Some time ago Marlen, one of the moderators on the basenotes forum, dissed my new favorite, Ormonde Jayne Isfahan, in a post on the men's fragrance board. To provide another viewpoint, he included a copy of my review from this blog in his post. We thought it might be fun to see what else we disagreed about, hence this review of Royal Water, which was released by Creed in 1997 as a tribute to Princess Diana. It features notes of mandarin, bergamot, peppermint, cumin, basil, juniper berry, and musk.
He says: Royal Water opens with a blast of citrus not too unlike the classic Eau's of the 20th century — Eau de Patou and O de Lancome come to mind — with a slight twist of green herbs. In Royal Water, the green note is the result of peppermint and basil and I think it's this last note that turned me off when I first smelled it on a test strip, though on the skin it blends harmoniously with the other top notes of verbena, bergamot and juniper berry. The scent slowly changes into something slightly unusual with notes of cumin and musk, and depending upon which website you look at, there may be a hint of ambergris. (A note about the cumin — this is not the Mexican food/ sweaty armpit type of cumin...in fact, it's barely detectable to me on the skin.) This metamorphosis into something slightly warmer, something slightly animalic, is what most intrigues me. Where other "water" scents stop at being fresh and clean, Royal Water continues and develops into something more. True, these darker basenotes are not major players in this scent's composition, but they certainly provide an unusual twist.
One of the most intriguing aspects of this scent is the fact that many of the comments by women describe it as "a little too masculine" while many of the comments by men describe it as "a little too feminine". Neither sex seems to know what to make of it. Perhaps this strange composition, as in my case, truly needs to be experienced to be understood.
The reputation and story behind the scent means absolutely nothing to me. If it smells good and I enjoy wearing it, then the scent has won my favor. When I spent a day with Royal Water, a fragrance with pleasant though subtle sillage and good lasting power, I discovered a scent that I just don't want to live without — fresh, green, invigorating, slightly mysterious, a tad animalic and musky, and overall delicious!
She says: Like Marlen, I was less than pleased by my first sniff of Royal Water. An overly helpful sales associate at Neiman Marcus managed to miss my arm entirely and spray this all over my coat, where it proceeded to linger far longer than any fragrance ought to. Since then I have tried this several times from a sample vial, which in my humble opinion is how most Creed fragrances should be tested, as the sprays tend to be overwhelming.
Royal Water starts very crisp and bright, with bergamot and peppermint. It settles into a green aromatic herbal citrus, heavy on the basil and juniper berry. No doubt there are flowers here, but I cannot make them out underneath all the heavy herbal notes. As Marlen points out, at least the cumin is muted. It does strikes me as on the masculine side, but that doesn' t bother me — I'll wear anything if it smells good.
My problem with Royal Water is that it smells like too much of too many good things. After an hour, it still smells brash and perfume-y, as though the top notes have just been replaced with other top notes. It feels raw and unfinished right through to the end. I don't hate it, but every time I wear it I wish I was wearing something else, something with a bit more subtlety. Annick Goutal Eau du Sud, in fact, fits the bill. It has similar notes, but is a bit more masculine than Royal Water, and has a woodier dry down. I would go even further and say that it has a touch of sweaty armpit, whether from cumin or not I cannot say. It just smells nicer.
Creed Royal Water is available in 30, 75, 120 and 250 ml. For buying information, see the listing for Creed under Perfume Houses.
This is a fascinating concept, NST! I love reading both opinions!
Thank you L/GG. Not taking sides on Royal Water?
Love the he-said/she-said format. As for Royal Water, I won't be leaping for it anytime soon. I just can't get into Creed, although I like their Santal as a comfort scent. Everything else sort of bores me.
To be honest, most Creeds strike me that way (like you, R, said–too much of too many good things). Or else they just bore me to death. Boredom is worse than a dislike for me. Thanks for a great duo review!
I have not tried their Santal yet, however as far as boredom, I agree! That is exactly what I said in my post.
