Havana Vanille (Vanille Absolument)

Oh, how I wanted to adore this! Newly named "Vanille Absolument " - for some unknown reason - this vanilla is far from refined like the description wants you to believe. While I am intrigued by it, I just cannot put myself together to love it like I love Bois1920 La Vanigla, or Il Profumo Vanille Bourbon........ On me it starts sexy, with a boozy spicy rum, with hints of vanilla. This is the best phase on my skin and I would have preferred it to remain like this. But it doesn't last long enough. The fragrance changes... the tonka takes over the spicy rum, and there is a definite dirtiness here.... it's dusty and yes, as someone else mentioned, a little moldy... humid and woody... reminds me of those shacks made of rotting wood that have roofs made from banana leaves... people who are poor by our western standards, who didn't have a shower in ages except in ocean water perhaps... and their skin and hair smell.... they elude a certain simple happiness... that smells like this perfume! After this, another change... between the wet wood, tonka and mold there is fairly strong hint of...condensed milk? And tobacco leaves, green.... nothing like the tobacco in Tea for Two which is dry, cured, smoky... Finally everything softens... more vanilla comes at the end, and a little pleasant sweetness. Vanille Absolument is a true woody vanilla on my skin; not too spicy, not too strong, zero fruits, and surely not gourmand at all. There a weirdness in the middle phase that makes it a difficult love for me... Silage is mellow, lasting power quite good . Nevertheless it's addictive without being exactly beautiful. It's appealing and raw. Even though I am not enamoured with it, I cannot stop smelling it. Goes inside your system without the jitters of new love.

I have two bottles of this: one labeled as the original Havana Vanille, and one with the newer Vanille Absolument title. Although they are very similar, they are certainly distinct. The original feels more nuanced, and I get more rum, resin, and spice. The newer version is more vanilla-leaning and less boozy. Both are rich, woody, spicy vanillas with a deep, exotic feel. As someone with many vanilla perfumes, it is my favorite of all time. I have little to add to what has already been written on the notes, but I will say that no other parfum fetches me more compliments, dates, and attention than this fragrance. If vanillas and woods smell good on you, get ready to attract people when you wear this out. It meshes so well with my body chemistry that multiple men have said they thought I somehow just smelled like this. It's not that men couldn't pull off a fragrance like this, in fact I'm sure I'd enjoy it on a man, but I don't find that it smells masculine on me at all. In my opinion it's more or less neutral, but with the strong vanilla body, it bears no resemblance to what is marketed as typical men's fragrances and so I think could be read as feminine.

I've never been a vanilla fan in fragrance, so why did I sample this one? Because I thought if I'd ever like a vanilla fragrance, it would be one from L'Artisan - and I was right. I tend to more earthy-green fragrances, and generally avoid anything gourmand, but I've always loved the fermented, funky note of vanilla bean pods which is what I get here, enriched with tonka and tobacco (tobacco leaf, if you've ever smelled it drying in a tobacco barn - like the best fall day, but not as dark or earthy as processed tobacco), and supported by just enough wood and resin to reinforce the fact this is vanilla as a botanical ingredient vs. a food. The base notes you might think would make this very masculine - and it is easily worn by men, but in fact on skin it blends seamlessly and the the lack of musks and restrained use of the woods keeps the focus on the vanilla pod and keeps it from veering too far into conventional masculine territory. I bought a large bottle, and it's probably the best, most easy-to-wear cold weather scent I own. Very versatile, so works really well as a signature fragrance. Familiar and not 'challenging', but not routine.

Havana Vanille starts with some kind of cleaness and sweetness (in a perculiar way, it makes me think about tuberose, of course they smell different, but similar in the way they project clean, sharp and sweet aura) and mixed with spicy cinammon + vanilla combo. Soon it smells like a comfy local cafe in the winter to me. It smells of nice sweet foody spicy, a little bit sensual, totally intoxicating in an innocent, comforting way. I suddenly got the image of Tai Chai Latte, a slice of raisin toast and me, sitting at the table and enjoying a book. The dry down is something I would die for. It is sensual, sweet and truely intoxicating. I can smell something creamy and sweet like vanilla (I guess that's the resin + woodsy notes), and really great musk (the musk smell sweet, sexy, great quality and so real, it reminds me a lot of Musc by Bruno Acampora). The sillage is shorter than most of my other perfume, it lasts a good 3.5-4 hours, and then even though I can still smell it, it doesn't have any projection. It's like a shy trace of vanilla icecream, left really close to my skin for another 3 hours. A must try!

