Puredistance AENOTUS - a journey to old Hollywood

Do you wish you could smell in technicolour?

I believe I have. My first spray of AENOTUS by Puredistance unearthed the memory of one of my favourite films, Hitchcock’s - To Catch a Thief. The extraordinary ability of scent to link the olfactory sense with the visual burst in action and journeyed me from my soggy Yorkshire home to the glittering solar playground of The French Riviera. 

Last year Puredistance released WARZSAWA, a composition so opulent and grand that I described it as ‘proper’ perfume. 

AENOTUS, the latest release from Puredistance, feels like the masculine partner of WARSZAWA. It is once again a ‘proper’ perfume that feels far removed from the masses of trend led industry releases of recent years. 

Jan Ewoud Vos, Founder of Puredistance, briefed Perfumer Antoine Lee with the creation of a signature scent for his personal wear. The scent was required to “combine freshness with long lasting sensuality”. Indeed it does, and with a profoundly picturesque quality.

Which leads me to Hitchcock's glamourous masterpiece. In this 1955 movie, Cary Grant plays a retired cat burglar, framed with a copycat crime on the sparkling French Riviera. Locations are lush and verdant, as viewed from the many scenes of Grant and Grace Kelly speeding around the cliffs of Cannes in the ubiquitous open topped sports car. 

AENOTUS evokes this landscape.

The ‘fresh’ phase of AENOTUS is exuberantly Mediterranean. Rocky scrubland peppered with aromatic sunbaked herbs, the waxy green whiff of citrus tree leaves and the lush swollen fruit growing within, the piercing cold sharpness of botanical sap and bursting buds. It’s all there, and it moves in an extraordinary rhythm. The scent doesn’t sit still, notes move in and out of focus, now you smell it, now you don’t. It’s an olfactory kaleidoscope. There is a sense of illuminating optimism, the hope of adventure, all played out under piercing radiant light. 

For a Northern European, this dazzling opening creates a feeling of otherness, so distant from our often dulled landscape that it reeks of technicolour film stock. Fully saturated escapism.

Cary Grant is far removed from the youthful male leads of contemporary movies. He represents the archetype of old Hollywood masculinity. Whilst inarguably suave, he is also somewhat dishevelled and aged. A leathery suntan colours a craggy expressive face that hints at a decadent lifestyle, a wild ride. He is deeply sexy and unashamedly masculine.

I long for a man with sock-free loafers

And this is the thing about men, they smell. No matter how freshly showered and sweetly perfumed they are, they emit a musky, slightly feral whiff. Enter a man’s bedroom and it will smell instantly recognisable as such. They are the ferrets of the gender divide. AENOTUS emphases the muskiness of masculinity. As it begins to dry down, the freshness retreats and a warm fougère-like base emerges. It is deeply mossy. Oakmoss absolute smells earthy, musky, fusty and animal. Distinctly not fresh and green, it is nature at its muckiest and most intriguing. 

In this way AENOTUS exaggerates masculinity, unapologetically creating a gentle trail of post party Cary Grant.  

AENOTUS is a complex and contradictory scent. Fresh and exuberant yet earthily sensual, vibrantly light and softly dark, freshly soaped cleanliness and morning after filth. What is intriguing about the contradiction is that it was created as a signature scent. The purpose of which is to define the personality and presence of its wearer. The most fascinating people are complex individuals who’s contrasts attract our curiosity and desire to know them.
If AENOTUS defines Jan Ewoud Vos, I’d really like to meet him…

Jan, is he a modern day Cary Grant?

Watch the trailer for To Catch a Thief by clicking here.

Thank you to Puredistance for my sample of AENOTUS. In the interests of integrity, the views expressed here are entirely my own and the post is not sponsored.

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