Initio Parfums Privés Absolute Aphrodisiac Eau de Parfum

What It Smells Like

Initio Absolute Aphrodisiac is a dark vanilla and leather fragrance. It belongs to The Absolutes, the house's first collection, and it is the most provocative of them: sweet, smoky and openly animalic.

The published note list is short, with no top, heart and base division: vanilla, amber, castoreum, leather, musk and white flowers. The vanilla arrives first, thick and warm, backed by amber.

What makes it distinctive is what sits under the sweetness. Castoreum is a classic perfumery note with a leathery, smoky, slightly animal smell; it was once a natural material and is now recreated in the laboratory. Combined with leather and musk, it gives the vanilla a worn-leather, skin-like depth. A touch of white flowers adds a creamy brightness and keeps it from becoming heavy. The house says that every wearer has a personal Absolute, an instinct the fragrance is meant to awaken; whatever you make of that idea, the composition itself is a very well-built animalic vanilla.

Fragrantica's community ranks vanilla as the leading accord, followed by leather, amber, powdery, musky and animalic. It is rated 4.27 out of 5 from about 5,000 votes, the highest score among the three Absolutes we carry.

Who Made It

Fragrantica credits Absolute Aphrodisiac to Alexandra Kosinski; Parfumo does not list a perfumer for it.

Alexandra Kosinski is the perfumer credited on Fragrantica.

Who It's For

Absolute Aphrodisiac is for people who like vanilla with an edge. Fragrantica lists it for women and men.

If sweet vanilla fragrances usually strike you as too innocent, this is the answer. If you dislike leather or animalic notes, it will be challenging, and Blessed Baraka is the softer alternative. It is a scent with a strong personality, so it is worth trying on skin, where the leather and vanilla settle into each other after the first few minutes.

When to Wear It

Winter and fall dominate the Fragrantica votes, and night scores more than twice as high as day. This is an evening fragrance for cold weather.

Wear it on a date, for a night out, or under a coat on a winter evening. It is dense and persistent, so one or two sprays are enough, and it is best kept away from offices and hot days.

About the House

Initio Parfums Privés launched in Paris in 2015 with an unusual premise: that scent acts on mood and attraction before we consciously register it. The fragrances are built around materials chosen for that effect, such as musks, woods, resins and the jasmine-like molecule hedione, and they are grouped into collections with a stated purpose: The Absolutes, The Carnal Blends, The Black Gold Project, the Hedonist collection and Supercharged.

The bottles are heavy, square-shouldered flacons with a metal medallion on the front, and the compositions tend to be concentrated and long-lasting. Initio is a boutique-only house at Redolia. It is sold at our perfumery at 92 West Main Street in Somerville, New Jersey, and not through the website. Read how our boutique-only houses work, then come in and try it on skin before you decide.