Hard Candy Élixir Aaron Terence Hughes 2023

Hard Candy Élixir by Aaron Terence Hughes

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8.8 / 10 200 Ratings

A popular perfume by Aaron Terence Hughes for women and men, released in 2023. The scent is sweet-fruity. Projection and longevity are above-average. The production was apparently discontinued.

Main accords

Sweet

Fruity

Gourmand

Creamy

Fresh

Fragrance Pyramid

Top Notes

Mint

Lavender

Lemon

Mandarin orange Orange

Orange

Heart Notes

Strawberry Honey

Honey

Nutmeg

Vanilla

Amber

Tonka bean

Base Notes

Ambergris

Patchouli

Sandalwood

Thai oud

Tonkin musk

White musk

Perfumer & Creative Guidance

Aaron Terence Hughes Brand owner, Perfume maker

Videos

Watch video

Ratings

Scent

8.8200 Ratings

Longevity

8.9187 Ratings

Sillage

8.6187 Ratings

Bottle

7.8191 Ratings

Value for money

7.4170 Ratings

Submitted by Stv23, last update on 07/21/2025.

Interesting Facts

The fragrance was part of the collection Oud Collection.

Smells similar

What the fragrance is similar to

Hard Candy (2023)

Slut (2023)

Slut Élixir

Ultra Mâle

Layton

Le Mâle Elixir

Reviews

14 in-depth fragrance descriptions

02/20/2025

9
Pricing 10
Bottle 9
Sillage 10
Longevity 9.5
Scent

Davidg28
3 Reviews

Davidg28

3

Masterpiece

I've always preferred hard candy over this, but there's something about the elixir that's so captivating.

When my bottle first came in it had a weird smell in the opening. The oud was very prominent to me and almost smelled like marijuana. I wasn't a fan of the oud/woodiness being this strong, but after I let my bottle macerate it became absolutely stellar. I always loved the mixture of fresh, sweet and woody with the OG, but the elixir just adds this rich depth that makes it so alluring. The strawberry note always stood out to me in the OG, but with the elixir it's like you mixed that strawberry in fresh honey and ran it through a chocolate fountain.

I wore this to my Valentine's dinner and a waitress who wasn't serving our table went out of her way to ask about which one of us smelled so good. She went on about how her and all of her co workers were trying to figure out where the smell was coming from, purposely passing by our table to smell it. It's as if they were all huddling in the kitchen telling her to go up to our table to ask about it.

I receive a lot of energetic compliments with sl*t elixir, which in my experience is a bit more mass appealing, but I've never had a stranger go this far out of their way to ask about something I was wearing.

Hard Candy Elixir is definitely the sexiest out of the bunch I own and has this mysterious masculine energy to it. While hard candy is similar, it doesn't have that seductive/alluring aspect that hard candy elixir has.

11/24/2024

6
Pricing 8
Bottle 9
Sillage 9
Longevity 9
Scent

Sbv
7 Reviews

Sbv

2

Hard Candy vs Hard Candy Elixir

I had been looking everywhere for a comparison between Hard Candy and Hard Candy Elixir, and couldn't find any. And if i could, they were not that good (to me). So this is going to be a comparison between the two. If you want something more in depth, check out my review on Hard Candy.

These two fragrances are identical in longevity and sillage. The only difference between them to me is the opening. While Hard Candy opens up very sweet and kind of slows down after a bit, Hard Candy Elixir opens up the opposite. Its not sweet at all to me. More woody. After a couple of minutes these are the exact same scent to me.

I personally like the transition from the super sweetness to the calmer sweetness more than the transition from woody to sweet. Thats why i enjoy Hard Candy more.

Again, if you are looking for more info on the actual scent, check out my review on Hard Candy.

12/04/2023

10
Pricing 8
Bottle 9
Sillage 10
Longevity 10
Scent

Maxnyb
7 Reviews

Maxnyb

1

Addictive Candy, A Hidden Gem

Now this, this is innovative and exciting! Aaron really made something extraordinary. Something that put a smile on my face on the first spray. So addictive.
It really smells like candy, delicious candies and it is perfectly balanced. Not as sweet as you might think by the name of the fragrance.

I have been using this mostly when going out and it really shines. Its projecting great and stays on the skin for easy 18 hours. Clothes for days.

Perfect to wear for a fun night out. To me this is a unisex fragrance, leaning slightly masculine.
I have tried almost every fragrance from ATH and this is my favorite at the moment, closely followed by Daddy.

Aaron really deserves more praise for his work. Outstanding.

Highly, highly recommended.

05/15/2025

ATHfanatic
3 Reviews

ATHfanatic

1

Hard Candy Elixir

This is honestly the most captivating, addicting, and beautiful scent I’ve ever laid my nose on. At first you get the sauvage like citruses but later transforms into a sweet candy alluring vanilla. This is honestly wearable in every season and you can’t go wrong with it, you can tell the ingredients are high quality and it lasts forever.

11/20/2024

4
Pricing 9
Sillage 8
Longevity 8.5
Scent

MattRacer
9 Reviews

Translated Show original

MattRacer

Helpful Review 7

Frankenstein's monster and the egg-laying wool-milk sow

Hard Candy Elixir by Aaron Terence Hughes: a fragrance as striking and interesting as the creative mind behind it.

