Which Creed Scent is the Best?!?

[The National Razor]

Hey guys,

I don't know if you tried this get, but when WhosYerBob mentiond Costco as a Creed supplier, I looked it up. It says they have Tabrome Millesime in stock--worth a look to see if it's true.

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Produc...=4&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Nty=1&topnav=&s=1

 

[Redig]

GIT is a pretty nice scent, but the more colognes I try, the further down my list of favorites it slides.

 

[OldSchoolYoungin]

Royal English Leather, Vintage Tabarome and Bois du Portugal.

 

[Obsessed]

The last thing I'll mention on this (I'm even starting to bore myself), is that while Bois du Portugal is a great scent, be careful not to over apply it, as I accidentally did yesterday. (One reason I hate samples with no atomizers is that I can never figure out how much to use.) Obviously, using too much of any cologne is a no-no, but for whatever reason, the BdP withstood it worse than most, and even became somewhat unpleasant.

 

[markb]

I've only tried Green Irish Tweed but I like it a lot. Have had MANY compliments on it. I have a sample of Cyprus Musk that I got from The Perfumed Court but have not tried it yet. Perhaps tomorrow.

They (Perfumed Court) have a lot of Creed samples available. Will probably get a few more to try out before I commit to buying anything else..

http://theperfumedcourt.com/Categories/Mens-Fragrances/Creed.aspx

 

[TimMechEngr]

Well guys, I finally made it by Neiman Marcus last night to get an idea of these Creed fragrances. I knew they would have the cards you spray samples on, and being as they need time to rest for a few hours, I brought along some snack size ziplocks. I sprayed the cards, gave the usual fanning motion to dry it down a little, used a pen to mark the scent on the card, and placed each one in a ziplock and sealed it up. The lady at the counter thought it was strange as she had never seen a customer go to that much trouble with samples. She did agree it was a good idea. Then, after returning home a few hours later, I went through the samples smelling each one. I realize this type of testing is different than actually wearing it, but it does give a reasonable starting point without buying anything. I also definitely noticed how strong and different the scent is wet right out of the bottle versus a few hours later. Of the six samples I obtained, only Bois du Portugal sort of caught my fancy while in the store. The other five, I downright did not like at all. Here is the list of samples:

Bois du Portugal
Green Irish Tweed
Royal English Leather
Tabarome
Millesime Imperial
Original Vetiver

Later on, SWMBO and I went through sampling each one and deciding which one(s) we liked or not and discussing the notes and what we were getting from each one. We did this with the fragrance identification turned down so we wouldn't be influenced by the name and went only by the smell. We then lined them up on the table in order from most liked to least before turning the cards over to reveal the name of each one. Here were the results:

1) The clear winner to both of us was Bois du Portugal! While this scent was the only one that wasn't offensive in the store, the dried-down scent is great. We both agreed that I'm getting some of this for Christmas!
2) The next favorite in line was Royal English Leather. Now, she really did not like this one in the store at all, and I didn't care for it, but I didn't absolutely hate it either. However, the dried-down version was easily and unanimously our second favorite.

The next four, we differed on, except one.

Me
3) Tabarome - I felt this one came in a real close third behind Royal English Leather. I liked it a lot.
4) Original Vetiver - I didn't really care for this one. Not that it's bad, just not for my taste.
5) Green Irish Tweed - Surprisingly, I really didn't care for this one either.
6) Millesime Imperial - This one, I have no love for at all!

Her
3) Original Vetiver - She felt his one came in third, but not close to Royal English Leather.
4) Green Irish Tweed - She liked this pretty good, but definitely in fourth place.
5) Tabarome - She didn't care for this one.
6) Millesime Imperial - She agreed with me here... No Love!

We had a lot of fun doing this and plan on going back this weekend for more samples. I'm writing down all of the ones mentioned favorably in this thread to try and obtain. I believe most all of these 4oz Creed fragrances sell for about $140 in Neiman Marcus. Does anyone know of a good online source that can beat this price?

 

[StylinLA]

You're very thorough. That was a f-ing smart thing to do.

We've all bought too many frags based on those top notes which are really fleeting and not the true character of the scent.

Bravo.

 

[DULLAH]

^I thaught everyone did this:

Well guys, I finally made it by Neiman Marcus last night to get an idea of these Creed fragrances. I knew they would have the cards you spray samples on, and being as they need time to rest for a few hours, I brought along some snack size ziplocks. I sprayed the cards, gave the usual fanning motion to dry it down a little, used a pen to mark the scent on the card, and placed each one in a ziplock and sealed it up. The lady at the counter thought it was strange as she had never seen a customer go to that much trouble with samples. She did agree it was a good idea. Then, after returning home a few hours later, I went through the samples smelling each one. I realize this type of testing is different than actually wearing it, but it does give a reasonable starting point without buying anything. I also definitely noticed how strong and different the scent is wet right out of the bottle versus a few hours later. Of the six samples I obtained, only Bois du Portugal sort of caught my fancy while in the store. The other five, I downright did not like at all. Here is the list of samples:

Bois du Portugal
Green Irish Tweed
Royal English Leather
Tabarome
Millesime Imperial
Original Vetiver

Later on, SWMBO and I went through sampling each one and deciding which one(s) we liked or not and discussing the notes and what we were getting from each one. We did this with the fragrance identification turned down so we wouldn't be influenced by the name and went only by the smell. We then lined them up on the table in order from most liked to least before turning the cards over to reveal the name of each one.
We had a lot of fun doing this and plan on going back this weekend for more samples. I'm writing down all of the ones mentioned favorably in this thread to try and obtain. I believe most all of these 4oz Creed fragrances sell for about $140 in Neiman Marcus. Does anyone know of a good online source that can beat this price?

