Insidious

“Begun, the Clone War has.” I have tried several bottles of Aventus and was never particularly bothered by it. When Parfums Vintage started down their Aventus inspired fragrance rabbit hole, I found them underwhelming and average. CDNI was recommended as the nirvana of Aventus clones, yet I found the fragrance thin in composition and not a competent approximation of the original. I did sample Jeroboam Vespero and enjoyed it immensely. While not an exact clone of Aventus, I found it to have depth and body and be of a similar ilk, and it rekindled my interest in finding a decent iteration of Aventus without the need to pay way over the odds for an older batch to assure myself I wasn’t getting a fake or a bottle refilled with substandard fragrance. I have previously tested and loved Mossy Bridges and Damber Wabsolute from Insider Parfums, and thought I would give their new “inspired by Aventus” fragrance a try. I was surprised by how much more powerful this fragrance is when compared to the recent bottles of Aventus and CDNI. This also has a dense construction that caught me off guard. The performance is excellent, and while many may say that all fragrance is subjective, I was very impressed at how long this stayed on my clothing. I am not one to get clone fragrances as I am always finding faults and not enjoying the fragrance no matter how cheaply purchased. With Insidious I am impressed by how I didn't go nose blind - something common for me and clones of stronger fragrances. I usually put that down to cheaper, more astringent ingredients. With Insidious that simply hasn’t happened and I can wear the fragrances for multiple days in a row and not stop noticing the fragrance on me. For the price, Insidious is fabulous. I have received several compliments for people in my office when wearing Insidious, and it is now a part of regular rotation.

I used to wear Aventus, when it came out it blew my mind, I had never smelt anything like it. My parents bought me a second bottle and I had a third as a leaving gift from work. So I had enough of the original to last me many years. When I was on the last dregs of my bottle I bought another, opened and sprayed it... WTF was this !? This was absolutely not what I had been wearing all this years. I have tried a few of the other batches over the years, they were still nice but I was living in the past, just did not have that memory attached to it. I tried loads of the clones, just hoping to find that something but never did. I felt creed was robbing me, prices going up, quality going down. It turned me off the house. So jump to 2023, yet another Aventus clone. I had bought a lot of insiders other fragrances and loved them but I was not willing to be disappointed by Aventus again. Like your old dog, you get new dogs but, that one holds memories. I was definitely not buying! people kept saying how great it was, I’m definitely not buying. Who am I’m I kidding, I’m going to have to buy it, I’m a weak pathetic excuse for a man. I cracked and bought it. I went into it with low expectations... boom there is was, that Aventus I remembered, the missing puzzle piece. First wear confirmed my initial views, people loved it. Friends said it smelt like me, it had been my signature for many years. So two backups secured. I could still smell it on the jumper I wore the following day. Important .... spray and let it macerate, all my insider frags have got better and stronger over time.

Ok so I have had this for a few months now and can safely say it is the best aventus clone on the market. in fact I wouldn’t call this a clone cause it’s miles ahead of modern aventus. And somehow not a single person talks about this masterpiece. But I honestly prefer it like that keep this gem hidden boys and don’t be fooled at the start with performance i see a lot of people saying its bad they must be nose blind I gave it at least a couple months of sitting and 3 sprays is lasting me into the next day and if I spray it on my clothes I can smell it for weeks it’s more of a smoky leather aventus which is what I like. But the pineapple note really carries through the whole duration of the scent. compared to normal aventus where it disappears and your left with this horrible musk bomb . they have used really high quality oils in this aswell. Look the bottom line here is I have actual aventus and would say it’s better than modern aventus by a mile. now regarding how close it is to vintage aventus I wouldn’t know cause I haven’t smelled it . But this just smells so much more richer and lasts insanely long compared to my actual f batch aventus. It’s a no brainer !!!!

