Spice & Black Vanilla

Well this is embarrassing. I'm the first reviewer here and unfortunately I'm not good at reviewing as I struggle to ever pick up anything but the most dominant note. But there is literally no info here so I'll try my best for you. I just got it in the mail and opened it. Since I already have Perry Ellis Dark Vanilla Absolute on I sprayed it in the air just to figure it out. I'll try to update it again after I wear it for a full day tomorrow. I'm rather new with modern cologne so take what I say with a grain of salt. I like vanilla in my cologne so I picked this up on Amazon for $23. The air spray does not have an overwhelmingly vanilla scent to it. For sure, it's there but it's also joined with spice and wood. I do pick up that bourbon vanilla. This is not a sweet scent to me. Right now this is a like but not a love for me. To me, if vanilla was created like whiskey in a wood barrel (uh, bourbon vanilla I suppose) and had a bit of Captain Morgan's spice thrown in then I think this is close to what you might get. I don't know what cardamom or vevitier smells like so that's as good as I can do here. Bourbon smell but not heavy whiskey or alcohol. Simply nothing like any of the other vanilla cologne I own. Unique. Where I'm at it's 85° with a life draining 100% humidity. This would be an awful choice for that weather. It's a fall/winter cologne and I'd feel a bit wary wearing it on a hot or humid spring or summer day. I think I'd smell like an alcoholic with this in warm weather. Hmmm, this could be a very good scent around the holidays though. It's nice but not interesting enough to be a first date, reel 'em in with your intoxicating allure kind of smell. Does that help anybody at all? The bottle is clear with Cremo written in the front and sides but with the front side featuring a crown. There is a white sticker with red font that says spice and black vanilla. My sticker is a bit off-center and crooked. Kind of cheapens the overall look. I can already tell I won't be falling in love with this one but I think the current weather may be skewing my opinion. Does it make sense if I say it would be right in it's element in a fall/winter camping trip where you find yourself drinking with your friends around a fire while holding your significant other? Okay, I tried here. That's all I got. Update after wearing it for a day: No doubt now that this is a fall/winter cologne. It comes in with a woody, mildly spiced, bourbon vanilla. It would actually be quite nice in the cooler months and I am now much more happy with the purchase. You know, vanilla in a male's cologne is a tough scent to get right. Too sweet like Molinard's unisex Vanilla and a guy smells like a high school, teenage girl with cupcake perfume. Get it right and you get Eros, Le Male, or Perry Ellis's wonderful boozy vanilla. Well, this is a decent vanilla. Not too sweet with almost a hint of smoke with that bourbon vanilla. It doesn't have beastly projection. Projection and sillage seem to be completely average. Remember that campfire comment from above about your girl sitting with you...spot on. Just right for the right person to notice. As it moves on through the day, it moves to just vanilla with just a hint of bourbon smokiness. All in all, I'll be wearing this later this year. So that's it. My first solo review without any other comments to guide me. Now I'm ready for others to tell me I'm completely and totally wrong and hopeless when it comes to cologne. Lol. Who cares? I like it. Anyways, hope this helps. Good purchase for @ $23. Final update: So I've come to find out in my process of learning about fragrances that bourbon vanilla is a type of vanilla and doesn't necessarily mean booze. I now know i may have shown a bit of ignorance when it comes to fragrances and I apologize if I confused anybody. Yet, the actual smell and my description of this remains the same. Hey, I'm an amateur but at least I'm learning!

Opening is very spicy and vanillic. The spices are akin to cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, basically all the spices that are synonymous with fall. I do not detect any cardamom. The vanilla is always in the background from the open to the dry down. In the dry down, it becomes a softer (yet still spicy) vanillic scent, but the spices are way more toned down. This is the perfect fall fragrance! I know people claim that this as a Spicebomb extreme clone, but to me it smells more like the original Spicebomb with a vanilla note added. Spicebomb extreme includes tobacco (and other notes that I can't quite decipher) which makes the fragrance somewhat more complex than Cremo. But honestly for the price point I would say this is a great alternative to the OG or Spicebomb extreme. Personally after having purchased this Cremo, I never found the urge to buy any Spicebomb fragrances again. Now I know that this fragrance is marketed to men, but myself and others that I have shared this fragrance with agree that it does lean somewhat feminine, which I think gives it unisex qualities, but sometimes I feel it leans a little too feminine for my taste. I continue wearing it nonetheless, as I find the fragrance just divine! As for projection and longevity, I'll give you my experience; I've owned this fragrance for more than a year now, and I've used up about half the bottle. When I initially started using it, the projection was incredibly weak and longevity was no more than a couple of hours before it was a skin scent. Now however, this fragrance is practically beast mode and I have to go easy on the sprays. Another thing I'd like to note, when I had first purchased this fragrance, the juice was clear with the slightest yellow tint, but now the juice is a dark orange color. What I'm trying to say is, if you purchase this fragrance and are disappointed with the performance, just blast a good amount of sprays, let it rest for a few months, and then give it another go; you'll probably also be surprised by how the performance improves over time.

