Aventus Creed 2010

Aventus was apparently created by Baltazar Creed in 0 AD as a gift for baby Jesus. After the formula was rediscovered in 2010, the scent has received plenty of accolades as being a great complement getter.

For me this is a solid neutral. It's fruity, it's smoky, it's very average. The citrus/apple top never truly merges with the rest of the composition. Projection is weak, and I get a warm car-seat vibe after about half an hour. I frankly don't understand the praise that Aventus has earned, but I'll have to admit that it's quite unique. It's not for me though.

Update: It also induces migraines for my significant other, she made me scrub it.

I love the pineapple opening. Who could have thought that someone who dislikes the smell of pineapple could be impressed by a pineapple scent? Impressed I was indeed though with the opening of Aventus. The pineapple is not in your face, but rather supports the fresh citrus and synthetic top notes, and just "works." Unfortunately, things go south from there. The fragrance develops an almost tobacco leaf-like smoky accord that seems a bit out of place, and it starts to become cloyingly sweet, as the smoky tobacco leaf combines with jasmine, patchouli, and some heavier synthetics that wear you down over time. The scent continues down this disappointing path to the end, where you mix in the trademark Creed faux ambergris accord into the heart notes to form the base of Aventus. Bottom line is Aventus starts off with a bang and develops to a more mundane finish. Recommended to sniff for the relatively unique opening, but I would not recommend its addition to one's collection as there are literally hundreds if not thousands of better smelling scents out there for the money and outright. Aventus earns a very average rating of 2.5 stars out of 5.

Contrary to the views about this fragrance,I can barely detect the scent of pineapple.In the early minutes I smell Birch, bergamot and red apple come into my olfactory.After about 15 minutes, the apple scent becomes weaker. The smell of moss and inky notes of black currant is added as well as the scent of birch becomes stronger.Consequently , smoky aroma and bitterness takes that course, however it does not harm to the coolness of perfume.I can easily feel the pineapple flavor from Mont Blanc Legend Intense and Dior Higher Energy but whatever I tried I could not see any trace of it in Aventus.

I was asked to sample Aventus while visiting the fragrance counter at Neiman Marcus one afternoon. I was already wearing something at the time so, I declined. The Creed product specialist insisted on spraying Aventus on a sample card for me to experience. Not always the best way to experience a fragrance but I found it interesting, so I asked for a sample to take home.

I wore Aventus the next day and was completely hooked right from the beginning. The opening notes of Pineapple and French apples were fresh and crisp and slightly sweet but not sickening. I experienced more of the French apple note than the pineapple, as some others have complained about. The black currant and Italian bergamot notes were background players in the opening which combined nicely with the semi-sweet apple note. The heart notes of this fragrance were just as pleasing. Roses, dry birch, moroccan jasmine and patchouli were a nice harmony. Patchouli can be dangerous but in combination with the moroccan jasmine made this very interesting. I also enjoyed the base notes of musk, oak moss, ambergris and vanilla. The vanilla notes is subtle while the oak moss seems to be the most obvious player for me. Even the dry down on Aventus can keep you sampling your wrist hours later. The longevity could be better as with most Creed fragrances. I seem to feel it disappear after 6-8 hours. Everyone else seems to still be able to smell it on me so, maybe the wearer just become to accustom to the fragrance.

After wearing Aventus daily for a few weeks, it never fails to get peoples attention. I have been stopped multiple times a day and asked, "What fragrance are you wearing". I've also had a co-worker approach me to ask a question and was so distracted by my fragrance that they forgot what they were about to say. The common thread of commentary I've received about Aventus is that everyone agrees it is a fresh, clean and completely intoxicating fragrance. These comments were from men and woman alike.

I feel compelled to say a little something about the packaging design for Aventus. Simply put, I have seen better packaging design on bargain designer fragrances. I find it interesting that Creed approved this packaging concept. This presentation is the equivalent of a senior high school student packaging project. There is really nothing innovative here. If anything, you will remember the fragrance by the terrible graphic displayed predominantly on the front of the bottle.

So much has been said about Aventus that it hardly seems worth it to add to the conversation and noise. However, I believe there are fragrance newbies who have the same thoughts and philosophy about fragrance as I do, so I want to tell my experience with this scent:

Around 4 years ago, I first found out about fragrances that were not sold at the counter at Macy’s. One of the first of these, of course, was Creed Aventus. After reading and watching reviews, it was clear that this must be a special fragrance. Even if I was never going to buy it (back then, spending over $300 for a fragrance was unthinkable for me), I decided I had to smell it, as well as others from the brand. So I headed straight over to the Creed booth at Nordstrom and asked to smell Aventus.

My reaction at first sniff was, “that’s it? This is the pinnacle of fragrance?” According to so many reviewers, this was the greatest fragrance ever created. It smelled like so many scents I’d smelled before! It wasn’t unique, it wasn’t special, it wasn’t…anything! Just a bland, clean scent. Though I was disappointed, I wanted to smell some others. Another that I had heard good things about was Green Irish Tweed. WOW. Aromatic, green, powerful musks. Like nothing I had smelled before. I went on. Royal Oud. WOW. Smooth, deep woods. Another unique and special masterpiece. I liked almost every Creed I tried that day more than Aventus. Erolfa, Silver Mountain Water, Viking. What was going on?

I have some theories, after years of sampling hundreds of fragrances and even Aventus again many times. First, my “philosophy” toward fragrance is that I wear fragrance for myself. I appreciate artistry, uniqueness, and creativity in perfume. Aventus isn’t that. It does what other fragrances do, (arguably) better. Second, it’s possible that I had smelled Aventus, or Aventus-inspired fragrances many times before without knowing it. This is possibly why it smelled so bland and forgettable at first sniff. However, I had never owned anything remotely similar to Aventus notes-wise. Third, it may be that the reviews I had seen and raised my expectations were talking about a fragrance that was a compliment getter rather than a great fragrance on its own merit.

Regardless of the reason, I think Aventus is boring. And it’s not boring because there are a lot of clones. It’s just a boring scent. It doesn’t evoke or inspire anything. It’s just, “here’s a vaguely clean guy.” I thought that 4 years ago and I still think it today. If you are new to niche perfumery and want to wear unique, special scents primarily for yourself, stay away from Creed Aventus.