I’ve been working my way through house of Creed by way of small decants from a vendor I’ve found to be trustworthy. I even sprung for a full bottle of GIT, would for a few others as well if I were wealthy, and the ones I couldn’t see wearing or even didn’t particularly like, I at least appreciated. They’ve all been excellent in their own way.

Himalaya is the first Creed scent I was just disappointed by.

The initial blast is pure alcohol, period. I quickly picked up an odd barbershop note… not odd, really, in fact, very common and familiar, which is what’s odd, for a Creed. But I’ve learned never to judge a Creed until after the first 30 minutes . So, I was patient.

30 minutes later, I said, well, this is definitely a Creed. It has that rich Creed base that I’ve become very familiar with, I have no idea what it is (ambergris?) but I think of it as a “satiny”, “lustrous” smell, if that makes sense. And on top of that… nothing else. If I inhale deeply I still get that very conventional barbershop note.

It faded to a skin scent relatively quickly. Over the course of the day I’ve fairly bathed in it, reapplying it heavily as it’s faded, hoping to catch a whiff of what so many people are raving about.

This just doesn’t have any of the personality or “wow” factor that every other Creed I’ve tried so far has had to one degree or another. First one I probably wouldn’t bother buying even if price weren’t an object. My favorite Creeds seem to me to all have that characteristic base, which I do love, and then meld that seamlessly that with something else fantastic and unique. But Himalaya takes that base, and then does nothing with it. Except perhaps tops off the gap usually occupied by something interesting with a little touch of something very generic and conventional, maybe. And maybe even just a little perfumey and feminine.

So far, Creeds always reliably smell better than anything else, and there are always cheaper colognes that people will say smell similar, but the cheaper alternatives have never proven to be worth it and despite the much higher price I’ve always thought the Creeds always proved to be a much better value. This is the first time I don’t feel that way. If I want to smell this nondescript, there are much cheaper barbershop scents (which I do wear and enjoy) that this really is so trivial an improvement on that the vast price difference isn’t worth it.