Hi there Posse! Aedes de Venustas is an excellent perfume house. They do clever, fun, beautiful and seamlessly crafted fragrances. I try to keep a lookout for everything new they do. So how did I miss Grenadille d’Afrique by Alberto Morillas. He’s the guy that signed off on Byzance, Must de Cartier, Aqua di Gio, M7, Vanille 44, Amouage Opus VII and Guilty Absolute pour Homme. That is only a smattering of the mans work.
So I was really excited when my Surrender To Chance decant arrived so I could get my sniffer on it.
Grenadille d’Afrique by Aedes de Venustas 2016
Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Bergamot, Lavender, Violet, Juniper, Vetiver, Labdanum, African blackwood, Vanilla, Musk
Lavender, Juniper and dry grass vetiver all jump out immediately when I spritz Grenadille d’Afrique. This is a calm and classy fragrance with no screech or overwhelming fireworks at opening. A smooth, clear, cool and unusual opening. Like walking into a very expensive wooden hotel in the mountains that has a spa on site and forests outside. I can smell the beeswax and resins used to keep the wood pristine.
Grenadille d’Afrique or Grenadilla of Africa, means African Blackwood. A small tree from the driest parts of Africa, Senegal and Eritrea to South Africa that is threatened with extinction from overharvesting. The wood is used in musical instruments and furniture.
Once we reach the heart a spicy, charred wood emerges. It’s dark and meditative. Deep. Slowly it sweetens as the vanilla and labdanum come through. Not amber or candy sweet, just a lift. A smoothing off and rounding of the ingredients. Now Grenadille d’Afrique starts to smell very expensive.
Dry down is very nice too.An amorphous vanilla/woodsy fade to nothing.
Surrender To Chance has samples from $7/ml
Does Grenadille d’Afrique sound good to you?
Portia xx
I love all of Aedes de Venustas perfumes. They are all beautiful and so are the bottles. Another thing I like about the House is that they don’t churn out fragrances by the dozen as do so many other houses. One or two at the most per year and I think it makes them even more special.
Hey Folimena,
Yes, this restraint is unheard of in the 21st century and I applaud it too.
We get time to spend, and fall madly in love, with each one before the next comes along.
Those bottles! SWOON
Portia xx
Yum — this sounds right up my street! And that bottle is gorgeous, no? I love so much of this perfumer’s work, especially Must de Cartier and Byzance. Thanks, dear, for spotlighting this!!
Hey there Ann,
We are BYZANCE twins. One of my faves. I even have a little collection of it here EdT, EdP and Extrait. LOVE IT!
Portia xx
I really like Aedes perfumes because they are mostly classy, well rounded with a woody drydown. This one is no exception only the lavender was very strong for my taste.
Hi Neva,
I think because I’ve been wearing quite a bit of lavender stuff lately that it doesn’t shine so bright for me as a second fiddle.
Yeah, very nice stuff, every one I would want to grace my collection.
Portia xx
Hey Portia,
I just sniffed this one for the first time this week at Arielle Shoshana’s boutique near me. I love the Aedes line, too. This one has got such nice woodsy notes. I adore vetiver, so this one really makes me smile. What a coincidence that I smelled it this week! I still have the blotter strip that I sprayed it on, and it still smells very elegant and posh.
Hey DinaC,
I am so jealous you get to hang out with Ari. Next time you’re in there could you please send her my love? She is the most wonderful woman.
Portia xx
Of course that sounds good. Very, very good, in fact. I have a particular scent that I am looking for in bottles form. The smell of the open-aired lobbies in high-end tropical resort hotels. I’ve smelled this in Guadeloupe, Bahamas and Cuba. It’s a spa-like woody scent with a smidge of floral/herbal accents and a refined touch of green. The overall impression is luxe, airy and very serene. I wonder if this would fit the bill?
Hey Marcella,
I think I have an idea of the kind of hotel scent you’re talking about. They have a similar one through quite a few expensive hotels in Asia too.
Portia xx
@ PORTIA
I don’t find Habit Rouge too mascucline,that’s why I wear it. Does anyone else ? X
I wear Habit Rouge, but then I am a non-binary queerdo and my perfumes range from vintage Chanel 22 to Grey Flannel and Old Spice (which is lovely, btw) and everything in between.
This one that Portia describes sounds tempting but I detest vanilla and consider it the bane of scents. : (
Personally Habit Rouge is unisex for me Matty.
Is the charred wood heavy and smoky? It doesn’t sound like a fragrance I’d wear with wood and forest, but the Aedes bottles themselves are beautiful.
I’ve only sampled Iris Nazarene and Ouilett Bengale from Aedes and really enjoyed both. I have an incredibly long wishlist and Iris Nazarene is on it.
Hey Kathleen,
If the juice was shit the bottle would more than make up for it. Fortunately the fragrance is really good. Woody? Yes. Too woody? Probably not but you’ll have to sample it.
Portia xx
Sounds interesting. but it may be a little bit too woody for me.
It could well be Matty but it doesn’t lean excessively masculine.
Portia xx
It sounds great and I love nearly all their scents, but when I sampled it, I didn’t care for it. Need to try it again. The only other one I don’t like is the original rhubarb one, too astringent on me. I tried it several times and just couldn’t get on with it. But I own and enjoy all the rest. Great line!
Hey TaraC,
Interesting that the original wasn’t a hit for you. I love it. They seem to really care about the products they are releasing. Every one feels a cut above almost everything else on offer.
Portia x