Aedes De Venustas| Indulge Your Senses...




	TIM GUNN - BOOK, October 2008 A GUIDE TO QUALITY, TASTE & STYLE If you are interested in perfuming your person, may we recommend a store to visit next time you find yourself in New York City? Aedes de Venustas at number 9 Christopher Street. The store itself is a visual feast and the range of perfumes contained within will provide an incredible education for the nose.

	IN STYLE, September 2008 Michael Kors loves New York Designer Michael Kors' must-go list in New York City. Local shops he adores: Aedes de Venustas "For soaps and candles".

	Gotham, September 2008 Fall into Glamour - Fragrances of the month In the world of beauty, fall often means one thing: A glut of new fragrance launches. But two exceptional releases haven't been far from my reach since they came across my desk: Creed's Love in Black and the signature fragrance from Aedes de Venustas. Chelsea boutique Aedes de Venustas is the go-to spot for any and all special fragrances, including scents from By Kilian, Serge Lutens, and French fragrance house L'Artisan Parfumeur. Three years ago Aedes partnered with L'Artisan to create the Aedes de Venustas candle and room spray-runaway hits both. Devotees clamored for more; and when, as Aedes co-owner Karl Bradl recalls, "customers wanted to know if it was safe to wear the room spray," he and partner Robert Gerstner knew it was time to call on L'Artisan again. The result: Aedes de Venustas parfum (3.4oz $185), a layered scent rich with Japanese incense, leather, a little musk, and some spice, giving it a bit of Champagne sparkle-perfect for him, her, and the season.

	W, September 2008 CULT SCENT The notoriously colorful co-owner of Cire Trudon candle company Ramdane Touhami, has turned the candles favored by Napoleon and Marie Antoinette into a modern-day cult obsession. Cire claims it is now the supplier of every Paris cathedral except Notre Dame, and Catherine Deneuve and Nicholas Sarkozy are hooked. "Giambattista Valli loves the Odeur de Lune scent", says Robert Gerstner, an owner of New York's Aedes de Venustas. In September six new scents will be added to the line, including the leather and tobacco-based Une Hotel de la Havane and Balmoral, which smells remarkably like wet grass and soil.

	WWD BeautyBiz, September 2008 A LA MODE Purple creates indelible images, as no doubt Michelle Obama, whose chic Maria Pinto sheath catapulted her to the top of best-dressed lists, can attest to. No wonder, then, beauty companies have chosen it as their statement-making shade for fall, too. Aedes de Venustas' deep cassis flacon reflects the sensuality of the interior of the cult boutique for which the scent is named.

	HINTMAG.COM, September 2008 BEAUTY DUTY - Get a Whiff of This Perfume reviewers try to outdo each another with poetic lists of a fragrance's nuances and contradictions. But every once in a while a perfume saunters up and whispers, "Just go for it. Be pretentious. Bewilder people." That's exactly what West Village perfume den Aedes de Venusta's collaboration with L'Artisan did, so here we go. Mostly good-natured, with a touch of sorcery and hypnotism, its initial whiff is not unlike a medieval air freshener. As it smoothes its feathers, it becomes a leather-bound fairy tale of enchanted woods and mysterious sweets baking in epic ovens. Smelling at once totally modern and like an ancient formula, the scent radiates light on its shadows and mixes its own metaphors. And if that description sounds elusive, it's because the perfume is, too. $185 exclusively at Aedes de Venustas

	ALLURE MAGAZINE, June 2008 The Allure A-List We polled, you told: Readers name their favorite salons, day spas, and beauty boutiques in 12 cities. Best Niche Boutique Aedes de Venustas Most popular skin product: Jurlique Soothing Herbal Recovery Gel. Most Popular Fragrance: Serge Lutens Daim Blond. Hard-to-find Lines: Aedes home scents, Mizensir candles.

