Reviews by Scent Detective

I've been enjoying this fragrance all day, but I must warn you, it's a deceiving sillage beast! I over sprayed, because I couldn't originally smell much when I put it on...but it grows in intensity over the next two hours and becomes quite strong on me, so I would under spray if trying it for the first time. You can always apply more, but it's tough to scrub it off if you're at work. This is a very dry spicy scent. I really enjoy the ginger mixed with the tea accord. It feels comforting, like a curl up with a good book and a warm drink...but again, if not over applied. I will cut down by half the number of sprays and I'm sure I'll enjoy it even more. This is my second Serge Lutens and I love both bottles I have from this line.

Reflection Man is my favorite of the Amouage line that I've tried so far. Having said that, I think it's a little too sweet for my taste. The initial scent was very pleasant, and I received compliments from a few female co-workers, but the fragrance became sweeter as it dried down and just became a little sweeter than I prefer. As with the Creed fragrances ambergris dry down, the Amouage line has a signature scent present in the base notes. I don't know what it is, but it has a "musty" nature to it that I just don't care for. It wasn't very pronounced in the Reflection Man like it was in Interlude Man, and especially in Memoir Man, but I got just a trace of it in Reflection Man. With the prices of the Amouage line, I think I'll be satisfied with a sample of Reflection Man, but I will wear it again and see if I warm up to it even more. As I said, I still preferred it to the other Amouage I've tried. I'm looking forward to trying Jubilation XXV Man, Sunshine Man, and Beloved Man.

A big thumbs up for Creed's Green Irish Tweed. The strange thing is, I had the same experience as Young Amateur. The first time I wore GIT, I didn't like it. It was the sharp grass smell that initially turned my nose away, but today I tried it again, and I had one of the most enjoyable days I've ever had wearing a fragrance. GIT becomes one of the most refreshing and enjoyable scents in my recent memory as it drys down. Just a spring day of a fragrance that feels classy and fresh. I will be getting a bottle of Green Irish Tweed to go along with all of my other Creed's. I have come to love so many of their fragrances. They cost so much, but I enjoy them so much as well, They are my guilty pleasure. GIT is another winner from the House of Creed.

I appreciate the many descriptive reviews of this wonderful fragrance. I think it deserves them, because it invokes so many powerful associations when worn. The first time I smelled it, I wondered if I "should" like it. It seemed too sweet...too syrupy...too "juvenile" for lack of a better word. At least, that was my initial reaction...for about five minutes. Then, like the gravitational pull of a planet, Sadanne began pulling me in. First into a high orbit, and then closer and closer, until I now have to buy a bottle of this fragrance. It says it's a unisex scent, and I would agree with that. I know there are many in my circle of influence who will disagree with me. But, I don't care. I want more than a sample. It's as I said, pulled me in. There is definitely a rose note to this fragrance, but the sweet syrup helps, at least for me to make the floral/rose scent work. I had given Amouage's Lyric Man a try to see if I could do a rose scent. It didn't work for me. Sadanne however, does work for me and it's a matter of the sum being greater than the individual parts. The scent is one I find to be beautiful in a way that causes me to want to wear it and enjoy the experience. I tried another fragrance, (Cape Heartache), that had strawberry as a note in the fragrance as Sadanne does, but there again, it didn't work for me. The strawberry in the Cape Heartache smelled like I was smeared in jam. The strawberry in Sadanne is blended into the overall fragrance so well, in my mind, that it just works. The dry down of Sadanne is also beautiful and brings some coniferous notes that I enjoy so very much. I'm so pleased that Josh Lobb discovered this fragrance as he was being creative. Now, I'm going to have to see how much heat I take for wearing something this sweet and syrupy. It's a cotton-candy/bubblegum/liquor/lollypop/pine-cone. It makes me smile...and it makes me happy when I wear it. Time to buy!

(EDIT): It's interesting what time will do with some fragrances. In actuality, the change is in me...or in my perception rather than in Cape Heartache. At any rate, I have been revisiting Cape Heartache over the last few days, and appreciating it very much.

I'm learning some things as I spend more time with fragrances. One of the things I'm learning as I become more a student of fragrance is that it's important to let your nose tell you about the fragrance, not your head. In my initial assessment of Cape Heartache, I believe reading the notes gave my mind some pre-conceived notions about what I was smelling. I am getting no strawberry in my recent wearings. What I am getting is the somewhat sweet, jammy quality that fir and pine resins and balsam naturally contain. This truly is a beautiful fragrance for lovers of conifer scents like myself. It is sweeter than Norne, but no less enjoyable to me as I've spent more time with it and allowed my nose to decide and not let my head implant notes based on pre-conceived mental images. I'm learning to adore it Cape Heartache and give it two thumbs up.




