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.

Went into H beauty yesterday, to give Creed absolute a try, and all I could smell was insidious. Why pay the price they are asking, when you're getting an identical scent profile ftom this, unless you're a creed fan (as the only difference between the two) are the bottles

Excellent value for money. Smells almost identical to Aventus. Big sillage and longevity, but not as big as Aventus. Better than Mont Blanc Explorer and Armaf CDNI in my opinion.

@tyriel @fragrance_weirdo not sure you got the gist of Fragmentals video, but that was MY bottle! Just putting out there, bud. And I'm no influencer!

Dan the fragrance weirdo has made an incredible scent. Beats the pants off any clone/dupe/in the style of

Smell is 10/10 Longevity is 2-3h Pretty much the same as Aventus High pricetag

I've owned this now for about 5 months. In terms of scent this is spot on to Aventus the older batches. The one big problem here is there is just no longevity with this, it's literally gone within 2 hours and you need to reapply. For the price I can't really recommend it unless you can grab on the groups heavily reduced. If you are in the UK please try pocket scents imperious Elixir, this smells just as good and lasts a good 7 hours which is ideal. I have CDIM limited, Insidious, Parfums Vintage and some from Perfume Parlour and Lataffa and the pocket scents is by far the best all round.

If you've bought Aventus clones in the £30 - £60 bracket previously then you've smelled this one already. It doesn't have the cheap lemon opening but since when has that been the bar of attaining Aventus? Just another rushed to release clone that leverages hype over substance. Insidious claims to be "inspired by Vintage Aventus". It's been on sale barely a fortnight and the "influencer" who's influencing these glowing reviews via the UK Facebook group FRAGCOMM UK that he's admin of (a group hidden on Facebook and is by invitation only from existing members) now says in comments on Fragmental's YouTube channel: "we never claimed it wasn't IFRA compliant". So they advertise Insidious as "Inspired by Vintage Aventus" but it IS IFRA compliant? The faintest challenging of their cobbled together story and it's all looking a bit amateur DUA level cringe "they won't know" marketing with a sub standard product that drops in the mail. We've seen this movie before except now its coming from a reviewer. They are also desperate to say: "We hired a genuine Master Perfumer". Sound familiar? Vintage Aventus obviously was not IFRA compliant and that made it have the magic that is lacking in this "you've been fooled before" Aventus clone. The colour of the juice is also clear like water. Vintage Aventus they said.... Beware of the glowing reviews of Insidious on here. There is also the UK owner of Alexandria Fragrances (Dave Wrench) heavily involved shilling this with comments everywhere you care to look. The hype is already dying down from those in the UK who have received their bottles and aren't following the script that you're seeing in the other reviews here. Fragcomm can do better than this. Fool me once, shame on them. Fool me twice, shame on me.

Reading all of the pre release comments on this in addition to seeing a review on YouTube the day before mine was delivered, I had high hopes. I wanted to have that yes moment. Cut to the verdict: Explorer by Mont Blanc clone... Yes. As for it being Aventus: Its no Aventus. I wouldn't have minded the price of Insideous if it had lived up to the Aventus matching expectation and not a mid tier clone. You'll see similar comments in the Uk frag groups rooting for this to have been much better than it turned out unfortunately. So disappointing. I'm not averse to clones (done well) and at this point there are only a few top tier Aventus clones and they don't come cheap. The high price is pallatable because the top tier clones contain the notes that made Aventus the best fragrance ever, notes that modern Aventus glaringly lacks. Performance: Does the projection and longevity fare any better.... I asked the wife and kids who walked in 4 hours after I sprayed to see if they could smell it on me because I wasn't satisfied with the projection off skin. They could smell it when they got to almost touching their noses on my forearm and it was just a light Ambroxan scent with no smokiness or vanilla. The Performance wasn't "nose blindness" because the family should have smelled the sillage that Aventus is known for. Insideous sadly is not Aventus. Edited for typo's.

Only an imbecile would compare this to Aventus. This has way too much rose, apple, vanilla and especially patchouli to smell anything like Aventus. I am going by memory, but i dont think any of those notes are present in Aventus. There *are* decent Aventus alternatives, like Echoes from the Deep, Kun Amo or Anelo. This just isnt one of them. And if anyone needed MORE evidence that this is unlike Aventus, this isnt a fruity chypre at all, either.

The price per milliliter is nearly the same as what you could pay for an Aventus tester bottle online, $100 for a 50ml of this vs. $210 for a 100ml of Aventus. Also you could get a 50ml Aventus decant through the FB groups for about the price of this too. What’s the point of a clone that costs just as much as the original?

$100/50ml for a clone brand? When I add taxes + shipping, the grand total is €138. Last week I bought a 150ml bottle of Bleu de Chanel EdP for €126 at Douglas. That is more than three times cheaper per ml. Just get Armaf CDNIM EdP/Parfum. Eight times cheaper and 90% similar. If you care about compliments, just know that women tend to prefer CDNIM over Aventus. I have been complimented a couple of times on Aventus and only one compliment was from a woman. Not counting my ex-girlfriend. I got complimented by totally random women on CDNIM, multiple times. Chris from Fragmental is already on Insider Parfums' website, minutes after the video aired, as I instantly googled the fragrance, while I was watching the video (an hour after it was published). Also, when you watch Chris' review, you can see he seems to be uncomfortable at quite a few occasions in the video, especially when he is talking about the price. Normally he is a super confident guy. Might they be paying Chris or has Chris gotten some free bottles for his webshop? Oh wait! Chris is selling this in his webshop! Dots are connected! Edit (Nov 13th): Everyone that posted after me that is praising this fragrance only has a single review on Fragrantica and 'has' a huge 'collection' of niche perfumes, with a few designers sprinkled in, all sorted by colour. Strange...

