Aventus

There is a lot of talk about Creed Aventus and the infamous batch variations and reformulations (?). First of all, let me say that I am wearing Aventus since 2015 and have owned and used 4 different bottles over the past 5 years. I just finished my older bottle this week, a vintage 2013 batch (13W01), I have used a 2015 one (don't know because I didn't care for the batches back then), a 16E01 (2016), a 50ml bottle of 17R01 (my favourite) and have a 20E01N sitting as a backup for a year now. I love them all! Yes they do smell SLIGHTLY different. You can DEFINITELY notice it, altough in the air they basically smell the same, like Aventus of course! But, to me, that's one of the most interesting and magical things of Aventus. It has a life of it's own. You will find 3 different "sides" of Aventus: you have the SMOKY side; the BALANCED batches; and the FRUITY side. A SMOKY batch will have stronger notes of birch and musk, the woody an leather accords are more prounced in those batches and it will feel heavier, more dense, smokier .. that's what a smoky Aventus is. With that density usually comes a little more longevity. That more pronounced leather accord from those batches is where people get the similarities with Mancera's Cedrat Boise from (not all Aventus have that - it is subtle though ..). The BALANCED batches are great to my nose. Exactly what the name suggests, a more balanced composition where none it's different sides shout louder. From my experience the batches that are well balanced have the strongest projection and a really beautiful scent trail and sillage. The vanilla in the drydown is to die for. Really beautiful. A FRUITIER batch is usually not as base notes dense as the others and have a brighter, fresher and frutier opening. It was only when I got one of these batches that I could clearly smell the apple and the bergamot. For the people who love freshies this is the perfect type of Aventus batch for you. The opening is so uplifting! I feel that the fruitier batches project really well for the first hours but then sit closer to the skin. Even with those I always get at least 8h longevity with Aventus (YES, even the newer 2020 batch). With all being said, please bear in mind that the same batch can also smell and performe differently with diffent Seasons of the year, temperatures, humidity, and of course in different skins. This is how Aventus as ALWAYS been through the years. It is a masterpiece fragrance. All those batch variations are completely normal and to be expected with the natural raw materials that the house of Creed is known for using. It can be off putting, of course, sometimes you don't know what you get. But fortunately, you can easily buy samples to try and test them first. And as I said, IT'S ALL AVENTUS. Those are small nuances, noticeable (sure) but minor, an untrained nose won't pick it up most of the times. What I would like to clarify here is the following: Aventus is as good now as with the older bottles. Please don't get caught into this batch variation rabbit hole. The performance is still there, the smell is the same (with the same batch variations), the quality of the ingredients is the same, the pacaking changes but only minor things, sprayer is great, it's all Aventus as we know it. What DID change is the price that is sky rocketing nowadays and that is what is pissing people off. If it's worth it, is up to you! If you look careful online you can find stores that sell the 50ml for arround 150-60 euros and the 100ml for 200 euros (that is acceptable for me). It's Aventus, it's pricey. We know that. Concluding, I finished my 2013 bottle this week and had a new 2020 bottle that I used for a week everyday and then let rest in the box for a whole year! AFTER that MACERATION time, I sprayed the 2013 batch on one hand and the 2020 on the other. The 2013 leans to the smokier side, and the 2020 batch is frutier. Both smell great like Aventus! 2020 lasted 12h on my skin and the 2013 lasted an extra hour and a half (total of 13,5 hours). The 2020 one projected more strongly for the first 3 to 4 hours mark and then became closer to the skin. The 2013 one sat closer to the skin during the wearing. I was very pleased with that. After that I gave them a full day wear and realized I like the new 2020 batch more then my prized vintage bottle. With all the batches from the bottles I have owned (and also bought a LOT of samples/decants along the years to try) my Aventus experience was always very similar: 8,5 to 14h of longevity (usually 12h); strong projection for the first 3 hours and always THAT AVENTUS DNA through years of wearing it. Please keep in mind that Creed fragrances are often linked with cases olfactory fatigue, specially Aventus. I fell that happening. It's not an easy fragrance to test, so if you are testing it don't keep trying to smell it all of the time and ask for other people to smell it. YOU WILL BE SURPRISED. Also notice that YOU CAN'T really compare a vintage older bottle to a brand new fresh one. It didn't have the time to age. And even if you leave it still macerating, you still can't compare bottle because of different maceration time. To make things worse with older bottles they can start going bad (specially the top notes). For sure they WILL go bad, it's just a matter of time. If you're looking for a good LAUGH look in forums for old threads about Creed batch variations. The batches people PRAISE NOW were also being THRASHED BACK THEN. Really, go look for it. It's a mind trap. The previous one is always better .. the vintage one, the unobtainable one is always be the holy grail .. "my neighbour's wife is better than mine" .. Come on, we are better than that. IN SUMMARY AVENTUS IS STILL AVENTUS! The quality, smell and performance are still there. Maceration time is a real thing and will bring the performance up. Test if for yourself if you can. The only problem with the actual Aventus is the price (it's going up!) but you can still find it new in stores for 200 euros for a 100ml bottle. That's an acceptable deal IMO. PLEASE save your self some time and money and don't go chasing for "magical" vintage or older bottles, clones or whatever. You want Aventus? It's NOT discontinued. It's up for sale. Just grab one. It's the same Aventus we love. Fragrances are to be worn, experienced, felt. If you love and want Aventus, just get it. I'ts a beautiful fragrance.

