CREED
CENTAURUS
2024
cardamom
cinnamon
black pepper
Tobacco
geranium
heliotrope
jasmine
patchouli
sandalwood
benzoin
tonka bean
tolu balsam
ambroxan
bourbon vanilla
‘The House of Creed invites you to discover The Amber Universe before its official launch with an exclusive sample experience. Its two celestial-inspired perfumes explore different woody amber textures, both enveloping the wearer with sensuality in their own enigmatic way. Centaurus: Unbridled Magnitude. Centaurus is a bold, fiery fragrance that captures the magnitude of the largest constellation in the cosmos. It burns bright with incandescent tobacco ignited by spices before yielding to sumptuous sandalwood and velvety Bourbon vanilla at its base.’ – Creed
I’m writing this review as I’ve had on both Delphinus and Centaurus, Creed’s 2024 amber duo, for about 9 hours. Both are solid releases, but while not clear copies of anything out there, they’re a derivative mix of popular releases, which makes them a bit hard to recommend at their price points. Still, not bad and a better output than many of Creed’s previous releases for my taste. And I like them equally after one wearing. Check out the review for Delphinus as well, but this is all about Centaurus.
Centaurus feels like a mix of like a dozen popular fragrances; centered around amber and tobacco. In the opening hour, I get a mix of Amouage Boundless and Maison Francis Kurkdjian Grand Soir. The Fragrantica reference are spot on for once; at least for the opening (as usually I feel that people only smelled the opening of Centaurus in store and never actually wore the fragrance properly). Even in the opening however, Centaurus is missing the brightness and acidity; especially of Boundless. The scent profiles overlap quite a bit, with a big dose of spice and a sweet tobacco(ish) scent, but I would prefer Boundless, as that blood orange cuts through it and offers some more contrast.
Which brings me to most of the wear for Centaurus. It’s very spicy. Cinnamon is the main facet of the entire fragrance to my nose and to the point that it feels out of balance to me. It’s sweet, but it’s quite relentless and there isn’t all that much going on, besides spices (cinnamon, perhaps also clove to my nose). The spices have a natural connection to popular tobacco fragrances, but here, the focus is more on the spices solely. I don’t think it’s all that close to Herod, Tobacco Vanille, Triumph Of Bacchus etc, but I also don’t think it’s as good as any of them. The strong focus on the spiciness makes for a more one-dimensional wear and I could easily see myself getting tired of wearing Centaurus quickly. This styling feels quite a bit out of the norm for a Creed as well.
On one hand, I quite like Centaurus; at least if feels of decent quality and it performs well. On the other hand, I can name pretty much any popular fragrance remotely in this direction and prefer it at least as much (and most will be cheaper as well). This release adds something to the Creed line-up, that Creed fans can add to their collection and it’s good for that purpose. If you’re not concerned about buying a Creed, you probably shouldn’t be buying Centaurus.