Words: Jonathan Wells
In association with:
Is there any better feeling than strapping on your skis and gliding off down a mountainside? It’s a freeing, fortifying experience — and one of Olivier Creed’s favourite feelings. Yet, while most can only dream of bottling that inimitable skiing sensation, the sixth-generation ‘Créateur Parfumeur’ at The House of Creed has managed it.
With just one spritz of Silver Mountain Water, you’ll be transported to the slopes. You’ll find yourself atop the Alps, sun beating down and craggy peaks stretching out ahead of you. You’ll feel the mentholated mountainous air swirling about you, and you’ll immediately have a hankering for those lazy wintry afternoons spent slicing through the powder of a far-flung range or resort.
Like Virgin Island Water or Viking Cologne, Creed’s Silver Mountain Water is a one-way ticket to a coveted corner of the world. Yet, unlike the hot, heady scents that Olivier Creed used to create many of his other globe-trotting bottles, Silver Mountain Water demanded a different approach to get the fragrance right.
It begins, then, with head notes of tart, zesty citrus. Think bergamot and orange; hints of bitterness to evoke the bitter cold of the mountainside. The heart notes offer a clever counterpoint — warming aromas of hot tea and ozonic accord swirling into the mix to create the feeling of a plush jacket or welcome apres-ski apéritif.
And the eau de parfum’s bold base notes finish things off by grounding the scent in the icy, earthy aromas of musks and sandalwood. Uplifting, energising and exhilarating, it’ll carry you up into the mountains like a ski lift, calling to mind fond alpine memories every single morning.
Of course, we shouldn’t be surprised by Creed’s amazing alchemy. The brand has over 260 years of experience in conjuring up memories and bottling such sensations. In fact, the fragrance-making family has created over 200 perfumes since they first set up shop on Jermyn Street in 1760.
Today, it is the duty of Olivier and Erwin Creed to travel the world to source and inspect the rarest and most exquisite ingredients each country has to offer. Then, when back at their base in Paris, the fine raw ingredients for each fragrance are weighed, mixed and macerated by hand, keeping alive increasingly rare techniques and the skilful craftsmanship that assures Creed’s place as one of the world’s most premium and authentic fragrance creators.
And Silver Mountain Water is nothing if not authentic. Bringing to life the extensive and pristine beauty of Switzerland and the breathtaking Alpine region, it uses natural hesperides and essences to create one of the most pure eau de parfums available today; as clean and clear as the mountain water from which it takes its name.
The bottle, too, makes for a masterful addition to your grooming cabinet this winter. As if carved from ice itself, the sheer white is topped with a glistening silver cap — much like the mountain streams with sources at the pinnacles and peaks of the Alps. So if you, like Olivier Creed, are spellbound by the snow-dusted slopes, this ultimate alpine aftershave is the perfect seasonal scent for you.
Looking for more from the British brand? The House of Creed’s Viking Cologne is a masculine masterpiece…
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