The craziest thing literally just happened. I have the habit of blind picking samples from my sample orders. This evening I put on a full 2 ml sample, about 20 sprays (I’m not a sissy sprayer) before going on a date. Immediately I am mesmerized by the fruity smoky cloud that hits me, it’s pure luxury. My date comes to pick me up at about 5 o’clock, she has pretty average smell compared to me. Whatever, I’m used to it. She was probably wearing some cheap designer stuff. When we start walking towards the car, I notice something peculiar. My date is leaving a snail-like gooey trail. Weird, I think, but get distracted by our conversation. In hindsight it was a precursor for what was about to come. When we enter the restaurant we get greeted by the waiter, whose eyes spread wide open the moment he enters my vicinity. “Good evening sir” he says “You have an amazing aura, you smell somewhat like a billionaire CEO”. Flattered by his comment I follow him towards our table, where a new waiter comes to take our order. “I sense an ‘old money’ atmosphere at this table, would you like to try our most expensive wine, for free?” Slightly surprised I comply. When he leaves I hear an overwhelming, slowly increasing wave of whispers coming from the entire restaurant. I can pick out phrases like “amazing projection”, “sigma male energy“, “incredibly sexy”, “absolutely not an NPC” and “a real panty-dropper”. I can barely focus on my date. Finally our food arrives. After I take my first bite, the whole restaurant starts clapping. I decide to take off my jacket because all this attention is making me feel overheated. This releases a beastmode tsunami of olfactory genius. A guy offers me his wife. One of the waitresses runs towards me from across the restaurant like a World War Z zombie, takes of her panties and shoves them in my mouth. My date jumps on the table, and screams “POWER!”. She starts beating her chest like a gorilla while squirting uncontrollably, flushing me out of the restaurant. I try to run home but a horde of at least 50 women is floating behind me sniffing my scent trail like loony tunes characters. They start picking at my skin like vultures. A guy in an all white suit and long blonde hair appears out of nowhere, takes my hand and transports me back to my house. He shows me the sample; “Bless yourself with this holy water”, he says. I look at the label, it reads “Creed Aventus”. Needless to say I immediately sold my least favorite colour Bugatti to buy 500 gallons of this absolute NICHE quality compliment MONSTER.

PLEASE READ IF YOU ARE HERE CONSIDERING BUYING AVENTUS. Please do not fall into the negative aventus bait to push and promote the clones. I have purchased 3 bottles of aventus in the past 3 years directly from 100% legitimate sellers. The performance across those 3 years and 3 different bottles was consistently fantastic , 8-9 hours , incredible projection for the first 3 hours with such a beautiful scent profile the clones just genuinely don't get close to. I have watched as so many bot accounts come in and down vote aventus and a hive mind effect of club de nuit fanboys do the same along with fragrance influencers who are payed by armaf always downplay aventus performance and quote the batch inconsistency and reformulations. Whilst shilling anothe middle eastern clone flanker. These middle eastern clones are constantly reformulated themselves with massive inconsistency in performance and require you macerating for months to really actually get the most out of them. BEWARE THE SCAMMERS. Aventus has been my signature scent for over a decade now over the past 4-5 years the amount of fake creed bottles on the market is genuinely terrifying. One search on Amazon and God forbid facebook market place is 1000's of listings. I live in a small country side town less then 40k people and even in my region on these marketplaces is 100s of fake creed listings. This has had a massive effect on the reputation of this fragrance it is the single most faked and cloned fragrance of all time and so many people are being ripped off buying these fakes with shit juice inside. I have helped 3 people now return there aventus bottles to major retailers and get a refund as some fakes of creed made there way into their stock, Walmart being the biggest of these retailers. Please do not be swayed by disingenuous opinions from payed shills and bot reviews , please buy a sample from a credible 100% legit retailer not some dude online selling bullshit aventus decants and test the performance yourself. When you see through the lies and misinformation and get 8-9 hours of performance and a wonderful time with the scent , pull the trigger on a fucking 1000% legit retailer , not Amazon, not market place not some back alley reddit fragrance community , BUY LEGIT AND BE SAFE HOMIES.

