I’m a big fan of vetivers, but Aeon 001 is by far my favourite. I like the straight up, no chaser versions like the Heeley Vetiver Veritas, and the clean green of the Guerlain classic, the abstracted complex glow of Paul Schütze’_perfume’s Behind the Rain, the elegant damp corrugated cardboard of Chanel Sycomore EDT, and the luminous ink of Bruno Fazzolari Lampblack…but Antonio Gardoni’s Aeon 001 is the one I cherish.

Like so much of Gardoni’s Bogue Profumo work, it shifts and changes, flowing from one stance to another with no rapid transitions–like a cat that crosses the room without you ever seeing it move, or one of those deceptively supple old men doing tai chi in the park. From the smoky opening illuminated by a bright citrus light, it shifts slowly down to a woodier chypre that’s woven through with white flowers, and settles to a gently animalic resinous base.

It’s one of those rare perfumes that is interesting throughout its whole lifecycle, rewarding your attention without ever intruding or shouting at you. It doesn’t have the baroque grandeur of MAAI or the whirling kaleidoscopic light of MEM, but reads you deceptively simple poetry in a clear, beautifully modulated voice.

So this bottle is deceptively full: I emptied two samples and a 10ml decant while dithering for months over a bottle because of the price. And then, suddenly, they were all gone and I cursed the very idea of limited editions with very fruity swears.

But while bemoaning my missing out to a friend, I was idly searching eBay to demonstrate its unicorn-like status when, in one of those freakish moments of good luck, a barely-touched bottle appeared at a price that made me worry that it was too good to be true. I’ve never got the buy button so fast.

It’s one of my most worn perfumes, despite knowing there is no more when this is gone. It’s just too good not to wear and enjoy.

first posted 23 April 2019, extra photo from July 2018