Aoud Vanille

Took delivery of a nice chubby bottle of this warm, sweet fragrance today. The glass flacon fits the hand like a scented hand grenade. If Baccarat made teargas grenades from crystal for the Fashion Police's riot division, they might resemble this bottle. The label, like most Mancera labels, is a collection of crimes against typography, but one can overlook them because the fragrance itself is so compelling. The cap twists off to remove, unlike caps from most other houses. So the bottle can be safely lifted by its cap. It's a twist off cap, not an unscrew cap, which means it comes off in less than a full turn. The girlfriend doesn't like it as much as I do (which means she just likes it while I absolutely love it). This scent is perfect for cooler weather. Its warm, dark, sweet enveloping qualities are ideal for fall and winter. I guess you could wear it in summer if you used one spray or less. There is a slightly medicinal oud note upon first application. This only lasts about 10-30 minutes. Then the warmth of the woods and the oud, along with the sweetness of the vanilla, all come to the forefront. It's of those scents where I initially preferred the dry down to the early phase, but quickly grew to love them both. That's true of many of my favorite scents. This is definitely the most gourmand fragrance I currently own. Maybe it should be banned for being diabetes-inducing. Because it makes you think of warm, sweet flavors like chocolates, caramel, vanilla ice cream and sweet cookies of all types. But it's an open question as to whether it encourages consumption of sweet foods, or whether it satisfies those urges through its own scent. I guess that depends on the individual. Sillage and projection are huge, as is longevity. No need to overspray unless you're in an outdoor situation on a windy day in the Arctic, surrounded by distant strangers with intimacy issues. My full bottle smells a bit warmer and darker than the 2ml sample I originally tried. This suits me well because the full bottle smells a bit more masculine than the sample, which was incredibly sweet. Vanilla is supposedly one of the natural flavors in mothers' milk. That would account for the warm, soothing, enveloping qualities of this scent. Then the warm strength of the oud provides a reassuring masculine fatherly foundation beneath the vanilla. It's a balm for all your deepest parental psychological problems - all in a single bottle. I haven't worn this enough yet to know whether it gets compliments or not, but frankly I don't give a damn, because I enjoy it myself so much. As long as it doesn't make people run screaming from me, I'm going to keep wearing it. UPDATE: I've received compliments from my girlfriend several times when wearing this scent, even though she didn't know what it was, or when she mistakenly identified it as a different scent that she believes she prefers. UPDATE: In my experience and in my opinion, it's OK for summer wear, as long as you don't use too many sprays. UPDATE: I made the mistake of screwing the cap down a little too tightly. The next time I tried to remove it, the sprayer came unscrewed too and was stuck inside the cap. Googling revealed that this problem was shared by others. It's a common Mancera problem. I ended up freeing it by screwing it back onto the bottle and miraculously the cap came free, to my relief. I'd been unable to free it with pliers. Now I never screw the cap down tightly. So if you're careful and don't make the same mistake, your Aoud Vanille will reward you with many enjoyable wears.

The opening is really interesting and different - I get medicinal oud with black pepper. It has a reminiscence to coca-cola or Dr Pepper at first but this doesn't last long. The scent is very addictive and I had to keep sniffing... after a short while a clean woody oud comes through with the other wood notes. The vanilla and floral notes were last to appear for me. The blend is very well done and the scent takes you on a journey as it develops on your skin. The vanilla to me is sweet but dry and not sickly or girly. Almost smells like there is some tobacco note in there even though it's not listed. When I first sprayed it I assumed it would be a beast but it is actually fairly close to the skin on me (or maybe I have gone anosmic to it from sniffing so much already). ETA: I went out in the cold and the scent bubble was amazing! It's like a cloud of syrupy oud! Definitely has reasonable projection although probably one you won't smell as much as others will inside due to the ease of going nose-blind. There is nothing exactly like this that I have ever smelled - there is no similarity between this and Shaghaf Oud as somebody suggested below. The oud in this is somewhat similar in moments but there is no comparing the two fragrances at all. I also don't get the reference to BR540 below, other than the saffron. I was hoping it would fill my craving for TF's Tobacco Vanille without splurging but it doesn't satisfy even though the woody vanilla is in the same kind of mood (not that they smell at all similar). I am going to need both now. This is a smokey, leathery, masculine oud with vanilla. It has enough sweetness and airiness to make it unisex but it is the type of scent which would probably be more commonly smelled on men. It is classy, sophisticated and mysterious and would be appropriate for day/night events, either formal or casual. I imagine a very suave, well dressed businessman wearing this for work and everywhere. Love it!