	The New York Times, April 2008 SECRETS FROM THE TEMPLE OF SCENT. The critial Shopper by Cintra Wilson AEDES DE VENUSTAS, the quirky fragrance shop on Christopher Street at the corner of Gay Street, is just a few doors down from the site of the historic riots in 1969 that marked the first battle for gay rights. When you walk by on the sunlit sidewalk, 40 proud years of midnight camaraderie and spilled drinks spring to life. The “temple of beauty” is precocious for having been born in 1995; it appears to have aged into an old European patina. The window looks incense-buttered like the storefronts of old fortune tellers, a display ready to be inhabited by a Caravaggio youth or a Joel Peter Witkin corpse. It’s such a visual feast of dusky Renaissance colors you can practically taste the linseed oil and dusty grapes; fat mauve roses just beginning to wilt; dried pomegranates; and stuffed white pigeons with glass eyes. Gold-dipped reliquary trinkets are crowded artfully on heavy damask around treasures that the stores owners, Karl Bradl and Robert Gerstner, have archaeologically prized out of the Old World. There are gem-cut bottles of some of the oldest and hardest-to-find European perfumes: Santa Maria Novella (the 400-year-old line originated by Florentine monks, whose Acqua di Colonia was created for the wedding of Catherine de Medici); Acqua di Parma, developed in 1916, beloved of 1950s movie stars; and other antique rarities of a luxe and scented variety. Inside, Aedes is all papal sumptuousness: velvety, claret-colored curtains and carpeting set off branches of cherry blossoms just turning papery; bottles of amber oils under glass bells; cloudy crystal chandeliers; an impressive feat of white peacock taxidermy. A remarkably unified assortment of Second French Empire vitrines, inlaid wood with gold flourishes, have been ingeniously repurposed as armoires, retrofitted with glass shelves and subtle backlighting to make the perfume bottles even more bewitching. Hey, the Italianate apothecary of Napoleon III, right off of Sixth Avenue! Whodathunkit? “I want you to try this — yellow roses,” one of the owners said, spritzing a white cardboard stick next to a woman with a deep tan and a Day-Glo yellow parka. I sidled over to eavesdrop (nosedrop?). “Isn’t it wonderful when you finally find your scent?” the woman asked me. “Yes! It practically takes half a lifetime of research and development.” “Then you have it for a while, and 10 years later, you want a change.” I wondered what perfume the owner would have recommended to her if she had been wearing a plaid coat. Aedes is a great go-to source for opulent little quelque choses, perfect for the rich associate you are afraid to buy anything for. I liked a carved wooden ball full of amber resin ($145). It looked like something Gauguin would have on his coffee table to compliment the nude Tahitian. The ancestral tea company Mariage Frères has begun an expansion into home décor with Darjeeling, Lapsang Souchong and other pleasantly tea-flavored candles for $68, ideal for those who can’t bear the scent of real tea. Aedes collaborated with Molinard to resurrect an old classic: Une Histoire de Chypre (pronounced SHEE-pr; not cheap). It’s heady and complex: an exorbitant fusion of bergamot, mandarin, iris, neroli, jasmine, Bulgarian rose, patchouli, oak moss, musk and amber, packaged in a black box with gold lettering and a Lalique bottle with a black spray-bulb. The owner seemed to object to my description of it as pleasantly “after-shavey.” I understood his reaction a bit better after reading the “olfactory ode” to Chypre on the Aedes Web site: her aromatic corset unlaced “the demure tendrils of her timeless spirit.” (Chypre, the French word for Cyprus, is not an ancient goddess, but it might be a hot new octopus.) “I love woods and mosses,” I told a sales assistant. “Anything else turns into Love’s Baby Soft on my skin.” She nodded. “Baby powder, you know, smells like this,” she said, sticking a heliotrope-scented candle under my nose. Eau bébé. We explored the monstrance devoted to the fragrances of Serge Lutens. Daim Blond was described to me as “suede-y.” Indeed: like huffing a saddlebag full of star anise. The Cedre had a mouthwashy top note. “Pepsin!” said my sales assistant. Dead-on. Bazooka Joe trapped in a sauna. Most interesting was Escentric Molecules, a German fragrance in a Bauhaus-y bottle. “The designer, Geza Schoen, feels he has replicated the human pheromone. It actually has no scent at all!” She assured me that the lack of liquid in the bottle was due to the popularity of the tester and not that this fragranceless fragrance is a complete test of faith. Neighborhood ladies swanned in and out with their cellphones and Rhodesian Ridgebacks, grabbing Diptyque candles, but mostly popping in to discuss Carla Bruni’s new Jackie O. Sarkozy look and inquire about a birthday gala that I divined was being held in honor of an owner’s dog: a motionless blot of white fur in a black armchair. “Oh, I thought she was more taxidermy!” I blurted artlessly. “No, she’s very much alive,” said the gentleman in a chilled tone. Scent, that most powerful of mnemonics, is a sensitive and personal business. I bought incense — packets of Esteban’s woodsy Pin (pine) and Cedre and ($27) to transform my apartment into a roaring log cabin. I once read that the French believe a woman isn’t truly beautiful until she is touched by decay. Societies older than ours, decorated by the detritus of collapsed empires, have a deeper appreciation for entropy and its wisdom, fungi and ferment. Soft cheese, mushrooms, wines, older women and little luxuries — purified essences that evoke sensations of the past — make the certainty of mortality just so much sexier. Add dried pomegranates and taxidermy, and you’ve got a little slice of heaven.

