Bois de Cédrat 1875

Cologniac
17.01.2012 - 12:06 AM
1
7.5
Bottle
5
Sillage
2.5
Longevity
9
Scent

Beautiful, Ephemeral Citrus Pleasure

Like many new fragrance lovers, I found Creed baffling at first. The more famous millesimes did not smell familiar, nor did they move me. I did buy Original Santal for its distinctive, strong fragrance, but it was not an everyday scent, so I thought that I was all done with Creed. And then I smelled Bois de Cédrat. This is the fragrance that brought me back to Creed, and made me understand the house.

Bois de Cédrat is simple - it is cédrat - or a modification of it - and a bit of wood. It is cool citrus with just a tiny hint of a woody base. It is really little more than an eau de cologne, despite being an eau de toilette, technically. And yet, because of the marvelous quality of the citrus, and the painstaking purity and polish of the composition, it is a very, very beautiful smell. The listed notes are lemon, mandarin, cedar and ambergris. What one smells is a clear, cool citrus which is closer to lemon than mandarin, but lacking almost any sharpness or sourness. Behind this, the tiniest bit of cedar, softened by something, presumably the ambergris. The latter is synthetic, I assume, but synthetic ambergris is very nearly the real thing, so no harm done. This fragrance smells incredibly natural - as if you could drink it.

I recommend Bois de Cédrat for highly formal situations where a universally loved scent would be welcome, and one doesn't want to take a chance on being malodorous by forgoing any kind of fragrance. A few sprays inside one's jacket will last for an hour or two. It doesn't last long, but it can be applied immediately before leaving for an engagement. It is also wonderful for things like dances, airplane flights, working closely with others in the office, dinners (goes will with foods, particularly fish), or just for a cool spray on a hot summer day. It is also a wonderful bedtime fragrance.

Not everybody would pay for a bottle of Bois de Cédrat, but almost nobody dislikes it. This is a highly recommended scent for anybody - man, woman, or even child.
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