Himalaya

Today I'm moving onto a Creed fragrance I'm fairly intrigued to try; Himalaya. Just the name itself evokes images of icy mountains and fresh air. I'm not sure how much of that is going to translate into how the fragrance smells, but I'm excited to see. This is another Creed fragrance that doesn't get talked about as much as the others, but it's not as obscure as say Royal Water that I reviewed a couple of days ago. Without futher adieu, let's get into it; Scent: The opening is citrusy, spicy, and woody. The primary notes I get are Calabrian bergamot, grapefruit, Sicilian lemon, and sandalwood. The strongest of the notes are the Calabrian bergamot and sandalwood. The Calabrian bergamot opens with a burst of fresh citrus. It's not lemon-y like most bergamot notes I encounter; instead it lands somewhere between a lime and an orange. Bitter and tart like a lime, but juicy and sweet like an orange. Right behind that citrus is the signature peppery spiciness that tickles the nose just a bit. This bergamot note also forgoes its typical aromatic qualities in exchange for a soft, subtle floral nuance. Sharing the spotlight with the Calabrian bergamot is the sandalwood. Nothing out of the ordinary here; bold and woody with distinct powdery tones. Up next is the grapefruit and Sicilian lemon. The grapefruit offers more citrus but with a signature bitterness, separate from that of the Calabrian bergamot. Lastly, the Sicilian lemon doubles down with more citrus, but this time focused on lemon (obviously) and a noticeable rindiness. The dry down is musky, woody, and earthy. The primary notes I get are musk, sandalwood, bergamot, and ambergris. The strongest of the notes are the musk and sandalwood. The musk has emerged in the dry down to be a primary note. It's fresh, clean, and airy with just a bit of fuzziness. The sandalwood has continued into the dry down with the same woody and powdery tones from the opening at the same intensity; not any weaker or stronger. This is followed by the ambergris and bergamot. The bergamot still has the same citrusy and spicy accord from the opening, just toned down and more mellow. Lastly, the ambergris is noticeable in the background as a pronounced earthiness nuanced with a bit of warmth. In fact, the earthiness was so palpable that I initially thought it was a patchouli note that I had overlooked; but nope, just ambergris. It's worth mentioning that I also get a distinct "icy" accord here. I'm not sure why or how, and maybe it's just me associating from the name of the fragrance, but I get "cold" vibes from Himalaya. Performance: Initial projection within the first hour is strong at around 6 feet. Sillage matches that strength with an easily noticeable scent trail. After a few hours the performance was unchanged. At the 7 hour mark the projection was about 3 feet and the scent trail was still noticeable. The fragrance lasted about 9-10 hours before becoming a skin scent. When to wear: Himalaya shines best as a daytime spring/summer fragrance. The brightness of the citrus notes in the opening and the fresh musk in the dry down lend themselves well to warmer weather. As for occasion, this fragrance will feel appropriate for pretty much anything you can think of. Casual, formal, even office wear; Himalaya will match the tone. Blind buy: If you like fresh and woody fragrances Himalaya is a pretty safe blind buy. Strangely enough, I can understand the comparisons to Zoologist Penguin, particularly in the dry down; so if you've ever experienced that and enjoyed it, you'll probably enjoy Himalaya as well. It's like Penguin made mass-appealing. Final verdict: Himalaya was quite the experience. There was more of a transition between opening and dry down than I thought there would be, but it was very interesting and enjoyable. It definitely does evoke the impression of being in the mountains with that mysterious "icy" tone. Performance is solid for such a fresh scent. Strong projection and scent trails for the first few hours, and lasting around 9-10 before becoming a skin scent. When it comes to versatility, I would consider Himalaya average. It will work for essentially any occasions you can think of, but only in warmer weather. Mass-appeal is high for Himalaya; most people will agree it smells great and there aren't any weird or challenging notes in the composition that would throw someone off. To wrap this up; I thought Himalaya was going to be something special when I first smelled it, and I thought right. Between the fresh mountain air feeling I get from it, and the respectable performance it comes with, Himalaya is worth the money. I will be getting a bottle of this when I can. Scent: 10/10 Longevity: 8/10 Sillage: 8/10