I wish this was still called Havana Vanille because I definitely smell the dry tobacco. Not only do I detect each and every note, but I detect them in the exact order shown in the perfume pyramid above, and it all blends together very effectively. The end result is a sweet vanilla with an herbal persona. It's only in the very end of the drydown that it smells like vanilla extract; up until that point it contains a note that resembles a vibrant green moss or maybe freshly crushed plant leaves. This green note lingers for hours. It's probably the second most unisex vanilla I've ever smelled, after the infamous Tobacco Vanille, which I sometimes find too dark and harsh. I always have a difficult time imagining vanilla on a man, but this fragrance might actually work. I personally don't think it smells like vanilla ice cream or think that it's gourmand, but at the same time I can easily see how it might come up that way on others, depending on chemistry. The projection and longevity are perfect--I can smell it on myself all day, but another person would only notice it if they gave me a hug.

I love vanilla....and am a little surprised by all the negative comments by those who also say they like vanilla. True, this isn't the vanilla sweetened with sugar most are used to....but I'd say it probably comes closer to the real bean. I've taken up baking recently...and know that there isn't a single sweet thing made in the oven that doesn't have a teaspoon or two of vanilla extract thrown in the ingredients. I decided to spend the extra money and buy a good vanilla extract, one soaked in good rum, with Madagascar beans...and NO other additives (many real vanilla extracts add corn syrup). Well, this perfume reminds me of that expensive vanilla extract. The vanilla most people are familiar with is the one that has already had many things added and done to it. People are not used to the more raw version. I like this perfume, but it takes a moment to get used to. And as it dries down on the skin, it softens up a bit. So intriguing how subjective scent is...how 2 different noses can smell the same thing and yet perceive that scent so differently! :)

This is a VERY boozy Vanilla. I actually get the Rum note as much if not more than the Vanilla at the opening at least. Very Boozy! Which is great. The Vanilla is always there like a light vail of warmth. In the mid, the Boozy (rum) tones down, and the Tobaccoy-leathery vibe comes up. This part of the fragrance is great. Slight spices, but nothing notible. Not cinnamon spice, more of a Clove type of spice, but not too noticable - I had to REALLY look for it. The drydown is heavenly. Very smooth transparent vanilla base that gives off a cigar (tobacco) vibe, Which I really like. L'Artisan changed the name from Havana Vanille to Vanille Absolument, but I actually think the first name is more suiting. I definitely get a cigar/pipe tobacco vibe from this rum & vanilla fragrance. I've even had people tell me I smell like Swisher Sweets, haha. Since I like the smell of a Boozy Vanilla, and fragrances that have a cigar/tobacco vibe.. I am loving this Absolument Vanille fragrance.

Vanille Absolument (formerly known as Havana Vanille) is a gorgeous, creamy-sweet dream that made me exclaim at first sniff 'It smells just like vanilla ice cream!". And up to this date, I haven't come up with a much better comparison to illustrate it, except maybe a tasty dessert my grandmother used to make called Oeufs a la Neige (Eggs in Snow) - a heavenly delight with custard cream. It's luscious, fluffy and milky and it has a kind of silkiness that sets it apart from all other vanilla perfumes I've tested before (which, truth be told, are more or less alike). The composition is a beautiful blend of vanilla, rum and dried fruits, rounded off with benzoin and tonka bean and a just a touch of orange and vetiver to make it seem easier and lighter. I couldn't however detect much tobacco in the notes - this is not a tobacco perfume. It's a mouthwatering milky gourmand that stays sweet and savory without ever falling on the cloying side. It's yummy!

I have the 'Vanille Absolument' named bottle of this beauty, which is much more rich in the smell of dreamy vanilla. This isn't the smell of vanilla in cake, ice cream, scented candles, body creams or other over sweet gourmand perfumes. No, this here is the smell of the actual fresh pods of the vanilla beans, complete with the odd chemical plastic/ musty booze sort of note that you get with the real pods. It dances around with this slightly acrid hint at the start and then dries down to a more cosy vanilla bean warmth, like you get upon cooking with vanilla. It stays very real and not synthetic on its amber base that's infused with some rum and dried sticky fruits. Heavenly if you like real vanilla, or hell if you detest it. My partner loathes the smell and hates it, whilst I huff my wrists and daydream away.

