Creed Fragrance Analysis

Yeah, Creed has both innovated a lot and copied. But in the end, their quality is peerless.

They are now the house that others try to copy. So many modern masterpieces... No house can come close IMO. I can't wait for their next masculine release.

Huh? There are many fragrance lines that match, and better Creed in terms of quality.

Wrong way round there, chap. Green Irish Tweed was introduced in 1985, and Cool Water came three years later.

You must be joking ? Are you ? Peerless ?

I think not. Have you ever heard of Santa Maria Novella, Miller Harris, Tom Ford Private Blends, Il Profumo, L'artisan Parfumers, Parfum D'Empire, Amouage, Yves Saint Laurant, Mona di Orio, Christian Dior, Chanel, Renaissance, MPG, Histoires des Parfums, Birley.......etc. We could sit here forever and list them off. There are also many designer fragrance ( current and d/c'd) that match/surpass Creed's quality.

Ok, GIT and Aventus are Classics, worthy of purchase...lately the house has ridden on its tattered and worn coat tails, propelled mainly by the cheerleaders who sing the praises of every mediocre fragrance they churn out. Are we forgetting The Infamous Royal Water? or the forgettable Zeste Mandarine Pamplemousse ???

Apologies for that bokoba. I really want to try out some Royal Scottish Lavender now ! I've been really putting it off, but I've really appreciated Caron pour un Homme, MdM and Jicky over the last little while. I hope it has better longevity than the two Guerlains. The Caron is decent in that department.

I'm also a huge fan of Orange Spice. Kouros is just too heavy on incense for me and there is something that rubs me the wrong way. I am certainly glad Creed is around and appreciate many of the "grey caps"....and now that I know what REL was based off on, I want to try Coty L'Origan ( if that is something someone can find around still ).

Is it possible that some of the "earlier classics" that may have given Creed his motivation to copy may have also copied from earlier classics?

And which Creed fragrances have been true originals? Do we know? If we are going to berate them for copying, we need to also praise them for their creations.

I see this all going 'round and 'round and there's no way to prove, with certainty, who was first. And even if we could, I don't know that I would care that much. I doubt ANY house hasn't copied someone else a time, or two. In other words, I can't imagine that any house has 100% ORIGINAL creations.

I just know I like the house and the fragrances and am happy I own 29 of them.

Well, you can call it "functional dross" all you want to. For my money, I'll wear Millesime Imperial till I die or until I find a better smelling scent. I may die tomorrow, but I haven't found a better smelling scent after over four years of pretty constant searching.

And I don't think Creed is any more derivative than any other house. As a prior poster pointed out, GIT is the source, Cool Water is the copy. Millesime Imperial, to my knowledge, was an original scent, copied shamelessly by a generation of aquatics. Virgin Island Water may be a simple scent, but it's unique in its execution. Even Silver Mountain Water is pretty unique and original. And while I personally don't enjoy Aventus, I cannot see how anyone would think it's not original.

I criticize Creed for sometimes having inconsistent smells, but will defend its recent offerings. I don't own 29 like hednic, but I think I have bottles of MI, GIT, VIW, and SMW, and really enjoy all of them. I like a larger percentage of Creeds than any other house.

And, by the way, I don't think anyone's established that Creed's "fragrance wing didn't exist until the early 1970s." Perhaps I am misinformed, in which case I'd love to hear evidence (not typical internet speculation). I hear a lot of uninformed guesswork and a lot of complaints about lack of proof. But to the best of my knowledge, Creed says it made individual fragrances for specific clients far earlier, though perhaps not a wide scale; and that its fragrance manufacture gradually expanded over time as its offerings became more requested and popular. I have seen no proof that this is not exactly what happened.

Thanks for sharing the insights. An interesting overview of this fragrance house's development.

WOW. that is a lot of Creed. I have approx. 14 and I like them all. I don't really care when and how they started and if they copied other fragrances. I just love what they do.

Right... Sure.

Huh? Aventus just came out a few years ago, as did Royal Oud, and Windsor. What about Virgin Island Water, Original Vetiver, Original Santal, and Himalaya - all came out since Royal Water (and didn't Zeste Mandarine Pamplemousse come out in 1975?)
All these are admired by a great many people on Basenotes, and have been copied by other houses. It seems like Creed just keeps getting better each decade - not riding on any coat tails of their past.

