Mercedes-Benz — Infinite Spicy by Olivier Cresp
Essence
Infinite Spicy is the dry-spice standout of Mercedes-Benz’s “VIP Club” collection - five Olivier Cresp compositions presented to press at TFWA Cannes in 2014 and rolled into the market through 2015. Despite the catalog name and an alleged later “Infinite” line, the documented coverage page (and Cresp’s own documented coverage interview with Miguel Matos) confirm this is the VIP Club fragrance, sometimes catalogued as “VIP Club - Infinite Spicy.” It is a brief but genuinely well-made designer oriental-spicy: a fireworks opening of Sichuan pepper, star anise and coriander that resolves into a powdery-woody amber drydown. The widely repeated knock on it is that it punches far above its budget price in the opening and then collapses quickly.
Scent Profile
The signature here is the dry-spice “blast” - Sichuan pepper’s tingling, slightly numbing facet wrapped around star anise and coriander. wearers descriptions consistently note that Cresp reined in the anise so it never tips into the dreaded “licorice all-sorts” register that derails many anise compositions. There is a recurring report of a “boozy liqueur” impression in the opening, plus juniper berry, gingery pepper and a mild licorice shimmer. As the top settles, cardamom emerges and the composition moves into what reviewers call a “powdery woody drydown” with musky amber - the ambroxan-cashmere-teak base doing standard modern-woody duty. Multiple wearers independently report a distinct pine/pine-needle impression not listed in the notes, strong in the opening and traceable throughout. The arc is front-loaded and not especially linear: the interest is almost entirely in the first hour, after which it becomes “more ordinary but still decent.” Cresp told documented coverage he likes to “stay simple… 20 to 30 [ingredients], no more,” and the fragrance reads that way - legible and uncluttered rather than dense.
Performance
Performance is the fragrance’s Achilles heel and the most consistent complaint. wearers scores it about qualitatively strong for longevity and 2.23/4 for sillage - below-average on both axes. Multiple reviewers report the “dreamy” opening “totally vanishes within one hour,” and one specifies longevity at “just over 3 hours” with “moderate” sillage from two sprays to the neck. A dissenting voice reports it lasting “a full AM shift” and performing “well above average,” speculating that weak-performance reports may stem from a bad batch. The honest read: expect a spectacular but short-lived opening, moderate-to-soft projection, and roughly 3-5 hours of life on skin. Application strategy implied by reviewers is to spray generously and treat it as a daytime/short-occasion scent rather than an all-day workhorse.
Wearing Context
This is a cool-weather, daytime-leaning spicy woody. The dry-spice opening and amber-wood drydown skew it toward fall and winter, office and casual daytime settings where a “classy, mystical” spice is welcome but won’t overwhelm. One reviewer specifically praised that the spice blend avoids the stereotypical “Middle Eastern, Omani businessman” register that these notes can fall into - making it more wearable in Western professional contexts than many oud-spice scents. Given the soft sillage, it’s an inoffensive close-wear fragrance rather than a statement bomb; the social-perception skew is “well-made and masculine” without being polarizing. Because performance is modest, it feels wrong as an evening sillage piece or anywhere you need projection to last.
Comparisons & DNA
documented coverage lists Amouage Journey Man among the fragrances users find similar - a reasonable comparison given Journey Man’s Sichuan-pepper-and-spice signature, though Journey Man is denser, longer-lasting and more expensive. Within the VIP Club line itself, reviewers repeatedly cross-reference the “Black Leather” entry (sometimes rated a “smidge better”). The broader DNA sits in the modern dry-spice-plus-ambroxan family - the same spicy-woody designer territory occupied by countless post-2010 masculines built on a pepper/cardamom top and an ambroxan-cashmeran base. Infinite Spicy’s distinguishing delta is the unusually vivid, almost gourmand-adjacent anise-juniper “boozy” opening and the phantom pine impression.
Reception
wearer consensus is a clear split between opening and longevity. Praise is near-universal for the opening: “killer opening, killer blend, mysterious, deep and yet so light, very masculine and very high quality” and “leaps and bounds beyond most fragrances in the non-niche marketplace.” Cresp’s craftsmanship in taming the anise draws specific admiration. The criticism is equally consistent: the “dreamy aroma totally vanishes within one hour,” making it feel like a tease. wearers ratings hover in the high-6s/10 range (scent ~6.7, longevity ~6.0, sillage ~5.6 from a small voter base). Several reviewers frame it explicitly as a “pleasant bargain blind buy” given the low discounter price - the value proposition, not the staying power, is the selling point. Blind-buy verdict from wearers: yes at discount, with eyes open about performance.
Versions & Reformulation
Part of the five-fragrance Mercedes-Benz VIP Club collection (the others include entries such as Black Leather). No documented reformulation of Infinite Spicy itself. The naming confusion is worth flagging: the catalog “Infinite Spicy by Olivier Cresp” with a 2015 date corresponds to the VIP Club release presented at Cannes in 2014; it should not be conflated with later Mercedes-Benz “Infinite” or “Club” lines. Concentration is EDT, sold in 50ml and 100ml.
Acquisition Notes
This sits firmly in the deep-discount designer tier. It surfaces routinely at European discounters in the very low double-digit euro range and at grey-market sellers in 50ml and 100ml EDT. It is not a mainstream-counterfeited fragrance, but because it lives almost entirely on discounter and grey-market shelves, buyers should favor established discount retailers over anonymous marketplace listings. No widely documented batch-code guidance specific to this release exists. Given its bargain positioning and the “collector” appeal of the line’s fold-out informational insert (noted approvingly by one reviewer), it’s a low-risk, low-cost sampling target.
Notable Facts & Lore
- The most notable artifact is Cresp’s own interview in wear reports with Miguel Matos, conducted at Firmenich in Grasse, in which Cresp singled out Infinite Spicy.
- Asked how he placed it in the Mercedes-Benz portfolio, Cresp said: “The portfolio of Mercedes had no spices at all.
- So that’s why I came with a lot of spices.
- I think it works.
- “ He also described his minimalist method - “As perfumery is complicated, I like to stay simple.
- I use few ingredients.
- 20 to 30, no more“ - and credited the brand (INCC) with giving him “total freedom.