There's that bloody SAA again, oh man...
In terms of popularity based on sales, the fragrances rank as below... I don't see them as a pissing competition (hopefully no one else will either) rather from my perspective as the designer of the fragrances, the numbers are reassuring as they tell me that people do want complexity and they want difference, and most of all that my hours and hours and dozens of failed iterations of a formula (30-60 on average) taken to to get it right
does pay off. End of the day it's about personal choice and like, the way it should be.
Personal preference with fragrances is very important to me, peer group likes and consensus often shape preferences and the like/dislike binary - not such a desirable, but very human thing. My personal view on fragrances that I make and buy is that I like a challenge. I almost demand a complex and novel fragrance when I encounter something - sometimes I find it, and when this happens the deep character and essence of a fragrance is revealed to me, other times it is not.
Anyhow, here is the ranking based on units. The way Mycroft has been received I suspect it will hit number one very soon.
1. Alfredus Choice - This is without a doubt the most popular APR fragrance, it is also the most intricate in regards to design. It's definitely seasonal, it's woody and bold, but with citrus and technically there is a lot of layers and nuance. It's what you get when you ask a Chemist to tell you what he likes in a fragrance I suppose...
2. General Ledger - A very close second, this is my personal favourite as I love the Fern family and a deep, green dry-down. I have a particular fondness for it because I took Rose Maroc (Very expensive stuff, precious) and heaped the miasma of moist compost, hay and lichen moss ala Fougère onto it, it came out a little dirty and very earthy as intended, but what immediately struck me was that the pure nature and beauty of the Rose Maroc Absolute was untouched. There is a fractional amount of the Absolute in GL, but the chemistry of the oil is indescribably potent and 'perfect'.
3. Mycroft - Although this is new, people really dig the re-design and re-imagining of Baker St and where I took it. I suspect it will be in top spot in a week or so the way it has been received. A hell of a lot of work this one, worth it I think.
4. Suitably Attired Australian - This is a mixed bag for me and at one point it was not a fragrance I was going to continue due to the frag oils in it - I don't like fragrance oils, in soaps or in Aftershaves, I know they are very popular and people like them, I myself do not. So as SAA was obviously born out of Creeds GIT and subsequently it's ridiculously expensive for me to make due to my insistence on not using combinations of fragrance oils. SAA was a lot of work to 'fix' in the first instance (to take it beyond Stirling, Mystic etc) so when I made the decision to drops the frag oil combos it meant replicating the 'creed accord'. Long story short, it has quantities of Ambergris and Violet absolute, along with 6 or 7 other oils in the wanton quantities needed to (attempt to) create the famous 'Creed accord'. You reap what you sow I guess, SAA will always stay as it is now - people like it and that's that.