Vanille Absolu

To me, this was AMAZING. Love at first sight for a guy like me who is a die-hard vanilla person. But to me, this was such a life-changing discovery. Might sound a little biased from a huge Montale fan like me who loves everything such as their metal bottles, their packaging, and just the experience overall haha. Moving on from that, Vanille Absolu was a completely different vanilla from what I smelled. Many vanillas I've smelled on my fragrance journey have been overly synthetic, boring, generic, etc. However, Vanille Absolu steers in a completely different direction. The name "Vanille Absolu" really lives up to it's name as it smells like an ABSOLUTE pure vanilla scent which was just what I was looking for. The opening during the first 2-5 minutes can be very confusing as you get suddenly hit with a slightly acidic-like scent with many notes such as cherry, cinnamon, cloves, and so on. Once you get past the opening you get some of the warm woody notes. Once you reach the base notes it dries down into an incredible pure sweet vanilla extract cloud scent with that subtle cinnamon-cloves spice blend. The best way to describe this is waking up on a cold winter morning in a winter cabin, the fireplace is slightly crackling in the background to replicate that warm cozy woody note, and there's an aroma pot on the stove filled with a vanilla extract and cinnamon-clove Christmas spice blend to give off that cozy vibe. Can also be seen as a cake baking in the oven or pancake batter being made. That's my perspective of Vanille Absolu. Projects for around 3-4 hours until it becomes a skin scent and can last up to 12-24 hours depending on skin chemistry. This is most definitely unisex and both genders can rock it without anyone batting an eye. Btw, don't let the gender on Fragrantica fool you anyway as on the official Montale website it clearly states that the reason for no gender catalogs on Montale's perfume boxes or just stores and websites in general is that all Montale scents are unisex and you should just wear whatever makes you feel happy and confident. This is a quite sweet fragrance though so for the people reading this who dislike sugary-like or sweet scents in general then this isn't quite for you. But for those that are gourmand fans or just love vanilla more than anything such as a guy like myself then this is most definitely recommended by me and worth the price tag. This is a fairly sweet scent so this should be primarily be worn during the colder parts of the year such as fall and winter, but I think that you can get away with it on spring and summer nights as well. If you're looking for a reasonably priced gourmand pure vanilla extract scent, THIS IS THE WAY TO GO ladies and gents! 10/10 recommendation from me. Get your hands on this absolute hidden gem from the house of Montale.

I have a lot to say about this scent. I got it in the mail when I was heading out for my night shift, and I took it in the car with me because I was too excited. I already had the depreciated spicebomb on, and had sprayed like 6 sprays all over myself--it goes away very fast. I lean a lot towards femininity but I genuinely liked the spicy opening of spicebomb, I just wanted it to be sweeter.I have always been a big fan of vanilla so I was almost sure it's going to be a safe blind buy. Now, the moment I shook the bottle and sprayed myself three time I began to choke in my car, in the hospital's parking lot. Don't judge me, I'm not even 20 yet. I now realize it's definitely the wrong place to wear it, I'm lucky a bit though, as it is a psych facility so I'm not suffocating anyone on life support. I actually had a headache, but I was still so happy because I could literally feel and smell an armor of very very very strong vanilla surround me. This was all around 6:15 PM until 11PM when I went to get pain meds and drunk lots of water, beauty is pain right. The headache subsided, Now I'm charting and getting whiffs of very sweet vanilla and a distant spicy scent. I AM SO INLOVE. I actually got two when I did because I KNEW I would love it. My description of this is, generic vanilla, though it dries down slowly to a very smooth and comforting vanilla scent. I'm typing this at 4:58AM and I'm still smelling vanilla. It even masked my faint (tobacco smoke) from the drive, COMPLETELY. It's easy to find this a bit too much to be honest, but my suggestion is to use it to layer with other scents you feel need that sweetness you only get from vanilla. I said that in the end because I want to gatekeep that. UPDATE: Did my nose break that night ? or did the beastmode sweetness that was promised to me escape me? I will wear it for about a month and make sure the faint cig smell isn't what's masking this.. we'll see. The pro about this though, and how I have honestly used it since after the first night is as a layer on my masculine scents. I feel like it makes them a type of sexy I really like, It's quite true to who I am. A naturally airy masculinity with a pungent sweetness is what I want, and this makes it possible whenever I layer. The sweetness has been going away quite fast though, I'll try to wear this around my situationship - crush, with just one push of a different perfume to layer. He hopefully likes/notices it and doesn't get a headache.

I have an 8ml travel size from FragranceNet and I’m slightly convinced this is all I need for now... because of how NUCLEAR this is! It’s slightly piercing almost alcoholic in the beginning which reminds me of putting my nose up to a Baileys Irish Cream bottle. It IS synthetic, so beware. It stays STRONG for hours like I’m talking 10-12 hours. Dry down is very different from the beginning phase, as it gets almost creamier as hours go by. It gives us an interesting cold/warm vanilla experiences. Almost like air pressurized lol I don’t know if I am making sense. It’s not cold in a minty way at all its just this interesting synthetic vanilla sensation. THIS IS A STARBUCKS VENTI VANILLA BEAN FRAP WITH 6 PUMPS CINNAMON DOLCE SYRUP. If you know the special vanilla that’s in Intense Cafe and Velvet Vanilla, the vanilla is absolutely present here just mixed with a gourmand cinnamon. This layers EXTREMELY well with both of those other perfumes and makes them even more yummy creamy!! If you’re looking for a STRONG Vanilla to layer with other perfumes... look no further. Longevity: 15/10 Sillage: 10/10 Rating: 8.5 (only because it’s synthetic and more than 2 sprays is CLOYING)

I think I might've reviewed this perfume before and if so, I'm back with an update. I'm a sucker for anything vanilla...as long as there is no oud, saffron or leather with the vanilla, I'm game. And a plus if it's vanilla paired with cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, orris...etc. So I really thought I loved this one. But I hadn't worn it in a while and I wore it the other day and that metallic note that many people complain about with Montale frags, well it was there, loud and clear and it did NOT smell good. I don't know if maybe I didn't notice it before because I'd usually layer this and Lolita Lempicka L. I wore it alone this time n I had to scrub it bc of that terrible metallic smell. My only other experience with Montale is Vanilla Cake but that was through glass samples from the Montale brand so I was curious if I'd get that same metallic mess if I used a glass sample spray and no, I didn't at all. It's the bottles, I'm convinced. I might check out some Mancera frags because they use glass bottles n maybe that's why they're a little bit pricier. Anyway, that's my 2 cents on this frag. 😁 Oh and sillage n longevity on both is crazy good.

@S2312 You would have to really enjoy Gourmands to enjoy this. Vanilla 28 is much more mature compared to Vanille Absolu. If I were looking for a sweet vanilla perfume, I would not go for Vanilla 28 whereas I would happily reach for Vanille Absolu. I truly think your best bet would be to sniff a bottle of sweet drinking chocolate, specifically, the types you'd be marketing to children rather than the healthy kind - like the yellow Nestle chocolate. This perfume is super sugary and sweet, if you like those types of scents you'd love this, I don't pick up any cloves or spices. Like the majority of the reviews are saying - it'll remind you of baked cookies or cake, really foodie and dense. To summarise; they both have very different vibes. They aren't dupes or substitutes for each other Vanilla 28 = Vanilla extract, somewhat mature or reserved Vanille Absolu = Chocolatey and bakery-scented, youthful, and playful If you like super sweet edible gourmands - I would think it's safe to blind buy.