Green Valley

I finally got my hands on a decant of this after years of hearing about the hype. My initial reaction was that it was a subdued and less bold take on GIT. It shares a strong violet leaf accord with my vintage bottle of GIT (late 90s), and has that same Gasoline-like quality that I can taste in the air for about 30 minutes after spraying on my neck and shirt lapel. I found the initial presence of GV to be a bit underwhelming. I found it to be pleasant, but hardly stupendous, and I was wondering why people spend thousands on a bottle. Then the dry down rolled in like a sultry and sumptuous vixen. The ambergris base took over, and I was transported directly to the heavens above. It is a very subtle and subdued drydown, but every now and then I will catch a whiff of it and think that perhaps I've just died and ascended. It is sublime, and I can understand the value in owning a bottle of this. The scent has something so familiar to it, which I can only compare to that of the most classic and exquisite five star hotels. Think Hotel Bel Air or the Montreal Ritz Carlton, enjoying a drink in the lounge, hand in hand and in the throes of love, with some Nat King Cole playing. There is something both fleeting and reassuring about GV starting at about 90 minutes after spraying it. Is it worth the obscene markup for a full bottle? No, not unless I had unlimited money. But it is worth the rather extravagant price of $25 per ml for a decant. I'm glad I became acquainted with this peculiar and enchanting fragrance. I will be saving it for special occasions with special someones.

I'm very excited about this one, because I view it as the Creed that out-Creeds their star player, Green Irish Tweed, in spite of (or thanks to?) their similarities. I think that they've captured some of the points I liked about my long lost Gendarme Green, and combined them favorably with GIT. The opening is a crisp, sharp, sweet blue-green, which turns very astringent very quickly with a short-lived lemon and a longer-lived spearmint. This all sounds very familiar I'm sure, but GV is dustier and grassier than GIT is at this stage. The mint and herbs give it a more mountain-meadow vibe, whereas GIT is down on the plains where it's warmer but the AC is on via the cooling influence of the violet. GV even brings in just a trace of those strong, pithy herbs that seemed so over the top in Chevrefeuille Original. All this time it's been a bit shifty and uncertain, but once it finally settles down, the base is one of the cleanest, brightest, truest grass scents I've encountered. It has less fruit and more sunshine than Greenergy or Bobby Jones, and not as much violet as GIT, as if sweet herbs from Burberry original or D+G original had been introduced. The biggest advantage GV has over GIT, though, is its strength and longevity. I can smell the full grass experience pretty strongly after many hours, under circumstances where GIT would have faded to a mere violet memory. Being forever in the shadow of GIT, GV doesn't get talked about as much, but is very worthwhile to seek out as a substitute or on its own.

This one is magic in a bottle. I picked this up as a tester back in 2010 and wore it to work for a short time. I recall regularly while going up the stairs at the workplace, groups of women would say... somebody smells really good. I had numerous female coworkers ask me what this was, and where they could get it for their man. I told them that it was hard to get, and was discontinued. I will agree with the GIT reference, but this is a better take on GIT IMO. I had GIT and it never gave the same reaction. GIT had the best lemon top of all time maybe, but maybe because that scent profile was watered down by Cool Water, it never stood out. But this one... yes. People speak to a mythical panty dropper scent. If one exists, if I ever had one that was maybe a major contributor, it is this one. It has a cut green grass feel at the top, but it fades, and the dry down is pure magic. I won't get into the details but there's something about this one. Maybe it's the natural ambergris, which this one does have. Not sure. If it was ever brought back, it surely wouldn't have real ambergris in it. I still have a quarter bottle of this and no matter how much it sells for on Ebay, someone would have to pry it from my cold dead hands to have it. Even though I rarely wear it, as I am saving it... I would miss this one in particular if I did sell it.

Same as I posted on the Dunhill Icon Racing page, I cannot see the similarity in these two. Green Valley is maybe the most verdantly Green fragrance I've ever smelled. Icon Racing is not. And when I wear Green Valley the first thing that hits my nose is green, and the last thing that hits my nose is....you guessed it, green. So the accord stack listed on this Fragrantica page is ridiculous. Instead of being at the very bottom of the accord stack, "green" should be at the very top. This is as bad as the Fragrantica accord stack listing for Creed EROLFA, which ridiculously doesn't even have the accords of "marine" or "aquatic" listed. But man o man I wish this frag weren't vaulted. It's just about impossible to find any longer. Passed into history. But there are clones. I'm wearing a Dua hybrid of Green Valley and Green Irish Tweed right now, and it is really good. Update: I'm currently wearing the ScentualObsessions clone of Green Valley and it is fantastic. Really close to the real thing in scent profile. Update 4/11/25: Wearing the Phoenix Shaving clone of Green Valley now. Plus their deodorant stick of Green Valley 😂. Its pretty good.

The excruciating regret of having sold my giant bottle of Green Valley because I thought I was "over" my perfume collection in 2014-2015. It was a dazzling, vivacious green mandarin and sparkling bergamot with a minty-buchu cassis heart and mastic resin. Its dry down was heavenly, with this fine-milled soap bubble and Creed's signature ambergris base dry down. It smelled like optimism to me even as the world seemed to be collapsing in 2008 when I purchased it. I was wearing it the day it was announced my whole department was laid off during the financial meltdown, but I recall continuing to apply it while returning to school to finish my undergrad, recalling accomplishment and ambition. As I write this, I'd love to smell it again, even if from a small vial—to wear it again and relive some of that time of my life could possibly revive me.