Absolute Aphrodisiac

Opens as a sweet woody vanilla with a slightly medicinal aspect to it that dissipates quickly. As it starts to dry down into the heart the vanilla becomes a little floral and the wood a little powdery. The castoreum appears here to my nose as a lovely hint of boozy dried fruit, like those soaking in a bowl before making a Christmas cake, and the creamy amber starts to pull from the base. As it settles into the dry down it develops into a gorgeous ambery, vanilla musk that has a hint of fruity floral. The castoreum brings a beautiful woody and smoky facet to the scent, there’s zero funk for me. I don’t get any leather at all, maybe the slightest hint of suede if my nose goes looking it. The projection is very mild. It has noticeably remained on my skin for hours but I have to wave my wrist at my face to catch a waft of it. But it does an interesting dance in the dry down. At times it’s a soft, smooth creamy vanilla with a hint of wood, then sometimes it’s a sweet fruity vanilla with a smoky wood and sometimes the softest lick of incense tickles my nose. Very nice. The vanilla in the dry down has triggered a scent memory that has been teasing at my brain for the last two days and I finally got it. When I was young, my parents vanilla ice-cream of choice, for a treat after Sunday dinner, came pre-cut in a rectangular slab wrapped in a waxed cardboard. The ice-cream would be dished out and the cardboard wrapper left at the side of the sink to be put into the bin at a later time. Little bits of vanilla ice-cream left on the wrapper would dry up, still clinging to the damp cardboard..and this is what it smelt like. It sounds weird, but I liked it! Absolute Aphrodisiac is a beautiful vanilla and perfect for the cold weather and snow, but it doesn’t get me excited like I want to bathe it in. I will defo enjoy using up the decant but my nose isn’t telling me I need this in my life. Vanilla’s tend to not be my jam, but a perfume that makes my eyes roll to the back of my head might be a yuck to another person, and that’s ok. But I will say it is one of the nicest vanilla forwards I’ve worn so far. And is it an Absolute Aphrodisiac? We all have our own scent memories, developed as we live life, visit places, see people, do things. Things that fire off and excite the amygdala. It’s why our perfume preferences are thankfully so varied, the world would be a boring place if we were all the same. So, for me, it’s a no. I don’t find anything sensual in smelling or wearing this scent. There’s no provocative animalic whiff that is getting me excited. I find it very cozy, snuggly and comforting. Perfect for a Sunday on the sofa. And I’ve been wearing it for two days now and the other half is yet to jump the bones of me, so I do feel a slight pang of disappointment that this didn’t provoke some carnal desire. Who knows, maybe we both got the same Sunday ice-cream when we were kids.

This...is interesting. I definitely do not own another fragrance like it, and I have never smelled anything like this... On paper, I get more of the florals and Vanilla...and it's beautiful!!! On skin, this is very....Root-Beer'ish and dark. Up close...it smells like Floral Root-Beer. In the air from skin, it wafts and gives a faint leathery-vanilla with a kinda clovey tinge to the leather that gives a "Root Beer" vibe? Like the smell of freshly crushed vanilla pods...that leathery vanillic smell....That must be the Castoreum. The sample I had prior to this bottle did not give any of the effects on-skin that this is giving. It was nothing but floral-vanilla with a hint of leather...no castoreum at all. Very intimate fragrance. I've sprayed on 6-7 sprays and the wife has not noticed at all...though I suspect she may if I walk into the room she is in. This may be a good "Workplace Scent" as the bloom and sillage is very small. This feels more like a fragrance I would wear for myself as it has no throw or sillage. First full-wear tomorrow! Update: Full wear of "initio - absolute aphrodisiac" after a few weeks of frag-rest...results: 1. Ample sillage and projection for the first 2 hours then it's a nice sized scent bubble with short trail. 2. Very little leather found...still. Just a "root beer" kinda scent from the leather and castoreum mixing. I do so enjoy it...but I bought this for the "Leather"... 3. Full dry down leaves a scent on the skin that is similar to coffee (according to my wife) Final thoughts: RATING: 8/10 So...this is a beautiful fragrance that is noticeable to only a select type of person. It has very intimate projection and sillage...though it lasts a long time on skin and smells beautiful! The Castoreum gives this more of a "Root Beer" kind of tone and there is very little leather in this for it to be listed as a dominant note. To me, that is a misleading shame. I think that this is a marvelous "Date Night" or "Night at the Grand Ball" type of fragrance where you know you will be getting frisky/close with someone. This is not the type of fragrance you would wear to lure someone in....this is used when you already have them on the hook and want to land them while giving them a beautiful scent to attach to your memory that not many others have/wear. When they do smell a whiff of this on anyone else...they will always think of you.