And personally I would take Royal Water in a heartbeat over 80% of the other fragrances out there.

NO house releases 100% hits. IMO, Creed comes closest.

Creed is the only house I could build a wardrobe from and be happy with for the rest of my life. I own seven of them and they are all fantastic. Best house I've found so far, the search continues though.

Creed's scents are largely natural fresh scents, which I usually love. A lot of Basenoters love dirty, musty, powdery, earthy fragrances, so I would imagine they would roll their eyes. Enjoy your stank Kouros and vetiver-amber bombs, I'll stick with my Creeds.

GIT, Millesime Imperial, Silver Mountain Water, Virgin Island Water, Aventus, and Royal Oud are definitely original scents. No fathers I can truly trace to any of those styles.

And to think Millesime Imperial and Silver Mountain Water were created first in 1995........it's mind-blowing to have that kind of timeless foresight.

I agree.

so in the end, Creed is a rip-off version of the cheapies

How could it be proved that something did not exist? There would be no evidence to find. The lack of evidence is the proof, no?

The burden of proof must be on those that believe that Creed has been making fragrances for over 200 years. What other house that has been making perfume that long has left no trace of it's work? No antique flacons, advertisements, documents, ... nothing?

I totally understand where you're coming from, and I recognize the whole "proving-a-negative" evidentiary issue.

The problem, though, is that Creed doesn't think it has to prove its lineage, and I can't say I blame it. It's not as if we are in a court of law here. To date, Creed hasn't offered up any physical evidence I know of that proves that it made colognes on a wide scale earlier than 1970 or so; as far as I know, bokaba is dead right on that score. But why should it? Just to satisfy us?

In the final analysis, I really don't care if Creed made colognes for more than a few decades, or whether its marketing representations are accurate (though I suspect, after accounting for puffery, they are probably more true than not). All I care about is what's in the bottle. For me, Creeds as a whole smell fantastic, and are still unique; and when I buy them at discounters the prices are high, but fair. And that's why I wear them.

And I still say that I am unaware, to get back to the original topic, that MI, GIT, VIW, SMW, or Aventus (to take just a few modern Creeds) were copied from any other cologne that smelled remotely similar -- although many other companies have copied them.

There's no question in my mind that Creed creates quality frags (MI and GIT are without peer) but I refuse to buy into the mythology they created. I also don't think their price is justifiable in comparison to their knockoffs.

Interesting. History or not, it's quality. I just think the prices are a bit honorary.

I personally don't care about the history. I just care about the fact that they consistently knock out high-quality classy fragrances. Out of the many many Creeds I've tried, I can only name two that I wouldn't find bottle worthy. That in itself is pretty impressive IMO. I can't really say that about any other house.

EXACTLY. Creed makes some excellent fragrances, but to suggest they're "peerless" is a few miles over the top. I wouldn't put Creed above Amouage, By Killian, Serge Lutens, Frederic Malle, L'Artisan, etc etc etc. Andy Tauer hasn't even been a perfumer for a decade, but some of his fragrances are among the best of the best.

Creed has many peers. Their work is excellent, but to put them on a pedestal above all others is just silly hype.

- - - Updated - - -


I agree 100%. The history is marketing, and much of it may be untrue, but I don't care. All that matters to me is the scent. How does it smell, how does it wear, and how much does it cost? That's all I care about. I'm no Creed fanboy, but I enjoy their fragrances very much. Even the ones that don't suit my tastes have still impressed me.

GIT copied Cool Water? Was it composed by Marty McFly and Doc then?

Getting tired of seeing Green Irish Tweed = Cool Water cliche. But don't you just love Creed fans?

I'll leave the history or fantasy to the historians and ad writers. For what it's worth, I'll settle for quality over originality ANY day. Like any other houses, they have their good, their bad & their ugly. And they certainly have their peers. Otherwise why beat us up over the head with their glorious history?

What cliche might that be?

The above named few --- easily surpass Creed IMO...Creed is waaaay over-rated on BN

I just love a lot of their fragrances. Overrated? Not to me. Overpriced? Sure!