	Town & Country, April 2008 Aedes de Venustas is a beauty lover's Shangri-la. There are candles from Diptyque and Costes, miracle creams by Jurlique and fragrance from Annick Goutal and Lalique. Employees will sit with you for hours to figure out what suits you and then execute the best gift wrapping in New York, finishing packages with fresh flowers.

	TIME, March 2008 Scents and Sensitivity Sniffapalooza hosts a yearly event in New York City that gives members access to perfumers at European houses like the 250-year old Creed and to retailers like niche specialist Aedes de Venustas. (pictured: Scents on display in New York City at Aedes, which ships samples of hard-to-find Old World perfumes)

	Town & Country, January 2008 LUXURY ONLINE High-end goods have come to the internet, and we've found the twenty-five best places to shop for them. The online emporium of sighed-over scents meticulously curated by Aedes de Venustas gives shoppers bliss-inducing access to niche colognes and bath products - many made in limited quantities by boutique apothecaries and perfumers. Browse such hard-to-find brands as L'Artisan Parfumeur, Carthusia and Serge Lutens, and starting in February, shop for exclusives from Annick Goutal. Buying something for someone special? Opt for gift packaging that incorporates fresh flowers; Aedes is the only site to offer it. aedes.com

	H&M Magazine, December 2007 Best Gift Wrap in New York Recipients might not want to open their presents from this luxurious perfume shop, because the boxes can be packaged with satin ribbons and a custom fresh flower arrangement.

	DEPARTURES, November 2007 The Wrap Artists (pictured: Manhattan fragrance boutique Aedes de Venustas wraps with fresh flowers and an elegant black box). Using everything from crocodile prints to yesterday's newspaper today's creative gift givers are thinking outside the box. Aedes de Venustas is not a paper, fabric, or trimming store but rather a boutique specializing in scents that it wraps exquisitely.

	WWD BeautyBiz, November 2007 A TALE TO TELL. Molinard Une Histoire de Chypre After reading about the fragrance boutique Aedes de Venustas in the New York Times, perfumer Dominique Camilli, whose recent projects include the relaunch of Molinard 1849, immediatelly befriended co-owner Robert Gerstner. "I had just finished the line and he took it immediately," laughs Camilli. "He was our first customer." Fast forward three years, and the duo has also become co-collaborators. Camilli and Gerstner traveled to Grasse, France, where they combed through the Molinard archives and decided to recreate a chypre, the blend of citrus and woody notes created by Francois Coty in 1917. The result: Une Histoire de Chypre, launching at Aedes in mid-December for $225. "We wanted to create a product based on what we think the industry should be," says Gerstner. "We want to go back to the traditional art and craftmanship of perfumery. More and more, this is disappearing."

