Brrr! This winter has outdone itself already, and it's only mid-January. I started my year of vanilla last fall, and today I've got five suggestions for vanilla perfumes to keep you cozy and warm while winter does its worst. And as always, do add your own picks in the comments!
Guerlain Shalimar: Duh, you knew that, right? If you're not sure which one to buy, see Angie's Shalimar Face-Off, and you might also consider the flanker Guerlain Shalimar Ode à la Vanille. (If Shalimar is too old school for you, or you want something less instantly recognizable, the alternative would be Anné Pliska, once described by a reader here as "like Shalimar with Dreamsicle".)
Guerlain Spiritueuse Double Vanille: Yep, Guerlain gets two entries, and possibly Ode, mentioned above, deserves its own entry as well. Whatever else you might think about Guerlain, they know their vanilla. This one is a crowd-pleasing gourmand, in a much more modern style than Shalimar, that's both delicious and comforting, and a bit boozy. Yes, it costs an arm and a leg, sorry (as of this moment, $260 for 75 ml). I have not tried the most recent versions, do comment if you have!
Imaginary Authors Memoirs of a Trespasser: Warming but not too heavy, and a great vanilla for anyone opposed to straightforward gourmands. I described it as "a reasonably dry and smooth vanilla over a bed of resinous amber-y woods, with hints of spice and allusions to tobacco and leather." If you don't love it, or if you want more heft and sillage, the alternative would be the more widely known Tobacco Vanille from Tom Ford, which is probably one of that brand's biggest sellers.
Serge Lutens Un Bois Vanille: a sweet — too sweet for me personally — vanilla comfort gourmand, with rich fruits, a hint of licorice and a nice undertone of smoky woods and resins. It is often compared to crème brulée, and someone on MakeupAlley once described it as 'Pink Sugar for grownups'. It used to seem reasonably priced in the 50 ml size (I think when I started blogging it was around $80?), but now that it's only sold in 100 ml at $230, it doesn't seem quite the bargain it once was.* (My preference in the dessert category would be L'Artisan Havana Vanille / Vanille Absolument, but it's sadly discontinued.)
i Profumi di Firenze Ambra del Nepal: one of my favorite amber scents, probably because I'm not such a huge amber fan but I am a huge vanilla fan, and Ambra del Nepal is about the creamy vanilla as much as the amber. Add incense and a dash of cardamom, and you've got a fantastic comfort fragrance for cold weather, almost-but-not-quite gourmand (you won't smell like cake).
* See comment below from kittymeow84, possibly the 50 ml size is not discontinued as I had thought.
Note: top image is vanilla [cropped] by Ted Major at flickr; some rights reserved.
I adore Guerlain double vanille! I thought it was limited edition and they didn’t sell it anymore.
is it still in production? and where can I get it in the UK? I’ve haven’t found it anywhere online.
It’s at lots of department stores in the US but don’t see it at department stores in the UK offhand — couldn’t you have it shipped to you from Guerlain?
I haven’t seen it at any of my local department stores. and it’s not available to buy on Guerlain’s website. I’ll go to my local Guerlain counter at House Of Fraser and ask them how to go about it. or give the company a call. thanks 🙂
I did find an alternative= Elizabeth & James Nirvana Bourbon, but it’s not the same. it is intoxicating and I enjoy it but it’s not as creamy and smooth or with as much depth and Double Vanille.
It’s not in high st dept stores in UK , but is available in ‘premium’ dept stores like Harrods / Harvey Nichols / Selfridges (but only Instore not on their websites )
ooh we have a Harvey Nichols in Leeds. I will be visiting their Guerlain counter. thankyou so much!
Weird, I am seeing it on Guerlain’s French site. Maybe you can order from there?
maybe I’ll try that as a last resort, haha 😀 I will go to the Guerlain counter at Harvey Nichols first and see if they have it or can order it 🙂 thank you all for your help!
Good luck!