Ridden on its coat tails doesn't mean the juice I mentioned is old...it means that The house has some classics..GIT, Aventus, that carry the mediocre offerings on their coat tails. there are BN'ers that get up my nose with heaping praise on everything the house puts out. NO house hits a home run with every try. I respect those that give genuine criticism for Creed fragrances. I respect the BN'er who says "I love this house, but gotta admit [insert fragrance name] is a loser" Royal water is fake lemon and bug spray. It literally smells EXACTLY like a particular brand of bug spray. Shame on them exploiting Princess Diana's popularity. I get suspicious of anyone who never sees the flaws in their favorite team, political party, or fragrance house.

I would agree with you... but I don't think I have yet seen anyone (on Basenotes) say that Creed is perfect and they do no wrong.

Quite the opposite - the vast majority of people who see Creed in purely Black/White terms are the haters - and usually it isn't to insult their fragrances, but their marketing (which I am yet to have ever seen personally), or their prices (which are not the highest in the industry despite what the haters would have us think).

You have twice now mentioned Royal Water. Personally, I kinda of like it (not enough to buy it at this time, but considering it). I didn't realize Royal Water was a sales juggernaut that people were buying blind based on the 2 you mention in a positive light. If you don't like it, I can sure understand that, but you are trying to make a point about a whole house being overrated by pointing out one or two products - and probably the two lowest reviewed fragrances they have.

Since Aventus came out in 2010, they have released Royal Oud, Jardin d'Amalfi, Spice & Wood, Sublime Vanille, and Original Cologne. If you have not tried these, I urge you to try them. Personally, I find their quality to be incredible - as do most people who try them. Smell them yourself and look at the reviews -- I doubt anyone could make the case that they just slapped something together and released it knowing that people would buy it because of the past success of Aventus or GIT.

If you bash a house, and only point out one or two duds - that does not make your point that they are overrated, but actually makes the point that they are not. Personally, I can't stand MI, Baie de Genievre, or Vintage Tabarome. But there are 5 times that many that I love.

I don't care if Adam & Eve Creed started the company by making their fine millesime products by carefully tending to their Garden of Eden, or if they were started by an auto mechanic in his garage 40 years ago... Smells the same to me - and the compliments from others are by people who never heard of Creed.

I DON"T HATE THE HOUSE!! I believe it has its merits...I don't care about their history (or faux history) I have tried probably half, and like almost all I have tried. I own GIT, Aventus, OV, and handfuls of samples of others. BUT the incessant cheerleaders who praise every offering above others...the OP said it was PEERLESS for gosh sakes!!!! Like no other house is any good! Just keep it in perspective, admit to its faults (Batch variations, squeaky sprayers, tops that don't fit, labels that peel off) and we all will be fine. I think the "Haters" among us don't really hate Creed, just the freaking worship.

Actually, that wasn't the OP:

This thread has really moved away from what the original post is about; namely the potential correlation between some of the earlier Creeds and some older 'classic' perfumes. Although I can see the argument as far as Royal English Leather and Royal Scottish Lavender go, I think the links between Bois de Santal (Creed) and Bois des Iles (Chanel) and Cuir de Russie (Creed) and Cuir de Russie (Chanel) are much more tenuous. (My view is that Bois de Santal is more reminiscent of Jicky and, unfortunately, I've never come across anything that reminded me of Creed's Cuir de Russie.) The original post is interesting, and has made me want to try Green Water and Fleurs de Cedrat!

I should add, too, that apart from the tenuous links pointed out in the post above me, Bois de Cedrat is more or less a pure lemon/woodsy scent (mostly pure lemon). There were lots of lemons before it, not just the Guerlain pointed out in the original post; and lots after it. Just becasue Bois de Cedrat is lemon doesn't make it a copy, any more than Eau d'Hadrien would be.

And didn't Orange Spice predate Kouros? If so, that makes two of the ones identified by the op that actually spawned better known copies, not vice-versa (Orange Spice and GIT).

Oh, and for Orange Spice/Kouros, check out this thread:
http://www.basenotes.net/threads/246...it-with-Kouros

Is Cuir de Russie easily available ? I have a sample of it and like it, but I have not really read too much about it on the forum. Is it hard to come by ?