Just got my bottle in today. For reference I have an L batch 2021 of Aventus, Explorer and Hacivat. I have smelt vintage Aventus in store. But I can't claim to know it well. Sprayed on spritz on the wrist and testing it. This is high quality stuff. It doesn't scream clone in that synthetic way that CDNIM does or the other numerous clones. Compared to my own bottle, this is definitely smokier. It also has a lot more body, my Aventus is airier. Take that as a good thing or bad. Also insidious isn't as musky or rather Ambroxan heavy. Performance wise, it certainly outperforms my bottle. It pushes further and lasts longer. It even lasted a shower, which is always a good sign. If you love the Aventus DNA but don't like the current batches I would highly recommend Insidious or Hacivat. I respect what Insider Perfumes is doing. Brining back scents from the dead, the way they used to smell. The way the industry is going is just abysmal with all the watering down and reformulations. Anyone trying to recreate the magic of years gone by deserves applause. I've got multiple bottles of Damber Wabsolute and can testify that it is amazing.

I've always thought that buying a bottle of Aventus was just a waste of money. The clones always promised so much but are just an alcohol blast of screechy chemicals or something that's slightly reminiscent of the current weak reformulation. That was until now!...I could quite happily smell this everyday without getting board. Congratulations to Insider Perfumes, who have produced the best fragrance, I bought this year.... This is how Aventus should really smell and how it should last. Just 5 sprays and it's been filling the air......and it's still going strong, 6 hours later I have had a lush Pineapple opening, Citrus, (i'm sure a crisp Apple made an appearance) Birch is present......Rose (yes, it's a very soft rose)....There was 40+ minutes where a fruity Vetiver took over and now it's morphed into an earthy, vanilla(??) with Oakmoss. SCENT: 9/10 SILLAGE: 8/10 LONGEVITY: 8/10 PRICE: 10/10 Buy it now as something tells me this will sell out very, very quickly.

Insidious is the most accurate Aventus clone I've ever tried, and I've tried quite a few. I received my bottle last week and I've been wearing it and testing it side by side with Emperor Extrait. In comparison to EE, Insidious strikes that classic Aventus scent from the get-go (and just gets better as it dries down), whereas EE takes a while until it becomes it's most accurate (maybe in the far dry down). In terms of longevity, it isn't as good as EE and this is due to concentration I presume, however I've found that it lasts for around 6-7 hours (2 hours of good projection), which is still decent. EE lasts for around 8-9 hours, but doesn't project as much). I also own a bottle of 15X21, and I can tell you that Insidious is extremely close to it in scent profile, it's actually scary. I'm hoping that Insidious does gain some performance as it gets some air into it, then it would be nothing less than perfect. 9/10

This stuff is the juice. I have a newer bottle of Aventus I was given as a gift, and several clones. This is better than all of them, including the actual Creed. It smells fantastic, obviously high quality, not screechy or hollow. And the longevity - one of the biggest issues with the newer batches of the OG - is far better. Projection is nice too, a decent scent bubble surrounds me. And honestly, I think it even performs better than some of the older Aventus batches, which were much better than what they put out now. I have some decants of 2016, 2018 batches, and this lasts longer. As someone below said - for me, it's a no-brainer. It's pricier than most of the other clones, but it's worth it. I don't see any reason to buy Creed anymore, especially considering that this, expensive as it is, is like half the price.

Aventus is like the crack of fragrance. We are all chasing the sensations we had when we first smelled it, that mind blowing, OMG, this is something special. Many others come close, Mont Blanc and CDNI do a good job as do, to varying levels of success, the myriad of other ones with the same DNA, but none of them are quite as good as the first time you tried Aventus. Insidious is the first “clone” that has given me the same reaction to the first time I tried Aventus, that tickle at the back of the neck, the rush of dopamine even. This is a solid 10/10 in the category. Good projection and longevity, the latter of which current batches of the OG struggle with.

@balejohn_24 A lot to unpack in your review. I’d be happy to talk directly with you if you’ve got the confidence to do so. Y To address some basics though. This *was* developed by a master perfumer. We had to sink a giant shed load of money into doing that. We haven’t done any marketing at ALL yet (as we are struggling to get Google ads to work you’ll be happy to know). As for IFRA compliance - this is a ridiculous non-issue. The presence of natural oakmoss (which this does contain but within IFRA limits) is hardly the essential constituent of Aventus. Also you got the name of the group wrong. Your comments seem personal. It’s not a great look tbh.

