Wow. I'm about a few hours into my first tester of this and am pretty floored. Honestly, this doesn't even smell like what I think of as cologne, it just smells good, like amazing incense. It took me about 15 minutes to put my finger on it, before I realized: cloves. Then, eventually, a hint of mint, a little licorice maybe? Something very much like being in a wood shop. Eventually something very warm and floral, almost soapy, comes out. Just a little.

Automatically you would think authenticity concerns, but they were both from the same person, just separated by 3 years, and I have bought countless samples from this person and I have 100% faith in them. I will update my review regarding the performance etc after I have had more time with it and sorry for mentioning the "A" word so much, haha. I would say this is suitable for guys 25 and over, it is more mature and very masculine for sure, so not a youthful clubbing scent, but still smells sexy. This would be really good to wear to a whisky bar. Yea this is somewhat unique, has an small old spice relation (due to the cooling and warming simultaneousness; best way to describe that is like tiger balm effect), bold, zesty, playful, woody, cuttingly fresh, and could be worn morning or night depending on the occasion. It’s a serious and charming scent while not being too serious. Could easily be a go-to when you want that masculine scent in the warmer months when you’re not feeling the softer fruitier scents.What makes Creed so polarising, besides inflated prices and specious claims of royal heritage, is that their fragrances walk the line between boldly rugged and unabashedly crude, true to that ur-British sensibility which also gave us scratchy Shetland sweaters and clunky Church's shoes. Whether Creed scents would make you shiver with pleasure or give you a thumping migrane used to depend on which side of the line your own sensibilities lay. This does have a lot going on, and sometimes it ranges from "old chest of drawers" to "brisk forest air". And with a classic vetiver&lavender combo, I'm not surprised that people make an internal link to older fragrances (that doesn't mean it *is* dated though). Depending on the weather and level of activity, this takes on various nuances on my husband and different things pop out. There's a floral elegance to it too, but it isn't feminine at all - the woods and aromatics still dominate.

As with all Creed's best, the achilles heel is the price point. I would easily buy full bottles of my top few Creed favorites if it wouldn't cost me in the 4 digits to do so. If I did that, this would absolutely be one of them. Unfortunately, though, as it's only my 2nd or 3rd favorite, until I strike it rich I'll settle for keeping a small decant around for an occasional treat. Soon as I sprayed this, it reminds me of the scented spray that my barber uses, a very high quality barber shop scent. The more I wear this, the more I love it. Don't go into this thinking this is meant to compete with Aventus, if you do, you will be disappointed as this is not in the same category of scent. The only thing that will compete with Aventus, is Aventus or if they made an Intense or parfum version which would be awesome to have a better performing one since its not beast. I didn't expect to like something called "Viking", and certainly didn't expect it to be this sophisticated.I'm going to buy a factory sealed carded sample from Creed and verify my findings, I'll update this post once completed. It smells red, and I don't mind the bottle at all. And people who claim it doesn't feel "viking-ish" should consider how many varied goods and resources vikings actually plundered from a wide range of origin. They actually had an appreciation for the exotic, and were more cultured than we often assume (maybe go read about it).

I don’t know how to edit, but the more I wear this lately because my Bois Du Portugal sample ran out, the more I like this. It has an addicting tingle to the senses. It’s actually a really unique spicy and cool scent. It’s still a spring/summer fragrance for me personally, even though I’m testing it out again in the cold months. Is there this much disparity between Viking batches? Of course with Creed, most notably with Aventus, you can buy the same fragrance from Creed, but depending on the batch who knows what you are going to get. Your mileage may vary but if you can pay the price to get it for your collection then by all means enjoy. Is this better/does viking replace aventus for me? No, they’re completely different. I feel viking is more versatile whereas aventus is strictly a summer fragrance. I only pull Aventus out in the heat or it simply just doesn’t project.During the cold it doesn’t have enough weight to speak its true words. That’s why I prefer BdP during early Spring, Fall, and Winter daytime A few weeks after this came out I put some on to go visit my parents. My sons both came with and were wearing other frags. Moments after we arrive and walk in the door my mother, who is nearing 80 at the time, says "Who's wearing Old Spice?".