I'll have to go with a neutral rating for this fragrance. It starts out so beautifully. The coniferous/pine scent in the opening notes is just wonderful, but then, very quickly it turns sickly sweet into a synthetic strawberry jam smell that made me sick and in time gave me a headache. The pine opening was so nice initially, but I'll have to go with a neutral rating I guess, as the opening might be beautiful, but the sweet/synthetic strawberry smell ended up being the main ride through the day, and as I mentioned, it made me sick over time.

I like this one...I really do. It's odd though. The wood scents are very nice. I definitely smell the cedar and I'm guessing the maple as well, but the predominant smell to me is the, "violin varnish"??? What the.....? Am I really putting varnish on myself as a scent, and if so, is that a good idea? I just find the idea of varnishing myself for the day kind of funny. The opening notes are where the varnish sticks out. As this scent dry's down, the wood notes start to take over and it's very enjoyable, I just lost this scent too quickly in the dry down. But, overall, I find this scent intriguing and I enjoyed wearing it quite a bit. I agree with JanJanJan's review and I'm also happy there are no creamy qualities to this scent as found in other wood scents I've tried, like Tam Dao. I'll revisit it again very soon to see if my face ends up looking like Pinocchio's before he becomes a real boy, or if it just smells like it. :)

Mmmmmm.....I like this one! Very woodsy. As mentioned by others above, there is a sharpness to this scent in the middle notes, but I loved it from start to finish. The cedar wood smell carried me through a difficult day and made me smile whenever it wafted up to my nose. There's an almost coconut smell in this fragrance as well to my senses, although it's probably something else, and my untrained nose just doesn't know what it is. But, I enjoyed each transition, each scent, and each "scent"sation! I would recommend getting a sample of this to anyone who enjoys outdoor, woods smells with hints of sweet fruit. It's very green smelling to me, which is appropriate since it is bright green in color, but which is also funny, since it's called "Blue" Escapade. I can't wait to wear it again.

I like it. My wife however said I smelled like lemon furniture polish when I first put it on. That smell quickly dissipates into a peppery, wet stone smell to my nose, but I like each phase of this scent. I do have three beefs with it though. Once again, I smell zero pine scent with this fragrance. That's been happening to me a lot with new colognes that are supposed to be pine scented, from Fou d Absinthe to Itasca to this little beauty. Secondly, it has zero longevity, and thirdly it has zero sillage. While it lasted I enjoyed it's spicy little wispiness. However, I'm not sure I want to invest in a bottle because of it's brevity.

Since I've only worn this fragrance once, I'll come back and do an edit when I've had a bit more exposure to it, but I do have a couple of thoughts after first wear. I really like the smell of this stuff, however, it is weak enough that I had a hard time picking up all of the different notes, and I didn't get any pine at all, which was a huge disappointment for me. Anyway, it is a very soft smell, and I kept feeling the need to add more to my skin so I could enjoy it. The longevity was almost nonexistent, and the sillage was nonexistent. The reason I'm giving it a thumbs up so far is because it is such a nice little smooth fragrance. But, I may change to a more neutral position if I can't get any better longevity out of this juice. I only have a sample right now, and I'd hate to invest in a full bottle if I'm not able to get any better longevity in the next few applications.

I've been a lover of pine scents all of my life. My first pine scent was the original Polo green. I started wearing it in about 1983 or 1984. I loved the scent and was sad when it lost much of it's pine appeal and became more of an alcohol based scent. I heard about Good Fir 11 and liked what I was hearing about it's clarity, freshness, and pineyness. I tried to get a sample, but was told that the scent had been vaulted, so I bit the bullet and got one of their last bottles out of the vault. I wore the Good Fir 11 for the first time a few weeks ago. I was a bit startled by the turpentine exuberance in the opening. I also noticed a smell in the first hour or so after application that I couldn't quite put my nose on. I finally figured it out, and it seemed to be a slight hint of urine. I kept my objectivity and allowed the scent to dry, to experience all of it's characteristics. As the day went on, I noticed that the Good Fir 11 had a sweet smell that increased with the dry down. By the end of the day, I was still trying to figure out what I thought about this fragrance. I decided to wear in again on Friday and enjoyed the mixture of pine, vetiver, etc. The turpentine, and the slight urine smell didn't show up at all with the second wearing of this cologne. I enjoyed each phase and change. As I mentioned, it gets much sweeter in the dry down. In fact, it smells a bit like pine scented smarties candies. I mean the American version of smarties, which are tart, powder based candies, as opposed to the M&M type chocolate candy that the United Kingdom and Canada are used to. I am enjoying this perfume, and would recommend that anyone who has any desire to wear this scent had better contact Krigler to see if there's anything left to buy. Don't let my comments of urine turn you away. I know this fragrance is distilled for a long period of time, and I believe the initial turpentine/urine smell is a by product of that distilling process, but as I mentioned, I didn't even notice it on my second wearing. I will be enjoying this scent for many years to come. It is very nice addition, and I'm glad to have it in my collection.

