Reviews of Millésime Impérial by Creed

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I remember back when I discovered Creed in the 90s, this came in the gold bottle and I dismissed it. Too light for my tastes back then. What a missed opportunity. I'm not one to bemoan the "good ole days" but I'm pretty sure this was a lot more potent back then.

It's a fantastic scent. Really good in warm to hot weather. There are some good "inspired by"/imitations/clones out there, but let there be no doubt-- this is the OG. I've used some of the knock offs and they're not bad but none of them that I've tried quite combine and capture the melon, sea salt and ambergris as masterfully as this.

Big tip of the hat to Pierre Bourdon for his Creed Grand Slam- GIT, BdP, Silver Mountain Water and Millesime Imperial.

Biggest issue is the longevity which can vary from 3-5 hours for me. Wears pretty light, but it wears so richly and nicely, it's still worth having. I think it timeless. Nothing dated or old fashioned about it.
21st June 2024
281753
this is my favorite scent that I keep coming back to. I am not sure why. It has salt, aquatic elements, melon, ambergris. It is just fantastic, in the vintage editions. There are huge differences pre-2016 and I have bottles from that era.
27th March 2024
279494

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The older stuff is thick and syrupy coded. I've used that slang correctly. Indescribable scent in my opinion

5/5
19th March 2024
279240
Yeah, a really pleasant oceanic cantaloupe with a base of floral and musk. Definitely unisex. This is cloned by the hollister H for him fragrance that's $17/50ml. It is very pleasant and I enjoy this, but I think it's too unisex to be attractive on a man or woman. Pass.
18th March 2023
270708
What comes to mind when wearing this scent is Lois Griffin's description of their stay in purgatory during Peter's week off: "This isn't bad. It's not that good. But... eh, it's not that bad".

On my skin Millesime Imperial has no body or character and it wears off pretty quickly as well. Once my sample is all used up that will be the end of that.
11th March 2023
270507
This is my favorite scent, period! The opening with the mix of citrus & sea notes are simply heavenly. Obviously, the one knock against it is its lack of longevity, which I will admit I'd love for it to be longer lasting, but for the scent itself, it's absolutely worth it, in my opinion.
15th December 2022
267277
I was a little disappointing upon receiving my sample based on the many glowing reviews.

Opens with oceanic salty (water?)melon with the metallic note reminiscent of Silver Mountain Water soon appearing. Classic Creed base evident in the dry down with just a touch of salt and fruitiness.

It's better than SMW but still, something about that metallic note is discordant with my nose. Performance can also be compared to SIW.

7.4/10
19th July 2021
245744
One of a million

Weak, even at first spray. By far the weakest Creed Ive tried. Its salty and fruity. Has that creed base that feels fine, but a bit more watered down than in their standard ilk.
Just comes across as a fruity salty frag. Unremarkable.

Based on the inflated price im going thumbs down. It would be neutral at about $55.
4th January 2021
237743
This was the first fragrance I was introduced to by the house of Creed. The salesman knew what he was doing.

Upon first spray, you get strong fruity notes. Once it drys down, theres a saltiness and somewhat aquatic note that comes out while still being fruity, it's really what makes this fragrance shine. There is nothing else like this fragrance and to me is a staple in the Creed family. Aventus does not hold a candle. Don't @ me.

The only issue I have with MI is the longevity as it gets very close to the skin after a few hours.

Out of all the Creeds, to choose the best based on scent: Spice and Wood, Millesime Imperial, Green Irish Tweed.

Millesime Imperial Rating:
Scent: 10
Longevity: 6
Projection: 6.5
Versatility: 8.5
13th December 2019
224020
Two thumbs up. My favourite summer fragrance. The only fragrance that I take with me on holiday. The sweetness is so perfect. It is my favourite creed fragrance. Better than aventus but in the right climate. Expensive so quite selective about when I wear it.
28th August 2019
220502
What an elegant fragrance! Every element seems to have been so carefully integrated in that cologne and the result is simple but unique. Does not remind me of any other fragrance i have tried, it certainly has it's own identity. Very discreet, very nice. However, does it really worth spending so much money on a cologne, when there is plenty of other -not as pleasant, but good enough- fragrances out there?? It's up to you to decide. Overall 9/10
2nd June 2019
217274
This is probably my favorite fragrance, I wear it regularly, especially during the warmer months. It seems to fit so many occasions, from an office setting to be smashed up against other sweaty humans at a convention (and trust me, you'll get thanked if you smell nice in an ocean of not-nice in those occasions).