That was a scintillating read, good job to both of you. I hope we get to see more exchanges like this from time to time in future
I love Jasmal & Fleur de The Rose Bulgare. Original Vetiver is nice. Have to say that all are in my collection via decants rather than full bottles, although that is partially because the first 2 are hard to find in small sizes.
V, do you not even like Jasmal?
Great point/counterpoint. Need a bit more violence in the argument, however. Way too civilized. Think Robert Novak and James Carville, smelling good for a change. Was the peppermint still around the drydown? Thank you for this, R!
Not really. It starts out gorgeous enough, however it quickly zooms into the floral heart, and all of jasmine disappears. For a jasmine focused fragrance, it was a disappointment to me. For a nice floral… I guess, I just did not find it singing to me.
Poor Creed. I like to support the “underdog” but this time I must agree with the home-blogger and not Marlen. The only Creed I wear is Silver Mountain Water. A friend gave me a HUGE bottle of it for Xmas a couple years ago. I like it…but mon Dieu…I'll never want it again. At this point I spray some on myself and then spray a heavy dose as air freshener (it still won't deplete! is it a miracle bottle..bottomless?) Even as an air freshener it lasts for days (maybe absorbed by the wood floors). As for Royal Water: when I smelled it, it reminded me of a face powder my mother wore: sweet, soft, powdery. After that novelty wore off, I found it to be a “so-what/no-character” scent. K
Echoing sentiment expressed above — love this he said/she said format!
While I haven't sniffed very many Creed scents, I'm under the impression that this house is more noted for its men's fragrances because whenever I hear Creed mentioned in popular media, it is always for this.
K, apologies for butting in, but I was searching for something and came upon a place where you can possibly find Caron Urn fragrances in Seattle:
http://www.parfumerienasreen.com/
Moreover, if you call their NYC store, they are likely to send you samples.
Thank you dear R for this. I have tried almost all Creeds and during certain mad moments I even bought a few (to promptly give them away).
The CS in the Creed Boutique is less than desirable and you know my thoughts on customer service….
xoxo
Love the novel review approach, R! It's fun getting two well-informed perspectives on the same fragrance.
I have a whopping great bottle of Royal Water that I bought a few years ago. I reserve it for super-hot weather (it would work quite well in NYC right now, as a matter of fact). I've never picked up on the cumin note at all, and I am highly cumin-sensitive. Not a hint of burrito here.
Eau du Sud, on the other hand, does indeed have a tiny whiff of sweaty armpit. I enjoy wearing it anyway — but again, mostly in very warm weather. I think the heat sort of burns off the B.O. note instead of intensifying it as one might expect.
THANKS! I'll hop over to Nasreen's this afternoon. (I ordered my lotus samples this morning too…thanks for the tip!) K
Thanks, R, for your usual excellent analysis – interesting to have two viewpoints. (But does this mean that Marlen didn't like OJ Isfahan? It's so beautiful!) I haven't yet found a Creed I liked beyond the first five minutes on the test strip, and it doesn't sound as if this will be an exception. On my skin, no Creed has remained unscrubbed for long, sadly. There's something about Creeds and Annick Goutals that just turn horrid on me – I wonder if they have a similar base component?
OK M, we'll try to get more vicious next time, LOL!
Wow, wish a few of my other bottles were bottomless, LOL! I know I've tried Silver Mountain Water but I can't place it at the moment, although a MakeupAlley review that refers to it as “elf pee” always sticks in my mind.
Thanks I! I think the men's scents are more popular on the fragrance forums than the women's. No idea which line actually sells better though.
N, really? For some reason I would have thought they would be better than others. Not sure why. The Creed counters at Neiman Marcus in the US are usually pretty friendly.
I hate cumin too, and it really doesn't bother me in RW. I didn't even know it was there until I read the notes. For some reason I think the sweat in Sud is from something else, but I could be wrong.
