Lilsniffles

Ah yes, Creed Aventus. You are indeed someone. Above all, you have always been my enemy; I could never relate to this fruity fresh shower gel cocktail, especially since every freshie afterward tried to smell like you. Sometimes in the heart, sometimes in the base, sometimes as an overall concept. But you were always the trigger for everything. You made it a trend. You shaped an entire generation of fragrances; you were one of "them." A star who became a role model for countless people.

And I still don't like you. When I tested you back then, you were already overwhelmingly strong. Intensely fresh, woody, fruity, still a bit smoky somehow. You had something about you that all the imitators lacked. That made you, despite being so overused, still special. I didn't like you, but I realized that you were indeed something special, that you were worth it. At least for those who appreciated your style.

But now, with a very recent sample, you are just a shadow of what you once were. You open with your pineapple, citrus, apples, musk, only 10% of what you used to deliver. Briefly, you remind me of the past, but with strong dementia.

You cling to the skin for 10 minutes, with exactly the same opening, and then you are gone. As if you were an EdT from the discount store. After those 10 minutes, you have 1% of the performance that you still had after 10 hours back then. I can hardly smell anything on the back of my hand, poof and gone. There are remnants of the top note clinging to me, traces of wood, pineapple, pepper, lemon. And with every second, 1% more disappears. After half an hour, you are almost gone. Occasionally, Aventus can still be perceived, a brief glimmer, but just as quickly, it is gone again.

The king has fallen; new kings reign. Rest in peace!

The Opening:

"Do you have any gum?"

"No, sorry"

"Of course you have gum, I can smell it. Everything here smells like mint because of you!"

"Okay, you got me. How many do you want?"

"I want to chew at least 30 mint gums with my mouth open"

"...okay"

__________________________________________

The Heart:

"I just chewed so many mint gums, you wouldn't believe it!"

"Lost another bet?"

"No, I just felt like it"

"Understandable, I can still smell it a bit. Speaking of which - do you want to rub yourself with herbs? We can use my hands for that, I just need to press 5 kilos of lemons first. I love lemon juice"

"Sure, I'm totally in. But please don't wash your hands afterwards"

"...okay"

__________________________________________

The Drydown:

"So, what do you think?"

"What do you mean?"

"Yeah, how do I smell?"

"No idea, I can't tell. Maybe I need to get closer.. Yeah, actually, you smell like something. Did you chew way too many mint gums again and let yourself be rubbed with herbs? Let me guess, it was the guy who always presses 5 kilos of lemons, and you wanted him not to wash his hands afterwards. I know you like lemons, just not so intensely"

".. Yeah"

"I think that's good. It's got something! The radiance isn't really there, but you smell fresh, like an herbal candy with an undertone of freshly laid mulch, somehow."

"Mulch? How do you come up with mulch?"

"No idea, you do smell a bit mulchy, sour woody masculine, but I kind of like mulch. When I press my nose to your skin, I smell herbs and mulch. Your breath tells stories about the gums, but it's slowly fading."

"Did you just say I smell mulchy?"

"Yeah"

Torino21.

I don’t know why I immediately bought Bois Imperial as a blind buy, and then also as a whole bottle. Somehow this mystery intrigued me so much, I couldn’t help it. As a staunch gourmand supporter and freshie opponent, I just wanted to take a chance on the unknown. Why Gourmand OR Freshie, when it can be something completely surreal? Bois Imperial is the answer. I think. Is it the answer? Depends on what the question is.

And here it is now - Packaged like 100g of buckwheat groats from an environmentally conscious organic store, I tear it out of 500 layers of cardboard as if I were a vegan King Arthur.

"Bois Imperial!" I exclaim, holding the average-looking bauble. 50% of the common folk scream in fear, the other 50% are astonished. Bois Imperial. Elegantly, I decapitate the bottle that fits perfectly into the collection of a Berlin street model, so minimalist yet beautiful, and I sniff the sprayer for the first impression.. Wow. It smells somehow so.. Soft? Fresh? I don’t know what I’m smelling here, but it just smells like washed, like "clean".

Sprayed on my arm, and I got scared. What is this? Up close, this scent is definitely not a winner for me. Anyone who has dealt with "death" will understand what I mean. Not rotten, absolutely not, but every crime scene cleaner will be afraid of you, as this piercing sweetness exists on your arm. It’s exactly this sweetness. The creepy sweetness. I’ve read about it somewhere in the reviews, and I can understand it 100%. If the elderly gentleman in the apartment below you hasn’t shown his face for a week, if you’ve been in exactly this situation, you know the smell. Initially questionable and not bad, the smell, but once the door is broken down, you know what I mean. Then you connect the context. I don’t perceive any disinfectant at all, not at all. Hospital? Depends, has someone died there recently? Then yes.

I want to note - This is a scent that leans more towards the niche of "Molecule" fragrances. It is the in-between world of Molecule and actual fragrance notes. Your skin decides what happens with this scent, the scent does not decide that.