It's fresh without being being cloying and synthetic, a very natural salty note mixed in with some nice, but not overwhelming fruity tones. After drying down, it has a nice mix of fruity notes without ever losing the salty marine feel.

It's marketed as unisex, but I feel it's perfect for young men. Women would probably be more satisfied with Silver Mountain Water, which has a lot of the same body but is cooler a bit more floral (I actually alternate SMW with MI during conventions).

Now, I used to love the old bottle, but the new bottles are 100% gold and it's gaudy incarnate. In my mind it might earn it with how great the fragrance is, but unless it's actually made out of gold such a bottle is just too gaudy to display.
3rd May 2019
216108
This smells damn rich and full of life. It is certainly a shame it suffers from poor performance.

However it will always be in my collection as my Fiancè absolutely loves this. She calls it the baby maker and everytime i wear this her eyes grow wider, her smile perks up and she can't stop getting close to me. For this reason alone i will always have a bottle at the ready for special nights with her.

Definitely one of my favorite holiday fragrances also.

It is so refined, rich, fruity and full bodied.

If it didn't suffer with performance it would score higher.

7/10
23rd April 2019
215971
Millésime Impérial (1995) is one of two unisex fragrances released in 1995, the other one being Silver Mountain Water (1995). Both of these were authored by Pierre Bourdon, or more precisely were pawned off by Bourdon as rejected submissions to designer brands, for Olivier Creed to capitalize on as part of his own luxury line of perfumes. Of these two cast-offs that Bourdon was paid very little for, Millésime Impérial was the more popular and ultimately novel, and really the most groundbreaking in terms of perfume achievement. That Bourdon himself never got such recognition for this fragrance, and all the ripple effects it had on mainstream perfumery in its wake, until the recent publishing of a book on the topic is probably the biggest crime among all of the hitherto unknown Bourdon works for the house. Yeah, most of us figured out through letting it slip via interviews that he worked on the classic Green Irish Tweed (1985), itself an iteration of the idea he would ultimately install into Davidoff Cool Water (1988); but the impact of that fragrance's dihydromyrcenol overdose vis-à-vis the advent of the aquatic accord was a long time coming. So too in some ways was the "watermelon ketone" of Millésime Impérial's use of calone-1951, a molecule discovered by and played with by Pierre's mentor Edmond Roudnitska, then forgotten about only to be re-investigated at the end of the 80's in early proponents of the scent like Calyx by Prescriptives (1987) and Aramis New West (1988). With Millésime Impérial, Boudon seemed to be building upon maestro Roudnitska's own toyings just before his death, with the release of Mario Valentino Ocean Rain (1990), a fragrance fabled to be based upon the once-bespoke earlier incarnation of Le Parfum de Thérèse by Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle (2000).

With Millésime Impérial, Bourdon effectively took the thick, juicy sweetness typically found in other freshies that utilized the "watermelon ketone" and discarded it completely, grafting a watermelon note onto a salty, ozonic, mineralic base that felt like a further progression of where he was originally going with scents like Cool Water or Green Irish Tweed. The saltiness no doubt was to double up the realism of the ambergris accord he was using based around ambroxan, as ambroxan on its own has none of the nuance of real ambergris, just the transparent warmth and projection-boosting power. I'm not sure who this was originally submitted to as it isn't discussed in the aforementioned book like the original brief for what became SIlver Mountain Water was, but I can tell you it certainly must have been for the masculine market originally. I say that because an overabundance of sweetness or florality is deftly avoided, unlike Silver Mountain Water, which is full of the latter. The opening is that salted watermelon opening, almost having a sort of dry honeyed vibe too, really hitting home the gold coloration of the packaging. Lemon, bergamot, mandarin, and iris ionones also are key players in this watermelons citrus punch of an opening, mixed in later with what feels like fruity beta ionones as well. There isn't a whole lot of naturalness here, despite what Olivier Creed tells you, but this does smell expensive and well-executed. The ambroxan-fueled ambergris base comes in after the fruity saltiness settles, while that saltiness merges with said base, and wisps of Iso E Super transparent woodiness to boot. Wear time is fairly long, even if projection doesn't stay potent past the first few hours, making Millésime Impérial a true freshie that sticks to its word and becomes a skin scent for the duration. Best use is in summer.