	Financial Times Ever since a well-known model registered her Christmas account here in 1996, Aedes de Venustas (from the Latin words meaning temple of beauty) has been a favourite of New York's make-up and styling community. Specialising in cult perfumes, home fragrance and little-known skincare products from around the world, this laid-back boutique, tucked away on a quiet, tree-lined street in the West Village, has remained largely an insider secret. Karl Bradl, one of the boutique's two German owners, is a perfume addict who gave up a job in banking nine years ago to follow his nose and his passion for scent by opening the store with his business partner Robert Gerstner. In addition to classics such as Creed and Parfums Santa Maria Novella and cult scents by Etro and Lorenzo Villoresi, Aedes de Venustas stocks brands even industyr insiders haven't heard of. The store also stocks Parfums Delrae, a capsule scent collection by Michel Roudnitska, son of legendary perfumer Edmond Roudnitska. The boutique is dimly lit and decorated in an intimate, boudoir style, with plush bordeaux-coloured carpets, ruby velvet curtains and dark wallpaper. A huge crystal chandelier and a leopard-print chair dominate the space, while the scents, candles, soaps and scrubs are displayed in ornate gilded cabinets and on antique-style tables. Bestsellers include Diptyque's Baies blackcurrant candle and ADV Lime Coconut Sea Salt Exfoliator.

	DETAILS, December 2007 YOUR CHOICE OF COLOGNE... can be as make-or-break to your personal style as your choice of shoes. That doesn't mean spending an afternoon sniffing strips of scented paper is fun. "Men are not at ease going to the store and buying cologne," says Robert Gerstner, the co-owner of Aedes de Venustas, a perfumery in New York. "I'm sure the first perfume the sales guy suggests, the guy says, 'Yeah, I'm buying it'. And then when they go home, they say, 'My God, what did I buy?'" Here's a step-by-step guide to avoiding buyer's remorse-and maybe even finding yourself a signature scent. 01) Learn the categories Colognes generally fall into three groups: citrus, green, and spicy. Citrus, which includes scents like lemon and tangerine, is good for men who want a fresh-from-the-shower aroma. 02)Narrow your options Once you know how to talk about cologne, you still have to figure out whether you'd rather smell like orange or leather. The way you dress, and even your skin tone, can affect which fragrances work for you. If your uniform includes jeans and old-school sneakers, for instance, you're probably better off wearing citrusy. "If the man looks easygoing and sporty, a spicy fragrance wouldn't be my first choice," Gerstner says. If you favor pinstripes and brogues, a spicier scent is a good option. And if your closet is filled with Dior Homme and Jil Sander, you'll probably like clean, green fragrances. As for your complexion, Gerstner says, "if you're the whitest guys on the planet, I wouldn't run out and get something with incense." Choose a citrus or green instead. 03) Try them on "The average customer is overwhelmed by the choices," Gerstner says. He prefers to send shoppers home with four to six samples from the category they like best and instructions to spray one on each day for a week until they settle on a favorite. When you're paying $200 for a milliliter of fragrance, it's worth the effort. But you can also safely leave the store with a bottle in hand if you're willing to try on a few fragrances - but no more than four. Put one on the inside on each wrist and one in the crook of each elbow. 04) Wait It takes at least 15 minutes for a fragrance to react with your skin and for the hear of it to kick in. Spicier fragrances actually get stronger the longer they stay on your body. "It's like red wine," Gerstner says. "You don't open the bottle and pour it in the glass. You let it breathe." What you smell after 15 minutes will stick around for only an hour or two, but it's similar enough to the scent that will last the rest of the day (called the "dry down") that you'll be able to judge it accurately. 05) Put down your credit card In general, a well-made cologne costs between $150 and $200. Inexpensive fragrances are usually designed to be sold in mass quantities and are less complex to make.

	IN STYLE, August 2006 INSIDE...Mary-Louise Parker's makeup bag ADV Sea Salt Exfoliator in Lime Coconut "This stuff is delicious. I use it a couple of times a week. You don't need anything afterward, no lotion or cream."

