Three days ago, I got an email from one of the online perfumeries advertising a new limited edition from Creed – “The pinnacle of the Creed legend – The New Absolu Aventus.” A funny part was that they misspelled the name in the subject line and then three more times in the body of the email. They called it “Absolue Adventus” – and that was what actually caught my attention. Since Advent Calendars (of beauty, fragrance and food types) were recently on my mind, I didn’t realize initially that it was a typo and seriously considered that Creed decided to release a limited edition with a season-appropriate name. Another interesting point about that release:
To insure (sic.) its meticulous craftsmanship and presentation, Creed has requested no samples, sampling on blotters or testers on display. Rather, our sales staff is available to provide you with a personal presentation and spritz on your skin for your discovery of this amazing Absolu Aventus.
The quote is from the same email, but I saw similar information elsewhere. Combined with a high even by Creed’s standards price ($545 for 75 ml), this seems like a serious commitment, which I imagine might come only from love for the original perfume. (I’m not counting those who treat it as an investment hoping to resell it for a higher price later or to split it for profit.) And that’s how I arrived at today’s question.
Saturday Question #188:
Have You Ever Tried Creed Aventus?
Do you know how it smells? Would you recognize it if you were to smell it blind? Do you like this perfume? Do you own it? Are you curious about that limited edition?
My Answer
I know that I smelled it at least once. I have a record in my database that I thought it was too masculine for my liking. And I didn’t like it enough to seek it out for my vSO. But I don’t think I would recognize it had I smelled it “in the wild,” and I don’t understand the hype around it. But maybe I smelled a “wrong batch”?
If I happen to be at a store that carried Creed, and they still have Absolu Aventus, if they do not allow testing on paper, I will use my vSO as a human blotter to try it – just out of curiosity and not because I think I’ll like it. But I won’t even try to go to such a store just for that.
How about you?
Undina's Looking Glass 
Wow, what a bizarre tactic. I’m sure I smelled Aventus once and didn’t get the hype. Much preferred Green Irish Tweed.
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I don’t think I tried that one either. In general, since in all the years I found just one perfume from the brand that I like and own, I stopped even trying their new perfumes.
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Yes, I have tried Creed Aventus and liked it, but, like you, found it too masculine leaning for me to wear. My husband didn’t like it. He’s a diehard Terre d’Hermes man. I haven’t tried the Aventus Absolu, but I have tried the Aventus for Women and found it disappointing and overall rather meh.
I do like some of the Creed fragrances, Silver Mountain Water and Creed Gardenia are nice, but not nice enough for me to pay those very high prices. White Flowers is my favorite Creed scent, but I think the lowest price for that one is over $600 now so that will not be happening!
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TdH fans in this household as well! :)
I tried Aventus for women and also was underwhelmed (I even wrote about it a couple of years ago).
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I did smell the regular Aventus, but it didn’t seem very special to me. I bought all my Creeds years ago-maybe 15 years ago-at a huge sale at Les Ales de La Mode, in Montreal. Still wish I bought Angeliques Encens but it was 150$ and I was already purchasing quite a few.
I think the Creed line is very nice but I got a bit confused by its history. And since its storied history is one of the things we consumers are paying for it has to be correct. Now there is the Game Oppenheimer book, which I haven’t had time to read, debunking some myths.
So I’m not sure what to believe. But I would ask for a spritz, if I were ever at a counter, to enjoy for an afternoon :)
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I read the Oppenheimer book and basically it just says that Olivier Creed didn’t create any of the perfumes in the Creed line. The marketing blurbs that claim he did are all fantasy. I think we all knew that anyway. There’s no way a businessman with no perfume training could create beautiful perfumes for so many years. I’m sure Mr. Creed gave the perfumers a brief as to what type of fragrances he wanted, but he didn’t create them himself. The more iconic ones were created by an excellent perfumer in France who had to sign an agreement never to claim credit for creating the perfumes. According to the author, this perfumer wasn’t paid enough for his work and the author claims that some formulas were in fact stolen from this perfumer and others. I forget the perfumer’s name, it’s noted in the book and the author went to interview him for the book. The book was hard to read, not very well organized.
I see that since the book came out, Creed is now recognizing the perfumers who created their most recent fragrances like Wind Flower and Carmina.
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Thank you for the book summarization! Interesting. I’m not surprised. And I never cared for their history anyway.
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I tried several Creed’s perfumes and like some of them, but the “like” wasn’t even close to desire to wear it – at least not at that price. Which is good, since, in general, we should probably buy and wear mostly those perfumes, for which we would be prepared to pay any price.
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I originally purchase a falcon of Aventus back when it was introduced in 2010. It just so happens that my falcon is one of the first few batches Creed released that year. It is quite nice, even 13 years later. I’m savoring my flacon of Aventus because I know that subsequent batches don’t even come close to my batch’s scent profile.
I’ve had the chance to sample over a dozen other batches subsequently that were just not as interesting. Creed is a strange house, with some strange rules, and excuses to support those rules. Do we really need Absolu Aventus?
I still enjoy Aventus. It has a great freshness with apple and pineapple. It also has an equally subtle smokiness with birch and cedarwood, all wrapped up in just a touch of blackcurrant and jasmine.
Sure, I’ll probably sample Absolu Aventus but purchase it, probably not.
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In 2010 I didn’t even consider trying Creed: at that time, Neumann Marcus was the only store that carried it, and the only form of payment they accepted was their own credit card, so I rarely even walked into it to look at something. Hmm… Now when I think about it, I assume they should be taking cash as well, but it didn’t occur to me then.
