Royal Mayfair 
Creed (2015)

A definite love at first sniff for me! Mesmerized by an initial bittersweet blend of honey and eucalyptus, then seduced by the appealing call of the citruses that make me recall a youthful memory of honeysuckle after a summer rain and the velvet petals of a purple rose in its bud, these are just a few images in a olfactory kaleidoscope that make me yearn to wear this scent again and again...

Originally launched as the limited edition Creed Windsor flacon this reissue is almost as good.

A very austere and british scent: the main accord is a pine/eucalyptus rose combo. The rose is not the dashing bulgarian wet rose of Creed Fleurs de Burlgarie - rather its a perceptible yet demure floral note wrapped in invigorating uplifting pine which gives it more of a masculine. The drydown is woody/cedar, with a dash of citrus.

The more modern Aventus crowd will not like this, but thats more reason for it to exist in the Creed catalog. Compared to Windsor, the rose/pine notes might be a little less bright; nonetheless this is one of Creeds most unique fragrances.

This is slightly smokey spearmint on my skin to start with. I know it is a play on the eucalyptus in this fragrance but I do get that off the top. I do also get gin, pine tree and cedar. To my nose eucalyptus is the most noticeable note. Overall a winner for the right price. Would I blind buy this? No, not at all. I do think it is a winner across the board. Enjoy!

Creed introduced a limited fragrance called Windsor (2009) that was semi-bespoke as it was only available in large flacons from the boutiques and meant to commemorate the life of Edward VIII, better known as the Duke of Windsor. Naturally, Creed quickly backpedaled on that story and replaced it with the grander one of the Duke himself having commissioned this scent in 1936 (the year he abdicated as King for marrying Wallace Simpson) with 2009 being an un-vaulting to commemorate that event. In any case, this was revived to be a permanent member of the lineup as Royal Mayfair (2015) with little perceived change from the original formula on display under the old name of Windsor. Let me start by saying that I rather like Royal Mayfair, as it is the first properly British scent in modern times from a house that claims British heritage, whilst everything else Creed produces is an upscale adaptation of a popular trope a la Himalaya (2002) or Bois du Portugal (1987), with the occasional innovative blip like Green Irish Tweed (1985) or Aventus (2010) that tends to be copied ad infinitum ad nauseum downmarket by everyone under the sun. Whether you love or hate their extreme price gouging at the counters or boutiques and their penchant for rewriting history to ever increase their own pedigree in the industry, the father and son team of Olivier and Erwin do know their way around citrus and florals, which is mostly what comprises Royal Mayfair. Like other phenomenal fresh scents such as Millésime Impérial (1995) and Royal Water (1997), Royal Mayfair shows the house right in their element, doing what they do best.

Royal Mayfair has some things in common with Pure White Cologne/Original Cologne (2011) in that it relies predominantly on orange blossom at its core, but around this neroli center is built a rather dandy fragrance of dry rose, cedar, lime, and musk. In a way, this is a better Burberry Brit for Men (2004), which also had a properly British rose and cedar combination over musk, but Royal Mayfair removes the spices and tonka to clarify and sweeten the accord with the neroli for something closer to what the Burberry was trying to achieve. The opening is bergamot, lime, eucalyptus, and some aromatics which I imagine are what Creed calls the "gin" note. I don't get any significant pine in this, but I also read that batch fluctuations are wilder with this than with Aventus, but being as I haven't sniffed 20 different bottles of either scent, I just take it on faith that people far more invested in the house than me are telling the truth. The heart of neroli comes in shortly thereafter, flanked by the rose and cedar to make a grey skies and tweed jackets kind of vibe, with lorries driving past on cobblestone roads and a damp breeze in the air. Lovely stuff even if just a tad plaintive, Royal Mayfair then moves through some phases where the eucalyptus returns a bit and is sandwiched nice with the floral heart and the musk. Creed's patented ambergris shows up, which seemingly feels more and more like a higher cut of ambroxan based on what I've read and not the real thing (if it ever was), but the same semi-mineralic and earthy warmth is there next to that pillowy white musk to finish out the wear. Longevity is pretty substantial but I don't find Royal Mayfair to be much of a screamer in projection. This feels formal to me, so I'd avoid day trips or romantic use with this unless your idea of romance is a picnic in the most windswept parts of Dartmoor just after a rainfall. A little also goes a long way with this, even though it isn't a sillage beast, it can get cloying to the wearer because of the musk profile if oversprayed.

Once again, the big kick in the pants with this will be price, but you can mostly overcome that at discounters online who will sell this to you for roughly the price of a Tom Ford signature line item at retail, versus the absolutely insane $550+ price Creed expects you to shell out at their counters or boutiques. People in France pay about half that because they've had Creed too long for the house to really pull that nouveau-riche pride of ownership aspirational crap with the pricing, but even something like $275 is still a lot for something like this, when the less-refined but still-serviceable Burberry Brit for Men can be had for a song and get you to that same beautifully gray melancholic headspace. Considering I liked that but found it a bit unexciting and better suited for an office, I'd deal if this stuff ever returned to the vault or proved to otherwise be unobtanium, but would still gladly pay the discounter rates for a bottle (which still isn't cheap but is manageable). Royal Mayfair is definitely one of the most unique of the modern Creed scents I've encountered, and has a good bit of genderbend potential with that rose and neroli laid across a fairly neutral base, so don't let the marketing fool you. Sample first if possible, as with anything in this luxury prestige category takes some weighted consideration unless you're pulling in six figures, but if the price is right, you won't find much more evocative of the stereotypical pale beauty of the UK without taking a vacation. Creed has a lot of gall sometimes, but when they get something right, they really get it right, you just have to be able to stomach the rest of their shenanigans and move outside official distribution channels to enjoy it when they do, which is troublesome. Thumbs up!