Aventus by Creed, 2010

One of the most hyped (and anti-hyped) fragrances around these parts, I find myself pretty squarely in the lovers category of this scent. As far as the notes go, the two notes that everyone immediately gravitates towards - the pineapple and the smoke - are the attention grabbers, and I find them to be very appealing and well put together. Unlike many of the popular Creeds (and despite the fruity top), this is not a unisex scent - I get a faint leather underneath the smoke and fruit which adds to the overwhelming masculinity of this scent.

 

Where Aventus really shines is performance. Simply put, this is a projection monster; I have received comments along the lines of "running into a brick wall" and "I could tell you were in the room from the moment I opened the door" from multiple coworkers with just 3-4 sprays applied 30 minutes earlier. There is definitely a fine line between just the right amount and a "brick wall", so to speak. My experience has been to err on the conservative side for this one, which is unusual for Creeds, but definitely welcome given the price! Longevity has been excellent for me as well; easily lasts 6-8 hours on my skin and sometimes into the next day. Versatility is unmatched - cold weather, hot weather, work, gym, out with friends, Aventus works in pretty much any situation.

 

The stories of this fragrance's compliment garnering powering have reached somewhat mythical status, but it's hard for me to say anything contradictory when I receive more unsolicited, "strangers stopping in their tracks to ask me what I'm wearing" compliments with this one than the rest of my collection combined. I initially purchased this because my closest female friend called it "the most heavenly thing she had ever smelled", and have even had a "brick wall" comment immediately followed up with "this is the best smelling brick wall ever". If you are looking for a Creed that gets compliments, look no further.

 

Overall, I find the scent to be great but slightly below the best Creeds; however, in terms of performance and compliments Aventus is such a powerhouse that I find myself reaching for it more than anything else in my collection at the moment.

My first review and why I'm doing it on Aventus: It was one of the first names I noticed when I joined Basenotes. As seemingly every other thread has at least one mention of this juice, I grew intrigued. Some people love it, some hate it, few seem to be in the middle. I never thought it would live up to the hype, so I kept my expectations low. I thought it would at least be in the realm of a really good designer frag since the "mass appeal" nature of it gives it that tilt. I smelled it on paper a couple of months ago and didn't think much of it. I also smelled a few other Creed fragrances and was impressed at first sniff by Bois du Portugal, and fell in love (but would still like to sample before buying) with Virgin Island Water. Last night, I was surprised (I'd forgotten that I had requested it) by a carded sample vial in the mail from basenotes member Kron, and that compelled me to wear this today and share my opinions on it. On to this novice's review: The opening was not at all what I expected, I would have loved the pineapple to be more in the piña colada level of Virgin Island Water's, but this one was a "watered-down" pineapple. The combination of this with the bergamot gave me the impression of a glass with pineapple juice and a tad of lemon juice, except that whoever was drinking it, added too much ice, left the glass behind as he went to check on his friends outside. Once he came back to the juice, he found that the ice had melted and watered down the drink. So now he's drinking this cocktail, and the lingering smell of the barbecue in the back yard (where his friends are... on second thought, this must also be where that faint spiciness in the opening came from ) is present as well. We see remnants of pineapple slices on the grill "aha!" The combination of smells is pleasant- even comfortable- but it is not exactly remarkable nor has it a strong presence. I suppose the rest of the review will also be told in story form: Our good pineapple-juice-drinking friend goes back out, glass in hand, and we notice the smoke a little more. We also notice flower beds in the distance, far in the background. We can barely make out the roses and what are those, jasmines? As the night dies down, our friend takes advantage of the last bit of fire on the grill and suggests that we roast vanilla marshmallows in it, but we're too tired, so we decide against it after he's brought the sweets out and we get another not-so-present scent in the form of the vanilla that is overpowered by the increasingly present smoke. Despite lowering my expectations, I still found Aventus to not be amazing. It is pleasant, yes, but I feel like its opening belongs in the room freshener realm-perhaps that is why it is original. After those few minutes, it becomes a nice scent to wear outdoors in a social setting because there is nothing offensive about it. It is 100% safe though the smokiness gives it an almost calculated edge. Projection and longevity are in the good-to-great range. I will refrain from trying to qualify this scent numerically as it is not the type of scent that I favor. It has grown on me with wears (I've edited this review since the server issues the site's been experiencing have allowed me to do so before publication), but I am not ready to go out and buy it just yet. I was on the fence on whether to rate as neutral or thumbs up. Mr. Aventus has persuaded me to be favorable. I am glad I tried it. Fin.