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A comparison in search of the Grail
How many are probably looking for the "holy grail" of Aventus batches? How many euros have rolled across the souk counter - hoping for a little more smokiness or durability? Sample after sample, batch after batch. This discussion alone drives the Aventus cult. The search for perfection - everything used to be better, right? The dupe industry is delighted - following in the footsteps of the past, one or two fragrance twins are finding their way into the hearts of long-established Aventurians to elicit the unattainable nostalgia from their longing hearts.
And for me? To be honest: I hardly know Aventus. A friend has one of the more sought-after 2019 batches. I have a 2022 batch myself. I'm not an expert. My journey only began with the "Explorer | Montblanc", which is not a dupe at all, but at most an inspiration.
But that's not the point here. Well - maybe a little bit. After all, I want to offer you what you really want - if we're honest - when you scroll through the reviews and statements in search of answers: How is it now, the "Emperor Extrait (Extrait) | Parfums Vintage" compared to its role model "Aventus | Creed" ? Let's talk straight to the point.
In front of me on the desk, which is soaked with one or two samples of my now out-of-control hobby, are three pieces of paper and three cosmetic tissues. Written on each of them: "Aventus | Creed", "Club de Nuit Intense Man Limited Edition | Armaf" or "Emperor Extrait (Extrait) | Parfums Vintage". My small, personal mini-study from N=3. There were no more study participants to choose from. Statisticians among you will tell me that this study has little statistical power. But so be it. The room smells of Aventus. This significance could already be established a priori.
I spray it on and evaluate it as best I can. Of course, I am anything but objective. My nose is not all that fine. I'm just someone who's lost himself in the perfume world. I should have been told beforehand that there was pineapple in it.
Enough of the foreplay.
"Aventus | Creed" has a nice, fresh opening. My batch is consistent. Okay-fresh, okay-smoky, okay-green, okay-everything. I miss Creed's musky base. I was never really blown away by the fragrance. I understand that it's solid. But what I have learned is: In the air, in the sillage, the fragrance is far better than with the back of your hand on your nostril.
"Club de Nuit Intense Man Limited Edition | Armaf" really packs a punch, but also has a correspondingly light synthetic quality that remains within limits. There is a brief hint of the classic toilet stone at first, but this soon fades. Much more smoke is perceptible here. But there is always an accompanying "bitterness" - I don't know where it comes from. But it's almost too much for me. I would have liked so much sweetness and fruit. Sometimes it comes in the "next day drydown". And only when the fragrance is in the room.
"Emperor Extrait (Extrait) | Parfums Vintage": Is egregiously close to Aventus. I would hardly be able to tell them apart if I hadn't marked my test strips accordingly. The Emperor has a tick more sweetness, a tick more fruitiness, after you get past the initial alcohol (takes under a minute to fade). Smokiness is there, but more in the background. The bitter notes are much less present. The progression is similar to Aventus. Later on, it is sweeter and fruitier than the other two. It's beautiful, and that's where I perceive the "something special" that I miss in my 22 Aventus and CDNILE.
That's a direct comparison, dear friends.
About the fragrance itself: The packaging is beautiful and of high quality. The bottle is solid, fits nicely in the hand and is attractive. The spray head looks high quality and is similar to the spray volumes of current Creed bottles. The lid (black for the extrait) should be plastic, no magnet or similar, but simple and fulfills its purpose.
What I would like to mention, however, is that the fragrance was unopened or unsprayed when I received it. And when I smelled the spray head for the first time, the drydown or what I smelled there was DROPPING! Aventus plus sweetness and fruitiness. And that somehow stuck in my nose. Even when the fragrance stood in front of me, unsprayed, for a few hours in the box, I imagined that I could still detect the scent slightly. Whether this says something about sillage, projection or durability, I can't say at all. Nor can I say whether this fragrance on the spray head is the real, final "drydown the next day". If this is the case, I'm thinking about whether I might be tempted to buy a Signature after all. I'd have to wear it longer for that - and perhaps an update on this will follow.
