Creed- Love In Black

The problem with Creed's Love In Black is its pretentiousness. I happen to think it's a pretty little thing, but it doesn't live up to any of the promises. It starts with the name. Love In Black should be dark, sexy and  mysterious. Not a juicy berries and violet jam. Then there's the whole Creed ethos, from the rabid fans to the unjustified reputation of only using the best and most natural ingredients.Considering Love In Black's obvious synthetic quality this is not even funny. Then there's the Jackie O aspect. The marketing literature claimed Olivier Creed's inspiration for Love In Black was the style and grace of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. All I can say to that is "Whatever".

On my skin the berries and candied violet take center stage in such an aggressive way nothing else emerges for long hours. When I smell it from a bottle or a sample vial I can tell there's other stuff in there, but since my skin amplifies fruit in general and berries in particular, Love In Black is all purple sweetness when I wear it. Not that there's anything wrong with it, but I can think of several more interesting variations on this particular theme just in my own collection: Tom Ford Private Blend Black Violet, Balmain La Mome and Armani Prive Cuir Amethyste. It reminds me mostly of MPG's Fleur d'Iris, only the latter seems to have more iris in it, at least in its original incarnation (I haven't tried it since the re-bottling).

Love In Black was supposed to be an iris fragrance. It takes most of the day and lots of patience for me to find the iris note, and it's week and lacks any of the mystery or elegance associated with it. The same goes for Jackie Kennedy's ghost. Love In Black is cute and sweet and is more of a débutante than a gracious First Lady. It's a sunny and optimistic scent, easy to wear and uncomplicated. If you insist on finding Jackie in there it is the young Jacqueline Bouvier, long before politics, losses, Marilyn Monroe, Dallas or Greek millionaires entered her life.

Love In Black ($130, 1 oz) is available from Creed authorized retailers, such as Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus, Luckyscent and Aedes.

Photos of a very young Jackie: kennedys.tumblr.com