Adventurer
Aramis (2014)

This is a weak, non descript fragrance with zero personality and absolutely pathetic performance. A extremely weak aquatic smell with no lasting power. I love Aramis and this a complete failure. Avoid it

Clean, masculine and different than the rest in the 'fresh' genre. Don't listen to all of the negativity. This one is a beast that lasts 8 hours at the office. Smells like a vacation to Sandusky, OH in 1987 - but that is a GREAT memory for me. Definitely mischief with the absinthe, maturity with the lavender (which is a major part of this one) and adventure with the cedar. Very much like Azzaro Visit - which is another misunderstood smell.

Its got value, heart - and will make all of the negative experts on this one turn their heads...because they are too busy trying to sort out Creed batch numbers. Get it.

I need more time with this fragrance. However, usually I'm good at judging a scent on first impression. And in Adventurer's case, that judgement was not favorable.

For me, Adventurer doesn't live up to its name. It's flaw is not in it's offensive personality but rather it's lack of one. It has a fougere-like opening with a rather anonymous aquatic drydown. The upside is that it's a fairly realistic smell of the sea, not the fruity aquatic one that refuses to fall out of fashion.

The downside is that it's shockingly subtle. For someone that wears original Aramis on the regular, the last thing I expected was to have to "squint my nose" to pick up Adventurer's details. I'll try wearing it in the heat of summer. Maybe it'll bloom into something more.

Whatever the case, "Adventurer" is the wrong name for this fragrance. I would call it something like "Cloud" or "Sea Spray". As an Aramis fragrance they should have put more backbone into this one; plain and simple. If Adventurer is in the Aramis Family, then it got all the recessive genes.

The reasons I didn't give this a thumbs down is because the presentation is gorgeous, I love the original, and I am reserving judgement for a later date. I had high expectations for it. I want to love it. Maybe it'll grow on me.

With the lucky momentum of just having picked up a blind bottle of Tobacco Reserve I decided to gamble on Adventurer and lost. If you have ever wished Kenzo Pour Homme was less challenging or interesting, you're in luck. This stuff has seaweed but not enough to smell seaside. In fact, everything but the soft, safe musk is so light that (despite the pyramid of notes) it just ends up smelling like a weaker version of Set Sail Martinique or a much less characteristic version of Mustang Blue. It is not terrible for a warm weather scent, but it seems that every designer house now has to have one or two of these faceless aquatics in their stable and I am desperately tired of the format. At least it isn't saturated with cardamom.

In a word: iodine, and lots of it.

Genuinely maritime in relation to the olfactory universe it opens up (the quayside, a fishing village, seaweed drying on the shore...). Very distinctive.

Also, uncannily, and for those who know it, something of the surgical operating theatre too.

I quite like it. Fresh and masculine.

A very modern and very boring interpretation of something not quite like Aramis. Acceptable at the start, awful by the drydown.