It is still in production, although it has been reformulated and is less rich.
that’s a shame 🙁 I’ll still hunt it down and give it a sniff. thanks for the heads up 😀
Like everything. (I happened to smell Diptyque Tam Dao recently and still weeping over that.)
oh I forgot about memoirs of a trespasser… i should see if i can find my sample somewhere, that sounds lovely right now!
The one drawback with the Imaginary Authors names is that it’s hard for me to remember which is which — I forget to wear it too.
I completely forgot that Ambra del Nepal had vanilla!!!! Gorgeous and my favorite amber. I might have more vanilla perfumes than I thought…..
Funny, I think they could have named it Vaniglia del Nepal just as well.
I love Ambra di Nepal, as well as their Vaniglia del Madagascar.
I was thinking about buying a decant of Vaniglia del Madagascar. Is it a smoky vanilla?
I find it a floral vanilla.
I need more smoky vanillas in my life.
I liked the VdM, but thought AdN was the better vanilla.
I would definitely add Prada L’Eau Ambree and Marienbad to the list. Both of them are very warm and comforting mixtures of amber and vanilla.
Interesting, I don’t think of the the L’Eau Ambree as a vanilla fragrance — do love it though!
My favorite vanilla for winter is Le Labo Vanille 44..too bad it’s so hard to get a hold of and so expensive!!
I love the LL but don’t think of it as a vanilla at all. Doesn’t matter either way, because yes, too expensive!
I’m not a huge vanilla fan but I wear some of them, and my most favorite vanilla is Mona di Orio Vanille.
I thought the MdO would get more votes today! Maybe it will yet.
It’s hard to think of cosy vanillas when the Celsius temps are in the high thirties (pushing towards 100F) this week. But I will put in a good word for Rochas Man, my favourite winter vanilla. Vanilla tempered by coffee and lavender. Whip smart and very sexy.
If you’re trying to make me jealous, it’s working!! I need to try Rochas Man.
Sorry, then I won’t even MENTION the fresh tomatoes and herbs growing lushly on my patio … or the gardenias and late jasmine … 🙂
LOL! You are trying to make me block you, aren’t you?
Seriously, enjoy it all 🙂
Well…I’m in the northern hemisphere, and even I’ve got a couple tomatoes struggling on the vine and bunches of herbs growing enthusiastically, and gardenias and jasmines thinking about blossoming 🙂 (I’m in California, and we will most definitely be paying for our mild winter with insects this summer.)
Yeah — none of that is happening in my corner of the world!
I feel the same; I see it’s been around since 1999. Annemarie, is your bottle of Rochas Man vintage? These days a new bottle can be had for around $20 it seems….
Nah, got mine last year at a local discount chemist. Paid about $30 for 50mls which is about what I’d expect for full retail in Australia. I have not tried vintage. At those prices the raw materials must be pretty cheap and I can understand if people find it a bit synthetic. Sitll, I love it.
I love Rochas Man but it doesn’t hit vanilla to me. More like cotton candy! But lovely nontheless.
It can become cloying if over-sprayed. I use only about two small spritzes. Keeping it subtle is the key with this one. 🙂
Angelique Noire gets has a lot of vanilla to me..so that will make the list!
Vanille Exquise
PdN Vanilla Tonka
Shalimar Vanille Madagascar
I would also like to add Shalimar tea to the list ..since there is a dose of vanilla in the tea 🙂
Besides Clydes on Madison closing RIP I am sad to report when I called the Caron store near Grand Central today they are closed as well. Times are changing…
The PdN is a decent contender for several seasons, and might make my spring, we’ll see — there is a lot of vanilla out there!
Ooooo – another vote for Angelique Noire here!
Although I’m thinking more for my spring list of vanillas.
Caron is sort of just languishing isn’t it? Shame. But like someone else mentioned on today’s SotD, I pulled out Pour un Homme for Vanilla Week. (Pulled it out for Lavender Week, too.)
Yes…Caron has gone a long far way downhill from what it was when I first got interested in perfume.
I used to love Vanille Tonka. It’s still pretty nice vanilla, but I miss that happy lime…
Oh, right — that’s the problem with these lists, often I have not tried the latest iteration.