I can't even lie, at my first whiff of this at Neiman Marcus I knew I had to have it. The scent caught me off-guard and I found it so appealing in a quirky way. It also helps that it comes in this awesome silver, alien-looking flacon. I wanted to buy it right there and then...but it was out of stock. Thank goodness, though, because I found it from a third-party website at literally half the price. It finally arrived today and I decided to wear it. I realized what drew me to it: a distinctive, metallic, very icy feel with a citrus background. The iciness/frosty quality that's dominant throughout reminded me of fresh snow being melted in the sun, and it did truly take me on a vicarious trip to the Himalayas. However, as much as I get the cold-temperature vibe from the scent profile itself, I'd argue this cologne is more suited to warmer months, as: a) it'll perform better, and b) it'll be refreshing to smell cool mountainous glacier ice in the scorching heat of the summer. Oddly, I do think there's a similarity between this and Silver Mountain Water, but I find the notes in this more suited to my skin chemistry. Between those two, though, having at least one of them is a must (in my humble opinion) if you are a collector, or growing to be one. It's top-notch perfumery that perfectly and aptly evokes the vibe engraved on the front of the bottle. I know the price is steep, but I found this for $180 when it's normally $300-$350. To me, that's still very much worth it for an excellent scent profile. SCORE: 94%

I read and watched lot of reviews on Creed Himalaya, everyone gives lest priority to this gem. So, I too stopped exploring this, but during my search of Bois du Portugal 120 ml bottle, I ended up getting 2018 batch Creed Himalaya. I was not interested to get it initially; shop person told me to try sample of it for few days and then decide. I gave 1 test waring and 1 complete waring of it, and I immediately liked it so much, as I got it for good, discounted price I grabbed without any hesitation. Manly, somehow your typical freshie scent but for a trained nose it is a bit more than that. Very refined & well put together and I cannot see you go wrong with this one. It gives some vibes of icy fresh indeed and it also has a metallic feel to it which I love (maybe that gunpowder shoots at times lol). I got this for a great deal but being a creed, it won't be cheap. If you do like fresh & metallic frags, chances are high for you to enjoy this one. An underrated fragrance. An enjoyable citrusy opening with a sexy musky, Sandalwood and Woody drydown. Surprisingly I have received the most compliments on this one as well. Scent: 8/10 Silage: 7/10 [ 1- 2 Feet radius] Longevity: 6.5/10 [ Solid 1 Hrs afterwards it becomes skin sent] Bottle: 7.5/10 Price: 7/10

My favorite Creed offering. It's become my go to scent in the summer, and believe it or not, in the winter when I ski, perhaps because of its "icy" note which I don't get from the cheaper bottle of syntheticky PR Pure XS I also own, its closest match. I've asked myself why I love it, and I've concluded that it's because it has that out of the shower soap scent that I grew up using as an older Gen X'er, prior to the "Blue Shower Gel" trend. Sure enough, I recently read the "Cons" on Himalaya listed here, and it says "Smells like an old-fashioned bar of soap." Lol. Yep, I guess it would to younger generations than myself. But to my nose, it isn't simply "Ivory" soap. So much more. Granted, it's a Creed, so unfortunately it also isn't as cheap as a "bar of old fashioned soap." And, unless I'm anosmic to it, it doesn't have longevity nor much projection. But for an office setting, and, yes, while riding in a Gondola up a ski mountain, that is probably best. If you're an older gent like myself, say 45+, get a sample of Himalaya. You may like it as much as I do. What to younger generations might understandably be deemed "old fashioned," to our generation might just be deemed "classy."

I get a barbershop vibe from Himalaya. I'm not getting citrus at all. Maybe its my batch, CM3919P01. I have At The Barber by MMM on one wrist and Himalaya on the other and I'm getting a lot of similarities. I love this when I want to smell fresh and clean. It's very office friendly and plays best in late fall, winter, and early spring. My biggest complaint is longevity. I only get about an hour of projection and a semi strong skin scent for another 3. When buying a Creed frag I expect at least 6-8 hours of projection. I understand this is a freshie and isn't supposed to be a beast. But it should at least project for a few hours. And I feel like if I overspray it will be too heavy and cloying. I LOVE wearing this. It's a top 5 scent for me. I'd love to get my hands on an old bottle of XS. But I don't trust Ebay enough to order one. Anyone know a reputable site to score an old bottle? Edit: The bottle has matured a bit and I’m getting about double the performance now. It took a couple months. Same with my GIT and OS. Curiously my RW has not. I will be buying another 100 ML when this runs out. It’s just such a great scent and so versatile.