It’s not often that the C-word is uttered on my YouTube channel, but in the interests of public service, I decided I had to share my thoughts on the new Creed Carmina with all of you, which is precisely what I did in a recent episode of Love At First Scent. You will be relieved to learn that other perfumes were reviewed as well, so please click on this link for an hour of fragrant musings: Creed Carmina, Akro Rise, Roos & Roos Angelica Florae, Grandiflora Saskia and Zuma reviews. As ever, you’ll find timestamps for each review below, with further reflections on some of the scents.
Creed Carmina 4:00
Akro Rise (Olivier Cresp) 17:12
Roos & Roos Angelica Florae (Nicolas Bonneville) 26:52
Grandiflora Saskia (Christophe Laudamiel) 34:00
Zuma colognes from Sicily 43:51
Although the opening of the Creed doesn’t cause the very deepest recesses of my stomach to twist and churn with revulsion (which is a first for this brand, so I suppose I ought to be grateful for small mercies) it does become nastier as it goes along, eventually revealing the true colours beneath the semi-palatable facade. Abrasive woods. Sickly sweetness. Plastic cherries skewered by decaying teeth. Those are the main images conjured for me by Carmina.
There is considerably more good-naturedness on display in Akro Rise and Grandiflora Saskia. With the former, Olivier Cresp proves yet again that few perfumers can match his talent for creating gourmands that are both photo-real and wearable. In this case, the picture being created is of a beach where the air is filled with relaxation-inducing wafts of coconut, cocktails and caramel-toffee confections. And Saskia is as welcoming an invitation to a lush flower shop as you could ever hope to find, complete with a sense of shutting the door on a rainy pavement outside and seeing gleaming sheets of cellophane wrapping behind the counter. Another addition to a strong, but underappreciated brand.
[Samples of Akro, Roos & Roos and Grandiflora provided by the brands; the rest were obtained by me.]
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Oh, dear. Usually I’m with you all the way on Creed, but this time I’m not. I absolutely love Carmina, to my great surprise. I don’t get plastic cherries or rotten teeth. I get bright cherry-soaked roses, underpinned by smoky vanilla, gradually becoming a lipstick violet like Drole de Rose or Prada No 14 Rosetto. Believe me, I’m shocked.
Well, that’s fine. If it finds some admirers, then that can only be a good thing.