I’m definitely with you, I like the bitter edge in Angelique Noire!
I also really like cutting the sweetness from the dry down with…*dramatic reveal*…a couple sprays if Laphroaig scotch! If the general public wouldn’t immediately assume that I’m an alcoholic, I’d wear the scotch all the time. 🙂
The delicious whisky, peat, tar, and salty/iodiney water smells are the best kind of surprise under vanilla, and it’s tenacious. Let me tell ya, I sprayed both on yesterday early afternoon (right after lunch?) and they were still detectable this evening, albeit very close to the skin.
Downside, the SO saw me very carefully pouring a small amount of scotch into a travel sprayer and (thought I was crazy) immediately asked what I was doing to the poor scotch. This quickly got into a comparison of the cost per oz of scotch and perfume and I could see the moment when he started tallying up my estimated expenditures on fragrances and samples. XD
Oh how interesting!
And have you tried Spirit of the Glen? Might be cheaper to use the real thing, though.
I haven’t, mostly because I end up disliking fragrances that are supposed to smell like whisky since they (so far) haven’t smelled similar enough.
Besides, I have my favorites at home anyway, might as well sacrifice some to the fragrance gods! At $40-70 for 750ml, it’s a steal. 🙂
Yes, probably is more cost efficient to just keep the real thing on hand!
You spray Laphroaig onto your skin?? It doesn’t get sticky or anything? I HAVE to try this.
Let me know if it works for you! Word of caution, it may stain light clothes.
Oh, I’d love to find Ode a la Vanille but they’re expensive now. 🙁
For Shalimar but with a tan, I love Etat Libre d’Orange Fils de Deu. I didn’t notice until reading Bois de Jasmin’s review but it is a beautiful variation of Shalimar.
Interesting, I did not think of FdD that way either, I’ll have to try it. But it’s spring or summer, isn’t it?
I think so. It’s got impressive sillage.
I’m not much of a vanilla lover but I do like the vanilla Guerlain uses. I think the only vanilla-centric perfume I now own is Aroma M Vanilla Hinoki, which smells more like a Chime’s ginger chew to me. I know others will disagree with me, but I get mostly spiced vanilla from Musc Ravageur. I like both bit am rarely in the mood for them.
AdP sounds nice. I should sniff that one of these days.
And I need to try Vanilla Hinoki then — I love ginger chews!
Robin, I’m confused about why you think Un Bois Vanille is only available in 100 ml and is so expensive. Discount sites have the smaller bottle for a very low price (with 30 percent off coupon). Is it okay to include a link? https://www.fragrancenet.com/perfume/serge-lutens/serge-lutens-un-bois-vanille/eau-de-parfum#192059
Yes, but they’ve discontinued the 50 ml size in the latest repackaging, haven’t they? That’s my understanding, anyway. If you look at the SL site, you’ll see that some scents are still in both sizes but in different packaging, & I can’t find a 50 ml bottle in the new packaging. So I thought that essentially when existing 50 ml bottles had all been sold (which mind you, could take ages) they were gone.
Someone correct me if I’m wrong!
Vanilla isn’t my favorite note either. But in the winter I wear L’Artisan Parfumeur Vanille Absolument aka Havana Vanille. That narcissus note tames the sweetness and adds just a hint of filth!
I definitely would have included that if it wasn’t discontinued, it’s one of my favorites.
Funny that CSP used to be basically the entire universe of vanilla and now they’re an also-ran: they had rose, freesia, raspberry, amber, orange, pineapple, apricot, peach, almond, banana, coconut, coffee, and cinnamon vanillas (and more besides that I’m forgetting), and still do have a few on the market.
I have I think eight of them and love them all but my heart will always belong to Un Bois Vanille.
I wish I could find the banana here, I never did get to try that one! Sephora has only the blackberry, apricot, coconut, plus Vanille Extreme.
Vanilla has become a complicated note for me as I’ve gotten older and sniffed more perfumes. Sometimes I like it a lot, and other times, not so much.