You need to be in a certain mental state to wear it, honestly. I had the best salsa night of my life wearing this, feeling so luxurious - because honestly, one spritz is plenty. Here's why: Smoky, boozy vanilla and narcissus open the show. it's a bit off-putting at first, you think it would be too strong, even masculine... but as it mellows on the skin, it softens. The narcissus turns from plastic to flower, the vanilla comes in as the richest, finest vanilla extract on the market. There's a powdery note that starts evolving and growing at the core, about half an hour into wearing it. With time, it becomes very femme. However, this is not a girly scent in any way. Don't buy this expecting something pink and fluffy. No. It's Rum, Narcissus, Smoky vanilla... real grown-up juice. One spritz is enough.

One of L'Artisan's best creations since the wheel and sliced bread, I know those are big words but that's just my opinion. There is something about boozy fragrances mixed with vanilla and or amber that just gets my banana peeling lol. This is one of the first niche and first L'Artisan I smelled years back and I was really taken back on how horrendous I thought this was based on the opening, but things change and so do people and now I'm proud to say that I have this as one of my all time favorites. If I could change this I would, I'd add a true tobacco leaf dipped the syrup note to the mix to really get the ball rolling but then again why tamper with something that's not broke?

Nice take on vanilla , a vanilla pod, rum, leather tobacco scent. One of the more masculine smelling vanilla perfumes out there. Quite realistic, natural and rich. I like it a lot!!! Great for winter and cold days ! Update, quite enjoying this , it softens into a very beautiful softer scent after half an hour. So even if you are not a fan of the leathery, tabaco smell in the first minutes, don't be discouraged , it's pretty impressive. Like real vanilla extract... Or open up a vanilla bean and smell it directly , black pure vanilla ,this is similar. Oh and the real juice is yellow, dark brownish yellow and not white like on this picture..

I love vanilla fragrances and this is one of the better one's in my collection. On my skin it almost smells like a block of plain Cadbury chocolate with the addition of tobacco and some dried fruit and then afterwards a coating of vanilla and a hit of rum layer themselves on top of the chocolate. It's perfect for the colder months but in the summer it's intoxicating and very sexy..it almost becomes overpowering but in the most euphoric and interesting way. If you like dry, boozey, chocolatey vanilla fragrances then i highly recommend giving this a sniff. The only thing that would make it better is if the lasting power was better.

this is the work of genius, the most inneresting and groovalicious vanilla-centered frag i have (& have plenty!) duchaufour is a master of 'weightlessness' in perfumery, and to achieve this with traditionally heavy notes - vanilla, tobacco, rum, imortelle(!) is really inspired. this remarkable balance also makes it quite seasonally versatile, giving you sweeter options in summer. chalk up another 5-star scent to duchaufour :) (this is a review of my older havana vanille, which apart from the name is much darker than the photo above. i'm led to believe they are the 'same' (i've not tried new-label juice) but i have my doubts....)

It's been a few months since I began sampling like a crazy fool and this is still my favourite thing. To me it smells like thick, luxurious vanilla ice cream, the home made kind with bits of real vanilla in there. It isn't very sweet, just enough, with a little salt to make it rich. Sprinkled on top are a selection of dreamy dry spices that waft around it, further enticing you. Then, just for pigs sake, a little root beer in the bottom of the bowl. Even though you said 'no', you know you love it...

Yesterday I was in Ulta and decided to try some of the new Burberry Goddess. It's beautiful, but it is essentially a bourbon vanilla scent, and it made me start craving Vanille Absolument. I got home and got my bottle out and doused myself in it -- and WOW, I have always loved it, but it absolutely hit the spot. Heavenly! On me it's just vanilla with an edge from the other notes. I'm grateful that I was able to get a 100 ml just as it was getting discontinued and that I've hung on to it.

Once again L'Artisan and Bertrand Duchaufour show us that perfumer still can make Perfumes. Havana Vanille starts creamy, almost buttery vanilla that gets support from fresh tobacco. I used to have Vanilla pipe tobacco and I enjoyed it's smell- it remains my best loved tobacco ever. Love that part. Later composition sweetens and it feels like a moderate drop of rum added. Not boozy or sickly at all. I recommend to try this one. Also will add that it lasts. It really does ^^

Fragrance created in 2009 by Bertrand Duchaufour for L'Artisan Parfumeur. Liqueur, opulent, kaleidoscopic fragrance that contains the magical and wonderful Caribbean notes. Authentic sensory journey of great charisma, highly emotional fragrance, which revives the vibrant Cuban night life on the skin, an explosion: warm, sweet, erotic, frenetic, gourmand, intense, liqueur, smoky with great character. Fragrance with an enveloping and lasting Sillage.