	NY TIMES T MAGAZINE, December 2005 If you want to find one of only 3,000 bottles of the scent bearing the name of the VIP Room, the St. Tropez nightclub where Paris Hilton likes to party, you will have to go to 9 Christopher Street and buzz. It is the only place in the United States where it is sold, as this is (appearances notwithstanding) the most exclusive perfume shop in New York. Karl Bradl and Robert Gerstner are the tall, blond German couple who opened Aedes de Venustas ("temple of beauty" in Latin) in 1995. The store was a means for them to stay in Manhattan when the German freight company they had worked for shut down. They were perfume fanatics, Bradl says, "so we thought, Let's start looking for hard-to-find products." They found their first line - at the time an unknown house called l'Artisan Parfumeur - and a basement space, and invested their severance package. They did O.K., sort of, for a year. Then Bradl thought that maybe he should promote the venture to an editor. He had no idea how. He packed a few scents in a nice box, put flowers on it and took a taxi up to Vogue. No appointment. "I said, 'Can I see a beauty editor?' They called up, and she let me into her office. She was very nice. A little tiny piece showed up in Vogue - which prompted Naomi Campbell to come in and give us part of her Christmas account: 'X gets this, Y gets that.' We were stunned. We started sending the fashion people and designers gifts, all with our fresh flowers, and they started giving us to the models, who gave us to the photographers. And that was it." Today Aedes is a bit of a cult. Not even Colette in Paris invites the same sort of breathless, wild-eyed looks. It may stem partly from the décor; looking around, I once said, "Second Empire whorehouse?" to Gerstner, and he - tall and thin and intense as a Teutonic Valentino - said affably, "Sure." But mostly it's two men obsessed. Aedes selects its products according to the simplest criteria. "Everything here - fragrance, room sprays, incense, skin and body care - we use ourselves," Gerstner says. Second criterion: They like being first. They were the first to import A-esop from Australia, Czech & Speake from England and Etro from Italy. Third: Every scent is unusual, like Jasmin de Nuit, which is to jasmine what Pirelli is to rubber, or Ulrich Lang's mesmerizing Anvers, a contemporary fragrance with warm yet introspective notes. Talking to "the boys," as everyone calls them, is a little like having a conversation with a single person. One lays down a thought, the other develops it, all the while looking directly at you; evidently they don't need visual cues to do this. Nothing ever goes on sale at Aedes, and apparently nothing ever will. They don't do in-store promotions, and they don't do free shipping. But they are extremely generous with samples, which they believe in strongly. "You can become overwhelmed in the store," Gerstner explains."So we load our clients with samples," says Bradl, the smaller and more excitable of the two."And they all come back," Gerstner adds. Top customers also get gifts. "Things we think they'll like," Gerstner says. For the very best clients, anything is possible. They do house calls: "Linda Evangelista called us at 5 p.m. on a Saturday," says one or the other, "and said, 'I'm going to Steven Meisel's birthday party in three hours, help!"' They do specials: "Dolce and Gabbana came in for a thank-you gift for Anna Wintour. She likes irises, so we loaded her basket with iris candles, iris soaps, iris room sprays, and decorated it with fresh irises." They do takeout: "When the Concorde was flying, Naomi was going back and forth at the speed of sound, and her office would call us Sunday afternoon and say, 'She's arriving in three hours, we need this and this and this."' They do scent tracks: Giorgio Armani is a fanatic for Agraria's Bitter Orange and last year had Aedes perfume his runway show with it. Sometimes they don't take credit where credit is due. I recently discovered a lime-and-coconut sea-salt exfoliator, labeled simply ADV. Huge, dark-caramel-colored tubs that smell terrific. I said, "This is great, who does this?" They do, it turns out. J. Lo, Gwen Stefani, Marisa Tomei and John Galliano order it by the pot. "It doesn't need to be right in your face that this is an Aedes product," Bradl says to me of its subtle label. Besides, they don't ever want to compete with their other lines. Because Aedes has a gift-conscious clientele from fashion houses, modeling agencies, photography studios, film companies and public-relations firms, the store's best sellers are candles. It should be a legal - if not a theological - obligation to own three from the Mariage Frères collection. Thé Rouge is jaw-dropping, as is Sorbet de Thé and Thé Dansant. The boys also like Thé Blanc, but I've never smelled it because it's been sold out for months. And needless to say, I can't find it anywhere else.

