Epicea Creed for men

What the FUCK?

This smells like parsley! PARSLEY! As in, Italian Wedding Soup! I smell a little bit of clove, too, but really this stuff is all about parsley.

I don't HATE Epicea, but I don't wanna smell like parsley. One of the most unique fragrances I've ever smelled.

An elegant, mild, green spicy scent from Creed. Perfect for most occasions and seasons. One of the best from the EDT line from Creed. Thumbs up!

Creed EPICEA is a light, pleasant aromatic, slightly grassy fragrance. Neither epic nor spicy, EPICEA has the quality of a low-profile chypre to my nose. Nothing stands out; everything is judiciously measured. The clove is light; the lavender is light; the citrus (bergamot) is light; and the pine is light.

Moderation in all things rings true in this case, since when applied heavy-handedly, any of these components could have ruined the composition. No one wants to smell like straight lavender or pinesol, and clove is intolerable in any but the tiniest doses. But in EPICEA these potentially contentious notes blend together harmoniously. I detect each of these notes; none asserts itself aggressively so as to drown out the others.

My only regret is that this universal (not masculine!) fragrance is rather shortlived.

Prologue:

Sometimes in Life, it is important to 'go back to basics'. Think about it for a moment.

This maxim can be applied effectively to almost anything whether it concerns issues of technique in sport; music; or the creation of the most fundamental of dishes when cooking, such as a basic risotto. Even writing.

In short, the absence of 'more of' the 'x,y,z', is actually better when the 'Law of Parsimony' is applied.

Act I

With respect to this, 'Epicea' by Creed exemplifies this principle when applied to perfumery. Rather than bombard the creation with a plethora of complex 'interlocking facets', the nose behind this old-fashioned beauty has made an intellectual appeal to William of Okham, hsitorically noteworthy for his so-called 'Razor' and created a simple olfactory tale based around 'Pine'.

'Epicea' is the fragrance of the 'great outdoors': there are no perfumistic implications of sweetness; that which is edible, fanciful, dainty, or 'ozonic'; and even the 'world of leather' is absent. At best it approximates a rich woody/chypre-esque quality.

This is a bracing perfume to be 'applied' rather like the way in which an old-school masseur would rub in a therapeutic linament. It is a nostrum: an old-fashioned 'sport' fragrance before the media 'commodified' the term. 'Epicea' is a tremendously invigorating, aromatic perfume with staying power. Yet it possesses an allure: a 'charge': something enticing, and that element of 'wanting more' at a physical level.

This is a perfume of the cinematic landscape inhabited by Rock Hudson and Jane Wyman in a classic Douglas Sirk's film, as they romantically 'engage' their life together: Rock, the outdoor 'Hunk' (sigh!) with his heavy red/black checked jacket and outdoor boots, chopping wood, and Jane, planning their next intimate 'encounter': the scenes awash with blowing autummal leaves, the characteristic Sirksian signature and tense, sexually charged drama.

Epilogue

This fragrance is a triumph of 'pine-meets-lavender-and-clove'. Simple; 'outdoors'; adventurous, and utterly uplifting!

Andyray

Ps A big, big thanks (again) to Chat Lunatique for reminding me of the virtues of 'Pine' in her superb review of Krizia's Uomo!