This fragrance is absolutely going to be a scent memory for my adventures living in central Spain for this fall/winter. I needed a winter scent and I wanted something very strong with a deep woody base and a bit of non-fruity-sweetness. One day after absolutely bombarding my senses with all sorts of frags and falling down a rabbit-hole of testing almost every montale oud on the shelf nothing was quite hitting the mark, and then there it was! Vanilla. Oud. Perfect, finally thank goodness. Easy choice. But here I get what other people said in the comments- the oud was so different from all the others i’d just tested. It came off mild and medicinal in the opening and the oud smelled mineral-y vs. the montale ouds which were very different and had my senses way overstimulated at that moment. I really wanted to like it...but didn’t want to lie to myself because of the price point. I gave it another chance and tested it on skin and clothes a few days later and wow what a difference!! If you’re looking for the same thing I was, this is a great scent. On me I wouldn’t say this feels warm per se...the vanilla feels more like a crystalized sugar vanilla and it’s true...the spicy cardamom opening is more raw and piercing than enveloping. The oud is beautifully present, smooth and elegantly done. Perfect for the coldest days in north-central Spain. I’d want something a tad more cozy/cutesy if I lived somewhere it snowed. Decadent, sophisticated, grown up, a little unapproachable yet so fcking addicting to a frag lover like myself. I’m surprised the votes have this frag leaning on the masculine side, I think it’s strictly unisex. I know I’m pulling this off as a feminine young adult. I get all day wear. As for sillage and what other people think i’m not sure. I don’t know any frag lovers in my real life here. A friend said she could smell me from far away but not much about the strength or what it smells like.

Created this account after spending a while time as an observer looking through this website for fragrance recommendations just to leave this review - this fragrance is INCREDIBLE! Well, if you like certain smells, that is ... This opens with a really strong, leathery smell - As in, imagine you are walking into an expensive bag store and are sticking your head inside a calf leather bag. It’s a dense, heavy smell that has a woody, smoky tinge to it. It stays this way for around 30-40 minutes before slowly transitioning ... The drydown keeps the leather but dilutes this so that it is not totally encompassing. At this point, a rich and smoky vanilla is introduced that smells lush. It’s a really authentic smell that reminds me of fresh vanilla clothes that you’d find in a gourmet dessert parlour. I’m new to the fragrance game so can’t say if it’s the best vanilla scent out there (most likely far from it, I expect) but it’s pretty damn good regardless! Projection on this, as is the case with most of Mancera from what I’ve heard, is superb - 1-2 sprays is enough to fill a small room and will definitely get heads turning for a couple of hours at least. Two sprays on my neck and one on the wrist does me for an entire afternoon into evening. This will project out well, as I mentioned above, for a few hours but does move closer to skin after around 4-5 hours - but, even at skin, this stays potent and does not vanish as other fragrances often do. Overall, this is a beautiful scent and is a great way to experience a niche fragrance house for the first time. It’s got a dark, smoky and musky element whilst also having a really rich, appetising vanilla that complements the former so well. A really lovely scent for the cooler months, both days and evenings!

The opening is loaded with saffron and vanilla and cardoman and pepper. Very fizzy! Like a vanilla coke loaded with spices. Strange openig to say the least The fizz lasts about 5 minutes and the initial dry down is reminiscent of Red Tobacco Intense without the tobacco if that makes sense. Its a bit too sweet and sharp for me so I think some maceration will do some good. I get no floral notes at all despite being listed. As it dries, a nice blend of guaiac-oud-vanilla-saffron stays. I love red Tobacco Intense and so much of this reminds me of it. Strip RT Intense of the tobacco and incense and you have nearly Aoud Vanille. They have a lot of note overlap so that isn't surprising. It has good sillage and lasts a long time. I am usually not one for vanilla scents but the spices and guaiac wood make this enjoyable for me. It dries down to a smoked vanilla accord which I really liked. Aoud Vanille went from ok, to like, to love after about 6 hours of wear. For me, its a bit of a one trick fragrance. Definitely for cold and cooler weather. Great evening and special occasion fragrance. Not much past that, and that sits fine with me. Its straight forward smoky vanilla and while my review sounds like I find it a bit average, I actually LOVE this perfume. I enjoyed it from the drydown and Ive worn it a fee more times since my review and enjoy it even more. Maceration definitely helped smooth it out. I really have come to enjoy saffron as a note alot more because of Aoud Vanille. Its very Unisex. The spices do not make this a blind buy safe perfume. Not your typical vanilla fragrance. Its spiced up and not with tobacco. If you enjoy vanilla with a nice twist, Aoud Vanille is great.