	Celebrity Living, May 2005 What you'll find in the store: Antique cabinets crammed with European fragrances and skin-care products, such as Lilas 7oz Diptqyue candle and Une Folie de Rose 1.7oz parfum. Wrap it up! With Aedes' signature wrapping - a luxurious black box embossed with gold leaf and tied in satin ribbon or embellished with a fresh flower arrangement on top!

	WWD BEAUTYBIZ, November 2005 THE LATEST CULT CANDLE. Sweet Smell of Success. Aedes de Venustas means "temple of beauty" in Latin. That it's also the name of the cult favorite West Village fragrance boutique is no coincidence-celebs like Liv Tyler and Gwen Stefani are said to worship its selection of luxe fragrance brands. To celebrate its 10th anniversary, owners Karl Bradl and Robert Gerstner are teamed up with L'Artisan Parfumeur-one of its bestselling brands-to create an eponymous candle. On sale this month, only 1,000 have been produced. The scent, a blend of Japanese incense, leather, musk and strawflower, is meant to evoke the lush, sensous feeling of the store itself.

	HARPER'S BAZAAR, October 2005 CELEBRITY ADDRESS BOOK: Aedes de Venustas. Susan Sarandon, Liv Tyler, and the supermodel set frequent this NYC specialty boutique for precious scents, skincare, and bath and body items from around the world.

	NY Magazine, November 2004 How would Giorgio Armani spend $54,375? The legendary designer blew the price of a custom-beaded dress from his spring Atelier collection (plus 8.75 percent tax). Theoretically. By Sarah Bernard When you travel, you always feel like you're missing everything. At Aedes de Venustas, I'd get six L'Artisan Parfumeur votive candles ($300) and bitter-orange Agraria burning sticks ($26). I think the incense smell creates some kind of dependence. It reminds me of the Catholic church.

	ALLURE MAGAZINE, May 2006 How to Pick a Fragrance for Someone Else. An interview with Karl Bradl. Bradl is the co-owner of Aedes de Venustas fragrance boutique in New York City. Few things are more subjective than the scent a person wears on her skin. That's why picking out fragrance for someone can involve a lot of guesswork. Here's how I get inside the mind of the gift giver (and receiver): DON'T GO IT ALONE. Sorting through the myriad fragrances in a store can be overwhelming. But a good clerk asks a lot of question and points out things you wouldn't have considered on your own. My first questions are: How old is the recipient, what's her fashion sense-even hair color is important. (I have no idea why, but blondes tend to like powdery scents, while darker-haired people like more exotic fragrances, and red-heads seem to love things with iris.) PAY ATTENTION Try to find a scent that reminds you of something you love about the person, such as her habits or quirks. Maybe it's just a hint of vetiver that lingers on her great vintage handbag. Or the smell of the fresh-cut tea roses that she always keeps in her office. Focus on those small, intimate details. TEST THE WATER. If you know that a person has been wearing the same fragrance for years, drop some hints to see if she would consider something new. Ask, "Have you tried the new L'Artisan Parfumeur Fleur d'Oranger, or are you a Premier Figuier spritzer for life?" If she's hesitant, stay with the same brand or stick to similar notes (use the middle note as your guide, since it's the most powerful). For those who dislike change, buy the same scent, but in a different form, like a body lotion or gorgeous hand soap-so you’re not simply restocking what she owns already. TRUST A SURE THING. If you can't make up your mind, there are some selections that always work well. Sophisticated, conservative women enjoy elegant florals, while casual ones tent to prefer something that's fresh and a little musky (Etro Etra). For a friend or sister I recommend youthful green notes or spicy, unexpected accords (Serge Lutens Daim Blond). Refined men usually like crisp, woodsy classics (Creed Bois du Portugal), while sporty guys go for a cologne with a hint of spice (06130 Yuzu Rouge). KEEP A CLEAR HEAD When shopping, don't rush or smell too many different fragrances at once-you'll suffer from sensory overload. The ideal is to test three per visit, go outside for fresh air between spritzes. And even if it's not love at first whiff take a sample home and smell it throughout the day. Some customers aren't sure if they like a scent at first, but after living with it for a while, they fall completely in love. With any luck, your friend or mother will feel the same way. By Christine Muhlke

	ZAGAT AEDES DE VENUSTAS Ranking: Quality 27, Presentation 27, Service 25, Cost VE. Celebs and fashionistas frequent this hip haunt, a "charming" "little fragrance lover's sanctuary" in Greenwich Village known for its "well-edited selection of perfumes, soaps", skincare products and candles from statusy, hard-to-come-by European brands like Serge Lutens and Costes; "knowledgeable staff" is generous with samples", and if you are buying a present, spring for the additional charge and "have them gift wrap it" in their "beautiful" black-and gold boxes topped with fresh flowers, which adds to the "divine" experience.

