Morning Chess Eau de Parfum By Vilhelm Parfumerie

Omg... I disagree with those who disagree that this doesn’t smell like Aventus or that it is similar in vibe... first time ever I can not elaborate, lacking inspiration...

Yes, so, a lovely almost carbon copy Aventus...

Better actually and smoother with the woody aspect never appearing as per Aventus et al... next...

High quality Aventus clone. Better than many I've smelled and if I'm honest, better than current batches of Aventus.

Morning Chess, MDCI Bleu Satin, and Bond.com (discontinued) are the best you can buy. Stay away from Tizziana Terrenzi Orion or any cheap clones.

Ok, so where do I even start...

First of all, while this has an Aventus vibe, it is not a clone and quite different. I used Aventus back in 2012 when the quality was high and the scent was smokey.

Morning Chess has a similar smokeyness to it but no pineapple note. Instead, we got bergamot which works quite nicely.

Now some people say that this smells similar to a Zara fragrance called "Vibrant Leather". I cannot confirm this as Vibrant Leather is out of production. Apparently there is a new Zara fragrance which is similar to this one, but has an awful performance. So why even bother if the cheapie has no performance?

Morning Chess smells great and has a good performance. I tried newer batches of Aventus and they straight out suck, both in scent and performance.

While Morning Chess is miles better than current Aventus batches, I will compare the old Aventus (good luck finding it) with Morning Chess and give my interpretations.

Old Aventus Batches: Napoleon returning victorious from the battlefield. Confident.

Morning Chess: A well spoken and charming Dandy. Confident as well.

A few hours on the skin I get a mix of smokey bergamot and a hint of patchouli. The performance is good enough, I wear this to the office currently with 2 small sprays and it lasts for roughly 6 hours on me.

The real Aventus is gone for a long time already and this is my personal replacement for it. New signature scent!

Beautiful sparkling scent. I picture someone wearing a green silk dress with a leather jacket strolling through Prague on a cold, clear spring morning. The citrus leans pineapple-ish to me, with a beautiful dark smokey leather base. I wear this when I want to feel confident and a little bit sexy.

Morning Chess is my first try from Vilhelm Parfumerie and I'm delighted to finally sample it after seeing it around a lot. The scent is fruity, creamy, slightly woody, slightly smoky, and yes, my immediate thought upon applying it was that it smelled a bit like Creed Aventus. It wasn’t apparent from the note listing that this would be the case but even without pineapple or blackcurrant in the notes specifically, it nonetheless does have some fruity qualities that resemble the Creed superstar, though admittedly it’s not nearly as similar as, say, Creed Cedrat Boise, or the scores of seemingly very deliberate clones.

To solely compare Morning Chess to Aventus is to sell it short and oversimplify it, but it’s the elephant in the room. That said, though, it’s creamier, darker, and dare I say a bit sweeter than Aventus, and it that respect, it sort of stands out in its own ground as a more woody/smoky/resinous and therefore cold-weather-friendly combination. Despite the only fruit listed being bergamot, it does have a sort of bright fruitiness to it along the lines of a pineapple or blackcurrant, but what I think is happening here is that it’s a mix of the bergamot and a fairly liberal use of galbanum that foster the sweet, creamy vibe that rather sufficiently feels like fruit. The other main notes are leather, patchouli, and black amber, and I can’t say I get much of any of these.

Overall, it’s a really nice fragrance and I’m instantly a fan. It’s somehow fresh, delicious, and a bit dark and provocative all at once, and I enjoy that, compared to Aventus, it’s relatively dense and more cold-weather-friendly despite being an overall year-round-pleasant, gender-and-situation-versatile offering. The overall performance leaves a bit to be desired, though, at least on this initial wearing, which seems to be contrary to the consensus I’m seeing online, and since perfume generally lasts a long time on my skin, it might need some more tries. Still, with the retail pricing of $245 for 50ml (Aedes and Saks sell it, to name a couple), it really falls into the category of one that I’d need to totally love in order to buy it, and I’m not sure I’m there yet, despite it being great.