By all accounts I should be in love with this soft but curvaceous powdery spicy fruity vanilla but the liquer note is just not agreeing with me. I don't hate this but something about the whole composition reminds of like a wooden cigar box that has been sitting in an old persons bedroom for many years. After a short time the liquer softens and the vanilla sweetens and it's less powdery- I like it right now but not enough to buy a bottle.

...Havana vanille is warm, smokey and humid, creamy and rich and also powdery...It is vanilla and dried fruits saturated in aged rum exhaling gentle puffs of tobacco...it is very grown up sweetness, lively, but mature and nostalgic somehow...it is bursting with colors burned and mellowed in the years of scorching sun - terracotta, deep orange, crimson, dark yellow, emerald green...hot blooded and beautiful...

I just tried this again after a few years and I am still madly in love with it. It's a mood as much as it is a scent -- it captures a wide ranging suite of melancholic and nostalgic moods, and it functions as a soundtrack to these. It's perfect. It's boozy vanilla, with a hint of dried muesli-ready fruits, along with a gentle note of resins and woods to round it out. It's amazing. I love it to bits...

Just received this gem. I love it, its not for the faint hearted, I could associate it with Arabie from Serge lutens,they are both in the same vibe although this is sweeter, more wearable and with prominent vanilla and rum notes.its definitelly not a girly gourmand vanilla so any Arabie or shalimar ode a la vanille lovers should appreciate it.

I love this beautiful gourmand. On my skin it smells like a rich vanilla extract. I do not get any rum or tobacco notes... Although I'm sure it's even better for those who do. However, I will not purchase this fragrance. It fades so quickly on my skin that I would go through a bottle at such a rapid pace that it just wouldn't be worth the $$$.

Spicy vanilla-forward rum; very thick and boozy with lots of sweet dried fruit, balanced with a spicy tobacco. Definitely unisex, but surprisingly easier to pull off than expected. Long-lasting with great sillage, definitely more appropriate in the cold weather. Great offering!

The color of this picture is totally not the color of real Havana Vanille bottle. The real ones are pretty like dark yellow to brown. This is my most favorite vanilla-scent fragrance anyway! :Q

I am really enjoying Havana vanille and every single time wearing it seems to me like it is for a first time, because each time this superb vanilla is different on my skin. I just love it!

What a shame they first changed an intriguing name and then discontinued it! One of the most interesting scents from L'Artisan has disappeared. Unfair and shows no respect to the customer.

I had 4 bottles of this juice and I absolutely loved it for years. It’s rum yes, but gentle and wearable, unlike Frapin. Offering my last bottle with about 70/100 ml left, EU shipping

A green vanilla that dries down into creamy vanilla with spice, dried fruit and tobacco. Very nice and not your usual vanilla, not by any means! Ten stars!

This one does exactly what it says on the bottle: It smells like vanilla, and wonderfully so. But beware! Some cook might confuse you... ****

Faint without characteristic. Negative review for the reformulation here! I do not know how the vintage stuff smell like.

yep, it's 1697 alright... potent vanilla, dried fruits and sweeet booze. oh yeah! i love this...

Now it's my favourite parfum, I love it!! Vanille, but not sweet, very special wearing.

I've had a difficult time with this scent these first 3 weeks. First time it seemed to be a raw vanilla pod with no sweetness added, which I found pretty original for a vanilla scent but still a bit lacking something. Then I smelled this cold metallic edge which turned it a bit hostile, without adding any interesting feature. Overall a very weird scent with no oomph nor punch. The next times it got more confusing, becoming to my mind a dead ringer for a few Etat Libre d'Orange I dislike such as Sécretions Magnifiques. Not that they smell the same, not at all, but you know that strong base of salty saliva and weird metallic vibe... it really made me regret the purchase. The saliva part is still now something I feel throughout the whole development. Salty and persistent. By then I came to Fragrantica and checked what ingredients are in there and went again to spraying and I could finally get a whiff of something different... I was like "ah... rhum of course... ah... tobacco? ok... it's barely there..." and I could appreciate some cookie tendency in the fragrance too. "At times" it smells delicious. However,I don't like it when I feel so worried about people smelling the saliva mixed with some oxidised metal and zero sensual aspect. It sometimes feels as a work in progress, missing the main part. I wonder who would make the best use of it since no girl friend smells great with this on (I've shown it to 10 people mainly wishing to sell it quickly and no one said a single positive thing!), neither men of my age... I don't know... It is a big question mark in my head and I still find it is a big fail in the wonderful travel series of l'Artisan. I bought mine from the main Paris store and it is the reformulation so I can't say anything about the first batches. I am sorry but I advise everyone to check this a few times before buying.