In my opinion, this is the best clone of Creed Aventus. I have tried six others (CDNIM EDT, CDNIM EDP, Zara Vibrant Leather, Brasilia 13ZZ01, Perfumer's Choice No.9, and PP Avalanche Woody). All the other clones I have tried either perform well but are really synthetic or are of high quality and don't perform at all. This strikes a good balance. It smells really well put together, from the opening through to the dry down. It's definitely not a fruity Aventus, but it's not super smoky or birchy either; I would say it sits somewhere in between. I can't comment on whether this is reminiscent of older Creed batches, as I have only owned recent batches. However, I would say it's a little more smoky/birchy than recent Aventus batches I've tried. This isn't a huge performer like CDNIM; however, it lasts a solid 5 to 6 hours, far better than recent Aventus batches I've tried, where they last only an hour. You might get better performance than me, as I struggle to make all fragrances perform on my skin :) Don't hesitate to pick up a bottle; I don't think you will be disappointed. 8/10 - Scoring two marks down for performance - If this was beast mode then it would be perfection

This is one of the better attempts I've smelled of the literal dozens of aventus clones/interpretations on the market. I'm a fan of Dan's content, and understand he loves OG Aventus, and I believe that he and his team have done their absolute best to recreate what he remembers some of the older beloved batches of Aventus to be. With all of that said, not a single one of these companies/perfumers get the pineapple accord right. It's the one thing that Creed will always have over the Dupes IMO. This one smells similar to the Mont Blanc Explorer take, more citrus/lemon/bergamot scent. The smokiness in this is excellent, and smells way less "generic" than explorer, whilst maintaining the smoothness of the composition. I don't think this rendition is heavy on the black currant. So depending on what notes/accords you appreciate most within the Aventus DNA, this may be your best shot at obtaining the smokier take of the DNA. Overall, excellent offering from Insider Perfumes.

I've been wearing Insidious for a year and a half. Definitely one of my favorites. It's the closest classic Aventus clone and highest quality I've experienced. Well crafted! I like that part. The higher pricing is a real turn off to me. I paid near 180ml - 200 Euros for 100ml back when Insider had no purchase presence in the EU. On the Insider Parfums website I see 50ML sells for €96 euros. I also tested other scents from Insider Parfums and they are all high quality. I will test Insidious Cologne next. Dan, if you are reading this. Please find a way to lower your unit economics for pricing each 50ml and 100ml. I would buy more but the price is higher than I and many would like to pay for inspired clones. I have plenty of other options where I get at least 100ml for €38-75 Euros.

Smells really nice , I've tried all the clones and owned aventus from 2017 onwards , this reminds me of my 2019 batch I had in terms of quality and the way it drys down , all very good and proper , I get 4-5 hours overall and a good hour or two projection, the bergamot is fairly natural and I pick up on the florals in the mid, I don't get any of that famous ambergris note at all unfortunately and the oakmoss seems faint, Parfums Vintage emperor edp is also of a similar quality to this, I don't think it quiet hits the brief of being an ambergris famous batch but as far as clones go it's one of the best, absolutely on a par with emperor edp and as I said my 2019 aventus.

Just picked this one up. Shipping to Canada was ridiculous!! Regardless, this is probably one of the best "clones" out there. Very smooth & well rounded. Not harsh at all. Doesn't have the best projection or maybe im just nose blind to the DNA now, although I can still catch whiffs on my skin the next day. Compliment getter for sure! Been wearing it for a week now and have gotten at least 1 unsolicited compliment a day. If the bottle was 75ml or the price came down I would have given it a much better review.

Longevity is quite good but the projection is weak, maybe 2 hours arms lenght and then you have to really hug me to smell me. If you find a good deal on a fb group yeah sure go for it but I wouldn't bother. This is close to MB Explorer imo just more smoky. Later edit: I found a good deal and bothered 😅, got a 100ml full bottle for 70€ 🤷 I wish fragrantica would also make a Projection scale, longevity and sillage is not always what concerns me.

Received a sample from scentdecants.com. This does not last on my skin. Opening is okay, smells well blended but mainly fruity, then half hour to an hour later its almost undetectable. Tried it on clothes also, lasted a a little longer but very very faint. Also, get like a bit of an alcohol smell initially when I spray it. Doesn't give me vintage aventus vibes at all. More like a weak modern batch.

@go4buck I had the 50ml from Scent Split. I loved with it for a few months. I went nose blind to it several times and had an experience where I had it on for 9 hours and walked into a UPS and was asked what I was wearing. I was surprised. Still... sold it. My wife wasn’t a fan of the birch. At this point, I’m not sure what other clone to get. The Armafs are too smoky for me.

I don’t have any “grail” batches of Aventus but I do have a current sample and one that’s a couple of years old. This is much better than both and if this is what it used to smell like it must have been fantastic. The first day I wore this to work within 5 minutes a woman walked up behind me and said OMG you smell great.” That was good enough for me.

Never smelt the original Aventus batches so can’t comment. This smells top notch though. Smells like quality and way better than the current decant of Aventus that I have. Well done Insider Parfums

@Ecclesrec, Not sure if you got the gist of my comment. It has nothing to do with whose bottle it was. Any actual criticism on what I wrote is more than appreciated. :)

How long does it last people? Is it worth the hype? I already have a 2023 bottle with ok performance (lasts more than 5 hours) but not smoky enough.

I have an extra bottle brand new for anyone who is interested. I can exchange emails - shipping from US.

Can anyone hook me up with a sample? Need to sample it before I pull the trigger

@fragrance_weirdo thanks for this mate, this is great stuff. Highly recommend