@tyriel thanks for your review. It’s worth me pointing out that not a single reviewer gets paid or has any affiliate link. We don’t do paid collaborations. We aren’t a big enough business to do that. In fact we sank most of our money into paying a master perfumer to recreate aventus 2013 ish era for us. And that’s what we are selling. The prices reflect the amount we’ve had to invest and the volumes we can produce. Rest assured if we ever get to the scale of some of the other brands you mention we will do our best to reduce prices. Thanks and hope you set aside your cynicism and try it some time. We think you’ll enjoy it.

I think this is my favourite ever fragrance. Certainly my favourite at the moment. Was sceptical at first, so I managed to get a 5ml decant. I was blown away. I do only get around 4 hours until it becomes a skin scent, but those 4 hours are just the best. Maybe longevity will improve over time, but I’m happy regardless Edit 6/12/25 - It’s not my favourite anymore 😂 but only because I’ve found others and different fragrances. But it’s the best take on early Aventus available.

This perfume has a gorgeous sent. It starts with a very fruity opening (mainly pineapple) followed by a extemely pleasant drydown. I never smelt the earlier batches of aventus but I can say Insidious has better performance (10hr + on my skin) than current Aventus and has a way more natural smell than CDNIM limited edition. It is also ready to go (no need for maceration). The high price may prevent me from buying the next bottle when my first is empty.

I received it today and honestly was expecting a typical aventus clone (pineapple + birch mix), but right away I was pleasantly surprised that it's not just another armaf type clone. This one remind me of 2015-2016 batch when blackcurrant and musk were dominant notes and pineapple was just an extra. I absolutely love it, much better than my 2019 batch of Aventus, which smelled a bit like pineapple candy with some woods.

Insidious is incredibly close to Aventus and easily the best Aventus clone I’ve tried. The quality is outstanding, and it smells a bit darker than the original, with less of the sweetness found in recent Aventus batches. However, at €80–100 for 50 ml, it’s simply overpriced. At that price, I’d rather buy the original. If they priced their fragrances around €50–60 for 100 ml, I’d definitely buy several of them.

@Balejohn (I have a feeling who you really are) you sound very bitter here . I’m wondering if you have ulterior motives in play . Your tone and wording sounds very familiar to me. You should direct your anger at something else and not something so trivial. If you have personal beef with Dan then contact him rather than hiding behind fictional names (commonly known as a keyboard warrior)

Well... Let’s address the elephant in the room. Per ml the price is close to Creed’s Aventus however Creed is now watered down and nowhere near as good as it used to be. So would you rather own a Creed bottle with a meh perfume or this and have the real OG? Its a no brainer for me. One of the best blind buys of my life. Spot on clone of Aventus from the good old days.

Oh by the way , insidious is the best smelling fragrance I’ve ever smelt. Panties will be thrown left right and centre. You will gain POWER and fame wearing this . Jeremy will want to sit at your table and share story’s with you. Don’t miss out on this exciting opportunity to smell like the god of love (if there is one). Now that’s shilling 💋

Yes, yes and yes! I finally found what I was exactly looking for all along. As a big fan of Aventus and all its "inspirations," this is darn good! Aventus has gone through so many batch variations. Insidious is a well balanced formulation. As far as performance and longevity are concerned, I can still smell it after 8+ hours. Bravo! 😁

I have no doubt that this is the OG formulation - if not 99% close. The anonymous perfumer was paid well to formulate this for us, hence the cost (which is quite reasonable when comparing to Creed itself). I've had Aventus and Aventus Cologne and would buy this over and over instead. Source/Reference: The cologne podcast episode #262

I’ve compared with my 2015 aventus, The insiders has a more pineapple dominant opening and then the oakmoss sneaks in but still very fruity compared to my aventus. I must say it’s a lot stronger than my 2015 aventus I have, performance 9/10, imo the best take on old school creed aventus by far.