Well. The search for the holy grail. Who knows. Maybe someone will find it here. Or at the next attempt, the umpteenth rehearsal. Or maybe not at all, because we dwell on so many details in order to fulfill our (usually too high) expectations. After the beast, after the board, after what we think it used to be like, how it should be, how it ought to be - how it might never be.
And for me? To be honest: I hardly know Aventus. A friend has one of the more sought-after 2019 batches. I have a 2022 batch myself. I'm not an expert. My journey only began with the "Explorer | Montblanc", which is not a dupe at all, but at most an inspiration.
But that's not the point here. Well - maybe a little bit. After all, I want to offer you what you really want - if we're honest - when you scroll through the reviews and statements in search of answers: How is it now, the "Emperor Extrait (Extrait) | Parfums Vintage" compared to its role model "Aventus | Creed" ? Let's talk straight to the point.
In front of me on the desk, which is soaked with one or two samples of my now out-of-control hobby, are three pieces of paper and three cosmetic tissues. Written on each of them: "Aventus | Creed", "Club de Nuit Intense Man Limited Edition | Armaf" or "Emperor Extrait (Extrait) | Parfums Vintage". My small, personal mini-study from N=3. There were no more study participants to choose from. Statisticians among you will tell me that this study has little statistical power. But so be it. The room smells of Aventus. This significance could already be established a priori.
I spray it on and evaluate it as best I can. Of course, I am anything but objective. My nose is not all that fine. I'm just someone who's lost himself in the perfume world. I should have been told beforehand that there was pineapple in it.
Enough of the foreplay.
"Aventus | Creed" has a nice, fresh opening. My batch is consistent. Okay-fresh, okay-smoky, okay-green, okay-everything. I miss Creed's musky base. I was never really blown away by the fragrance. I understand that it's solid. But what I have learned is: In the air, in the sillage, the fragrance is far better than with the back of your hand on your nostril.
"Club de Nuit Intense Man Limited Edition | Armaf" really packs a punch, but also has a correspondingly light synthetic quality that remains within limits. There is a brief hint of the classic toilet stone at first, but this soon fades. Much more smoke is perceptible here. But there is always an accompanying "bitterness" - I don't know where it comes from. But it's almost too much for me. I would have liked so much sweetness and fruit. Sometimes it comes in the "next day drydown". And only when the fragrance is in the room.
"Emperor Extrait (Extrait) | Parfums Vintage": Is egregiously close to Aventus. I would hardly be able to tell them apart if I hadn't marked my test strips accordingly. The Emperor has a tick more sweetness, a tick more fruitiness, after you get past the initial alcohol (takes under a minute to fade). Smokiness is there, but more in the background. The bitter notes are much less present. The progression is similar to Aventus. Later on, it is sweeter and fruitier than the other two. It's beautiful, and that's where I perceive the "something special" that I miss in my 22 Aventus and CDNILE.
That's a direct comparison, dear friends.
About the fragrance itself: The packaging is beautiful and of high quality. The bottle is solid, fits nicely in the hand and is attractive. The spray head looks high quality and is similar to the spray volumes of current Creed bottles. The lid (black for the extrait) should be plastic, no magnet or similar, but simple and fulfills its purpose.
What I would like to mention, however, is that the fragrance was unopened or unsprayed when I received it. And when I smelled the spray head for the first time, the drydown or what I smelled there was DROPPING! Aventus plus sweetness and fruitiness. And that somehow stuck in my nose. Even when the fragrance stood in front of me, unsprayed, for a few hours in the box, I imagined that I could still detect the scent slightly. Whether this says something about sillage, projection or durability, I can't say at all. Nor can I say whether this fragrance on the spray head is the real, final "drydown the next day". If this is the case, I'm thinking about whether I might be tempted to buy a Signature after all. I'd have to wear it longer for that - and perhaps an update on this will follow.