Personal: 10/10 - Perfection. A sweet, rich, animalic (but not offputting) vanilla that I adore. Floor me every time. One of my all time favorites. Mass appeal: 7.5/10 - It's beautiful but the animalic undertones may throw some people off. Performance: 9/10 - The vanilla sits around and lasts forever. Projects very well. Value: 7/10 - Initio pricing is pretty painful, but for something this nice, it's fine. Uniqueness: 9/10 - Vanilla has been done tens of thousands of times, but never this well. SCORE: 85/100 Full bottle buy? YES, this is as close as it gets to signature worthy. Blind buy? NO, the animalic vanilla could be polarizing. For the price, sample first. Recommend? YES, if you want to know what deep, dark, sensual vanilla smells like when it's taken seriously by the perfumer. Date night? YES, one of the most seductive fragrances out there. Perfect for winter evenings. Office safe? NO, it's too bold and sensual, and animalic, for the boardroom. Pros: One of the richest, smoothest, and most seductive vanilla fragrances ever created. Cons: Extremely expensive, but just a bit too intense for everyday or professional wear. Absolute Aphrodisiac is aptly named. It's a beautiful, smooth, amber turned into liquid gold. It's warm, smooth, and animalic in such a way that it's absolutely captivating. This makes you magnetic and it makes you feel like the air around you belongs to you. It's one of the best fragrances I've ever smelled, and an animalic vanilla being absolutely perfect wasn't something I ever would've expected. But it plays SO well with the vanilla and woods. This is pure indulgence bottled. A masterpiece that earns its place in my top 5, maybe even my top 3. *Review #56 in my fragrance journey - this fragrance I own as a decant*

Absolute Aphrodisiac is a vanilla fragrance, but it doesn’t smell like vanilla extract. Not vanilla frosting. Not ice cream. It smells like the vanilla bean itself. It’s the moment you split open a plump, oily Madagascar vanilla pod and scrape out the tiny black seeds. There’s a darkness to real vanilla that most people never realize exists. It’s leathery, faintly smoky, resinous, with an almost animalic quality that feels far more primal than sweet. That raw vanilla melts into the musk so seamlessly it’s impossible to tell where one ends and the other begins. The musk has the warmth of sun-soaked suede and a wild, instinctive character that’s impossible to put into words. It feels untamed, yet never rough or dirty. Every so often, a creamy richness surfaces, almost like roasted white chocolate. It doesn’t make the fragrance sweeter. It simply softens the edges for a moment. There’s something undeniably erotic about the feeling it evokes. Warmth. Confidence. Instinct. It has a quiet magnetism that feels completely effortless. Absolute Aphrodisiac doesn’t seduce by being sugary. It seduces by reminding you that vanilla was never meant to smell innocent. Long before it became candles, cupcakes, and desserts, it was resinous, raw, and almost feral. That’s what makes it so captivating. It strips vanilla back to its rawest, most natural form, where sweetness is only one facet of its personality, revealing the darker, more sensual nature that was there all along.

ordered a sample of initio absolute aphrodisiac (cause full bottle 90ml is .. a lot💀) this perfume is....... everything you didnt know you want/need until you smell it and then you see your whole bright future. this is it. no wonder its called absolute aphrodisiac. it smells like everything the best, like the autumn/winter walk in the cold night, the air is crisp. then you come home to your mid century penthouse with dark wooden panels and leather furniture and the fireplace is on and the view from your wall/window is incredible. then your partner is there and you are not overthinking what you are cause both of you already got rings on ur finger. you are enjoying the peak of your life and you have everything you want. you look at your lover, the city view, the cosy room, dim lights, and you remember you can indulge in adult activities. you remember you have to wakeup for work, but you are happy-in this economy being employed is privilege. and you are doing a job you like more often than you dislike it. then you drink a nice vanilla latte or bourbon and light a cigarette or a cigar and talk with your other half until your bodies take over to do the talking. nothing is stopping you. everything is as it should be, lagom, but better update: my mother just caught me sniffing the wrist for the past 15 minutes and asked me if im using dr2gs.