I only know about different batches because it was widely discussed in one of the FB groups where I used to buy decants. I wouldn’t be surprised if perfume changed/became less interesting after a reformulation. But I am surprised that it fluctuates between releases. Or did I misunderstand? Do you know about any later batches that were considered better than some previous ones? I don’t mean comparing to the original “good” one but rather to those subsequent releases that weren’t as good.
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I remember those days at Neiman Marcus. It wasn’t until about 2012 did they start accepting American Express. I know this frustrated many of their customers. I’m not sure most people would be running around with the cash required to make a purchase at the Creed counter. 🤣
There was much fluctuation between batches. It is a highly debated topic. So much so that when you consider selling a bottle, many prospective buyers want to know what the batch number is. Crazy.
Every batch of Aventus seems to carry its own character set. Sometimes more smoke, less apple or pineapple. There are batches that I’ve sampled that basically had a pencil shaving aroma and nothing more. That’s the main reason I invested in a 250ml flacon. The batch I purchased was perfect, and upon reflection by many, the batch to have. It had a great balance of the fresh, aromatic and smokey. All the hype aside, I think it’s a memorable perfume, and every time I wear it, I receive compliments galore.
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The only Creed I like is Virgin Island Water. The range doesn’t really have anything that I would part with Creed level money for.
I’m sure I must have sniffed Aventus but I have no scent memory of it, so maybe not.
Creed is a line I find a bit tacky. Likely from all the hype & the “panty dropper” crowd that Creed, specially Aventus attracts
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Yeah, that crowd played a certain role in my attitude towards both that perfume and the brand in general – probably not deserved since the brand didn’t cater for that segment of the market, it just happened. And still…
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I had an Aventus sample once; I remember wondering why it was so hyped! Did not impress. I don’t own any Creed, one of those brands that is just too expensive for me…
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Same for me x
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I own one perfume from Creed, bought at a huge discount. I wouldn’t have paid a full price even for it, no matter how much I like it.
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I’ve never tried Aventus. I have Fleurissimo and Fantasia de Fleurs, which are very pretty.
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I find it interesting that so many perfumistas didn’t try one of the most known perfumes of this century. In addition to its reputation and endless batches wars, I think it happened because it was firmly positioned as a masculine perfume, so women didn’t want to spend money on sampling it at its price point.
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I agree. When I started taking more of an interest in fragrance and fragrance writing, there was so much hype about Aventus, and a lot of it was how it would make its wearer irresistible to women, which had the opposite effect on me.
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Hey Undina and crew,
There’s something really low key sexy about Aventus after a days wear. It’s intoxicating on the right person.
It’s also really easy to wear.
My dentist loves it and he always smells killer in it. Whenever I see a super sale tester I grab it and he’s always grateful.
On me it’s fine but with so many more interesting things in the wardrobe it would rarely if ever get the spritz.
Portia x
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I would expect that it’s not bad (or at least it wasn’t pre-reformulations) since so many men liked and wore it. But I just confirmed with this SQ that most of my readers either didn’t try it or didn’t care for it much. Which is interesting since, as perfumistas, we try many stranger offerings in the name of our hobby. And 2010 was long before the avalanche of new brands and releases. And yet, this (probably I can say “iconic”) perfume didn’t get our attention (or money).
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There are several Creed perfumes that I have tried over the years. I love the original Cyprès-Musc. It has come and gone in several editions and seems to be unavailable currently. If it ever reappears, I’ll get a bottle. It’s a coniferous, galbanum-heavy, soapy-powdery chypre. Just great stuff.
I liked Green Irish Tweed, although it’s more or less just a straight classic cologne to me, Bois du Portugal, a nice Fougère ending with clean soap and investment banker vibes, and Aventus. I liked it as a perfume for young men, but the fruity stuff is not for me, and as it is one of the most worn perfumes I found it interesting to try. Just a few days ago, I also had the opportunity to try the new Absolu (Why is there no “e”, by the way?) It’s not so overtly fruity as the original and has somewhat more depth. The price tag is ridiculous.
I may not able to distinguish original Aventus from any of its dupes, but I do certainly recognize people wearing Aventus-style perfumes.
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I always thought of Creed as of a brand that caters first and foremost to men with traditional masculine tastes, even though they have many feminine perfumes in their collection. Still feels like an afterthought. I’m not complaining, just stating the fact.
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I agree! But now that you mention it, I wonder: if one of their feminine offerings had been the hit that Aventus is, would that catering have gone in the “princess” direction!?! :)
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I’m not sure. Acentus is a relatively new phenomenon, it wasn’t a perfume that “made” Creed. But we will never know :)
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Nope, never tried it, but I am willing! I have no idea what it smells like. Early on as I was falling down the rabbit hole, The Non-Blonde reviewed Royal Oud. I happened upon it at a good price, so RO is my one Creed. I like it and it does seem *special.* I’ve not been especially attracted to Creed’s (marketing) offerings and yes, the price is part of that.
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Oh, those times when our favorite bloggers’ reviews pushed us to seek out perfumes to try… :)
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I’ve worn Aventus and while it’s not a favourite of mine, I can see why it’s so popular / copied / duped / cloned. Not so keen on its bro’ / panty-dropper / The King associations, though. Not in any rush to try this version but will try it when I see it.
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I know that it’s not Creed’s doing that they became an epitome of the “bro” subculture. But I can’t help disliking the brand (and especially that perfume) because of it.
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No, I haven’t, but I am aware of this being a very popular scent, which attracts counterfeiters, such that people are told to be wary of bottles turning up on eBay. The name reminds me of the Toyota Avensis…ooh, speaking of cars, look at this!
https://carcologne.co.uk/products/creeid-aventos-car-cologne-diffuser
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It’s very telling when so many perfumistas have never tried this perfume.
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