HOLY. SHIT. and I stress the Holy. This is the first fragrance where I have literally been mesmerized. I had smelled GIT by Creed. Wasnt impressed for the price. Millesime Imperial, which I like a lot, but not for the price. After those two I just wrote off the Creed House as overpriced and not worth the products produced. However, I was strolling through Neiman Marcus and gave this one a try in attempts to crush the what I was certain to be hype. I was so taken aback I shouted "My God" out loud in the store. I have NEVER smelled anything quite like this. Never. So incredibly unique. Inspired by Napoleon? I believe it. It smells like power. I understand that is an obnoxious statement but congruent with my reaction and the perfume's inspiration. Up top: pineapple. and fresh cut, real, not synthetic pineapple. I detect a hint of black currant. Middle: starts to get smokey. I detect birch all the way. Birch and patchouli with a hint of rose. God it is so wonderful. Base: an oakmoss/leather base. It says leather is not a note but I think the oakmoss/musk/fading fruits make some type of leather accord. Divine. Literally. Longevity: I got 9 hours on my skin and it was projecting for 5-6. I walked out of Neiman Marcus with Aventus on my hand, to check it with my chemistry, to meet my gf in the hair salon. I walked into a wall of compliments. Every woman in the salon was in awe. Walk out of the salon, a male stranger passes, walks back to me and taps me on the shoulder to ask what cologne I was wearing. That has never happened in my life. I intend to purchase the 4.0oz after my next pay period as well as the shave balm. Before smelling Aventus I would have thought I was outside of my mind to purchase a $300 fragrance. But I believe it is because I know my search for my perfect/signature scent is over. I will always have a few staples in the collection; Fahrenheit, Encre Noire, Dior Homme Intense for romantic evenings. But I can never see myself liking anything more, or feeling anything suits who I am better than Aventus. And I must say, it is a beautiful thing. This is the best fragrance I have EVER smelled. Breathtakingly beautiful and seductively powerful.

Okay..I thought I was one and done when I first reviewed my then only bottle (A 2023 which is fantastic by the way), but curiosity got me. Ive since tried some of the most reputable dupes, inspired takes and have acquired a 2019, a 2016 bottle, and a 2017 decant of Aventus. There are differences between these four, well five if you count the 2022 sample that was my first sniff of Aventus in 2023. I enjoy them all. Yet the 2016 has a depth that is both substantial and diffusive. And while the "this only last 2 to 30mins or 2 to 4hrs" hasn't been my experience with any of them. I must say the longevity of the 2016 is outstanding. Elite level stuff. It's helped me see a little further into the fascination, frustration, the love and hate people have for Aventus. I dont remember if I said this in my first review, we all know people rave about the notorious pineapple note, but it was the clean feeling of the photo realistic green apple that grabbed my attention. A comparatively common note done remarkably well. Along with that lively evolution through each phase of the fragrance to that woody musky drydown (my favorite part). Easily distinguishable notes speaking a cohesive message was like smelling in 3D and this was from a batch (the 22) well after the butchery. Which is why I had to get my nose on some earlier batches. The composition taken in pieces or as a whole is just excellent imo. The quality of the materials only highlights the overall feel and helps convey the message of the fragrance that much clearer. I also dont find this as pervasive in the wild as fragcom and others suggests, particularly when expressing their burn out and boredom with it. In my world, Aventus is only 3yrs old so its new to me. And I came to love it without the sea of opinions. I knew nothing about the cyber communites, sites, or channels dedicated to fragrance then. Im thankful all of that came afterwards. As this acts as futher subjective proof that I love Aventus for myself and not because of who does and doesnt like it for this or that reason.. and all of that noise. It's an incredible fragrance. Period. I'm sorry, no clones compare to this masterpiece.