Autumn and the scent of smoke seem made for each other. Maybe it’s the nostalgia of the season’s first wood fires, or a taste of peaty Scotch, or the steaming pots of smoky Lapsang Souchong tea that sound so good on a rainy afternoon, but for me it’s hard to separate smoke and November. For that reason, I looked forward to sampling Aftelier Vanilla Smoke.
Not that I didn’t have my concerns. After all, not all smoke is good smoke. Would the smoke be toasty or touched with cumin (like real wood smoke can be) or acrid? Worse, would the vanilla smell like cake batter? Fortunately, with Mandy Aftel we’re in good hands.
Aftelier Vanilla Smoke’s notes include yellow mandarin, Siam wood, saffron absolute, vanillin, vanilla absolute, Lapsang Souchong, ambergris and coumarin. I tested both the Eau de Parfum and the Parfum.
In a nutshell, Vanilla Smoke is an easy-wearing blend of smoke and vanilla touched with amber. Just what you’d expect. The smoke is from Lapsang Souchong tea, and the vanilla is rooty and not pudding-like. (Even if you aren’t much of a tea drinker, if you like woody-herbal smoke you owe it to yourself to brew a cup of Lapsang Souchong for the scent alone. The tea gets its aroma from being dried over pine fires.) Vanilla Smoke won’t startle anyone with its inventiveness, and my guess is that it will please a wide range of people. It’s a natural combination — comforting and nostalgic.
Where Vanilla Smoke’s brilliance shows is in how the vanilla and smoke balance each other so well, with neither taking a starring role. Even though either note on its own could be demanding, let alone combined, they mind their manners and stay silky instead of insistent. Keep sniffing, and you’ll appreciate how saffron lifts and cools Vanilla Smoke and gives it a subtle skin feel. (I especially noticed the saffron in the Eau de Parfum’s opening moments.) In the Parfum, ambergris stands out more to me than in the Eau de Parfum with its salty, shimmery feel.
Vanilla Smoke has quiet yet present sillage, but it burns off quickly. The Eau de Parfum almost completely vanishes on my skin within three hours. I was afraid that Vanilla Smoke might flatten to vanilla and amber in its dry down, but it keeps its shape until the end for the Eau de Parfum. No worries there. The Parfum dries down to a sophisticated wood-tinged amber that sticks tight for five or six hours after the rest of the fragrance is gone. (The Parfum comes with a pipette and tiny auxiliary bottle you can tuck in your purse for touch-ups.)
I have a few more drops of Vanilla Smoke Parfum left. I think I’ll save them for Thanksgiving.
Aftelier Vanilla Smoke is available in 30 ml Eau de Parfum ($180); 7.5 ml Parfum ($180); 2 ml mini Parfum ($50), and a .25 ml sample of the Parfum ($6). For information on where to buy it, see Aftelier under Perfume Houses.
Note: top image is Lapsang souchong [cropped and colored] by poppet with a camera at flickr; some rights reserved.
Thank you for the review. I was brewing a up of lapsong souchong when I opened the review to read. This sounds like a great one to sample in both EdP and parfum.
That’s perfect! I recently replenished my stock of Scotch, but not Lapsang Souchong. When I do, my autumn smoke needs will be satisfied.
The Bay Area is a sort of pilgrimage place which I must someday visit, and Mandy Aftel is a big part of it. The parfum concentration sounds particularly wonderful, with its real ambergris. I love smoke like that in Fumérie Turque on cold, rainy day. It warms up the soul, like a bright pink umbrella.
Fumerie Turque is wonderful. I’d love a bottle of the new Tabac Tabou, too.
I’m definitely here for saffron + smoky vanilla. Saffron + anything, really!
Isn’t saffron a great note? It’s in the Aftelier chocolate body oil, too.
I’m so glad you reviewed this. I also got samples of both the EdP and the parfum, and I’ve just ordered a bottle of the parfum. It’s not as edgy as some of the others from Mandy Aftel (Cepes and Tuberose, Tango), but I can see wearing it often. I compared it to another smoky vanilla, CB I Hate Perfume 7 Billion Hearts—which I like a lot but don’t really wear much—and that one has a bitter smokiness to it (acrid is an excellent description). I find Vanilla Smoke much more wearable.
You’ll soon be smelling delicious! It’s such an easy fragrance to wear.
I’ve used up my sample of Vanilla Smoke and I am quite torn on it. I was so sure this would be my favorite Aftel ever. I love all the notes, with dry vanilla and smoke two huge favorites. And saffron! Plus, I hoard lapsong souchong tea, my favorite cool weather drink.
Yet I found Vanilla Smoke very much just the sum of it its parts and no more. The parfum was quite literal and linear on me and then, three hours later, it was completely gone. In those ways, it didn’t seem much like an Aftel creation, as her work typically is so rich, and multi-faceted, and lasts forever (even when, in the case of Cacao, I wish it didn’t).
Still, I’m tempted to buy a small bottle of the parfum, just because I can’t believe I don’t love it, and I want to and maybe I just need .25ml to make it happen. In the meantime, I’ll console myself with Aftel’s gorgeous Ancient Resins oil (as close as I’ll likely ever get to Leonard Cohen in this life).
It really doesn’t last long on skin, true. I wonder if you’d like the EdP with its more prominent (to me, at least) saffron?
Ancient Resins oil is a great way to console yourself!
Is it similar to Bulgari Black? A less rubbery version of that would be amazing!
I just pulled out my bottle of Bulgari Black–thank you for reminding me of it! I love it!–and while they’re cousins, I wouldn’t really call them super similar. Bulgari Black lives in an urban penthouse with stainless appliances while Vanilla Smoke has a bungalow with a large garden.
Ok, I have to try this now!
After wearing Bulgari Black a while, I see that it’s a lot muskier, too, than Vanilla Smoke.
Sounds lovely. Can you say how it compares to Le Labo Vanille 44?
It’s been so long since I’ve smelled Vanille 44 that I’m afraid I can’t help you! Perhaps someone else here can, though.
I’ll chime in — they are very different. The opening of Vanilla Smoke EDP smells like Band-Aid (similar to Bvlgari Black but less black rubber exhaust) whereas Vanille 44 is more incensy. The vanilla part for both is spicier rather than sweetish. Vanille 44 lasts forever while Vanilla Smoke went poof in 2-3 hours with 3 sample spray spritzes. I will be trying the parfum concentration next.
Thanks for weighing in! I’d love to know what you think of the Parfum–especially the far dry down.
Thank you! I’ve ordered a sample of the parfum concentration. Hoping for no Band-aid top note!
Lovely review Angela! Isn’t the lapsang souchong+vanilla an enticing combo? I too really loved the parfum more than the EDP, mostly because it has better longevity. I will have to try it again and take note of the saffron 🙂
XOXO
I really thought the saffron came out in the EdP, but that could have been because I sprayed it–sometimes it’s hard to tell. But, yes, it’s an intuitively alluring combo! When my ship comes in, I wouldn’t mind a bottle of the parfum.