Surprised there aren't any reviews of this yet. For the price, I was amazed by the quality of all Cremo products. I like that I can layer this with the body wash (which is moisturizing and overall great for the skin), and the deodorant. Together, they help boost the overall longevity of the fragrance; especially if you add something like Viking Revolution's Spice Vanilla lotion to the mix. Even if not using this fragrance, those products create a nice supportive base to anything sharing a similar gourmand profile. Sure, while it's on the same tier as low-end fragrances, it's light years beyond alternatives like Axe. I'd say Cremo is on the high end of the introductory lower-tier. If you're in your teens or 20s wanting to explore something better than Old Spice or Axe, but still intimidated by the middle or luxury levels, this is the way to go. I wish I'd known about these products in my early 20s when they launched in 2005. Even as a man now in his early 40s, I sometimes layer this with other scents; like Rayhaan Lion EDP, or even on my clothes after applying Armani Stronger With You Absolutely to my pulse points. The Cremo plays off the vanilla notes while adding a fresher spice accent. That way it shines more as an addition, rather than a sole fragrance sought for projection or sillage; which I'd say lasts about 1-2 hours on skin, and 2-4 hours on clothes. Sillage is definitely more potent than the projection, especially if you spray the back of your neck. The one thing I found odd here is it only lists cashmere woods as the middle note. Isn't this supposed to at least be imitating tobacco (on some level inspired by the dupes of Tom Ford's Vanille Tobacco)? Yes, the first sprays, while ready to go out of the bottle, can smell like synthetic licorice, but once it settles, the vanilla notes come through, though the spicy-fresh notes remain dominant.

I purchased my bottle back in Jan of 2024, however, I can't look up it's true production age since the batch codes for Cremo are still not in the Check Fresh database. Nonetheless, used it multiple times over the winter with the intention of getting some air in the bottle in order to allow it to mature some. Around April I put it away in my storage shelf with the other fall/winter frags. Out of curiosity, I pulled it out today and I have already noticed the following: The juice has darkened some 9 months since I initially purchased it and started using it. I could also tell from smelling it right from the atomizer that it is much more potent. I sprayed it a couple times on my forearm this morning and it is still hanging around pretty well for a solid 8 hours. It had definitely started to fade around the 8th hour, but Nonetheless, by my standard it is performing like an 8 hour fragrance. For a $20 fragrance (100 ml), 8 solid hours is a great performer. The projection was pretty good at an arms length for 2 hours and settles down to about a foot after that. The scent profile is also great, it's highly reminiscent of the original Spice Bomb with some vanilla added to it. This is another one I like to use for my daytime casual and work uses. Overall, give this time to mature, as this is another great candidate for getting a spot on the Mount Rushmore of cheap fragrances! It's not expensive, and you get an excellent price per ml value (100 ml for only $20)!

I absolutely love the scent, but I disagree with what a lot of people say about it. It smells like an even combination of vanilla but not sugary sweet, bourbon spiced with like nutmeg and cardamom, and then a prominent woody-Citrus scent that I think is coming from the vetiver, cedar, and/or woody accord. It's not even a close comparison to Spicebomb Extreme, but rather VERY close to the original Spicebomb EDT. I have another Teakwood and Spiced Rum fragrance that shares far more similarities with this one. For performance, I'm not as impressed as some others, either. It is definitely strong at first and projects pretty well for about 1.5 hours, but then dies down to a skin scent for about 5-6 hours total max, lingering on clothes longer but still only detectable shoving your nose in it. I do NOT think this scent is only geared toward cold weather, because the vanilla is balanced by the spice and woody-citrus that tingles the nostrils in a good way. I've worn it in high heat and wasn't bothered at all the way Spicebomb Extreme definitely would. It's also office friendly if you only do a few sprays, it will fade. I wish it lasted and projected more, because I really, really like the scent. It's like a layered combo of a spicy vanilla and a woody Citrus scent, so it's unique and all around pleasant. 7/10, fine price though for respraying. If you can get original spicebomb under $50, would recommend that instead it'll last longer.