Original Vetiver

When I sampled Green Irish Tweed, Original Santal and Original Vétiver they all shared a natural, elevated, lively quality that I find incredibly attractive. Loved them all but I was instantly taken with Original Vétiver though. My initial impression was that of a brilliant, clean, and elegant smell. A bright optimism beautifully contrasted by a subtle air of mystery and grounded sophistication. The scent paints a picture of green earth and bright open sky's in my mind that feel fresh and nostalgic. Like the endless potential of a fresh day's start that inspires you to be productive. I appreciate the seeming intentionality of design in how the bottle color reflects how the scent itself unfolds. The transparent glass at the top depicting it's clean and natural, bright citrus opening. Blending smoothly into the fresh green yet slight smoky earthiness. Fading into the dark base reminiscent shade and shadows as you descend admist the vetiver blades away from the light and closer to the dark soil from which they spring. There, the smoke and earthiness continues but is joined by musk with a hint of leather. However, the scent remains clean and classy throughout all the stages of the gradient. Just as the bottle appears in its color and chic silhouette. So people all over the net compare this to Mugler Cologne. Scent wise they exclaim it a 1 to 1 of OV. Moreover they argue that the price of MC makes OV not worth it since they are so similar. Then there are others who hold that Original Vétiver best Mugler Cologne by far. With better quality, depth and overall composition being near unanimous hallmarks of it superiority. Honestly I've never smelled Mugler Cologne so I can't chime in on the comparison. By it's description, I imagine it smells really good. And if they are as similar as many report, I'd probably really enjoy it. Yet even without having smelled Mugler Cologne, I'm equally as assured that it's nowhere near the natural quality of Original Vétiver. There's just something realistic about it. If MC lacks that, I'm doubtful it'll convincingly take me to the place OV does. I find the clarity that high-quality ingredients provides in a scent, acts to me in the same way a high-quality camera or tv screen does. In allowing the viewer to see and experience more vividly whatever is captured or being displayed. And as it stands I can truly say I've never smelled anything like Original Vétiver. I get a good 2 to 3hrs silliage 8+ hrs total on skin and days on clothes. Even after it becomes a skin scent I still get wafts as I move through the air. I love that OV is not a loud look at me kind of scent. It's quietly confident, composed and easygoing. Doesn't shout for attention but gets it still. It can be dress up or down. Worn anytime but imo shines the most in spring, summer and fall. And possibly sunny winter days which I have done. To my nose the scent doesn't come across as sweet at all. It is soapy yet smells amazing and high class. I'd say this is masculine. The women in my life agree. This was the very first niche fragrance in my collection. If you can't tell. I love it. Original Vétiver is a 10/10 for me UPDATE: 7/24/24 I do pick up a slight sweetness here that I didn't before. Not at all enough to consider it a sweet fragrance though. Update: 1/13/26 For those who care about these kinds of things. Based on info from another famous perfumer who also created fragrances for Creed, Ive come to believe that Alberto Morillas is the nose behind this creation (as he is Mugler Cologne).