The first time I smelled the bottling, I didn't know what to make of the fragrance. Sprayed on, nose to it... what the Fu* ?!! First of all, I had to move half an arm's length backwards.
I was literally assaulted by the sensory impressions and the intensity of this fragrance explosion that penetrated my nasal mucous membranes. Hard Candy Elixir is like a basket full of all kinds of sweets, compressed in liquid form down to a tiny molecular level, suitable for temporarily grilling away the receptors and the olfactory cortex area.
Ok. Let it sink in for a moment, let the fragrance rest for a moment, and then again. What do I smell here? To me, the fragrance opens sweet, fruity and fresh. I can smell all kinds of fruit, especially mandarin. But imagine a multivitamin fruit compote. Not only natural fruit, but also garnished with synthetic flavors ala effervescent tablets and gummy bears. The whole thing is directly coupled with peppermint and lavender. I also detect cinnamon or something similar. Don't think of the fruity notes as being singular or emphatically fruity ala Erba Pura. They are rather part of an overall opening, and are strongly embedded in the sweet-spicy opening. I can only smell the strawberry mentioned as an individual component subliminally.
And another thing: this fruit basket is not handed to you gently and mannerly, no, it is smashed into your face with a full broadside!

The opening reminds me of a mixture of JPG Ultra Male and Versace Eros EDT, to draw a comparison with better-known fragrances. Both fragrances are already quite loud and present in their own right, but Hard Candy Elixir goes one better. It's a bit like being not quite satisfied with the volume of an AC/DC concert in the middle of the hall and wishing for Manowar at 138 decibels in row 1.
Gradually, as the fruit slowly settles (i.e. after about 3 days with this fragrance), the scent shows where its pronounced sweetness comes from: Vanilla/tonka bean gradually asserts itself against the fruits. Personally, I don't notice the honey mentioned. I would have said it was more in the direction of caramel or chocolate.
And this is where the fragrance changes in an interesting way. After the fragrance has calmed its fresh, spicy fruit-mint blast somewhat, it gradually reveals a warm, cocoa-like, soft gourmand base. Very soft musky notes fluffily embed the fragrance. A gossamery oud now also appears in the background, adding depth and warmth to the fragrance. Even if it never completely sheds its fruity-fresh opening, the fragrance has a multi-faceted and interesting progression. So there's a lot going on here in terms of olfactory performance! With regard to Drydown, I have read the association with AXE - Dark Temptation in the statements here. Even if the latter deodorant/shower gel aroma does not have the same quality, of course, a fundamental similarity cannot be completely negated. Personally, I would also find the comparison to creamy cookie dough with chocolate chips quite appropriate.
Incidentally, you should like ambroxan in order to enjoy this fragrance.

In conclusion to my chosen headline, it should be said that Hard Candy Elixir is definitely an extreme creation. The fragrance can be seen as an egg-laying wool-milk sow, which tries (and succeeds!) to cover many fragrance characteristics at the same time, creating a confusion of notes and character traits that perhaps cannot be entirely dismissed by the human nose. The fragrance is eccentric, shrill and attention-grabbing. It is about as discreet and appropriate as the aforementioned Manowar concert in the idyllic climatic spa town of Bad Reichenhall.
Joking aside. To put this into perspective, it must be said that the fragrance is pleasing to most noses, provided it is applied sparingly. Its richness of facets makes it quite versatile, as it is sweet and fresh at the same time, ranging from shower-gel to gourmand. To achieve this, however, you should apply one, maximum two sprays.
I am not a fan of dividing fragrances into specific application categories. For example, I don't see UltraMale or Eros as pure "party fragrances". But if you had to assign an occasion to HardCandy Elixir, it would probably be the loud, colorful disco party.
The sillage is omnipresent.
A word about longevity: yes. Period.
However, the biggest focus in terms of performance is on projection. In terms of longevity, there are definitely more enduring characters in the fragrance world.

Aaron has really gone all out here and created an olfactory monster that radiates radioactively in every imaginable color pattern. However, this monster is less off-putting than thoroughly fascinating and captivating.

If you like the fundamentally loud character of the fragrance, there are still other points of criticism. These are, on the one hand, the almost non-existent availability within the EU and, in particular, the grotesque pricing.
I no longer believe any other house that really high-quality raw materials are used here, and that the path to the finished perfume is very long and laborious. Aaron seems very transparent and authentic to me in his videos, which are also well worth watching. Of course, as it is his profession, he will also make enough money from the fragrances. Nevertheless, I can see that it is quite plausible that the fragrances cost a lot of money to produce, not least because of the relatively small print runs. Nevertheless, a price of around 300 euros for 50 ml is a tough ask. Especially for a fragrance whose individual facets have already been smelled in this or a similar way elsewhere in a much more affordable price segment.
If money is no object and you've been searching for THE one all-purpose "party fragrance", you might find it with Hard Candy Elixir and be happy.

For me, it is not a candidate for purchase. In addition to the high price, I find its field of application so narrow that the bottle has no real right to exist in my collection. I also don't need 50ml of it, as I have no intention of wearing the fragrance until the year 2067 or, if I spray it too much, contaminating the stratosphere with it.
So does it live up to the hype? Yes and no, everyone has to decide for themselves. But it is definitely worth a test for the olfactorily interested individual on a journey of fragrance discovery!

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