Aquatic Vanilla

I own both JHAG Vanilla Vibes and this one. I actually prefer the Dossier version. The opening isn't as mineral heavy , or salty. The vanilla is stronger in this one as well, the dry down is a soft , breezy non cloying vanilla. I live in an extremely humid climate and I'm a sweaty gal, this doesn't smell musky on me. I get no nausea and the potency compared the original is better, also this one lasts so much longer. For me personally this is my perfect vanilla , it's not gourmand, I can't smell the musk. It also just wears so beautifully through and through. For me this is a year round scent and can be used for layering. Also it doesn't smell like sunscreen or tropical. It fades into a not too sweet, not artifical soft balanced vanilla that melts into the skin. Truly an underrated gem.

As someone who originally could not afford the JHAG version, using this dupe got me to try the JHAG discovery set and try the actual OG Vanilla Vibes. This is what dupes *should* do, inspire so much curiosity you end up trying it anyway. Love that they maintained the idea of a sugar-less vanilla, this is not a gourmand and most certainly is aquatic. The top notes sometimes come off a little bit like bug spray, but once you move past that it’s an easy dry-down to the salty vanilla tonka. It’s too grounded to be a purely summer scent, too oceanic to be an actual winter scent, too alive to be a fall scent, and too dark to be a spring scent. It rejects time and place labels and I love it, the first perfume to get me into perfumes overall.

I had doubts about this one for a blind buy but fell head over heels for this one. Close your eyes and imagine sitting on a sandy beach, it’s almost time for dinner and you are picking up your towel off the warm deck chair. Your coconut sunscreen is faintly on your skin while your salt water dried towel gets thrown around your tanned shoulders as you head in. Right before you enter your cabana, you see a street vendor offering up ice cream that you can’t resist and take a vanilla cone back to your room as a treat. Somehow this grabs all of that in a warm blanket and puts it into a fantastic summer fragrance. I will be wearing this quite a bit for the rest of the season.

I blind bought it for $25 with free shipping from the Dossier TikTok shop, so my expectations were low. I was pleasantly surprised when I got it, and it has quickly become my favorite summer scent. I’ve put quite the dent in the bottle, and that says a lot coming from someone with a decent sized collection. It smells like summer in a bottle, you get the marine notes, the coconut, vanilla and orchid throughout the wear. It’s sweet and delicate, and addictingly fresh. It’s an easy reach, and perfect for the sweltering Texas summers. This is a love, and a spot on dupe of JHAG VV.

I LOVE this perfume. For its value, it lasts a lot longer than I expected and wears really well on my skin. I was worried it would smell too salty or sweat-like, but the sandalwood notes balance it perfectly. I would recommend this for other people like me who love vanilla but dislike a lot of gourmand scents. You get a lot of the vanilla smell without it being too cloying.