Creed — Jasmin Imperatrice Eugenie
Essence
Jasmin Imperatrice Eugenie (JIE) is Creed’s deliberately archaic floriental - a perfume the house frames as a recreation of a scent made for Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III, but which in its modern publicly-available form dates to 1989. It is the great anomaly in Creed’s catalog: where the brand built its 21st-century reputation on clean citrus-and-white-floral crowd-pleasers, JIE is animalic, resinous, powdery and unmistakably vintage in feel. Despite the name, it is not a jasmine soliflore; wearers and critical consensus treats it as a creamy sandalwood-and-ambergris construction with jasmine, rose and vanilla woven through it. It polarizes hard - to some it is “pissy,” “fecal,” or “old lady” mothballs; to others it is one of the best things Creed has ever bottled.
Scent Profile
The opening is the most divisive stretch and the part reviewers fixate on: a bright, acidic bergamot top shot through with an indolic jasmine-neroli-civet character that several describe as “animalic peppery,” “urinal,” or frankly fecal/pissy, plus a strong dose of aldehydes that Chanel wearers recognize as “hairspray” sparkle. One reviewer pegs this opening as lasting “an unrelenting two hours or so.” Underneath that brash start, a soft, balmy, pastry-like sandalwood arrives almost immediately and steadily tames the skank. The heart is jasmine and Bulgarian rose, though many note the florals read more like “grandma’s fancy guest soap” or even hyacinth than realistic blooms, and the rose is hard to isolate. Ambergris lends a slightly salty, skin-like facet (Creed’s house base note). The drydown is the payoff almost everyone agrees on: creamy, powdery sandalwood and a hefty super-absolute vanilla, warm and faintly gourmand, sometimes reading like “effervescent creme soda or smooth sassafras.” The signature accord is that animalic-floral-to-creamy-sandalwood-vanilla arc. It is moderately linear after the opening burns off - the sandalwood/vanilla base is the throughline. Some report a dusty, peanutty, slightly green/mossy vetiver-like quality giving it a true vintage-chypre edge; one reviewer describes the structure as “hairspray aldehydes with rose and jasmine over sandalwood, ambrox, and a full chypre structure.”
Performance
Consensus rates this a strong performer. aggregates longevity at a qualitative verdict and sillage at 2.72/4. Multiple / reviewers report 8+ hours of longevity, with above-average sillage for the first several hours that settles to average/below-average later. It is widely flagged as a “use a light hand” fragrance - overspraying produces “too much sillage,” and several reviewers say one or two sprays is plenty, with one noting it could be “offensive in an office environment.” It is repeatedly recommended for colder weather (autumn/winter), where the projection and warmth work in its favor. A dissenting voice on reports only 4 - 6 hours, suggesting batch or skin variability.
Wearing Context
This skews autumn/winter, evening, and cold-weather indoor wear; one reviewer says it’s “suitable probably only for at-home use on cold winter nights.” It reads as mature, formal, “ladies who lunch,” upscale - a reviewer’s friend said they smelled “very upscale” with a “nose up” gesture. Although marketed feminine, the strong consensus is that it wears effectively unisex thanks to the dominant sandalwood/ambergris/vanilla base and the animalic edge; several male reviewers wear it and report compliments at work. Social perception skews “old-fashioned/grandma” to detractors and “regal/mysterious/sexy” to fans - there is little middle ground. Not a fresh-clean-modern scent; explicitly the antithesis of “crisp.”
Comparisons & DNA
The most-repeated comparison is to Guerlain Shalimar (vintage oriental, vanilla-amber), though several reviewers push back: the ScentAdvice and Perfumeaholic writers both argue it leans closer to Guerlain Samsara because of the prominent creamy sandalwood, with Shalimar being sweeter and a different profile entirely. Within Creed’s own line, reviewers group it with the discontinued Angelique Encens and Vanisia (shared significant-vanilla drydown) and Bois du Portugal (“like Bois du Portugal with flowery soap”). A critic situates it “somewhere between an oriental chypre like Estée Lauder Youth Dew and a musky civet-powered powerhouse fougère like YSL Kouros,” and elsewhere compares the soft woods to Chanel Bois des Îles (“stark, minimalist and barebones compared with the opulence of JIE”). One reviewer names it a contender to Frédéric Malle Musc Ravageur. Pastry-woody sandalwood facets are likened to Dries Van Noten (Frédéric Malle) and Serge Lutens Jeux de Peau.
Reception
Sharply polarized. On, and the praise centers on the creamy sandalwood/ambergris drydown (“the most beautiful rendition of creamy sandalwood and ambergris that I’ve ever smelled”), its vintage authenticity, and elegance; multiple self-described non-Creed-fans say it’s the first and only Creed they bought. Criticisms cluster on the opening (fecal/urinal/mothball/animalic), the “old lady” powderiness, and the high price for what some call a “noncomplex” composition. The polarization axis is tolerance for animalic/indolic openings and vintage aesthetics. Blind-buy verdict from the wearers: sample first - it’s repeatedly called “an acquired taste” and “challenging,” and reactions are genuinely split between masterpiece and scrubber.
Versions & Reformulation
There is a tangled provenance. Creed’s marketing dates the original to 1862/1870 for Empress Eugénie; the modern publicly-released version is catalogued at 1989 (Olivier Creed). also carries a separate older “Imperatrice Eugenie” entry (catalogued 1862, attributed to Henry Creed). Critics widely treat the historical-recreation claims with skepticism - one reviewer dryly notes 1870 is “awfully close to when the Second Empire was abolished.” Reviewers assume multiple reformulations over the decades; the modern juice is noted to contain galaxolide (a synthetic musk) by a reviewer with perfumery training. Some report a recent batch seeming weaker/less grand than older bottles (“Reformulation? Lack of quality control?”), while others say JIE has been “the most consistently preserved” Creed compared with the wildly-varying Aventus. Now marketed by Kering Beauté, which acquired Creed in an all-cash deal announced June 2023 (closed in the second half of 2023); per Cosmetics Business, Creed generated revenue of more than €250 million in the year ended March 31, 2023, and was bought from BlackRock-controlled funds and chairman Javier Ferran.
Acquisition Notes
Priced in Creed’s standard niche tier - roughly USD ~$300 retail historically, though notably the feminine line is “not gouged” to the extent of the masculine releases. The fragrance has been DISCONTINUED: a wearer thread reports Creed officially confirming discontinuation, the Creed website no longer lists it, and Perfumeaholic confirms it vanished from the official site and online retailers. It was last sold in a 75ml format; older bottles came in a large cylindrical format. Decants and samples are widely available via split services.
Notable Facts & Lore
- The house origin story: created for Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III, who allegedly urged Creed in 1854 to relocate from London to Paris to serve her - the move that landed Creed in the 8th-arrondissement boutique it still occupies.