The 4 ounce millesimes go for $250 in nieman Marcus.

Online you can pick up fresh bottles at fragrancenet for ~$120, and you can find deals on ebay, except for:
Green Irish Tweed
Millesime imperial
Original Vetiver
original Santal
Silver Mountain Water
Himalaya
....unfortuneatly those scents have all been heavily bootlegged and 9/10 4.0oz bottles of those on ebay are counterfeit. every other Creed TMK on ebay is legit, but might not be fresh. And freshness makes a difference for creeds as there are so much natural ingredients.

 

[StylinLA]

Dullah knows his Creeds...

Indeed be careful looking for a bargain. That I've researched, Fragrancenet has a rep at Basenotes for dealing with authentic Creed product. Nieman can of course be trusted.

Lots of stories about fakes all over the place. I'm getting some Imperiale from Frangrancenet for Christmas which will be my first experience with them.

If you become a Creed fan, you'll find they have a baffling distribution network. I've seen it in some independent stores here and the counterfeit stories are so abundant, it scares me.

The Royal Scottish Lavender is excellent too in the same vein as English Leather- very traditional and masculine. But it seems to be in a zone right now where it's not easily found- at Nieman or the Creed Boutique.

 

[TimMechEngr]

Thanks for the advice Stylin and Dullah. I went to the Neiman Marcus website and found they were very limited in selection. At the store, at least right now at Christmas time, they had at least about 16 to 20 different mens' scents and somewhere close to that number in the ladies' scents as well. I'm definitely going back there tomorrow. Along with more samples I plan to pick up, I'll go ahead and purchase the 4oz. Bois du Portugal.

By the way, after leaving those 6 sample cards on the table overnight and being at work all day yesterday, when we got home last night, the entire place smelled like Creed! It was GREAT!

 

[StylinLA]

They make a wide array of frags, but some of them are very old school -Royal English Leather (1781), Scottish Lavender (1856), Vetiver (1948 edition, not "Original Vetiver"). Vintage Tabarome (1875) a jewel which seems to be discontinued and was reportedly the most expensive Creed to make.

Guess is many of these seem to sell at a much slower rate than their more current frags, and thus production/distribution is slower. They've tried to modernize a bit with Original Vetiver (2004), Original Santal (2005). Many frag purests not too fond of their "modern" efforts.

Green Irish Tweed (1985), Imperiale (1995), Silver Mountain Water (1995) and BdP (1987) probably their biggest men's sellers, so supply usually pretty good on those. (and counterfeits!)

GIT and BdP big faves with B&B. Imperiale and SMW lighter scents favored a bit more by younger men.

 

[DULLAH]

^All that talk up in my post and I forgot to post my favorites.

This house has too many to choose one, but I think I can narrow it down to 3.
I really like Selection verte and as great as Bois Du Portugal is I think it is a small step below these 3 scents:
Vintage Tabarome, Windsor, and Green Irish Tweed.
I have them tied for top rank, and even though I do not wear tabarome, I respect it so highly that it ranks right with Windsor and GIT.

 

[WhosYerBob]

I'm not sure about "Best" but Neroli Sauvage is a great scent that's often overlooked.

This is a great all around scent - one of the top two Creed's selected by my wife. Nice citrus opening with a moderately complex segue into a soft woods and ambergris dry down. Cindy gave it her highest ratiing - 10 out of 10 - along with Millésime Impérial.

 

[The Nid Hog]

Royal English Leather, Vintage Tabarome and Bois du Portugal.

+1

These are the ones that I like too. My order of preference would be:

1. Vintage Tabarome
2. Bois du Portugal
3. REL

I only have a decant of REL, but I like the first two enough to have them in my rotation. While I enjoy REL, I'm not sure if it could displace Knize Ten for a starting position.

 

[Evbo]

No Royal Scottish Lavender?

+1. I'll second that emotion. Love that RSL!

I'd also add Windsor to the list. Yes, it's scarce. Yes, it's ridiculously expensive. But it's a subtle, absolute masterpiece.

 

[WhosYerBob]

I'd also add Windsor to the list. Yes, it's scarce. Yes, it's ridiculously expensive. But it's a subtle, absolute masterpiece.

Agreed. I'm blown over by Windsor, but the wife? Not so much...

 

[blantyre]

If you HAD to blind buy, Bois du Portugal is probably one of the more versatile and uncontentious scents that you can actually go and buy without much hassle - just need a decent credit card!

I also like Bois de Cedrat, Vintage Tabarome, and Windsor. I strongly dislike Acier Alum. and think most of the Millesime range is over rated, overpriced and short-lived. Of course there about 25 that I have never tried, so who knows, there are probably some gems out there yet?

 

[StylinLA]

Tabarome Millesime (not the vintage one) gets overlooked a lot.
It's pretty good stuff deserving of more attention than it gets, but overshadowed by GIT, the vintage Tabarome and MI.

 

[Evbo]

I also like Bois de Cedrat, Vintage Tabarome, and Windsor.

+1 on BdC & Windsor. Not much of a tobacco fan so I don't think I'd go for the Tabarome.

 

[Obsessed]

Since I last posted in this thread a couple months ago, I've determined that Creed's classic Vetiver is by far and away my favorite. The Original Vetiver is nice, too, but I think the classic is great.