Pure White (Original) Cologne by Olivier Creed VI for Creed 2011

Hello APJ,

We had a great day here yesterday, a bunch of friends around for a BarBQ enjoying the last warm weeks before we start to head towards the cooler months. Ten great friends all eating Jin’s famous BarBQ Chilli Pork, sausages, salads and bread rolls. We all drank heaps of sweet fruity wines, couchon reisling and moscato and laughed the day away. These are the days I will remember and cherish, like perfect gifts to mull over and reminisce about. We are so blessed.

Pure White (Original) Cologne by Creed 2011

pure-white-colognePhoto Stolen CREED

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: lemon, bergamot and grapefruit.
Heart: galbanum, neroli and pear.
Base: gray amber (ambergris), white musk and rice.

Just a little back story: Pure white Cologne was introduced last year as Original Cologne so that the people who bought it in the first year would have a fabulous collectors item. That is a fun idea but so annoying because now all other reviews are now out of date which strikes me as a bad marketing move.

The citrus opening is sweet and bright and hugely gorgeous, enough to attract orange beetles I reckon. Unleavened citrus beyond anything I’ve ever smelled and fun to boot. It takes a while for the next phase to become noticeable because it creeps up slowly and stealthily through the magnificent wonder that is the opening. What I first get is a softening of the citrus for a soft pear waft, it is both sweeter and dryer that the opening and green rather than sugary. That doesn’t make sense but it is the way I read the progression. It may hark back to fragrance of yesteryear but to me this is fun freshness, a beautiful green smoothy of a fragrance, a sweet and sour bite that says, “Though you are dressed  in a suit and fully, handsomely masculine, you are also edgy, naughty and spontaneous.” I expect a cologne to have little lasting power but Pure White Cologne by CREED outdistances many of its EdT and EdP counterparts and smells like money has been spent on the ingredients. As it should for the asking price. I am getting about 3 hours of fragrance and about the same of warm skin scent, though I get no hint of the rice in the base.

If we had an unlimited budget or were 3 fragrance happy then Pure White Cologne would definitely make the short list for a summer fragrance.

From the CREED site:
New in CREED’s Royal Exclusives Collection, Pure White Cologne evokes men’s styles in Victorian England: clean grooming, tailored white shirts and lives made richer by quality goods of impeccable detail.  Pure White Cologne wraps the client like a garment stitched to his exact proportions, fitting and superb in every respect, a complement to his innate style and a statement of his high standing.  Pure White Cologne has been compared to a burst of English mist, a fine and clean sensation on the skin like when a train blurs past, sending a gust of cooling moisture onto every pore, as in the 1844 J.M.W. Turner painting, “Rain, Steam and Speed.”

J_M_W_Turner_-_RainSteamandSpeedJ M W Turner Rain, Steam and Speed Photo Stolen WikiMedia

The CREED site has 30ml $205
SurrenderToChance starts at .5ml/$3

Do you wear any of the CREED line? Have you tried this one?

Till tomorrow,

Portia xx

Fleurs de Gardenia by Olivier Creed VI for Creed 2006 (2012 L.E.)

Fumies!!

In the lead up to the holidays SurrenderToChance were having a special deal in the DailyChanceSpecial section. Which I always try to have a squiz at, at least twice a week so I don’t miss anything FABULOUS!! Sometimes the deals are so good that even if I am not a desperate fan of the manufacturer I will grab it to see if I’m wrong. Always happy to be taught a lesson. On top of that Patty has been wittering on SO MUCH about Gardenia, a scent I’ve always loved in the garden, and though I have a few I always like to have comparison frags, OH DEAR I AM A PERFUME BORE!! Ha, if you’ve read this far you probably are too so let’s continue

Fleurs de Gardenia by Creed 2012

FleursDeGardenia FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Pink pepper, galbanum, black currant
Heart: Gardenia, floral notes, lily-of-the-valley, peony, lavender
Base: Musk, cedar, patchouli

WOW!! The first spritz waft is almost photo realistic Gardenia, that burns off quickly and I have a softly sizzling pink pepper and galbanum with morning breath. Sounds ghastly doesn’t it? It is not at all ghastly, deep, bright and intense are the 3 words that spring to mind but no notes, they are blended into a blue cheese and sweet floral naughtiness. Quite alluring I think. My BFF Kath loves it and thinks I smell gorgeous, so we agree which is good. After the fun and naughtiness Fleurs de Gardenia becomes a soft and very discrete floral with no hint of its outrageous beginnings, the patchouli has been scrubbed raw and musks are barely there. The flowers are pretty and prim and sexless and after the first 20 minutes would be a very good work fragrance.

Gardenia gardendebutPhoto Stolen gardenDebut

In the heat of summer here in Sydney, maybe 38 degrees celsius/100+F today I am lucky to get 3 hours but what I get is lovely and interesting. I have quite a big decant, let’s see how fast it goes and whether I feel I need a bottle at the end. Really though, I doubt it, for the money Creed is asking I want my fragrance to last through dinner.

I have worn Fleurs de Gardenia again tonight and in the cooler temperature it has a longer story, I am at 4 hours and there is still a whiff of something that is lovelier than me, it could be the extra layers of scent as this is the 3rd respritz today but it is hanging in there.

Further reading TheScentrist
Buying from Creed counters (Limited Edition Re-Release)
SurrenderToChance $5.25/ml

Have you been trying anything just because? Do you have a frag house that you WANT to love but they don’t ever seem to fit? Tell me, I love to read your stories.

Till tomorrow, have some fun,

Portia x