Aedes de Venustas
Eau de Parfum, Aedes de Venustas (2008)

This is, as the name indicates, a ceremonious olfactory event, with the frankincense proudly presenting right from the start. Quite ceremonious an incense, it is not particularly sweet on me, and it lacks any significant camphor or any medicinal qualities. An orange oil nite briefly appears - dark-ish and characterised well - with a light pink pepper developing also. Additional depth is given by a cardamom that shines through after a while, and gives the peppery incense an interesting twist that is not the usual opening experience.

The drydown continues the pepper theme, and the pepper morphs into a darker black pepper note now. An iris becomes increasingly dominant; an iris with a green tone and a pleasantly powdery character that lingers on for a king time. A restrained and somewhat uneventful rose appears temporarily, as does a woodsy background note; ostensibly a cedar but quite nonspecific on me.

The base continues the powdery iris for a while, now with a slightly earthy component accompanying it. It arises more interest by the emergence of an opoponax that is quite nicely executed, although it lacks the vividness and texture of the opoponax in, for instance, Gucci's famous Envy for Men. A discrete benzoin is of note; it merges with a softy vanilla and a light and somewhat bland patchouli. Transiently a milky coffee aroma makes an appearance, but this is more of a non-event on me.

I get moderate sillage, excellent projection, and a very respectable longevity of nine hours on my skin.

This is a rather enticing autumnal incense. With a good dash of an unusual pepper mix thrown in, never particularly sweet, with quite a rich texture and some original twists, the first half of its developed enamors a lot. Unfortunately, in the second half the notes are more generic and less vivid. Still, a lovely incense creation overall with a good performance 3.25/5

I can't imagine how anyone could perceive this to be "foody". Although not as strong in the direction of incense as I would like, it is acceptable.Also, I see basenotes lists this as being discontinued. I was informed by the people at Aedes that it is not. I have a collection of over 90 niche fragrances(including an unopened 250ml flacon of VINTAGE Creed Tabarome)and Aedes Artisan item is very near the top of the list

I just love this. Would smell equally good on both women and men. A strong orange opening for sure and the pepper and incense notes are beautiful and balanced. This perfume takes you on a lovely journey.

Aedes de Venustas (original 2008 version) goes on with very gently peppered carrot-like stark iris with a tinge of clear benzoin-derived sweetness. Moving to the early heart the gently spiced iris remains, now joined by fine co-starring radiant frankincense and natural smelling cedar, with relatively sanitized patchouli rising from the base in underlying support. During the late dry-down the iris and frankincense both recede, with a newly emerged patchouli infused vague woody accord taking the fore, with significant support from the remaining benzoin that now showcases its powdery vanilla-like facet through the finish. Projection is on the low side of average with the composition appearing close to a skin scent at times, but longevity is excellent at about 12 hours on skin.

Aedes de Venustas by L'Artisan is the kind of composition that is hard not to like. It has a great nose behind it in Bertrand Duchaufour, and he certainly didn't hold back on his skillful blending techniques here. The iris immediately makes itself known right on skin application, but this is not your powdery make-up like iris seen in so many compositions today. Rather, this iris is more clinical and carrot-like. Joining the iris is just the slightest hint of peppery spice and sweetness, neither of which detract from its natural impact. Adding to the rather impressive natural effect of the composition in its key mid-section is the arrival of a gorgeous cedar wood and frankincense tandem that meshes perfectly with the iris with none of the notes overpowering the others. During the late dry-down the benzoin that was so subtle and lacking powder earlier, used as a slight sweetener to the iris turns slightly powdery as it joins what can only be described as "vague woods." Usually when one hears those words it is a precursor to mentioning the use of the dreaded woody synthetic norlimbanol, but honestly if it is used here I can't detect it, with the woods coming off as completely believable, just not easily identifiable. The late dry-down is less impressive and more mundane on the whole than the rest of the composition's development, but really this is an extremely minor quibble as in the end the whole thing is pretty darn good. The bottom line is the $185 per 100ml 2008 L'Artisan version of Aedes de Venustas is a fine example of Duchaufour at near the top of his game, earning it an "excellent" 4 stars out of 5 and an enthusiastic recommendation to all.

I have a sample of Aedes de Venustas Eau de Parfum, and it smells good, and interesting.

It's a new smell to me. I don't think it matches my style, but I still like it. It smells modern, classy, and trendy / ahead of the curve. It could be an interesting office fragrance.

This one did a huge flip-flop on my skin and headed a direction I couldn't believe it was going, but there was no denying after two wearings. I may try it again and see if I have the same reaction, but so far...
It started out with a mélange of notes that didn't seem to reflect the pyramid - very little incense, some leaf, non-spicy spice (more a character of presence than spice), a bit of fresh orange, perhaps the dryness of iris. As the opening ripened into the heart note, it began picking up a sweeter, richer, incensier fragrance, leaving behind the natural air.
After an hour it became a very different fragrance from the first. It had a familiarity that kept nagging at me, and since the dry down was very long and strong, I had a long time to finally place it. I couldn't believe the memory association was Passion by Elizabeth Taylor. An incensy Passion to be sure, but the association was vivid in my nose. I notice they both share common base notes.
I liked Passion when it first came out, the first fragrance I owned with a purple bottle, which was downright ugly in my opinion. But it was hugely popular, I smelled it everywhere, and it was guilty of a great deal of fragrance inappropriateness (Costco, snow machining, junior high classes). And finally, I grew tired of the fragrance itself, becoming a little blatant.
So I'm having a real hard time getting past that association with AdeV. After two wearings I'm unable. The opening on AdeV is completely different and this fragrance has more inbuilt complexity so I'll probably try it again in the future and see if anything has changed.