N, he did not like Isfahan at all! I can't find the original post as it was from when basenotes was temporarily on the Yahoo forums, but if I remember correctly, he thought it was boring & short-lived & blah (Marlen, if you wander by the comments, please correct me!).
Well the CS across the pond is generally much better imo.
The Creed women here are not interested one bit in selling – I gave up on them.
Thanks for all the positive feedback! And no, I didn't care for Isfahan, a little too much green lime at the top that came across as dill to my nose, and then the fragrance kinda disappeared only to leave a thin wispy trail of cedar… marlen
Hey Marlen! An Isfahan he says/she says would have gotten ugly — dill?? No way, LOL!
damn, i'm always too late to jump in! it's already tomorrow here for most of you. still, i brandish my index finger and opine that isfahan rocks the casbah. and royal water should be dispensed of with a royal flush down the toilet. i do like creed fragrances (in particular angelique encens, irisia and erolfa [though wall street is a nicer ocean]), but royal water is a corey feldman one-night stand ballsplash. eck.
and p.s. i adore the he said/she said idea! i think it should be a regular thing!
Yes. I don't like Creeds, really. I mean I SORT of do like some, but, in the end I'm just…
Greedy NonCreedy Gert
Its never to late to jump in, especially if you're voting on my side, LOL! My bottle of Isfahan arrived this week and I am thrilled. I need to get my hands on Irisia one of these days, I keep hearing how wonderful it is.
I loved the format, I've yet to try it but I think I have a sample somewhere.
Please, please give us more He said/She said!
We are working on another. Marlen is much faster than I am, LOL!
to the inspired blogger known as “now smell this”. have no idea if you read old threads. i'm sure you already know this but you can get a sample of irisia in the creed women's sample pack on parfumsraffy. but i guess you'd have to shell out $30 for some of what you already have right? you could also try fourseasonsproducts.com. they send samples too but it's hit or miss sometimes with what they've available. irisia might appeal to you since it is not a too powdery iris and has sandalwood. on the other hand, if i remember, you smell patchouli in 1 part per million and hate it? good luck.
I did manage to try Irisia on a test strip this weekend, and didn't like it, but that is pretty meaningless. It is not at all unusual for me to have a completely different reaction to something on skin. I didn't want to spray it on while in NY though, in case I hated it & would have to wear it all day, so will wait for my next trip to Neiman Marcus.
As someone who considers sense of smell the least understood, yet most transcendent of all the senses, I declare myself a bit of a perfume addict (I suspect I'm not alone on this site, regarding “scent intoxication”.) So with all the hype surrounding the “Creed” house, it made perfect sense for me to graduate to an expensive, high quality line.
“Royal Water” first caught my interest; However, for whatever reason (that likely involving a subconsious response to attractive media advertising,) I tried “Spring Flowers” first. With all due respect, “Spring Flowers” smelled a bit like–I hesitate to say—urine, on my skin. I suspected the intense aldehydic release resulted from a jasmine note within the fragrance. While it may be lovely on many, for me it was a bit too…natural.
After that experience, I thought I'd be turned off to the house. Alas, I decided to give “Love in White” a chance. It was described as “creamy, powdery, spicey”. That seemed like a perfect combination to me, so after waiting anxiously for it to arrive, I finally had my chance to confirm.
I splashed a little on—only to find to my nauseating dissapointment, that the scent was NOT for me. So much so, my arm and neck reacted in hives around it. The essence was likened to an odd cheese-like smell, with undertones of…urine. I must be biologically predisposed to clash with fragrance designed for “royalty” ;). Perhaps I was born for cheap!
As tempting as it is, I'll have to pass on “Royal Water”.
Creed has a particular aesthetic that isn't for everyone — most of their fragrances don't work on me, although there are a couple I like. For creamy, powdery & spicy, perhaps try Barbara Bui Le Parfum?
Thank you for the suggestion! Now I'm itching to test it (no pun intended).