Divine Vanille (Essential Parfums) presents a vanilla fragrance without excesses of garnish or distraction. It honours the complex material and builds from it - never working against it. Respecting its floral tones, as well as its smoky ones, Divine Vanille is pure and delightful - totally true to its name. Subtle additions including osmanthus, cinnamon, and tonka bean develop vanilla’s complex profile.
A delicious creation, and one that demands a moment of pause: Madagascar Le Baume Vanille by Parfum d'Empire celebrates the gourmand side of vanilla, retaining the composure of serious perfumery. A single whiff contains an entire universe of impressions, and is something to be savoured like the fine treat it is. Yellow flowers, red berries, and tawny dried fruit skins; nutty tones leading into smoke, spice, and leather. The simple image of vanilla soaking in old rum, drawing aroma and flavour from these wrinkly pods, becomes a balm as much as it does a potion. A little bit of fire, tobacco smoke, a definite degree of spicy booziness - but always brilliantly bright and friendly.
Celebrating the balsamic depth of vanilla, Harvest Mouse from Zoologist feels like autumn: its blend of hay, malt, chamomile and clove lends a soothing spiciness, while benzoin, opoponax, peru balsam, and sandalwood create an ambery blanket as soft as cashmere. Vanilla blends and blurs, bridging these two impressions. Comfort can also be found in Frustration (Etat Libre d’Orange). Its warm and spicy profile the result of rum and chestnut notes that have been lightly spiced with cumin and cinnamon, and set against a solid base of vetiver and labdanum. Boozy and glowing with warmth, temptingly oily but dry, woody, and smoky at the same time, Frustration is a seriously mature gourmand - its vanilla aspect essential to its balance.
Memoirs of a Trespasser by Imaginary Authors perfectly showcases a vanilla fragrance stripped of its typical gourmand associations. Here the wrinkles of this product turn into grains of wood. Impressions of clay and charred oak barrels work with the balsamic depth of guaiac and sweet myrrh. An earthy-woody fragrance redolent of being by the fireplace, vanilla offers a softening counterpoint to an intense dryness.
Vanille Havane by Les Indemodables is undoubtably the richest vanilla in terms of natural material, with a whopping 9.1% in its formula. It is a journey through the multiple olfactory facets of premium ‘gourmet’ grade black vanilla bean, revealing the depths and layers of this exquisitely complex perfume ingredient, revealing all the mysterious facets of the vanilla pod, with milky, honeyed, amber, woody, spicy, animalic, and rum-like notes.
