Vanille Botanique

DSH Perfumes – Vanille Botanique is one of the more popular offerings in her catalogue, from what I can tell, and one that’s been on my list to try for some time. In trying the EDP form, it immediately lives up to its billing, a resinous and multifaceted vanilla that, while clearly indulging a vanilla fan like myself, nevertheless is not overwhelmingly sweet, let alone cake-like. Its ingredients seem to consist predominantly of a couple types of vanilla and several resins—labdanum, peru balsam, siam benzoin, tolu balsam—along with wee hints of citruses, rose, woods, and even civet, though I admittedly don’t detect much civet at all. The blend balances the smoothness and sweetness of a vanilla/resin mix while providing some quirks in the form of the ever-so-slightly animalic touches of the resins, as well as the floral/citrus/woods mix that lies in the background. Again, it’s still mostly vanilla and sweet, creamy resins, but not predominantly to the point that it’s simple or monotonous. It’s not quite as boastful as DSH Café Noir EDP, but the darker, spicier character of that fragrance might make for a louder start. Still, Vanille Botanique is dense and pungent. A 60ml EDP bottle is priced at $235, no doubt in part due to the cost of raw materials, which, in the case of vanilla, has increased dramatically in recent years, it seemed, but as with the rest of her catalogue, there are a variety of sizes and formats available. I think Vanille Botanique is great and it’s one I’ll consider buying, as it certainly deviates a bit from other vanillas in my collection. 8 out of 10

Perfection! Vanille Botanique is my favorite cold weather vanilla on the market including designer as well as indie, all natural, and niche perfumes. It smells like a true vanilla bean, the kind that you can buy two at a time in a glass jar from Whole Foods. It's rich, intense, extremely complex in the way the actual bean is woody, earthy, spicy, and almost animalic, and very natural smelling. You must enjoy labdanum (AMBER) to love this too. I expect this to smell extraordinary all year round. Why couldn't I have known about this from the very beginning!? I even love it more than Vanille Bourbon Intense (smokey, boozy), and Au Lait (milky, sugary) by the same house. All vanillaphiles do yourselves a favor and sample this next. An artistic rendering of the magic of the bean itself.

opens with vanilla and a very woody/resiny base that has a hint of a slightly animalic sort of thing. it’s very familiar but hard to describe in words-an almost mildly burnt wood smell, i think it's tolu balsam. the vanilla is a bit creamy, smells like vanilla extract but less intense, however not a super gourmand vanilla. after about 10-15 minutes i get a floral note, but doesn’t necessarily read as jasmine. overall it’s an earthy vanilla with resins and amber, and gets more ambery over time. really gorgeous after being on the skin 30 minutes+.

This wasn't love at first sniff but something that I began to love later. It came with other from DSH scents that I had ordered and when I've first sniffed it was like, ok-ish, nothing special. But a bit later, oh boy, it became something out of this world. A warm, cozy and fresh floral, ambery thing that I've never experienced before in a vanilla scent. It's thick, syrupy and balsamic and I detect the labdanum, the tolu and peru balsam, the benzoin, the beeswax, the vanilla. This is my happy, comfort place and I'm addicted to it!!

How this vanilla scent has not become more known I don't know. Utterly sublime and luscious. A sophisticated vanilla that isn't too dry and needs skin to bloom. Perhaps the most sensual vanilla on the market that I can think of. You just want to keep sniffing yourself, a perfect balsam vanilla.