Well. The search for the holy grail. Who knows. Maybe someone will find it here. Or at the next attempt, the umpteenth rehearsal. Or maybe not at all, because we dwell on so many details in order to fulfill our (usually too high) expectations. After the beast, after the board, after what we think it used to be like, how it should be, how it ought to be - how it might never be.
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Werther's real becomes old wood raspelei
In the opening, the "Althaïr | Parfums de Marly" is quite very gourmand, rather in the direction of caramel, vanilla and some chocolate. Already there it is backed with something woody, but in the background. It reminds me of sweet and sticky candies, similar to Werther's Echte. At the same time, it is a tiny bit "powdery". It definitely smells "good", but doesn't do anything new here, which is why it doesn't really surprise me or want to convince me. The Parfums de Marly signature is there - but can (still) say nothing about durability and sillage.
In the further course comes the background woody more and more in the foreground, until he in the midfield to Drydown ultimately yet quite powdery and "old-woody" acts. By all means still sweet, the gourmand theme changes here in licorice raspelei, which reminds me very much of "Valentino Uomo (2014) (Eau de Toilette) | Valentino". These familiar vibes I found earlier already rather exhausting in the long run and is ultimately "too much" for me.
Overall, a solid, qualitative winter and Christmas fragrance, which definitely has what it takes to please others, but I myself soon get tired of.
In the further course comes the background woody more and more in the foreground, until he in the midfield to Drydown ultimately yet quite powdery and "old-woody" acts. By all means still sweet, the gourmand theme changes here in licorice raspelei, which reminds me very much of "Valentino Uomo (2014) (Eau de Toilette) | Valentino". These familiar vibes I found earlier already rather exhausting in the long run and is ultimately "too much" for me.
Overall, a solid, qualitative winter and Christmas fragrance, which definitely has what it takes to please others, but I myself soon get tired of.
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Déjà vu = "Seen it before". Emotional memories.
I sat in front of the flicker box in the late 80s and early 90s, and I was used to the evening commercial breaks that interrupted RTL Saturday Night or the Harald Schmidt Show with their usual jingle tunes and falling Sat.1 balls. Sometimes I was allowed to stay awake longer, and as a child I also soaked up repetitive commercial breaks like a sponge in my indiscriminateness. It was a time of light-heartedness and it was as if all stimuli were somehow more exciting and intense when I look back on it like this today...
And there came the commercial with the man jumping off a cliff into the sea. Why he jumped remained an open question for me. I had never asked myself that either. Somehow it looked dangerous. He had his reasons. He dives up, and with both hands he throws his hair out of his water-covered face. In the pool, I replayed this with goggles and a snorkel, only with poolside instead of the high cliff.
"Davidoff - Cool Water. I thought that was fizzy water when I was a kid. At least, that's how it seemed to me. The cooling effect was so refreshing and cool - like on those warm summer days when playing in the garden was only interrupted for a brief moment by Gerolsteiner Sprudel before we continued to romp around in a frenzy of play.
That's how early customer loyalty can develop. I didn't even have my first perfume from Oilily then.
Thirty years later: you have the name of a brand "Davidoff" in your mind, maybe took a drag on their cigarettes once in sixth grade, which were honestly the nastiest of all. Grandma always had Lord Extra, they were better. Why, I can't say today. Maybe just because grandma liked them. And you knew terms like "Ariel", which was washing powder, right? ...or "Dr Pepper", that weird tasting cola. They were words, maybe associated with a picture, or a logo, or a situation, sometimes a person. That's all you felt about it.
And at some point, you smell that laundry - but yeah! I've been there. And the realization of what washing powder it is. You taste this sweet, cinnamony concoction from the red can and the fond memory of never actually liking it assaults your senses. It's like nostalgia from the past reaches into the present and gives it its color. As if the feeling to a picture had always been hidden in the background, you just had to uncover it. Yes, smells have a direct effect on the limbic system. And that's where these colors live...
And so it was when I smelled Davidoff Cool Water again after three decades. One spray on the skin, and then came the memory of something I couldn't name. Remembrance of many people I met who wore this scent, without being able to say who I remembered. The realization that this very scent is Cool Water, as if I had always known it but could never place it. Like the smell of a flower that one knows from a matter of course, without having the image of its outward appearance in one's consciousness.