For winter, two perfumes with a notable vanilla presence that I enjoy would be Chopard Casmir and Kenzo Jungle L’Elephant.
You’ve become more discerning, then? That’s got to be a good thing.
This is a great list, but must add my most recent fave: By Kilian Amber Oud. Not very ambery and definitely not much oud – but smooth as silk and with a lovely vanilla touch. I love it. And it’s another expensive one. Ouch.
Yeah — this is not a bargain list today!
I’ve always thought Frapin 1697 was closely related to L’Artisan Parfumeur Vanille Absolument, but I’m not seeing 1697 on Luckyscent now. I wonder if it’s also discontinued. If so, BOO!
I like that one too, but maybe not as much — does look like it’s out of stock everywhere though!
Love this series, thanks for another excellent post Robin!
Especially excited to see some favorites (the first three) on here!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Happy New year fragrant people!!!
Oh, Vanilla! How I still love thee.
My favourite is still undeniably Mona, but I tend to enjoy cakey vanille in the cold, like the Comptoir kind. Others I love are the woody-spicy Organza Indécence, Lush Vanillary, Monogotas Vainilla (playdoh! playdoh!!!), Tesori d’Oriente Vaniglia e Zenzero del Madagascar, L de Lolita Lempicka, even TBS Vanilla chai (yeah, I know) and of course Shalimar (preferably edt for me). Serge, Montale, Indult, Spiriteuse, Havana V. are too boozy for my taste, but woodsy-spicy is a nice way to go! I also have a powdery have, Les Nereides Douceur de Vanille, but it is dc-ed, and I’ m running low.:(
Thanks for the lovely post and comments! Many ideas.
Nice list, thanks so much!
The 50ml Serge’s are coming back in the next few months! I have this on good authority.
As for Vanilla – Nothing beats Aroma M Vanilla Hinoki to this day. Or Fort & Manle Maduro (which isn’t a SOLE vanilla frag but its got lots in it)
Thank you so much, glad to hear it!
That’s an interesting development. Could it be they listened to their customers?
I never really ‘got’ vanilla until Caron Pour un Homme… it still beguiles and confuses me the way that lavender and vanilla both butt heads and hold hands in that fragrance. But Pour un Homme, for all its aromatherapeutic properties, is remarkably uncompromising in its presentation of these notes. I will always love it, but acknowledge now that It turned out to be a gateway drug for Habit Rouge, which has a more cozily integrated vanilla note… Perhaps because in HR, vanilla is not just an olfactory note, but a textural sensation nestles inside a succession of textural sensations. The vanilla in both of these compositions addresses itself to skin, IMHO… if ‘vanilla’ is now a byword for boring or everyday in our culture, then we are all, I expect a lot more sensuous than we allow ourselves to admit!
The Caron was such a great scent, probably suited me more than the HR although that’s a masterpiece too.
Don’t know what the Caron is like these days, so many of the Carons have been reformulated to death.
I don’t have enough experience with vintage Caron product to judge but, there are some pretty good rundowns of the Caron masculines on Boisdejasmine (Victoria does a comprehensive comparison, and pulls no punches in the case of some of the reformulations she thinks were bungled), and Bryan Ross (‘frompyrgos’) has gone at least far back as the 90’s in the case of Pour un Homme. The consensus seems to be that the ‘holy trinity’ of Caron masculines has been reasonably well-preserved. I tried 3rd Man and Pour un Homme in old-ish formulation in the 2000’s at the late, great Caron boutique in NYC, and subsequently bought bottles of PuH, 3rd Man and Yatagan between 2015 and now. Yatagan and PuH are great, to my nose, anyway. 3rd Man minus its oakmoss relies more heavily on musk. Personally, I feel this flattens it out considerably. It is now a reliable aromatic fougere with a bit of a vintage citrus feel and a touch of skank, but the edgy, delicate balance between masculine and feminine notes that used to make it so beguiling has been lost (just my opinion.)