	THE DAILY FRONT ROW, September 2004 RUNWAY REPORT AsFour is all grown up now, as of yesterday. Aedes de Venustas pumped fragrance into the venue, but to us the smell was pure victory - commercial and artistic.

	AMERICAN AIRLINE MAGAZINE, May 2001 JENNIFER LOPEZ IN NEW YORK CITY Movie star, recording artist, and fashion icon J.Lo gives us the lowdown on her happening hometown. Her favorite shops in New York? Aedes de Venustas on Christopher Street which sells beautiful candles and perfumes.

	The Bombshell Manual of Style Where Bombshells Buy Perfume: Aedes de Venustas, Christopher Street, New York (Leopard prints, wall-to-wall carpeting, baroque furniture, personal attention, a cute little dog.)

	NY Magazine, March 2005 THE BEST OF NEW YORK ISSUE. New York has surprisingly few perfumeries of the sort one sees in European cities-jewel-box boutiques that sell nothing but scents. But this tiny West Village store devoted to fragrances (with a smattering of skincare) more than does its part. The romance factor is big, with violet walls, gilded und mirrored furniture, giant bouquets of fresh flowers, and the owners' tiny dogs snoozing on velvet chairs. Scattered about are dozens of carefully chosen, relatively uncommon scents like Cote Bastide, Serge Lutens, and Hierbas de Ibiza, alongside better-known lines like Diptyque, Creed and Santa Maria Novella. Exclusivity doesn't come cheap- a candle and a cologne will generally run you well over $100-but the shops clerks will take plenty of time to help you select just the right scent, and the giftwrap topped with fresh flowers is a pretty final touch.