When I wear Havana Vanille I can imagine Lauren Bacall in her 30s/40s in a jeep in South America, looking elegant despite her dusty safari-like clothes. She stops at a wooden shack for a glass of water and the inhabitants barely move an inch, she's offered a glass of rum and a rickety seat outside in the shade, where she gazes at row upon row of drying tobacco leaves, raisins and vanilla pods The opening is a fruity rich vanilla with a sense of substance - which I'd say is the leather. As it dries down it becomes drier, and the tobacco note is perfect - dried leaves in the sun, which give it a sun-warmed feel. The overall feeling is sun-drenched, it's richly sweet, in a way that's about real vanilla pods, rum and raisins, tobacco. Depending on skin chemistry I detect the dry note of vetiver more on some days. Sometimes it feels a little too sweet so it depends on your mood, For comparison's sake I'd say it's much sweeter than Shalimar, for example. But I've already been complimented on it a couple of times. It's certainly not a simple vanilla, but like many vanilla-based scents, it's comforting, also uplifting. It's comfortable to wear and I feel it would be right for any occasion when you feel like wearing something fairly low-key, yet subtly rich and luxurious. My friend noticed it on me when I first wore it and said she couldn't rest till she'd bought a bottle. (A fellow perfume fanatic!) Sillage is noticable but not loud, longevity is about 6 hours, which on my skin is impressive!

Oh L'Artisan, what have you done? Or actually, have you done anything at all? I am generally enchanted-disappointed-happy about it. Enchanted, because it is quite a beautiful fragrance. Disappointed, because it could have been so much better. Happy, because my wallet will remain full (for a while at least). Havana Vanille is till now the least Artisan-ish fragrance of them I have tried. It lacks the 'powderiness' I love so much in Bois Farine and I hate in Mure et Musc. I generally consider it to be something quite characteristic of the brand, it is however gone here. The fragrance makes me think of a very rich, sweet white chocolate with nuts and raisins and dried figs. It has some alcohol quality to it, thick almond liqueur maybe? Very rich, creamy, sweet. The final phase is vanilla-woody, with deep, resin aroma. However, it certainly does not seem to be inspired by a “wooden boat mingling with the aroma of rum and spice”, rather by a posh hotel on a private beach, where people in the morning sip coffee from fancy porcelain cups before they are out for a party of tennis. It is not a scent of an adventure, but elegant holidays. It is too gourmand to evoke the true Havana. Nevertheless, it has something nose-catching to it. I would love to say that it is safe and boring and that you can invest your money better, but... I can't. Maybe this is what I might wanna have when I am in the mood for sweet delight.

This is not your plain old vanilla. After putting on a sample of my sample yesterday evening, I'm still smelling it this morning, in a very different form. The first thing out of the bottle was a white musk scent, followed a second or two later by a strong aroma of egg nog. The only way that I can stomach drinking egg nog is with prodigious amounts of rum, and this particular mix seemed miserly on the rum. Nevertheless, it was a pleasant foody scent with light vanilla, sugar and nutmeg, sort of an egg nog lite, creating an image like a translucent egg sunny side up, made out of vanilla extract, sugar and spice. That note lasted until I woke up this morning. The original egg nog scent was still on the shirt that I'd been wearing, but the scent on my skin had totally changed to a mostly fruity accord with hints of the promised tobacco and flowery things. I'm fascinated by the way that this evolves, and am sorry that I missed part of it while I was sleeping. After writing my review, I always go back and read the blurb. It's interesting that the notes appeared to me in a completely different order than listed, with many of the "base" notes coming out first, and the "top" notes only after many hours. One thing about this perfume - it has lasting power.

