Aromatix Carnal Desire by French Avenue 100ml Extrait De Parfum

Description

French Avenue Aromatix Carnal Desire 100ml Extrait de Parfum

Carnal Desire is raspberry and cinnamon over an orris and osmanthus heart, landing hard on cedarwood, leather, patchouli, oud and vanilla. Fruit up front, leather underneath, and the leather is what it is really about. The sweetest-sounding listing in the Aromatix line and the darkest in the bottle.

What Wearers Compare It To

French Avenue make no comparison. We checked their whole catalogue on their own store and they never name another perfume, so what follows is wearer consensus.

This one sits between two originals, and which matters depends on what you want. Reviewers name four fragrances with real frequency, and they are not all pointing the same way.

For the leather, which is the stronger reason to buy it: around nine reviewers name Maison Crivelli Cuir Infrarouge, and around five name Tom Ford Tuscan Leather. Both are fruit-over-leather compositions, which is exactly Carnal Desire’s structure. Cuir Infrarouge is an extrait de parfum at £205 for 50ml at Selfridges. Carnal Desire is £35.99 for 100ml.

For the fruit and oud: around sixteen reviewers name Maison Crivelli Oud Maracujá, which makes it the single most-cited comparison. But if the fruit-and-oud idea is what you are after, Azzure Aoud is the closer and cheaper interpretation of it at £28.99, and that is where we would point you. Reviewers compare Carnal Desire to Azzure Aoud directly often enough that the overlap is clearly real.

So the honest positioning is this. Buy Azzure Aoud if you want tropical fruit over oud. Buy Carnal Desire if you want fruit over leather, with more weight in the base and an extrait concentration behind it. Louis Vuitton Ombré Nomade also comes up around nine times, which tells you how dark the drydown goes.

On version names. Extrait is Maison Crivelli’s house standard, so both Oud Maracujá Extrait and Cuir Infrarouge Extrait are correct rather than invented tiers. We check this because other brands in this category do claim versions of originals that were never released.

A matching structure is not a matching smell. At four to ten times the price the originals use better materials and blend them better, and that shows most in the leather, which is smoother and less synthetic in both Crivelli fragrances. Carnal Desire is a convincing interpretation of the style, not a replacement bottle.

Any comparison above refers to scent profile only. Carnal Desire is French Avenue’s own composition, in its own bottle and its own packaging. Perfumeo is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to Maison Crivelli, Tom Ford or Louis Vuitton in any way, and all brand names remain the property of their respective owners.

Fragrance Profile

Top: Raspberry, Cinnamon, Bergamot.
Heart: Orris, Osmanthus.
Base: Cedarwood, Leather, Patchouli, Oud, Vanilla.

The heart is disputed, and the difference matters. The list above is French Avenue’s own. The independent listings instead give the heart as cotton candy, rose and orris, with no osmanthus at all. Tops and bases match across both sources; only the middle moves.

That is not a trivial discrepancy. Osmanthus smells of apricot skin and leather and would push the fragrance towards the Cuir Infrarouge comparison. Cotton candy would push it towards a gourmand. We have followed the manufacturer, since they made it, and we are telling you the other source disagrees rather than quietly picking one and presenting it as settled.

Orris is in both versions and worth knowing about either way. It is iris root, expensive to produce, and it smells cool, powdery and faintly rooty. It is what keeps the raspberry from reading like jam.

Performance

Strong. Expect good projection for the first three hours, then a leather and oud drydown that holds on skin eight hours or more and survives on clothing into the next day. Two sprays. The extrait concentration is genuine here rather than a label.

When to Wear It

Autumn and winter evenings. A fruit-leather-oud composition in heat is heavy going, so this is a cold-months bottle.

Who It’s For

Anyone who likes fruit-over-leather fragrances, which is a small and good category, and anyone who has worn Tuscan Leather and wanted something in that direction without the price. Fully unisex, and darker than the name suggests.

Why You’ll Love It

• Fruit over leather, the same structure as two Maison Crivelli extraits costing four to ten times as much
• Extrait strength, lasting into the next day on fabric
• Orris keeping the raspberry sharp rather than jammy
• We tell you which comparison to trust and where the note lists disagree
• Sealed, batch-coded, and shipped free and tracked from our UK warehouse

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Aromatix Carnal Desire a dupe of?
Wearers name several. Maison Crivelli Oud Maracujá is cited most, but for that idea Azzure Aoud is the closer and cheaper option. Carnal Desire is better understood against Maison Crivelli Cuir Infrarouge and Tom Ford Tuscan Leather, which match its fruit-over-leather structure.

Should I buy this or Azzure Aoud?
Azzure Aoud for tropical fruit over oud, at £28.99. Carnal Desire for fruit over leather with a heavier base and extrait concentration, at £35.99.

Why do two sources give different heart notes?
French Avenue say orris and osmanthus. The independent listings say cotton candy, rose and orris. We follow the manufacturer but flag the disagreement, because osmanthus and cotton candy would make this a very different fragrance.

Is it sweet?
Less than the name and the raspberry suggest. The leather, patchouli and oud dominate from the second hour onwards.

What is Aromatix?
A collaboration line, filed elsewhere as “Aromatix X French Avenue”.

How long does it last?
Eight hours or more on skin, into the next day on clothing.

Specifications

• Brand: French Avenue (by Fragrance World), Aromatix line
• Product: Carnal Desire
• Size: 100ml
• Concentration: Extrait de Parfum
• Fragrance family: Fruity Leather Oud
• Gender: Unisex
• Launched: 2024
• Bottle: Glass spray bottle
• Note source: French Avenue. the independent listings give a different heart, as explained above

Browse the full French Avenue collection, or our oud and woody perfumes shelf.