A slight addition to my review. I took one of the coats out of the closet today that I had worn the last time I wore the Good Fir 11 and it smelled amazing! A very sweet, pine filled fragrance.

Ahhh...Polo. My first love. Of course I wore a few fragrances before Polo, but they were all pathetic in comparison to the wonderful pine and woods love affair my nose began with Polo in 1983. The original Polo was such a rich and complex concoction, and I splashed it on every day for many, many years. Then, one day it changed. The richness seemed to fade. It became less powerful, more alcohol based with my pine and woodiness somehow subdued. I still bought Polo and wore it hoping that I just got a bad bottle or something for about five more years, but eventually even I had to admit to myself that it just wasn't the same. I still enjoyed it to a lesser degree than I had before, but then...I found a bottle of vintage Polo! The love affair was back on! It's amazing the feelings that smell can generate, the memories that come sweeping back into the mind when a scent from the past hits the olfactory organ. I'm so happy to have the original Polo back in my rotation. I love this scent with a passion, and always will. Now, I need to try the Modern Reserve that I've heard so much about but never got around to trying. Viva Vintage Polo!!!

Update Ore 2022:

Mmm...this update makes Ore even more accessible to the masses. The original Ore is what I'd call, "Unrefined" Ore, while this new 2022 version is what I would call..."Refined" Ore. ;-)

2022 Ore is very smooth and very beautiful. The chocolate note is still there, but it isn't sweet and blends with the woods so amazingly. There is a slight cocunutty/macaroon like vibe in the opening, but it's fleeting as the chocolate or cocoa settles into the woody notes. This is much more sheer than the previous carmelized versions of Ore and wears that way as well. That's not to say that it doesn't project, because it does...it's a Slumberhouse fragrance after all. I could see myself ponying up for a bottle of this iteration of Ore even though I already own a flask from 2015 that I love as well.



Update: Ore is awesome! It's what gold would smell like if gold had a scent. I love this stuff. Norne is still my favorite Slumberouse creation, but Ore is next and it is divine! Two thumbs straight up!!!


I've only sampled Ore so far, but I wanted to lay down my first impressions, and then come back and add/edit if I have any additional thoughts. So, the main thing I picked up from Ore was pencil shavings, mixed with an almost caramel and cocoa smell. I wore it last week at work, and the longevity and sillage were both impressive. The smell was strong enough at first that I was concerned it may be too overpowering, but as time passed, I became more comfortable, and really came to love the fragrance and overall feel of Ore. I also understand the comments about wet dirt, or wet earthiness. It is definitely in Ore, and I'm wondering if the wet dirt smell may have been what overwhelmed me for a time, but as the product dried down, it also smoothed out and became very pleasant. I'm going to try it again tomorrow and see how enjoyable it is in the second wearing.

Edit:
After wearing Norne for a few years now, I appreciate just what Josh Lobb has done with the creation of this amazing fragrance. It is so very special to me. Norne isn't just the smell of fir/pine resin or needles, although that note is definite present, and I am supremely grateful for that. Norne is literally the smell of the whole fir/pine tree...the needles, the wood, the bark, the young twigs and larger branches, the pine cones and the pine nuts, the verdant soil around the tree, where the twigs, pine cones and other parts of the tree that have fallen off are returning to mother earth. It is literally the smell of the whole wonderful pine tree. As I said, an amazing accomplishment as far as I'm concerned, and I'm so grateful that Norne is still being produced. I never want to run out of Norne! Thanks so much Josh Lobb!





Ahhh...pine. So very difficult to find a true pine scent that is satisfying like Norne. I wore Original Polo back in the early 80's, and loved the pine note that was present in it's compilation. Unfortunately, Polo changed and is a pale shadow of it's former self. There is nothing pale however about Norne. It reaches out and grabs my need for pine from the first spray in the morning until late in the evening after a hard day of work. The first time I put this fragrance on I was transported back to my youth. Camping in the high pine forests with my father sitting by the campfire. It almost brought a tear to my eye, and not because of the smoke from the campfire. This is such a fabulous fragrance. I am so glad I heard about Norne. Thanks to the recommendations I received right here from Bassnotes! Norne is truly a magical journey...