It.. polarizes. More than 10cm away from the spot wearing this scent, it smells incredibly indefinably good. I absolutely cannot explain it to you, it’s hard to put into words, and truly an ABSOLUTE niche fragrance. You have to be able to handle it, either you cut yourself with this blade directly, or you learn to deal with it. Some love fish, some tolerate fish, some HATE fish above all else. This scent doesn’t smell like fish, but it is fish. Not a crowd-pleaser / designer, but still more crowd-pleaser than designer. Almost EVERYONE will love your sillage, just don’t let them come too close. Please never wear this scent on a date, it’s too risky. Wear this scent if you want others in the pedestrian zone to remember you positively and wonder what a beautiful, wonderful scent it is, because it simply radiates calm and peace.

It opens with "soapy," but not bitter soapy, and an intensely synthetic-sweet freshness, but not the freshness you usually know. Up close, it’s pure horror. Yet immediately a scent spreads in the air, it’s just hard to explain - Clean, fresh, airy and loose, one thinks this is how clouds smell on a summer evening when walking through the garden, surrounded by clotheslines with freshly washed laundry that is almost dry but still gives off the last bit of moisture. You hear soft lo-fi hip hop, without lyrics, a pure instrumental, a warm bass in the background, with a soft melody. And in this regard, it remains quite linear, but strikingly noticeable. You are permanently surrounded by this cloud of "clean". This scent embodies fabric softener scent in a way that is respectable and simply cannot be explained until you test it yourself. But if you’re into wild developments, you’re in the wrong place. Not much changes from here.

After an hour, this creepy sweetness settles on the skin, it becomes drier, pepper pokes through, but for me, it’s not Szechuan (I have a kilo of authentic Szechuan here, I eat it when I feel like drooling for no reason), Szechuan pepper is more reminiscent of citrus mixed with.. cannabis, no joke, this is more like regular spicy pepper. Dry, noble, grapefruit not present, maybe part of the sillage, but up close, it’s more the pepper. Woody, so light, yes, dry wood. Creamy, the Ambrofix is permanently there, signaling to your nose that something is just clean. It becomes more floral on the skin, the sweetness thankfully disappears quite a bit as it develops further.

1 1/2 hours later - Slowly I feel like I’ve washed my hair. First shampoo, then conditioner, then leave-in conditioner. There’s something incredibly clean and creamy in the air, I’m going crazy. Up close, it almost reminds me of Terre de Hermes, just not nearly as masculine, resinous, and dry. However, the sillage is completely different. The sillage becomes softer, gentler, thoroughly washed laundry. I love it, and yet somehow I’m afraid of it. But I love it more.

And so it remains, becoming quieter and quieter.

What an adventure, that blind buy was really worth it. If you’re tired of always buying normal designers and really want something REALLY out there in an acceptable price range, you’re exactly right here. Would I recommend it as a blind buy? Maybe. You have to be open to a strange experience, you have to be open to a scent that stays away from any fragrances you’re used to. That doesn’t make it bad, quite the opposite, I find it somehow really cool.

One thing I can still say - Never test this scent on a test strip. Never ever. Generally, it’s a mortal sin, unless you just want to perceive the strong top notes. But I don’t judge cola because I don’t like the color of the logo. You have to try them. This scent MUST be tested on the skin, otherwise, a completely false opinion will form. Your skin decides what this scent will convey.

Sometimes fragrances really fascinate me. As a Freshie opponent, I usually hit my limits quickly when it gets fresh, which also makes me many opponents.

Nevertheless.. I wanted to try 40 Knots. What kind of fragrance pyramid is that? It sounds like my sister's old saltwater aquarium, just without the notes of pufferfish & osmosis system.

Sample purchased (thank you!), and it arrived two days later. I opened the sprayer, and.. What is this? Why does it smell like every 0815 designer freshie, aquatic, mixed with.. salt? I never thought that salt could be such a good fragrance note. I don't know what the best description for this note could be, but just think of band-aids. Somehow the smell of salt reminds me of band-aids.

As off-putting as that may sound at first, it had to go on the skin. Paper testers never work, and the opening can be absolutely terrible and repulsive for many UNBELIEVABLY GREAT fragrances (Oajan, I'm looking at you). So, the back of my hand gets misted. We know, if you want sillage, you have to wave, and the hand does that well. And there it was - 40 Knots, on my skin.

And now there is first.. Nivea cream? Huh? What? Nivea cream with a sharpness in the background that is difficult to describe. Somehow a bit soapy, salty. Even now, on the third spray (I wanted to test it in everyday life today), immediately again a salty Nivea cream as soon as the sharp salty opening disappears in a few minutes. I don't see honey here at all. With this fragrance, at first, you smell as if you had rubbed yourself with Nivea cream after a swimming session on vacation in blazing heat. It really smells like beach, sea, salty coastal air in summer, and that cream.

And so it stays for a good half hour. It becomes more aquatic over time, a bit soapier. Then it changes drastically, completely unexpectedly. Suddenly, from Nivea cream, it becomes a very masculine, robust scent, MUCH more complex than the "fragrance pyramid" indicates, but my nose lacks the education to pinpoint it; I just notice that there is much more depth than stated.

