Vanille Orientale

I’m not quite sure what to make of this, and I suspect I’ll return to it many times because of that confusion. This is vanilla, yes, but also the rich anise of salted Northern European licorice lozenges, butterscotch pudding made with orangey farm fresh egg yolks, datura. The caramel is thick with browned butter and booze, not the cheap runny white sugar of a commercial candybar. This is agreeable, but challenging.

This is very boozy, warm spicy vanilla scent with sweet chocolate and caramel lingering in the background. If you’re not into that then this isn’t a safe blind buy. I actually like it, even if the vanilla is a bit too heavy, borderlining cloying even. But so cosy during the cold months!

The scent of vanilla sugar that turns into a pudding scent over time. Simple, light, pleasant, 100% "edible". Durability of about 5 hours, palpable with every movement.

Straight out of the bottle this starts out as a generic play-doh type vanilla. Very similar to something like the Body Shop Vanilla. It does get a bit better and sweeter as it warms up on skin. However, this is one of the shorter lasting from the line on my skin which was disappointing. By 4 hours it's all gone. It's not a deep vanilla and doesn't have enough spice or interest imho to warrent the "orientale" in the name. I'd recommend Tendre Madeleine from the same brand over this one. If you're looking for a beautiful unisex oriental vanilla (in a similar genre and price point) I'd recommend Black Flower Mexican Vanilla Dame Perfumery over both of these Les Senteurs Gourmandes vanilla's.

Soft and easy-going vanilla. Not terribly complicated and it doesn't last long but I think that's part of its charm. Can be found online for about $15.