A BIG, BIG, thumbs up for Fille En Aiguilles! I purchased both Norne by Slumberhouse, and this gem from Surge Lutens at the same time. I love them both. Yes, there are some similar notes, but they are also quite different at the same time. Filled En Aiguilles is soft in a way that Norne isn't. Norne is like a sharp broadsword that slashes the senses, while Fille En Aiguilles takes a similar journey, but in a much more etherial way. It feels smooth without the smokiness from a forest fire that I get from Norne, but still has enough punch from the pine and incense that I'm very comfortable wearing it. In fact, I thoroughly enjoy wearing this fragrance, and I'd like to thank Serge Lutens for producing this fine product. I would recommend it to anyone who loves pine and sweet, wonderful incense blended in a way that is so incredibly pleasant...bravo!

I wore this again today, and I just really love this scent. I initially bought it because of the opening pine note, but I love the dry down as well. It's described as dried fruits, and or incense, but what it smells like to me is what Hansel and Gretel must have smelled when they came upon that gingerbread house in the forest. It's a very satisfying fragrance that smells more like Christmas to me than any other I've tried so far.

Updated musings:

I'm sitting her enveloped in the essence of Fille en Aiguilles. It's an intoxicating brew of pine needle resin and Christmas spices like those used in the creation of a Christmas fruit cake, but in the best possible way. It's definitely not like eating fruit cake. Wearing Fille en Aiguilles is like languishing in the best smells of Christmas, feeling magical and contented while you bask in it's amazing aura. I have many bottles of Fille en Aiguilles, and hope to have it in my wardrobe for as long as I'm around. I love to sing the praises of this peerless creation of Christopher Sheldrake and Serge Lutens. There is a density to Fille en Aiguilles that is like a planetary pull for me. Fille en Aiguilles...you are my "density." :-)

I'm struck once again by Royal Mayfair. Quite simply, this is the best of the best where fragrance is concerned. The richest, most opulent experience I've yet to enjoy with a fragrance. I could wear this scent everyday for many years to come and never tire of it. It feels like a special event in and of itself however. More than any other fragrance I've tried, Royal Mayfair, formerly known as Windsor is the scent to wear in the most luxurious, high society events on the planet. Since I'm fresh out of invitations to those types of gatherings however, I chose to wear this stunning masterpiece more often when I'm in a suit and tie than I do when I'm in jeans and a t-shirt. Not that it wouldn't smell as amazing in jeans, but it just feels more at home while wearing a nice suit and tie. I will be on the Royal Mayfair bandwagon as long as the House of Creed keeps producing it. Magnifico!



I sampled some Royal Mayfair in December at Nordstrom. I immediately fell in love with the pine noticeable in the top notes combined with the lime. It just took me to a better place and I was intoxicated by it, and not because of the gin, which I feel fits in nicely and isn't overpowering. When the roses appeared after about forty minutes, I wasn't quite sure what to think, because I've never worn a flowered fragrance. I'm a pine head and always have been. But, the roses are so smooth and the Cedar scent came on gradually and it just all tied together so amazingly that after the second wearing, I was hooked. I love this scent. It is an amazing fragrance that smells so refined, so interesting, so fresh, so clean. It's just fabulous in my opinion, and I will be wearing it for many years to come. Well done House of Creed!

Creed Spice and Wood is a must have scent in my collection. The price is too high as others have said, and I would like to see this fragrance available in the standard Creed formats of 2.5 oz. and 4oz. to make it more affordable. I took the plunge and purchased the 8.4oz. spray decanter, and this scent is very pleasing to my nose. It smells like cedar wood and pepper to me and I love the combination. I know there are other things going on, like the clove and the birch wood as well, but the cedar and pepper hang in pretty well throughout for me. I wore it last week and put my coat on today and could still smell it...what a great scent! I love having this in my rotation. A true classic as far as I'm concerned.

I base my rating of Aventus from my own experience wearing it. I must admit that I'm amazed by how many people are Aventus Heads. It's almost like the Dead Heads that followed the Grateful Dead so faithfully. I've read the posts, reviews, etc., by those who have become true Aventus followers and it is quite impressive. Please let me clarify by saying I'm not surprised that this product has elicited the following frenzy it has, because it truly is a special scent, I just wasn't expecting to be so bowled over by the sheer amount of following this cologne/perfume has gained.

On first application, Aventus draws you in. It is so clean, fresh and sweet, but at the same time masculine. I honestly can't imagine anyone being turned off by it. It smells something like a fresh, crisp, white shirt and tie with a sweetness that is perfectly balanced by enough other notes like the woodiness and the vanilla. I can't think of another fragrance that has the perfect balance Aventus has. It will be a life long love affair for my nose. I wear cologne for myself first and foremost. I have a strong sense of smell, and I enjoy wearing scents that make me happy. Aventus definitely does that, and I'm grateful that the House of Creed created this fragrance for us all to enjoy.

Wore some Aventus yesterday, and it is a sillage beast! It's also a longevity beast. It keeps on ticking all day and night on me, and it was just so pleasant to keep enjoying it for a full 16 to 17 hours before I fell to sleep.