What do Silver Mountain Water clones share in common? The blackcurrant note. I don't know what the chemical is, but it's very sweet, somewhat jammy, and dark enough to pass as "blackcurrant." But it's not blackcurrant. And it's certainly not what Creed uses in SMW.
Franck Olivier focuses on this overtly fake blackcurrant sweetness. It's as if the company studied nineties pop culture (starting with Nirvana and ending with Abercrombie & Fitch), and bet all their chips on the American Pie theme. The result is an aldehyde-laden fruity musk. There's a smoothness and richness to SJW's blackcurrant that smells focused and expensive, like the entire budget went into elevating that one note. It's buttressed by an "inky" material, but the first hour is especially femme: sweetness overlaid with aldehydes. Eventually I'm left with a loud white musk. They bottled the smell of a flannel shirt!
It sounds a bit dull, but something interesting happens as this fragrance evolves. I'm not sure what it is - Ambroxan, maybe Iso E Super, maybe a little of both - but the berry note goes 3D and becomes much deeper and woodier, with a familiar "buzz" commonly found in designer masculines. Nice, but I still prefer Ajmal's Silver Shade. Franck wins points for the bottle, though - the mountain in the glass is a nice touch.