photo by Hernando 

With its eccentrically gorgeous shop, full of dark wood, huge floral sprays, crystal chandeliers, trailing plants and taxidermy peacocks, Aedes de Venustas is more than a well-loved New York perfume boutique: it is a veritable destination as much a part of the fabric of Manhattan as its more illustrious landmarks.

Karl Bradl and Robert Gerstner photo by Hernando

In 1995, owners Karl Bradl and Robert Gerstner created a plush yet welcoming haven for some of independent perfumery’s best houses, with celebrated names including Amouage, L’Artisan, and Serge Lutens sharing the store’s apothecary shelves and Regency tables alongside newer-to-the-scene brands such as Attache-Moi and Dear Rose.

Aedes de Venustas Collection

One of the highlights of Aedes Perfumery is its Aedes de Venustas line, a collection of nine eaux de parfum created by some of the world’s greatest noses in concert with the store’s founders. While Iris Nazarena and Copal D’Azur are well-known in perfumista circles, here are three beauties that have flown under the radar – and which should be on yours in 2022.

Aedes de Venustas Signature (Bertrand Duchaufour, 2012): The most vibrant rhubarb this side of Comme des Garcons opens Aedes’ fabulous Signature. Created by Bertrand Duchaufour, Signature, the initial fragrance in Aedes’ collection, is a shimmering study in red jewel tones, an ode to the store’s original enchanted-garden-via-Lewis-Carroll interior. Those famous peacock feathers, along with textured fabrics such velvet, fine silk, taffeta and brocade, are the perfume’s touchstone. The result is a scintillating, off-kilter potion with bold notes that could have beaten each other senseless instead of becoming new besties. Of course, this is a Duchaufour creation, and there are few perfumers working today who can perform such coherent alchemy on seemingly disparate ingredients.

via instagram

The top is all brilliant red berries – redcurrant, in particular – and that delectable, tart rhubarb, spinning like a child’s top out of the bottle. But just moments later, that piquant zing is joined by a succession of tonal contrasts: acid green tomato leaf, the under ripe bite of granny smith apple, and a particularly silky, serpentine vetiver. Where there might have been cacophony, these oppositional notes attract each other like magnets and meld into a Michael Nyman arrangement of vivid harmonies that pulse through the heart of Signature. In the center is a curl of incense and a honeysuckle so piercingly lovely that it cuts through everything else like a nightingale’s song. Signature’s brilliant vitality is perfect for hot weather, but the addition of incense and vetiver give it enough heft and opacity for chilly, rain-soaked days.

Notes: Rhubarb, vetiver, red berries, tomato leaf, incense, green apple, hazelnut, honeysuckle.  

 

 

Aedes de Venustas Pelargonium (Nathalie Feisthauer, 2017): It is rare nowadays for pelargonium graveolens to take the starring role in a fragrance. Yet fewer ingredients have as much versatility or depth as the humble geranium leaf. Their velvety texture, mod green-on-green hues, and contrapuntal flowery-peppery odor is frequently an important supporting player, particularly in fougeres. But in the hands of the ever-talented Nathalie Feisthauer, geranium gets it due. And splendidly, too, I might add. Pelargonium opens with a surprisingly cool, misty overture of powdery orris, carrot seed, and a dusting of cardamom and hints of lemon. It is ethereal as spring ground fog.

Nathalie Feisthauer at Esxence 2017 for the launch of Pelargonium (photo by Michelyn)

Clary sage starts a dark herbal thread that runs through the fragrance, and which is picked up later by moss and vetiver in the base. These notes each add a quality that begins to coalesce into geranium leaf in the middle. Sage adds texture and, mixing with vetiver, gives off the velvety quality and layered green aspect of the plant’s leaves. Cardamom in tandem with elemi provides the peppery-textural aroma, while the backdrop of cedar and guaiac keep the temperature chilled to early April. This is geranium painted by Turner, soft-edged yet dynamic, and thoroughly lovely. A gem.

Notes: Egyptian geranium, orris, cedar wood, vetiver, guaiac wood, moss, green cardamom, carrot seed, clary sage, elemi resin, musk.

 Aedes de Venustas Palissandre D’Or (Alberto Morillas, 2015): Ambrette and sandalwood dance a pas de deux in a wood-paneled hall in Alberto Morillas’ supremely sophisticated concoction for Aedes. Elegance is a hallmark of Morillas’ work; there is boldness but restraint and a graceful, minutely timed orchestration to the way the notes expand and fold into each other.  Ambrette seed, a plant-derived musk, has a nutty, softly fuzzy quality that is like olfactory mohair. It has an almost gourmand richness here, a quality that is heightened by its partnership with the dessert spices. In the heart of Palissandre D’Or is a gorgeously creamy sandalwood, its lactonic facets accentuated by copahu (copaiba), a Brazilian tree resin with a balsamic character. Three different cedars provide the woody backdrop. They give Palissandre D’Or at varying moments aromas of a wintry forest, old linen chest, and smoky, milky lapsang souchong tea. This is one of my favourite woods fragrances of the last decade.

Notes: Sandalwood, Virginian, Chinese & Alaskan cedar, coriander, copahu, ambrette, pink pepper, patchouli, nutmeg, cinnamon.

Disclosure: samples sent by Aedes de Venustas; opinions are my own

Lauryn Beer, Senior Editor

Thanks to the generosity of Aedes de Venustas, we have a $75 E-certificate to ring in the New Year so you can buy a new perfume or samples of Aedes de Venustas Signature, Palissandre Pelargonium and Palissandre D’Or  for one registered reader in the U.S. To be eligible, please leave a saying what appeals to you about any of the three fragrances above and whether you have tried any of the Aedes de Venustas collection. You must register here. Please leave in your comment if you would like to win the E-Certicate or the samples. Draw closes 1/4/2022.

Happy New Year!!

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