I really enjoyed wearing Havana Vanille...and start loving it. At the forefront moist tobacco leaves, tonka combined with very unusual smelling vanilla - completely deprived of the sweetness that usually plays the most important role in all vanilla based fragrances. One has to be brave to take the sweetness away ;) But...ever tried chewing a vanilla pod? The vanilla has an almost metallic, medicinal smell to it; it smells bitter, quite dry with a definite smoky tone. Somewhere in the middle a thin layer of woodsy notes breaks the density and sharp clove steps in. What makes the scent smell so strange are probably the tobacco leaves, as still partly green not yet completely dry. I can almost smell the “green” slowly evaporating from the leaves . This scent is not all amber-brown. After about 1h, somewhere in the middle a barrel of aged rum cracked open, dried fruit served in dark wooden bowls, even more clove and leather at the very bottom. About 1h is the amount of time that the tobacco/vanilla combo takes to settle down and reveal what’s trapped in the basement.

Review for Havana Vanille (which to me is a different composition from Vanille Absolument which I found had a far more screechy opening). This is definitely not a gourmand vanilla ( at least to my nose it isn't). It's a herbal/tobacco dry vanilla that's just slightly sweet. I love it personally but I can see that this is a love it/hate it perfume as it's a little strange/challenging on the nose? I agree with the comparison to ELDO compositions. The herbal/tobacco/rum combination...it's very intriguing to say the least. Those who hate licorice will want to stay far away from this as the note is quite intense in the opening. The drydown is my favourite part where it is less intent on challenging your nose and becomes a softer, comforting and warm, ever just slightly sweet woody vanilla. It lasted about six hours on me and by then it was truly a skin scent. I find this more interesting a composition than Tom Ford's Tobacco Vanille although that is also a fond favourite for this catergory of scent.

I just received my blind bought bottle of Vanille Absolument yesterday, and I was apprehensive because I'd read reviews comparing it to bodily fluids and secretions. I'm happy to report that there is nothing like that here. The initial blast does smell just like vanilla extract from the kitchen, as others have said. I don't really detect any booze, tobacco, or leather, but I do smell the powdery tonka. Luckily there's enough else going on to mitigate it. I smell an unlisted bay leaf or other green herbal note, too. It is a sweet, dry vanilla, but with a syrupy nuance at the same time. When perfumes have as many notes in their pyramids as this one does, I'm usually able to identify somewhat more than half of them. I'm having trouble doing that here. I think, though, my biggest surprise in this perfume is the greenness in the middle and the drydown―exactly the same as that of Piment Brulant. They probably share a common base.

I'm not sure what to make of Vanille Absolument. I should probably mention that this is already a stretch for me. I am not particularly into gourmand and/ or vanilla like fragrances but I wanted to give it a try, as I read it is a different sort of vanilla. Well here are my thought on it: The opening is very boozy on my skin, like wearing a baba au rhum. Then it evolves into a strangely cold, somewhat leathery and smoky, mildly vanillic scent. Not unpleasant, somewhat masculine. I actually enjoyed that phase. The dry down, however, is simply disappointing: a vaguely sweet, rather artificial smelling vanilla. Very flat, yet cloying in a nauseating sort of way. Cheap is what comes to mind. Thankfully, by that time, there's barely a whiff left. So, it's definitely not love. Yet, it is intriguing , so I will not dismiss it entirely. I only wish the dry down were more complex and more in line with its middle development.

Dusty buttered rum vanilla. This is definitely a different take on vanilla and for that I love it. L'Artisan never fails to make interesting perfumes. This is not one for daily wear, but I appreciate it's softness. The vanilla is toned down with a creamed butter scent with a light hint of immortal flower. It is almost butter cream frosting, but the slight dusty, even lightly smoked smell gives it an edge that makes it more grown up and unique. Havana Vanille has decent sillage in the beginning, but becomes more of a skin scent after a few hours. I don't mind, this is a scent I would choose when I want to smell soft. Not baby powder soft, but interestingly sweeten dusty soft. If that even makes sense! I have also tried this layered with Coromandel by Chanel (a rich amber blend). They are absolutely fabulous together. So keep in mind that this scent pairs well with a strong amber perfume.

L'Artisan Parfumeur HAVANA VANILLE delivers on the promise of its name: this really seems like a taste of Cuba captured in a bottle: vanilla, rum, tobacco, tropical flowers, all stereotypical components associated with the island. The opening of HAVANA VANILLE really smells to me like vanilla extract, but shortly thereafter the tobacco and rum become dominant. This is a good example of a truly boozy fragrance--a bit too boozy for my tastes, actually, as the rum persists all the way through to the drydown. I should say, though, that I do not like rum at all, so I may not be the best judge of any perfume in which rum plays a key role, as the taste of that spirit makes me somewhat queasy thanks to a life-transforming rum and coke experience. The tobacco and vanilla work well together in HAVANA VANILLE but are somewhat ruined by the rum for me. Désolée!

