Green Irish Tweed

Green Irish Tweed is the only fragrance by CREED that I own. Now, that could change in the time it takes to process a credit card, but what got Green Irish Tweed into my Hall of Fame was its timeless beauty and the way it wears on my skin.

The House of CREED was born in London (the house was founded there in 1760 by James Henry Creed) and raised in Paris (Creed relocated there in 1854). Over the years, it gained a reputation for creating perfumes for royalty (King George III of England, Empress Eugenie of France, Napoleon III and Czar Nicolas II of Russia) and politicians (Sir Winston Churchill, John F. Kennedy) but when Prince Rainier of Monaco commissioned CREED to make a fragrance for actress Grace Kelly for their wedding day, CREED perfumes achieved cult status with the Hollywood set.

Launched in 1985, Green Irish Tweed was rumoured to have been created for actor Cary Grant by Pierre Bourdon. Sadly, Grant died in 1986, and a couple of years later Bourdon reworked Green Irish Tweed and created Cool Water for Davidoff in 1988. Nowadays, Oliver Creed is the nose of record for this fragrance.

Blogs are full of comparisons between Green Irish Tweed and Cool Water, comparisons which to my mind, diminish both fragrances. Both are outstanding frags, for sure, but for me, it’s Green Irish Tweed any day because at the end of the day it smells of quality.

It opens with fresh, vibrant verbena, clean and lemony, its floral nuances heightened by a note of powdery, slightly sweet iris. It smells green and deliciously refreshing. As it blooms, violet leaf deepens and strengthens the greenness, making it lush and grassy while a gentle earthiness from the iris is carried over from the top notes, so that the heart is beautifully aromatic and subtly sexy. But for me, Green Irish Tweed is all about the base of Mysore sandalwood enhanced with sweet, animalic ambergris. The sandalwood is green at the start then grows rich, woody and just a little dry. This is the real deal and there is enough of it in here so you really get the full experience of it.

The dydown is rich, sophisticated and distinctive.  Green Irish Tweed is a one-of-a-kind frag that would suit a man at any age or stage of his life, yet it’s so beautifully finessed that it makes a perfect summer frag for a woman.

Notes: verbena, Florentine iris, violet leaves, Mysore sandalwood and ambergris

Type: EdP - The “Millésime” designation means that the best crops from a particular year’s harvest were used in the creation of that particular bottle of CREED fragrance.

Nose: Oliver Creed