Viking is an underrated fragrance, and I'm amazed it still has not reached a 4.0 rating on Fragrantica. But instead of saying noses are broken, I'll just say those are young noses. Everyone's a bubblegumchomper in their youth. But instead of being similar to classic Old Spice, Viking is closer to a fuller, niche-level variation on the traditional Bay Rum. Just swap out the slightly camphorous bay leaf for a deeply mentholated accord formed by the spicy mint and absinthe, take out the Rum, add lavender and it offers the same sweet, spicy daily-wear kind of vibe. The mentholated, anisic spiciness is addicting. Someone below said "like a combination of drakkar and clubman bay rum", which is a good take in my opinion. The comparisons to Drakkar Noir would be due to both being deeply mentholated. If you compare Viking to classic Old Spice it would be to one of the fuller, richer vintage iterations of Old Spice. I just sprayed my 1981 "Long Lasting Cologne" bottle of Old Spice on card and do get a closer similarity to Viking. One reviewer said Viking is like halfway between classic Old Spice and a Bay Rum. I would accept that. And it also has the same DNA and undertones as millesime imperial. But as I stated.. spicier, and more masculine/boldness. Which I prefer. MI is too fruity and sweet, for me personally. But still a great one. I would say this is suitable for guys 25 and over, it is more mature and very masculine for sure, so not a youthful clubbing scent, but still smells sexy. This would be really good to wear to a whisky bar. That was, until 2010. In retrospect, it's safe to say that the same hype cycle which made Aventus the most talked-about fragrance on the internet also tarnished its legacy. As heated forum discussions reduced opinions to either "best fragrance ever" (hyperbolic nonsense) or "overrated" (i.e. hyped - thanks for contributing), nobody seemed to see the scent for what it was: simply a pleasant, well-crafted masculine, its only fault being that it was aimed at a different crowd than Creed's previous offerings. As with all Creed's best, the achilles heel is the price point. I would easily buy full bottles of my top few Creed favorites if it wouldn't cost me in the 4 digits to do so. If I did that, this would absolutely be one of them. Unfortunately, though, as it's only my 2nd or 3rd favorite, until I strike it rich I'll settle for keeping a small decant around for an occasional treat.

All that aside, it's a pretty good fragrance. Those spices hit you up front, then the lavender gradually gets stronger and eventually the tonka-woody base becomes the strongest aspect, but the spice, lavender and rose stay the whole time. Performance and projection are in line with warm weather fragrances, meaning it's not great, but it won't choke you out, either. Personally, GIT and Sublime Vanille are still my favorite Creeds and the only ones I've bought full bottle of, but this is a very good, very useful scent in many situations. There’s something that reminds me of the cereal called ‘fruit loops’ in this slightly. Which was my favourite as a kid. But like a spicy sweetness. It smells red, and I don't mind the bottle at all. And people who claim it doesn't feel "viking-ish" should consider how many varied goods and resources vikings actually plundered from a wide range of origin. They actually had an appreciation for the exotic, and were more cultured than we often assume (maybe go read about it).

Is this better/does viking replace aventus for me? No, they’re completely different. I feel viking is more versatile whereas aventus is strictly a summer fragrance. I only pull Aventus out in the heat or it simply just doesn’t project.

It's a lovely fragrance, it's well made with excellent ingredients and it smells like something that costs a 15th the price. The best value creed right now, lasts longer than the others, not hard i hear you say but this is just lovely. Opens up fruity and fresh and stays that way longer than expected, got in the car today and the passengers all remarked how nice i smelled and asked what i was wearing. I had the same at lunch. At this moment and imo the only creed close to being worth its price. I managed to get a 2108 bottle and am delighted, i was using notedAromas duplex, that is absolutely incredibly close to it, if you cannot afford creed then i highly recommend that one and 29 pounds for 100ml. I had creed Viking on one arm and notedAromas on the other, NA actually lasted longer but just did not retain tat fresh opening form as long. I normally do not use dupes but it was too good to not buy as i will not but new creeds and wait until my woman buyer, finds me the older ones. I now have 7.Yes, it's really freaking expensive, and yes, older gentlemen wear scents similar to this, but I'm a 32 year old woman who doesn't care about that (there's nothing wrong with getting older anyway, the ageist crap is tiresome), I just really enjoy when my husband wears this, and it's one of his favorites (take it with a grain of salt though, I wear "o.l.d lady stuff" sometimes). The pink pepper is surpsingly clean, and paired with the minty herbalness, it really awakens the senses. This makes for a wonderful morning fragrance, and it projects impressively for an hour or so. The citruses smell very *real*, and not at all detergent-y. A few weeks after this came out I put some on to go visit my parents. My sons both came with and were wearing other frags. Moments after we arrive and walk in the door my mother, who is nearing 80 at the time, says "Who's wearing Old Spice?". I will update my review regarding the performance etc after I have had more time with it and sorry for mentioning the "A" word so much, haha.