If the buying public feels that the mystique is crap and prices are not justified....why are they still around?
Business 101 - if you give something away there is no perceived value. Don't fault them for clever
marketing b.s.

Creed does not submit propaganda via Esquire or GQ...and the fact that they don't and still sell 300 dollar
bottles of cologne is amazing - especially in the volume that they do.

People have suspected that there are Creed reps in these forums. I am not one of them, but if I were in
the Creed hierarchy, I would absolutely mandate it.

Oh, and their products smell nice.

Don't forget Aventus copying Fresco!

They didn't do a very good job of it. You'd think that with all of the experience at Creed, they could have made Aventus smell closer to Fresco. I guess they're peerless, but not perfect. (...lol...)

They probably just copied a bad batch of Fresco. Oh well.

Bumping this to make sure there is a Creed thread in the top ten.

F Fresco! Horrid

Their quality for fresh scents can be argued both ways, however, Creed hasn't used every ingredient out there to make any argument that Creed is the best for their quality overall. You can't compare Creed to a house like Amouage in terms of ingredient quality. How do you compare Creed's Frankincense to Amouage's Frankincense? Creed doesn't use Frankincense. It just doesn't work out to say Creed is peerless in terms of quality.

Excellent work me boy.

THIS!!! ...but it makes for a good punchline.

I agree. I really enjoy Orange Spice. Totally enjoyable fragrance to wear. Classic and gentleman like in its smell.

Count me in as another big fan of Orange Spice. Amazing juice.

For the record, Green Irish Tweed came out before Cool Water. Pierre Bourdon rehashed the former's structure into the latter.

I'm not necessarily a Creed fanatic, but I decided to stick with them because they happened to be the first quality perfume house that I stumbled upon. To me, it's like looking long and hard for a good daycare center for your kid. When you finally find one, you're probably not going to keep looking. I just don't have the time to explore the many other fine perfume houses that I'm sure are out there.

Actually, I dislike the vast majority of Creed fragrances, not because they're bad, but because I'm too darn picky. Anything can make me rule out a fragrance - if it's familiar, if it's out of style, if it doesn't match my age, if it's too aggressive, if my wife doesn't approve, if it has certain notes that my brain is allergic to, if it reminds me of someone or some place or some memory that I don't like.. Just too many reasons to hate a frag. I'm the guy spending 30+ minutes at the cologne bar sniffing only to leave empty handed. I can only keep 2 masculine colognes and 2 unisex ones in my wardrobe simply because I don't have the time or energy to pick out any more.

I have SMW and recently decided to get Spice and Wood. My two remaining bottles (not Creeds) are almost out so I'm sticking to Creed for now, trying their samples to see if they can fill those 2 open spots. I received 9 Creed samples in the mail lately and tried 4 others at a perfume bar. Didn't like any. Several more Creed samples are coming in the mail. I will move on to another fragrance house if I cannot find my 4 frags with Creed.

I have tried Aventus mixed with Virgin Island Water. That just might be my new "masculine" scent but I'll see if another single Creed fragrance is to my liking before paying for two bottles just to use them as one frag.

Research a little harder, and from a different source. Green Irish Tweed was before Cool Water.

Even though there was an eventual bitter conflict and parting of the ways between Laurice Rhame and Olivier Creed, I believe Laurice's contribution to Creed's success is underestimated.  She was the person with the savvy and marketing vision in Creeds largest (by far) market.  I think it was Laurice that influenced Olivier to vastly expand his line of deluxe fragrances, especially mens.  When Laurice was the exclusve USA distributor from early 90's through 2006 (not sure on exact timeline), Creed took a quantum leap or two.    

 

When Laurice visited my local Bloomingdale's last year, I was invited to meet with her by one of the SAs.  My problem is there is only one Bond 9 fragrance I really like a lot (Harrod's Oud) and I was only interested in talking about her years with Creed which would likely not be of interest to her.  I'd love to know more though.

 

Although I certainly enjoy fragrances from other houses, I could easily cover my fragrance needs with Creed fragrances alone. 

 

Martin