	WWD BeautyBiz, November 2001 SCENT AND THE CITY. Aedes de Venustas stocks the most exclusive beauty products in town. By Alison Oneacre "This is Linden Flower," says Karl Bradl, dousing a perfume strip with four generous spritzes and aerating it beneath a customer's nose. "And this," he says, bouncing over to the next display of bottles and misting a new strip, "is the yuzu fruit. It's Japanese." Bradl's nose may look normal-pert and with a well-angled Teutonic slope-but as far as noses go, it's actually quite extraordinary. A co-owner of Aedes de Venustas, the exclusive West Village fragrance and skin care boutique, Bradl relies on his acute and well-regarded sense of smell to distinguish perfume notes like basil, vetiver and mimosa flower for his customers and to pick new fragrances for the store that meet his strict standards. "The fragrance has to have a certain special quality to it," says Bradl in his thick German accent over brunch at Les Deux Gamins. "I know it when I smell it. I hate anything strongly synthetic, like when you open up a magazine and mell all those strips-Oh," he shudders. "It lingers in my sinuses." Bradl and his co-owner, Robert Gerstner, have perhaps the most exquisitely and expensively perfumed 550 square feet in Manhattan. Tucked into a basement floor on Christopher Street, Aedes de Venustas (which means temple of beauty in Latin) stocks over 1,300 items that contain the most exotic ingredients in the world. Perfume bottles and candles laced with freesia, camellia and tuberose, as well as less-pronounceable extracts like osmanthus and bois d'iris spill onto Louis XV tabletops and gilded armoirs. Coupled with red velvet walls and occasional bolt of leopard print, the decor is decidedly boudoir-meets-wizard's potion cabinet. The displays are devoid of any designer fragrances and hold between them 13 fragrance lines (Diptyque, L'Artisan Parfumeur, Creed, Czech & Speake, Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier, Etro, Serge Lutens etc.) and three skin care lines (Jurlique, Found and Duchess Marden), plus various candles, soaps, scrubs and incense. "It's very intimate," admits Robert Gerstner, who's also German. "But we're like family. You can sit on the floor for hours and play with the fragrances. We don't care. We don't push you. We tell people to sample things. We say, 'Go home, play with it for a few days, see how you like it, then come back.'" And they almost always do, eihter for the store's more obscure stock or for its bestsellers: Diptyque's Baies candle; L'Artisan Parfumeur's Premier Figuier fragrance and Creed's Fleurissimo, the fragrance commissioned by Prince Rainer of Monaco for his bride, Grace Kelly, in 1956. Gerstner keeps the celebrities sweet-smelling and moisturized, too. Liv Tyler loves Jurlique. So does Naomi Campbell, who's partial to the line's aroma mists as well as Diptyque candles. Amber Valletta is also a Diptyque girl, while Anna Sui can't live without Mariage Freres' The Rouge candle and Agraria's Bitter Orange incense. Todd Oldham's a fan of Czech & Speake's Frankincense & Myrrh cologne. Jennifer Lopez is a client, as is Giorgio Armani, who enlisted the duo's help in perfuming Guggenheim's air at the star-studded opening of his exhibition last fall. They've sent gifts of Diptyque and L'Artisan Parfumeur to both Madonna and Ricky Martin crisply sealed in their signature giftwrap, a black box tied with satin ribbon and fresh flowers that Bradl purchases twice a week. "I buy whatever is in season," he says, adding that the $15 charge covers only the cost of materials. "They're really into serving their customers," says Debi Mazar, a devotee since its opening in 1995. "It's almost like a small salon, like a mom-and-pop store. I first discovered it when I lived in the neighborhood and they carried my favorite scent, Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier Jasmine. Nobody else even carried it in the states." Indeed, carrying the exotic is part of their mission. When they first opened their doors, they featured only six fragrance lines, but displayed the entire collection of each, a rule they still adhere to. "For us, it's about quality, not quantity. If we recommend a product, we use it," says Bradl. "We are really, really, really picky. We didn't want anything in our store that was in every other store." The president of U.S. distribution for L'Artisan Parfumeur, Sandi Burrows, supported them from the beginning. "It was obvious that Karl and Robert had the knowledge and understanding of quality that we look for," says Burrows, who routinely discourages retailers who, in her opinion, don't share a passion for their products. Cavan Mahoney, a co-founder of Sundari, said Aedes de Venustas was one of the first retailers to adopt their product. "They really focus on natural products and educating the consumer,"says Mahoney. "Their personality goes into so much of the store, and the environment was a perfect fit for us." Gerstner's own vision for Aedes de Venustas was inspired in part by Coco Chanel. "When Coco first started working with essential oils in the Thirties, she said, 'I always want to smell where my coat is.' That's what it is about,' he says. "Having your own personal scent. She knew that her body chemistry combined with the oils and fabrics in her coat. She was a modern woman." (Gerstner's shih tzu, the store's mascot, is even named Coco.) The duo credits Naomi Campbell with introducing them to the city's intimate circle of fashion, makeup and styling. After happening upon the store with her agent in 1996, she registered her Christmas account with them. "That introduced us to many people, and the following year, Vogue and InStyle caught on, featuring items on Aedes de Venustas. "Our business tripled. We actually had people flying in from L.A. just to shop here,' marvels Gerstner. Oldham is another devotee who helped to jump-start their business. "I really believe in what they do," he says. "I just kept telling people about it. They're such sweet, sophisticated guys." Even with specialty store-in-store beauty boutiques like the ones at Barneys and Jeffrey popping up right and left, the pair still manage to separate themselves from their competitors. "We focus on customer service," says Gerstners. "Any requests, we can satisfy. If you order today, we ship today." In the six years Aedes de Venustas has been open, either Gerstner or Bradl -and usually both- has been in the store. "Our customers expect us to be there. We've developed friendships with people. We're also therapists. People come by to just chat," says Gerstner. The 1-800 number to their sought-after mail-order catalog and their web site, aedes.com even rings directly in the store. "They're amazing. One phone call and they know exactly what I want. My mom and sister shop there, too," says Mazar.