with perhaps I would invest in this scent.

Hear hear! I get at least 8 hours and decent amount of sillage. Very happy I went in on a split of this one.



Wow, I guess I have to add Palisander to my test list. I can't imagine a scent doing "Spice and Wood" better than this. I adore woody fragrances -- minus the incense that many of them carry. (GPH I, 2 Man) But c'mon. Did you really test this? 6 minutes?

Sounds like one to miss it's a shame as I thought they were going to do a modern take with a twist on their Boi Du Portugal. Lets hope the new Original Cologne that should be out soon is going to be good. I hear it has a pear note in its makeup and Creed are good in taking one note like the melon in MI and violet in GIT and making it shine in a fragrance.

I sampled it twice last week from a spray decant. Very diluted with inferior materials IMHO. I'm not kidding, after 6 minutes absolutely nothing, just like I got out of the shower.

Try it right from the horse's mouth - sample it from a department store, and not some decant someone sent. I've sampled scents from decants and found them often to be altered by either their transition to a small sprayer, or foul play. You should get at least an hour out of S&W, and that's if your skin sucks up scent. But 6 minutes raises some alarm bells.



Maybe you should try it anyway - I actually feel it is a twist on Bois du Portugal. To my nose, the "woods" in both scents are similar.

this is my SOTD, inspired by this thread.

i love this stuff. 45 minutes in, it settles down and becomes just exquisite. heavy application is required (that's like 8 sprays for me) but yes, it lasts all day.

just very very pretty, classy, unique, and wearable.

Au contraire my friend. Palisander is good, but the two are different fragrances. Palisanders wood focus is on a rosewood+cedar combo. Infact, just compare the cedar component of Palisander and Spice&Wood..Palisander has a run-of-the-mill (pun intended) cedar note, very typical pencil-shavings like found in many fragrances. S&W's cedar is a real quality cedar - pungent, a bit petroleum like, with a woody depth. Just comparing the cedar notes shows a gulf in materials.

I think to find an excellent example of the quality of cedar wood used by Creed, one is better advised to look to Bois du Portugal. I'm not a big fan of cedar - reminds me too much of hamster cages (I had hamsters as a kid). A good cedar, as ZZ says, ought to have an almost fetid pungency, an oily earthiness underlying its clean, woody crispness. I dare say that most of the competent men's fragrances that exploit cedar rely on a pedestrian synthetic aroma-chemical compound like methyl cedryl ketone, to simulate the scent of cedar. The result is something that adopts a bit of a flat, pencil-shaving type smell. Creed seems to use something that's a cut above - maybe ebanol? - ornamented with their trademark sandalwood accord, which lends the wood a very rich smoothness, and what I perceive to be a creamy quality. I wouldn't rule out the possibility that the perfumers for Creed have developed a bit of an "infusion" technique in their execution of woods, taking some kind of natural cedar oil and supplanting the proper scent molecules into a concentrated batch that gets dispensed in small quantities in each fragrance batch.

With all of that in mind, unlike Bois du Portugal, the wood note that hits me over the head in Spice and Wood is not cedar, but birch. Might be some kind of aldehyde, very high quality and clear, and I like that it's the central wood note that comes out past the apple from the top. The smell reminds me of dry firewood, and those white birch trees that look so picturesque in winter. I'm sorry, I just have never encountered any designer (or niche) scents that can do that. I just wish the spices in S&W were more to my liking.

In a way I am kind of glad they focused mostly on clove as that lends the fragrance an airy, cool "slightly" zingy spicy feel. They could have focused or added more spices like coriander, cinnamon, red pepper, etc...to make it more of an intense spicy juice. I guess this is a design decision - some will be like it, some not. Those expecting a more varied or dashing spice action won't find it in S&W. I though feel that clove is a very difficult note to properly pull off as it instantly recalls toothpaste/dentist. In S&W, the clove is rendered to perfection.

I agree. Clove was a good choice for the scent. I guess my main issue with clove is that there are other scents that exploit clove in a far better fashion - Kouros for one. Clove, melded with raw incense notes, somehow takes on a whole other form and becomes really amazing. There are other spices going on in S&W, but for the life of me I can't figure out what they are. I get the vaguest touch of another sweet one, maybe ginger? Or nutmeg? I think, since the apple holds on through to the drydown, maybe they could have found a spice that perversely works well with apple, like mace. In any case, whenever I get a chance I'll give S&W another go and pick apart the spices more carefully.

I'll trust your nose on this one since I can't smell Creed long enough to comment further.

I definitely pick up the mace and clove both (after the cedar blast in the top notes)...this one is complicated but enticing. For me, the longevity is superb (8 hours at least).

I have still be so close to pulling the trigger on this one. It is indeed exquisite but effortless to wear which can be tricky in a spice and wood fragrance.