Davidoff Cool Water has always been there without having made itself known. A world-immanent fragrance that is classic and old-fashioned, but not stale as a result. Green, fresh, and yet not light. Maybe his voice was also Creed's Green Irish Tweed, who knows.
Wearing it today, I notice how much time has passed. I've grown and smell like the ones I had to tilt my head up to see - when I was little and even allowed to stay up late.
And there came the commercial with the man jumping off a cliff into the sea. Why he jumped remained an open question for me. I had never asked myself that either. Somehow it looked dangerous. He had his reasons. He dives up, and with both hands he throws his hair out of his water-covered face. In the pool, I replayed this with goggles and a snorkel, only with poolside instead of the high cliff.
"Davidoff - Cool Water. I thought that was fizzy water when I was a kid. At least, that's how it seemed to me. The cooling effect was so refreshing and cool - like on those warm summer days when playing in the garden was only interrupted for a brief moment by Gerolsteiner Sprudel before we continued to romp around in a frenzy of play.
That's how early customer loyalty can develop. I didn't even have my first perfume from Oilily then.
Thirty years later: you have the name of a brand "Davidoff" in your mind, maybe took a drag on their cigarettes once in sixth grade, which were honestly the nastiest of all. Grandma always had Lord Extra, they were better. Why, I can't say today. Maybe just because grandma liked them. And you knew terms like "Ariel", which was washing powder, right? ...or "Dr Pepper", that weird tasting cola. They were words, maybe associated with a picture, or a logo, or a situation, sometimes a person. That's all you felt about it.
And at some point, you smell that laundry - but yeah! I've been there. And the realization of what washing powder it is. You taste this sweet, cinnamony concoction from the red can and the fond memory of never actually liking it assaults your senses. It's like nostalgia from the past reaches into the present and gives it its color. As if the feeling to a picture had always been hidden in the background, you just had to uncover it. Yes, smells have a direct effect on the limbic system. And that's where these colors live...
And so it was when I smelled Davidoff Cool Water again after three decades. One spray on the skin, and then came the memory of something I couldn't name. Remembrance of many people I met who wore this scent, without being able to say who I remembered. The realization that this very scent is Cool Water, as if I had always known it but could never place it. Like the smell of a flower that one knows from a matter of course, without having the image of its outward appearance in one's consciousness.
Davidoff Cool Water has always been there without having made itself known. A world-immanent fragrance that is classic and old-fashioned, but not stale as a result. Green, fresh, and yet not light. Maybe his voice was also Creed's Green Irish Tweed, who knows.
Wearing it today, I notice how much time has passed. I've grown and smell like the ones I had to tilt my head up to see - when I was little and even allowed to stay up late.
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Oud Odyssey
13:15: Spontaneous visit to a newly opened perfumery. Baby is in the carrier, we actually wanted to go for a walk. "Just quickly purely" in the store and look what there is. Girlfriend annoyed.
13:16: Warm welcome from the employees. It's clear - new opening just. There's chocolate as a welcome. Nothing is spared.
13:17: There are the usual suspects: Dior, Chanel, Prada, Versace. Oops, Tom Ford, good one. What To my surprise, some niche fragrances. I see "Oud for Greatness." Always wanted to try that one! The friendly waitress sprays a single puff from the beautiful bottle onto the back of my hand from a foot away. All I could think to myself was, "Ball this directly onto my skin from no more than 1 inch away, please!"
13:18: My first reaction: wow! What a scent, how wonderful! The waitress in sales mode seizes her opportunity: "Yes! That's just Oud for Greatness! A super scent!" I don't get talked into anything for now, thank her, and take the scent on the back of my hand.
13:24: A walk through the park with baby in the Ruckeli. Baby whines, perhaps because of the novel smell. I keep holding the back of my hand to my nose. "Wow...", then to my friend's nose, "Smells good!"