A truly beautiful scent. One of the handful of Creed’s I ‘had’ to have in my collection. I’m a huge vetiver fan, it’s my single favorite note in the world of fragrance, and other commenters make me feel obliged to say: if you can’t smell vetiver in this one, you need to smell more vetivers. The vetiver in OV is smoother and less astringent than most, but it’s undeniably present throughout. I would echo those below stating that this performs closer to an EDC than an EDP. (Which in due fairness is to be expected with this type of scent.) I was rather disappointed by this though, if only because prior to my purchasing a full bottle, I tested this at Nordstrom. The test spray on my wrist from the Creed counter was incredibly potent. I could still smell it prominently, even after attempting to wash it off 4+ hours after application. With my full bottle, however, I’m lucky to detect anything at all from multiple sprays after 4 hours. I can only hope this improves with time... My first impressions of this scent was simply that of fruit loops. And some fresh cut grass I thought it was dramatically more feminine or unisex leaning than any other vetiver I had tried to date. The scent though, (with further experimentation and further development of my own nose and understanding), is a classical eau de cologne style scent, with prominent vetiver and neroli. It’s more vibrant than nearly any other scent I’ve ever tried. Incredibly realistic, organic, and three dimensional. It’s undeniably the most high quality smelling fragrance I’ve ever experienced. For those in the debate and dupe enthusiast camps, OV’s opening is remarkably similar to Mugler’s Come Together (f/k/a Mugler Cologne). The Mugler however is remarkably short lived, even in light of OV’s subpar performance, and the similarity does waver after the opening. In light of this undeniable similarity, it is worth noting that the Mugler is inherently synthetic smelling at all stages of wearing whereas OV smells wholly natural. MC is a shadow of OV, but a similar enough shadow to get the broad strokes of what OV smells like. For those of us here balling on a budget, who may be window shopping, there’s no greater value in the vetiver game than Rasasi’s Fattan. Or, if you’re looking for only a single vetiver scent to complete your collection at any price point, I’d have to give the overall nod to Guerlain’s Vetiver. I think the experience of the Guerlain is extremely rich and fulfilling. GV lacks in nothing that I enjoy among any of the other Vetivers I own or have tried. Dollar per dollar, or even irrespective of price, I think GV is simply a better fragrance with better performance and a more robust wearing experience than Creed’s OV, despite how much I enjoy OV. With that said, there are very few fragrances I’ve ever smelled that are quite so beautiful as OV is. OV is just stunningly pleasant while it’s around. If that’s what you’re after, (and who isn’t?) it’s certainly worth a try.

This is an edit; my first response will be kept below this new edit. UPDATED VERSION: After spending some time with this fragrance, I finally "get it." The reviewer above me said it "whispers gentleman," and I believe that's right. It's just one of those fragrances for the refined person: a doctor, a university professor, or other professionals. Some people prefer small fragrance bubbles (especially doctors or other professionals who have to get close to people). It is what it is. I had a GCMS analysis of it done, and it contains A LOT of musk, which would explain why its projection is muted quite a bit: versalide, galaxolide, ambrettolide, helvetolide, exaltolide, etc. And it's not just that it contains several musk at low doses: they're dosed quite high in the formula. So on the top end you've got lavender, ginger, bergamot, a citronellyl/lemongrass sour note, a limey sour note, which quickly fades and almost immediately just goes into the "flat" musk territory. Sure, it has lily of the valley, Iso E Supe, hedion, but after 20 minutes it's really down to the musk, and then some time later, a quiet vetiver whisper. I know it has vetiver because I can smell it, and also the readout says "vetivene" and other things which are natural chemicals found in vetiver. I'm not going to say I love this fragrance. And I would never recommend buying a full bottle unless you're a doctor (ha!) but seriously though. If you can get it at discounters somehow or a tester box, I'd recommend it. I've picked dup a second bottle, only because I found a cheap tester. My old, original post is below: This must be one of my most frustrating/disappointing fragrances. It opens up sharply with a lavender, a kind of citronellal plant, maybe a bit of lemongrass or lemon, and nice bergamot. Decent opening, I'd even say very nice because it leaves a nice citrus bubble around you for about 10 minutes. Then, it quickly fades--within 15 minutes, I have to bury my nose in my arm only to get a faint citronellol/lavender/bergamot whisper. Within 20 minutes it's barely detectable. The thing is, if you sniff your arm about an hour or two later, you can smell the vetiver, but it's very understated. Even 12 hours after you can still smell the faint vetiver (something like the far drydown of Encre Noir Sport, but who cares). I'm not sure how the original formulas were, but the one I have is definitely not impressive at all. Even something like Azzaro Chrome original is sticking around longer and projecting more. I would not recommend this--perhaps if you were a doctor and needed to be in close up with patients and wanted to wear something without offending. Other than that, I can't see a use for it, especially at that price point. I know that this fragrance is musk heavy (has about 5 or 6 musk, and I do know that musk can suppress a fragrance. Perhaps that's part of the problem.