The rumors of Sean "Puffy/Diddy" Combs using Millésime Impérial in the 90's as his signature fragrance are likely part of what further swayed this away from being seen as unisex per the marketing and becoming a masculine release by default. The original marketing involved an all-gold 4.0oz and 2.5oz bottle, designed supposedly for a long-dead Middle-Eastern monarch, but that soon switched to a clear bottle with a gold label more in line with other releases into the 2000's, until the all-gold bottles returned upon discontinuation of the 4.0oz and 2.5oz size in favor of more standard 100ml and 50ml bottles. Combs did eventually hook up with one of the big cosmetic firms to launch his own fragrance line called Sean Jean Unforgivable (2005), which smelled suspiciously similar and became so popular that it too was mimicked by releases like Love & Luck for HIm by Ed Hardy (2008). By this point, Aurélien Guichard and David Apel had mimicked work from Bourdon unknowningly, and Olivier Gillotin had embellished (and improved in my opinion) on their work further still. In the big circlejerk of corporate "me too" fragrances (see all the aping of 2013's Paco Rabanne Invictus), the erstwhile designer-bound Millésime Impérial became mainstream afterall, even if most of what it spawned was loaded down with laundry musks, sugary notes and other icky things that added cloying facets to their design. As for Creed itself, the eventual success of Millésime Impérial allowed them to inch closer towards being a widely-recognized standard in haute luxe parfum for the nouveau-riche masses, and although ultimately replaced by Creed Aventus (2010), the scent still has a rabid following because outside of all the clones, there really is nothing else out there quite like this stuff. It's a very high price to pay for originality, but I can't fault Millésime Impérial otherwise. Thumbs up
25th November 2018
250829
I think this is one of the best cologne's I have ever smelled. However, I struggle with wearing this too often.

The scent itself is very fruity (in a sweet kind of way) and very salty. Many people say it smells like melon - I think general fruit basket with some raisins and dates thrown into the mix. The combination leads itself to this brighter marine accord that remind me of Erolfa, yet is like Erolfa's better looking younger brother.

I have found that I cannot wear this more than 1 day in a row. In fact, I need a few days usually between wearings to re-charge. If I wear it too much, it starts to get sweetly cloying and I think my nose starts to pick apart the elements of it that are synthetic. Despite some people saying it has terrible longevity I disagree. I spray this 2-3 times and I am a walking fruit basket next to a heap of salt.

I think that this is also the genius of the cologne - the overly salty, fruity accord. I notice that if I go without it for a few days, I take a whiff of the bottle and absolutely want to put it on.

It comes off very strong - a lot of people say the opening is one of the greatest openings ever. I can how many people would say that. I think the opening is a bit too overpowering. After about 15 minutes, this drydown on this scent is one of the most intoxicating you will ever put on. It competes with Green Irish Tweed in my book for best drydown, though given they are meant to be two completely different scents I don't think its a useful comparison. I put this on and think I am falling into fairy-tale land with it.

Good stuff.
6th October 2018
207732
Fresh watermelon with salt maybe some musk melon. A very nice clean scent perfect for summer and spring maybe into fall. I like other creeds more but this is definitely a classic. It being widely available for a fairly reasonable price is also a plus. Not a bad starter I to the niche fragrance or creed world
3rd August 2018
204916
Very beautiful scent of salted watermelon with rum and aquatic nuances to my nose. Reminds me of a summer barbeque. Is maybe the quintessential summer scent. However, it smells like a slightly more refined version of Sean John Unforgivable so I don't think this is full-bottle worthy at least for me. Projection is moderate while longevity is also moderate, with good projection for about 4 hours and as a skin scent afterwards. Performance is basically identical to Sean John Unforgivable. Due to this, I think it's a nice fragrance but the Sean John provides the same experience for a far cheaper price.

4/5
21st July 2018
204324
A summertime pleasure! I had wanted to try this for a long time, and finally had the opportunity. Starting out, this smells a lot like Creed Erolfa to my nose. So if you have Erolfa or are thinking about buying both, save your money and go with MI. I like Erolfa, but it's a bit pungent and harsher to the nose. MI is smoother, but still has many similarities to Erolfa. I don't think both are necessary in ones arsenal.

