Vanille Tonka

EDITED TO ADD: I re-read all the reviews for this perfume because with each passing day, I love it more and more. Earlier on in 2022 @clairdelune described this fragrance perfectly; during the dry-down, the fragrance DOES smell like Comme des Garcons "Incense Avignon," or Heeley "Cardinal." Absolutely! The dry down DOES smell like a Byzantine Church filling with smoky incense. Originally, this is such a pleasant surprise. I blind-bought a full 100ml bottle because I love this house, Nicaolia Parfumeur Createur. I adore their unique niche compositions! I owned and wore Saint Honore for quite some time but decided I needed a change. I've owned other creations by Nicolai. After a recent few blind purchase "fails" with this house, someone suggested I try "Vanille Tonka." So I did! Vanille Tonka is not at all what I expected. With carnation and orange flower among its ingredients, I feared Vanille Tonka might be a cloying flower-bomb. But it is not! And after some wear, I'm really liking this fragrance. And my husband (oddly) LOVES Vanille Tonka on me, which is always a huge plus! My husband said, "That perfume is sooooo nice...it's EXOTIC!" Typical for Nicolai, there's citrus in the opening (lemon, orange). But Vanille Tonka also has BASIL. Basil gives the opening a VERY unique, green, vegetal, organic feeling. But despite feeling vegetal and organic, the opening is not dirty, or ground like. Within 10-15 minutes, there are gentle florals, which never over-take, or overpower the opening. As my experience with ALL Nicolai Parfumeur fragrances, the mid-notes rise and SEAMLESSLY blend with the opening notes! After a bit of time, vanilla notes emerge, along with tonka. The tonka notes are COUMARIN DENSE and a bit smoky, which I love. The coumarin lends to a slightly bitter, dry, hay-like experience. The base notes seamlessly blend with all the other notes. With time, the perfume morphs into an ephemeral, ethereal, gentle, slightly sweet, smoky, mildly floral, dry, spicy, vanilla-tonka perfume blend. This perfume is so unique. It's unlike ANY perfume I currently wear, or own. It's actually unlike ANY perfume I've EVER owned, really! The landing is glorious. Cannot stop sniffing my wrists and forearms! I. Absolutely. Love. This. Perfume.

How woud hell smell a like? And not a torturing, sad and so on negative site, but flame throwing hot place with naked people having shamelessy fun? I woud say Vanille-Tonka. My holy grail, my absolute favourite, best of the best...You get the point. I love Parfum de Nicolai Sacrebleu, and thought this is it, perfume coudn't get any better and then I did find Vanille-Tonka. I don't even like vanilla and that's why I almost did pass testing V-T, cause I'm not intrested of most of the sickening sweet vanilla perfumes. And there isn't any of sugary, cupcakes style sweetnes here for sure. V-T is like a high charce turboversion of Sacrebleu, more intense, much more hotter,much, much, more spice. Lot's of nose burning pepper, dark brown cinnamon (V-T is also my favourite cinnamon scent) and incense. I do not get any sweet vanilla, only some sort of soft base under this spicy beast. V-T feels like a living thing when you put it on, it breaths and roars. And because all of this, it only suits night, darkness and time when you are feeling dangerous. Enjoy.

Bottle arrived today 🤤 So many complicated and unjustly negative reviews. I have many vanilla scents - with Twisted Lily’s sad demise I ordered this as a why not... Super straight forward and gorgeous natural vanilla with tonka that creeps forward after an hour or two. The opening is blessed with a super acidic orange just like when you squeeze or bend a bit of peel or bite into an piece and it squirts. After this fades (15 minutes or so) the scent becomes slightly dusty and a tad of incense helps darken it just enough but it is by no means the major player in the make up. Lovely buy, completely unisex, up there with my faves like Atelier Cologne Vanille Inscensee and Vanilla Shot by Olfactive Studio. I disagree with the note vote for the percentage of Incense as it is much softer and more complimentary. All the other notes are there though again very much mixed in and complimentary. Again, straight forward and if you want simple gourmand vanilla that works on a guy give this a go... very happy.

Vanille Tonka is a near-perfect creation by Parfums de Nicolai. This niche company is run by Patricia Nicolai, granddaughter of Pierre Guerlain. As common among niche perfumeries, they focus on distinctive scents that pay little attention to pop trends or marketable bottles (I have the smaller size, which comes in a plain square bottle like the ones you can buy retail on-line for a dime a dozen). This offering is close to a sweet gourmand, especially in the tonka-vanilla base for which it is named. The top starts with a delicious creamy-sweet orange peel note, underpinned by pepper and the ever-present tonka-vanilla. As the citrus top note fades, the scent becomes subtly spicy, more with carnation than with cinnamon. Finally the delectable base remains and goes on forever. I suppose it is mostly a touch of incense that makes the base great - it certainly isn't just vanilla and tonka, though they dominate. A thing of beauty.

The most comfortable, lightweight tonka/vanilla scent in existence, like crisp white sheets in a hotel room in Florida cooled by a summer breeze. There’s a warm-spicy incense thread winding through it, which only accentuates the soothing white-on-white main chord. Similar vibe to Heure Exquise (creamy white minimalist luxury like lotions and sheets in a fine hotel) but Heure Exquise’s vanilla-iris is far sweeter and heavier while Vanille Tonka is fairly dry and whisper-light. Linen, rather than satin. Several hours later it lands in a warmer, sweeter cinnamon-spiced place, though still pleasantly understated. A “simple pleasure” whose construction is probably anything but simple. All hail Patricia de Nicolai, mistress of understated, impeccably crafted delights.