Angélique Encens by Creed

Launched 1933.  The opening is sweet floral with a very balanced incense note that us never cloying.  The incense not on the dark side, it is gentle,  but expresses a delightfully aromatic angelica.  There are hints of wormwood with a slightly herbal undertone.  Pretty unique.

The drydown contributes a well-balanced jasmine note, which evolves gradually and blends in with the other components seamlessly.  Later on it is dominated by excellent natural vanilla, with a musky note and a touch of amber thrown in.  Again - never too intrusive, never cloying, with a touch of light-hearted elegance.  With time a Bulgarian rose develops transiently, after an initial floral side mainly expressing the rose leaves further on. 

This development comes to an end with an ambergris, and hallmark of many Creeds, that is elegant and sophisticated and unusual for an incense fragrance. There is a bit of a powdery note to it towards the end.

The sillage is good and the projection very good.  With a light hand (unless using a vaporiser) I get three hours out of it; with heavy application up to seven or eight hours.

All ingredients of this delightful fragrance for warmer autumn days are of supreme quality, and the blending is superb.  This is a a sweet but not overwhelming scent of the utmost sophistication, although some subtle changes might have occurred in the ingredients in more recent samples. 4.25/5