I am not normally attracted to vanilla perfumes, but this one is interesting. It is a very "round", creamy fragrance that reminds me of Lutens' Muscs Koublai Khan mixed with Goutal's Sables, garnished in Carribean flair with rum, dried fruits, and vanille- like a "black cake" accord. I do not envision tobacco much here- what there is, is "dry" rather than sweet, and I am glad the name was changed to 'Vanille Absolument'. Would I wear it? Of that I am not sure... as others have said, it does have good (excellent) longevity, but the sillage is about 2-3" from my skin- which can be a good thing, at times, but my own tendency does not usually lie in such subtlety. For this "type" of "dry tobacco" fragrance, I much prefer Odori Tabacco... and for my occasional vanilla fix, I'll stick with Acqua e Zucchero.

This is the most bada*s vanilla I've ever smelled. It's dark, moody, and it has a naughty streak. It is incredibly boozy up front, so much so that those around you may question your sobriety. For a while it smells like straight vanilla extract, then it develops this strange, salty facet, and it almost smells like cookie dough. After about an hour it settles down into a rich, luxurious vanilla with just the right touch of musk and spice. One of my coworkers walked around the corner and said "Whoa, it smells really good over here...like cinnamon sugar." I waved my wrist in her face and she confirmed that I was the source. I have only worn this on frigid days. Exercise caution when wearing this in warmer weather, or risk suffocating yourself.

Forget that the fragrance has vanilla in the name and just try it out. If you are looking for ice cream, sticky toffee and girly, this is not the fragrance for you. The fragrance opens up with woods and resins and an almost smokiness, the tobacco is definitely at the front of this list, almost manly at first. The vanilla comes a lot later as it dries down and it's mysterious and aged and quite dry. The sweetness of the vanilla peeks out from under all the smokiness and lingers on the skin but it's not sugar coated at all, it's real earthy vanilla and very lovely. I enjoy wearing this and it lasts for hours on me. I think it would appeal to the person looking for something a little quirky and different.

Cloves, a whole bunch of cloves. Bay leaf, distinctly, but unlisted. It's like neighboring spices in the cupboard have seeped into the vanilla extract. It's rummy, boozy, but also a bit stuffy, particularly in the opening, and I can see why that turns some people off. Dried fruit can also sometimes have that overripe facet which borders on nauseating, so the dislike bar is no surprise. The tobacco note is spot on, very literal, freshly dried, sweet and vanillic. The wait for the spice rack to dissipate enough to allow it through takes about two hours on me. I find myself wishing it would happen faster, and for this reason it is merely a like.

Havana vanille era un profumo sulla scia di Trversee du bosphore,seville a l'oube, nuit de tubereuse, cioè consistenti, ricchi e duraturi. Molto belli,colorati,luminosi e pieni di vitalità, sono stati naturalmente interrotti. Havana vanille era dorato e solare,caldo, una nota forte di rum liquorosa che ubriaca, note piccanti di chiodi di garofano,elicriso tipico delle zone desertiche e sabbiose, vaniglia densa e sfondo coriaceo. Ha uno strano stato emotivo di nostalgia, come se ricordasse qualcosa di sepolto nella memoria,paesi tropicali,cuba, giornate al bar in mezzo al fracasso,risate,fumo di sigari e schiamazzi. Molto evocativo.

I do appreciate this isn't a real sweet vanilla - sometimes a person doesn't want to smell like a cupcake shop. I also really like the powder element in this fragrance. The vanilla here on my skin reminds me of the extract used for baking. I don't know if it's the rum clouding it, making it smell cheaper than it really is, but it doesn't work on me. I find the tobacco really comes forward after 90 minutes which is very nice but not enough to move this to a love category. Well worth trying though.

Review for Vanille Absolutment A gorgeous vanille, I've had 3 bottles over the years, All are Vanille Absolutment written on the bottle not Havana Vanille. All of which are rich, long lasting boozy, Awesome perfume for my olfactory sense. To read the review saying its thin, weak, soda ect makes me wonder if we are even smelling the same perfume. I'm not sure but I love this warm, beautiful, tobacco infused boozy vanilla. ❤