2:06 PM: I've been smelling the back of my hand for the last three quarters of an hour, feeling it every 10 seconds. I feel a little embarrassed and pretend to scratch my nose (with the back of my hand).
19:21: The scent becomes warmer and more comforting and loses nothing of its beautiful character. What surprises me most is that it smells like it was just sprayed on. How does that work!!! I remember how the waitress from the perfumery sprayed from half a meter on my hand, which impresses me all the more because the fragrance is so intense and "unmistakable".
00:19: Baby in bed. Bedtime. I smell the back of my hand a few more times and dream about the 270 euro bottle. I'm not that crazy to buy something like that. A perfume for just under 300 euros, I beg you!
03:17: Musk rises to my nose in my sleep.
08:50: Moin! The back of my hand still smells light. Skin-deep, of course, but very few perfumes manage that. I can still smell it.
09:11: On the wish list. Not today, not tomorrow, but someday. Just great.
I'm not an oud connoisseur. Not a niche expert. I'm a simple perfume lover: what I like, I rate as appropriately good, and don't dissect into the accords and individual notes. But this perfume is already in a different league from what I'm used to. It reminds me of Tom Ford's Oud Wood, only much more powerful and long lasting. To go along with the above story, the nice employee had also given me a spray on a test strip. A day later, I walked into the room where the strip was, and I smelled the perfume in the room. I think that two sprays will really serve you well and the fragrance will be worth its price. A fragrance not for every day, but for the big moments.
13:16: Warm welcome from the employees. It's clear - new opening just. There's chocolate as a welcome. Nothing is spared.
13:17: There are the usual suspects: Dior, Chanel, Prada, Versace. Oops, Tom Ford, good one. What To my surprise, some niche fragrances. I see "Oud for Greatness." Always wanted to try that one! The friendly waitress sprays a single puff from the beautiful bottle onto the back of my hand from a foot away. All I could think to myself was, "Ball this directly onto my skin from no more than 1 inch away, please!"
13:18: My first reaction: wow! What a scent, how wonderful! The waitress in sales mode seizes her opportunity: "Yes! That's just Oud for Greatness! A super scent!" I don't get talked into anything for now, thank her, and take the scent on the back of my hand.
13:24: A walk through the park with baby in the Ruckeli. Baby whines, perhaps because of the novel smell. I keep holding the back of my hand to my nose. "Wow...", then to my friend's nose, "Smells good!"
2:06 PM: I've been smelling the back of my hand for the last three quarters of an hour, feeling it every 10 seconds. I feel a little embarrassed and pretend to scratch my nose (with the back of my hand).
19:21: The scent becomes warmer and more comforting and loses nothing of its beautiful character. What surprises me most is that it smells like it was just sprayed on. How does that work!!! I remember how the waitress from the perfumery sprayed from half a meter on my hand, which impresses me all the more because the fragrance is so intense and "unmistakable".
00:19: Baby in bed. Bedtime. I smell the back of my hand a few more times and dream about the 270 euro bottle. I'm not that crazy to buy something like that. A perfume for just under 300 euros, I beg you!
03:17: Musk rises to my nose in my sleep.
08:50: Moin! The back of my hand still smells light. Skin-deep, of course, but very few perfumes manage that. I can still smell it.
09:11: On the wish list. Not today, not tomorrow, but someday. Just great.
I'm not an oud connoisseur. Not a niche expert. I'm a simple perfume lover: what I like, I rate as appropriately good, and don't dissect into the accords and individual notes. But this perfume is already in a different league from what I'm used to. It reminds me of Tom Ford's Oud Wood, only much more powerful and long lasting. To go along with the above story, the nice employee had also given me a spray on a test strip. A day later, I walked into the room where the strip was, and I smelled the perfume in the room. I think that two sprays will really serve you well and the fragrance will be worth its price. A fragrance not for every day, but for the big moments.
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Unimpressively great
There are fragrances that have to be just so. Or there are situations, since only fits so something ...