I can’t add much to what many have already said. Anyone who loves Mugler Cologne cannot help but also love Original Vetiver, as the latter is a more masculine evolution compared to the unisex freshness of Mugler Cologne. The opening is citrusy, made sparkling by ginger; it then settles into notes of vetiver blended with sandalwood, with a base of musk and ambergris, a Creed signature. Compared to Mugler Cologne, the fragrance leans toward slightly more woody, masculine, and refined tones, but the similarity is undeniable. For me, Original Vetiver is the best fragrance from the Creed house and one of the best fragrances ever, but there is little that is truly “original” about it. Unfortunately, their very poor longevity is something they share, despite their very different price points. It’s a masterpiece, but the price is too high for the performance. No puedo añadir mucho a lo que ya han dicho muchos. Quien ama Mugler Cologne no puede no amar también Original Vetiver, ya que este último es una evolución más masculina en comparación con la frescura unisex de Mugler Cologne. La apertura es cítrica, vivificada por el jengibre; luego se asienta en notas de vetiver combinadas con sándalo, con un fondo de almizcle y ámbar gris, sello distintivo de Creed. La dirección del perfume, en comparación con Mugler Cologne, se orienta hacia tonos un poco más amaderados, masculinos y refinados, pero la similitud es innegable. Para mí, Original Vetiver es el mejor perfume de la casa Creed y uno de los mejores perfumes en absoluto, pero de “original” tiene poco.. Lamentablemente, su escasa duración es algo que comparten, a pesar de sus precios muy diferentes. Es una obra maestra, pero el precio es demasiado alto en relación con su rendimiento. Non posso aggiungere molto rispetto a quanto già detto da molti. Chi ama Mugler Cologne non può non amare anche Original Vetiver, perché quest’ultimo una evoluzione al maschile rispetto alla freschezza unisex di Mugler Cologne. L’apertura è agrumata, resa frizzante dallo zenzero; si assesta poi su le note del vetiver unito al sandalo e un fondo di muschio ed ambra grigia, marchio di fabbrica creed. La direzione del profumo rispetto a Mugler Cologne è verso toni un po’ più legnosi, maschili e rifiniti, ma la similitudine è innegabile. Per me Orginal Vetiver è il profumo più buono della casa Creed ed uno dei profumi piu buoni in assoluto, ma di Original ha poco. Anche la durata scarsissima li accomuna, purtroppo con costi molto differenti. E’ un capolavoro, ma troppo caro il prezzo rispetto alla resa.

I love this fragrance. I'm iffy about the performance, but saw a review saying that it's still there later and he just didn't smell on himself anymore, which I've had plenty like that so I'm optimistic. But it's one that I think is amazing and love to smell it on myself over and over, so I like to spray on the front of my forearm so that it mixes with my hair oil and lasts longer, instead of the overused pulse point of the wrist. It's the reason I also spray on my head-hair, it lasts a long time. Sorry for the weird visual but it's true. It really is great though, I have a few vetiver fragrances that I really like and wanted something different than most ones out there, due to trends being annoying in that regard sometimes. I actually do smell the vetiver, unlike a few out there that reviewed. It smells vaguely like Encre Noir Sport (not the original) in the background, which I love, but it only has a faint similarity to that. I wouldn't say it's at all the same fragrance, but I think maybe it's the same type/ratio of vetiver used perhaps? I completely disliked Tom Ford vetiver fragrance when I sampled it, which was a letdown since I love a lot of his fragrances, but it was not something that I would own. Other than EN Sport, Karl Lagerfield Bois de Vetiver is the other one that is just fantastic. Malin Goetz vetiver is nice too, very soft and smooth, but not quite a favorite. Creeds though, is just awesome. It's totally different than all of the other Creeds, and those that have similar DNA, like Millesime Imperial, SMW etc, that all smell different but too much alike in the DNA to collect more than one. I found this on Ebay from a very trusted seller, thank God it wasn't a dupe, smells exactly like the sample I used from Nordstrom and checked out otherwise as well, so I felt a little better about handing over that much $$ for a fragrance. I really think it's worth it at this point, just hope that the performance doesn't let me down in the long run. I'll have to do the "can you smell me?" test with a few coworkers or something to get a better feel. **update** very happy with the performance now. This is like other Creeds out there and truly needs a little time after a few sprays to get stronger.