Welcome back to the Gentleman's Gazette. In today's video, we're going to discuss
if Creed Fragrances are worth the steep price they charge.
In today's installment of is it worth it, we're going to take a closer
look at a company that styles itself as the
most mysterious fragrance company in the world - Creed, and here's the main
reason we want to dive into this brand today: for the steep prices they charge
for their scents. I have three of Creed's
Fragrances here today. The first will be Green Irish Tweed. Now,
this is a Gentleman's Gazette house favorite.
It costs $310 for 1.7oz. This was included in our recent
classic fragrances video which you can watch here (link in description box). Now, this is one
of the most famous fragrances from this house.
It is a cult favorite of many fragrance lovers and it has been copied
and mimicked by perfumers all over the world. Aventus cost $325 for 1.7oz
and last, we have Royal-Oud. Now, this is a
more niche woody and oriental fragrance. This costs $375 for 1.7oz.
Now, let's jump into some history of Creed. Now, the house of Creed was
established in 1760 London, England by James Henry Creed. That makes this
company 260 years old. Originally, this was a tailoring
house but they also made scented gloves and fragrances by
commission. At this time, England was a very dirty place and
sanitation was non-existent. Bathing was actually quite discouraged
so the aristocracy and royalty of the time
who could afford fragrances would buy them to mask the scent
of the smells of the day. Placenta gloves could actually be held over your nose.
King George loved this and he commissioned it Creed's first
fragrance: Royal English Leather in 1781. Now in 1854, we see that creed relocates
themselves to Paris in 1870. The company receives
royal warrants from monarchies across Europe.
In 1970, we see that the sixth generation member
of the master career perfumer family Oliver Creed
makes the creed fragrances available for the public for the very first time
and in 1985, we see that Green Irish Tweed is launched and becomes a crowd
favorite. Very quickly now in 2010 after 250 years
of perfumery, Creed launches Aventus to great acclaim
and it becomes an instant hit. Creed's history is not entirely without
controversy. Now it appears that no flick-ons exist before the 1970s or
any publicly available information that supports their
claims. Now this has led some to believe that the bonded history of Creed
is an exaggerated marketing ploy. Some also criticized the ostrich
plumes found on the label which bear striking resemblance to a
royal warrant but is not one in reality. And we're not sure which version of the
story is true, there's not much information to support
either version but what is not in question now is that Creed is a highly
regarded perfumer. Now let's take a look at Creed's Fragrance philosophy
in the consumer market. Many companies will take advantage of the fact that
many customers will believe that a higher-priced good is of higher
quality as well. That's one of the main reasons we do
this series, to check and see if the price truly matches the value.
Creed claims that it's using the highest quality ingredients
in an old abandoned hand-mixed infusion process
which leads them to have a superior product. Now, among fragrance enthusiasts
many are noticing that there are batch variations. This supports their claim
to a handmade product whereas other perfumers who are using
technical processes and chemistry are able to produce identical batches
one after the other. We usually take a closer look at the
components of the products we examine in this series.
But for fragrances that would require a chemistry setup
and that is well outside the range of what we know how to do here
and I'm not Bill Nye the science guy, I can't figure that one out, I'm sorry. So
what can we look at? The overall appeal of the fragrances, the
packaging, and how well it wears over time.
Now, overall we are all very big fans of Creed Fragrances here at Gentleman's
Gazette. Now they are well-rounded, sophisticated
and distinctive without being overpowering or too extreme. It's a
highly subjective measure but they look feel and wear like a
gentlemanly scent. The bottles are elegant and
masculine and feel heavy in the hand. As for how it wears, the three
fragrances we are featuring all have excellent longevity and sillage.
A sillage is the degree to which a perfume's
fragrance will linger in the air when worn.
This comes from the French word for wake. It is often interchanged with the
word projection. Now for longevity, we're
talking about how long this fragrance is going to last
on the skin now we notice that the fragrance will last 10 hours or longer
which is excellent, it will get you through your
day or your night out. This means you need very little of it to
smell great all day long. This is something that some of the more
cheaper perfumes can't reproduce. Now is it worth it? In summary, we
can't independently verify the history of the company,
the claims they make about the product quality, or the production process.
However, they do make excellent fragrances with a long life
and projection and these are usually the two main reasons that anyone would want
to wear fragrance. Now, colognes are an incredibly personal
choice so we say if you love the fragrance then yes, it's
worth it. There are many websites out there that you can visit
which will let you buy samples of the fragrance or you can go to a local store,
perhaps the Nordstrom or Neiman Marcus and there, you try the fragrance in
person. Now if you can't afford this fragrance,
all is not lost. There are many alternative fragrances out there which
we will cover in another video. Keep in mind that the scent might vary
from batch to batch but perhaps you might not even care.
Unlike other products, we can't break down the components and
look at the quality, we only have our personal experiences to
inform us. Now this is definitely a high-end purchase and although there
are many alternatives out there, if you're the kind of person that likes
the real thing this is a splurge which will last you for years.
Now, we urge you to consider price per wear and how important fragrances are to
you. Fragrances are an important part of
your life then the cost per wear is probably worth it to you. Now, if it's
in your budget, consider buying the 3.3oz. bottles.
This will give you a discount per ounce. Now, for example, with Aventus,
a 1.7 oz. bottle is $182 per ounce,
a 3.3 oz. bottle is $131 per ounce.
There is even a huge 17 oz. bottle which is $62 per ounce,
that means it's a $1005 bottle. Today I'm wearing a blue and white
checked long sleeve dress shirt tucked into a dark pair of green dress
pants with a brown leather belt. Accenting that
belt against my brown leather dress shoes and
I've got some amazing Fort Belvedere shadow stripe brown socks
on as well. If you would like socks like these and
other great accessories, check out the Fort Belvedere shop here.