I work in the medical or health care, and at the same time I am not only a lover of perfumes, but I need for the profession in a professional context a certain fragrance that is appropriate to the situation. But which one should I choose?
A shower gel scent? Perhaps too youthful...
A gourmand fragrance? Inappropriate...
Something sweet? Too seductive and out of place....
Spicy-woody? Too offensive, perhaps too masculine....
Something fresh? Seems so casual sometimes...
None at all? Too bad...
Then I heard about this "soapy clean" fragrance called Prada L'Homme.
On first smell: So that's "soapy." What does it smell like? Well, kind of like soap. And quite clean. That's all I had left to say after the first test, and I moved on quite unimpressed.
A second try: it felt like I should have been more engaged in seeing - or just smelling - behind the facade of the soap. And certainly there was a lot more to it than just the simple "clean" and "soap". The scent exuded something friendly, inoffensive, welcoming, without becoming in the least self-evident or self-indulgent. Ah yes...that's why I was unimpressed. So-so...
Wearing it further, I had rather such associations: In its sweetness, it was heartwarming on the one hand, yet not seductive. Somehow yet seductive, yet not offensive. Professional, yet not aloof. Luxurious, yet not ostentatious. He leaves an impression, without be-ein-drucken.
And yet, ultimately, clean. To be a "clean man" means ultimately, to place value on its appearance; means ultimately also to know what is appropriate at what time and on what occasion; means to find the right balance - and you find that with this fragrance: everything that attracts, looks attractive, makes interesting, invitingly appeals - and now the quintessence, does not impose itself with it!
As already mentioned numerous: the perfect fragrance for areas of "professionalism", so work, job interviews, seriousness and situations in which you do not want to tick off and still put a gentle message. This does not have to be in a suit, but also fits quite privately in a white T-shirt on a summer day. Easy going with value.
Durability satisfactory! Enough for me for the whole workday. After a 30 degree gentle wash, you can still smell him easily on the shirt collar. He has quite something Feminimes, without acting unmanly.
I work in the medical or health care, and at the same time I am not only a lover of perfumes, but I need for the profession in a professional context a certain fragrance that is appropriate to the situation. But which one should I choose?
A shower gel scent? Perhaps too youthful...
A gourmand fragrance? Inappropriate...
Something sweet? Too seductive and out of place....
Spicy-woody? Too offensive, perhaps too masculine....
Something fresh? Seems so casual sometimes...
None at all? Too bad...
Then I heard about this "soapy clean" fragrance called Prada L'Homme.
On first smell: So that's "soapy." What does it smell like? Well, kind of like soap. And quite clean. That's all I had left to say after the first test, and I moved on quite unimpressed.
A second try: it felt like I should have been more engaged in seeing - or just smelling - behind the facade of the soap. And certainly there was a lot more to it than just the simple "clean" and "soap". The scent exuded something friendly, inoffensive, welcoming, without becoming in the least self-evident or self-indulgent. Ah yes...that's why I was unimpressed. So-so...
Wearing it further, I had rather such associations: In its sweetness, it was heartwarming on the one hand, yet not seductive. Somehow yet seductive, yet not offensive. Professional, yet not aloof. Luxurious, yet not ostentatious. He leaves an impression, without be-ein-drucken.
And yet, ultimately, clean. To be a "clean man" means ultimately, to place value on its appearance; means ultimately also to know what is appropriate at what time and on what occasion; means to find the right balance - and you find that with this fragrance: everything that attracts, looks attractive, makes interesting, invitingly appeals - and now the quintessence, does not impose itself with it!
As already mentioned numerous: the perfect fragrance for areas of "professionalism", so work, job interviews, seriousness and situations in which you do not want to tick off and still put a gentle message. This does not have to be in a suit, but also fits quite privately in a white T-shirt on a summer day. Easy going with value.
Durability satisfactory! Enough for me for the whole workday. After a 30 degree gentle wash, you can still smell him easily on the shirt collar. He has quite something Feminimes, without acting unmanly.
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