MI has a wonderfully-crafted mixture of melons, lemon, salt, light musk and Creed's almost constant signature bergamot. It's blended well, transitions nicely and leaves me feeling beach-side with white linen button-down. I like MI because it's not too marine, but also not too office. It's right in the middle: I am wearing this today to the office with a dress shirt, but could totally spray this on after a summer surf session just before heading to the shrimp shack for dinner and cold ones.

It does not jump out; be aware it will stay fairly close to the skin as so many Creeds do. But I find myself sniffing my wrist often, and this transports me outside to a warm and sunny place, filled with seagulls and Jimmy Buffet songs. You can't go wrong with MI!
19th June 2018
203098
The opening is combining sweet and salty accords; it is crisp, fruity (melon), salty, sweet and green. It smells of a sunny day at the ocean. The scent is interesting and quite nice for a couple of hours after which it just becomes a banal musky/synthetic scent that barely stays on the skin.
13th June 2018
202903
Very pleasant and easy to wear. Nice melon vibe - perhaps watermelon, perhaps another type of melon - with aquatic notes. The drydown develops into a fade-to-white iris. This doesn't smell "of the 90s" like so many aquatics ended up being, but rather the mark of a true perfumer performing their craft well. It's timeless.

If this were a star-based review, I'd probably knock off a star for the performance, which isn't great. Here, though - it's not enough to knock it down to neutral. I'm glad to have this bottle in my collection.
30th March 2018
199627
Green, salty, melon, the idea perhaps of an under-ripe watermelon.

One of the more unique creed creations I own. I may have previously smelled melon-ish things slightly similar in lotions and so forth, but the quality of ingredients, I believe, makes this scent shine. And it's the salt and musk that lifts it out of the mediocrity of some bath and body works watermelon body spray.

As with ALL creeds, some claim disastrously short longevity, others claim that they sprayed it on a shirt 10 years ago and that it's still there, projecting.

I find its longevity to be moderate to good. Certainly not a disappointment in that department. I think a lot of people, because of creed's price tag, demand and expect a longevity outside of time itself. If Jesus wore it, they'd want the shroud of Turin to still reek of it. This is due to a misunderstanding of ingredients and chemistry.

In any case, a solid thumbs up.


Edit: I like this scent more and more each time I wear it, and I find myself going to it more frequently.

Edit 2: Creed is my favorite house by far, and I never thought anything would come close to Aventus, but honestly I've never had a scent grow on me like Millesime Impérial. If it had the longevity of Aventus, there would be a sure tie for first place in my wardrobe.


10th March 2018
199900
Fruity-citrus-salty: this is the triad cluster that greets me in the opening blast. And what an amazing cluster it is: a fresh bergamot-cum-lemon-cum-mandarin citrus with a nigh-peachy undertone, a lovely melon impression, and with added marine undertones intertwined with the citrus-fruity core - brilliant. This is all combined is a unique mix, making for a unique experience in the top notes. This is an opening blast I can identify amongst hundreds of others.

The drydown loses some of the freshness, yielding space to a pleasant iris, whilst a marine -ambergris saltiness makes for a nice counterbalance. It is less intensive now and more settled.

The base continues the ambergris, now combines with woodsy undertones.

I get moderate sillage, very good projection and five hours of longevity on my skin.

This archetypal great summer scent features one of the great openings in the history of perfume over the last quarter of the century. The rest is well done too, but less outstanding. The quality of the natural ingredients is splendid indeed; the longevity is limited, but given the citrus component this is not unexpected. The bath product series is a beauty. 4/5.
2nd March 2018
198568
My wife thinks it smells like hairspray. It has natural amber (Sperm whale fecal matter) at its base, that is generally used in all Creed fragrances and has very natural notes to it. It's something that you'd expect to smell on an older gentleman in an old folks home. Overpriced and overrated in my opinion.

5/10.
8th February 2018
197588
One of the most casual summer scents I've had the pleasure of trying ..like many have said ..melon and salt water ..some floral's simular to the ones used in silver mountain water and git. This would make a great day time summer scent but can be used anytime really in summer. This and Virgin island water are extremely thought provoking and would make a great double act for a nice hot vacation. Don't understand how this could offend anyone as it's pretty much the scent of sea air and melon, done extremely accurately, if only this and Virgin island water had a little bit better performance we say but then they would be obnoxious and attention seeking.
25th August 2017
194154