Virgin Island Water
Creed (2007)

Not for me. Makes me smell like a coconut scented car air freshener.

The only Creed I've ever scrubbed off.

I got a decant of this and having tried this twice, feel comfortable giving my review.

Opening scents, olfactory first impressions, are tricky things. We humans are trained to make quick assessments within a minute that then become hard to shake. For many fragrances this means that a bad or harsh opening blinds us to a wondrous dry-down.

In the case of VIW, the opposite is true. I first applied this after a shower on a gorgeous, sunny 68 degree (F) morning, and the lime/coconut/jasmine bloom transported me to a power chord montage of all of my best tropical beach vacation moments. I walked around for a few hours with this buzz going through my head, but there was a nagging feeling in the back of my head that I was able to ignore for some time.

At about the 3.5 hour mark, however, I took a good smell as to what VIW had developed into. Gone was the lime, jasmine, salt, rum, etc. All that was left was copra (not coconut) and a bit of white musk that smelled like the cheap oil I used to buy at Garden Botanica. And it never changed. The next time I tried it, I realized that it hit this point at around 1.5 hours. Just flat, repetitive and kind of boring, which is unacceptable at $400 per bottle.

I didn't have the absolute drop in duration, possibly because I applied this strongly enough to be able to get comments from my friends and family, but this ends up as a meh two-trick pony. Disappointing.

Creed is one of my most respected perfume houses. Although sometimes I'm seeing toxic Youtube&Instagram nonsense or of another's site about it. Some people literally write novels but well they should explain where these frags went wrong or hate something? Anyway to me this is a gorgeous island vacation in a bottle.

Virgin Island Water is a punchy blend of lime and liquor in the beginning, which morphs into a sweet, coconutty, piña colada-type accord as it dries down. There's some very gentle marine saltiness present throughout the fragrance's lifespan, but it's not as noticeable as it is in something like Cool Water. The dry down is a bit dark and sultry. It really does a great job of refreshing you on a hot summer day.

Ahhh well. This is the king of summery scents.

Many others here have written much more poetically about the scent evoking, suntan oil, pina coladas and relaxing at the beach. That's all true. Also the best lime note I've ever smelled (though it doesn't last of course).

Surprising to me, this may have the best longevity on me of all my Creeds.

If you a want a fun scent to evoke a holiday in a warm locale, you're crazy not to try this.

If you're looking for a more affordable option, go with Gorse from Laboratory Perfumes. However, if you're willing to splurge, Creed Virgin Island Water is a great choice.

This fragrance has a lovely combination of lime, sun-tan lotion, and coconut notes. While it may not be the most complex scent, it does an excellent job at boosting your mood. Many reviews have covered the basics of this fragrance, so I don't have anything new to add.

Virgin Island Water is a really good summer outdoor by the water fragrance. The opening is juicy mandarin and lime that invites a powerful coconut and floral body. The florals are jasmine, Ylang, and Hibiscus that are the perfect white summer flower that avoids offense by addition of fresh ginger root. Everything about this combination reminds me of fun in the sun, the ocean and gentle tropical floral breeze. The base is powdered sugar and dry white musk with a hint of rum. It all works really well - the coconut, Ylang/jasmine, lime/mandarin, ginger, sweet powder and cool rum base. A great Island cocktail that is hardly a virgin. Unisex. Creed has the best summer fragrance line-up there is with: Millesime Imperial, Erolfa, Silver Mountain Water, Pure White, Virgin Island Water, Aventus Cologne and Neroli Sauvage. Nothing but superlatives for VIW!