Absolu de Vanille

La Maison de la Vanille - Absolu de Vanille is a solid entry in the vanilla world. After trying the fivesome of eau de toilette vanilla inspirations from this house, and loving two (Mexique and Madagascar), I was curious to see how this more pungent rendition was composed, and it lives up to my high expectations. It's a slightly dessert-like vanilla, certainly at least a gourmand vanilla, smoothed by benzoin but balanced with some powderiness in the tonka so that it's not an over-the-top gourmand, for those that fear an overly caked vanilla. It doesn't involve much evolution, though I feel the tonka comes out a lot more in the dry down, a couple of hours after applying. Pricing ($100 for 100ml on Luckyscent) is higher than the EDTs in the house, but so is the concentration (an absolute--extrait?) and performance. 8 out of 10

Feb 2026 Opoponax for winter! Benzoin for fall! Settled!

Absolu de Vanille is a chesty vanilla, dry, resinous kind of mix. It's initially pretty strong at the opening and the sillage dies down after a couple of hours. The opening is mostly vanilla (obviously), and the patchouli, benzoin and opoponax give this an almost oriental or middle eastern impression. It's a dry and spicy type of scent, that gives off a tinge of burning, which I'm guessing is the opoponax. At the end, I basically just get a lighter vanilla. The longevity is pretty good and it's not overly powerful, but probably people will notice it. It took me a little bit to warm up to it because it's different than most scents I own, but over a little bit of time, I really came to enjoy it.

On spraying my wrist, I could detect vanilla, some cinnamon and spice and maybe cedar. Not a lot of projection or sillage. Gone in 2 hours. Scent is rather weak compared to other gourmands like Mancera or Montale. It is in this niche category but you have to keep respraying to keep the scent going. It is more subtle and softer than I thought it would be. Very pleasant. I really like it. I just wish it was stronger and longer lasting for the price.

Smells very artificial. Not like vanilla, but like vanilla incense. Not my cup of tea. Low sillage, short longevity.

This was herby, sharp and heavy on the patchouli. I didn't get any sweetness from this.

This is too unisex, maybe even masculine for my taste. I think what's throwing me are the middle notes of opoponax, benzoin and maybe the labdanum in the base, not sure. It has an herbaceous quality that reminds me of something I can't yet place. Think this would be nice on men.

A dry, spicy vanilla with decent lasting power. Goes on smelling like boozy Kahlua. Has an aftershavey element which makes it seem rather masculine and off-balance.

This is more of an Absolu de la Ambre than Vanille. It has a decent dose of vanilla, but nothing absolute here!