Suddenly, it operates in a whole different league. From salt comes wood, from Nivea comes honey; I feel like Theon Greyjoy on the Iron Islands saying this. Somehow the fragrance develops completely differently for me than in the other reviews, strange. The scent becomes warm, sweeter, a hint of honey lies close to the skin, the sillage becomes woodier, but not dry-woody, really creamy warm woody. Nothing I would have ever expected!

And it stays like that for hours. You can fall asleep to this fragrance, but only when the opening has long disappeared. The soapy, the salty, it blends more and more with the woody warm sweet notes, paired with the honey, until the initial freshness slowly completely disappears, and the creamy warmth is now proudly presented. I like developments like this, even if I don't quite get along with the opening, and only in the later stages of the drydown (which takes a good 1-2 hours here) do the notes come that I absolutely love. Overall, a salty-fresh note will always remain in the background, but it disappears more and more until in the end, only a woody-creamy note is left, but then the fragrance is almost gone.

On the skin, it lasts a good 8-12 hours, without any problems. Even a bit longer than 12 hours, but then it becomes unnoticeable unless you get close to the skin.

I can't say anything about the bottle, but Xerjoff is Xerjoff, everything is always top-notch.

Overall, I somehow like the fragrance, but also somehow not. Nevertheless, I can't give it a bad rating, simply because everything after the drydown fascinates me so much; it becomes truly wonderful. For me, as an absolute Freshie opponent.. a little sin. I love it!

I had tested Naxos a long time ago. At that time, I wasn't too convinced; somehow it reminded me of a wealthy grandmother. A nice wealthy grandmother.

But as time goes, opinions change. And so it is now back in my collection. Rightfully? Well, let's say "somewhat".

I really can't understand the hype around Naxos at all. It is touted on social media as the holy grail of fragrances, as a masterpiece, as a spark of the gods, the destroyer of all scents, the number 1. I can't support any of that even remotely.

Naxos is great, yes. I can't argue with that. A solid 7.5/10, simply because it doesn't come off as intrusive or aggressive, yet is still very present and smells wonderful. Naxos is worth the price as long as you can get it for under €200. But that's about it. It wouldn't make it into my top 5 fragrances simply because it doesn't embody anything special overall, even though that's exactly the case in every "perfume influencer" video. And I'm not a nose professional searching for the most alternative scents, desperately wanting to smell like goat gland secretions, used sandals from the Byzantine era, and freeze-dried blue lobster shells. I'm just a guy who likes to smell good himself and also wants to smell good for others, just like most average people. Don't get too caught up in the promises of many well-known people - most very expensive fragrances end up smelling just as boring and cheap as drugstore scents, but many take too much pride in the price and then develop stories that belong in an Aladdin movie.

Therefore, I keep the scent progression simple and understandable, so the average person can grasp it:

Naxos smells intensely of sweet untreated tobacco, tonka, and vanilla at the first spray. That's the basic foundation. Added to that is honey, not overpowering, it just warms the scent in the background. Make yourself a cup of vanilla tea, pour in plenty of honey, and then smell a cigarette in the steam of the tea. Ta-da. The average fragrance wearer shouldn't expect a symphony of scent facets here; there’s no magical play with lavender or bergamot, no fascinating duel of opposites, the top notes are hardly noticeable. Or cashmere. What is cashmere? Cashmere probably plays a role here somewhere, but no one will notice. It's just sweet and woody. It's simply tobacco, tonka, and vanilla, with a bit of honey. Have you ever smelled a honey cigar? It's close, only Naxos isn't quite as deep and musty bitter, but rather a bit more tuned to a fresher style that you can wear longer on your body. And that's it. One shouldn't expect an ultimate scent that makes every other scent look ridiculous, especially since there's no great depth present. The scent doesn't tell a good story like some others, but rather a pleasantly long one.

Yes, it lasts long. I showered Saturday morning, the scent came on, tested it, woke up Sunday morning, and my arm still smelled as if I had freshly applied it about 3 hours ago. And after showering, it still clung to me a bit. Not bad, it smells great! But as long as it lasts, it hardly changes overall. I know some other fragrances that are half as expensive and seem much more multifaceted and interesting. But... it is still great!

And the presentation is great as well - Xerjoff knows how to present fragrances, just like LV (when you order directly from them). Bottle 10/10, sometimes I would like to lick it because it looks like a lollipop. Packaging just the same, absolute 10/10, I would want to be buried in that.

What I won't bury, however, is the Naxos. It can stay. Naxos is a good companion in everyday life, Naxos is like the noodle for the Ludolfs - you can wear it in the evening, you can wear it in the morning, you can wear it in winter, autumn, spring, and sometimes on summer evenings when it's not too warm. Naxos smells pleasant, feels soft on the skin and in the nose, but Naxos is not an alien from another planet. Naxos is simple, pleasant, you like to smell it, it suits both women and men, although it leans a bit more towards men, and is just... good. Nothing special, but good.

Naxos is simple and great, and absolutely not worth the hype. That's my experience.