Island Vanilla

4/26/2025 addendum to my 4/17/25 entry: For everyone heartbroken over the poor performance of this, be certain that you’re wearing the “parfum” spray in the pink glass bottle and not the accompanying hair and body mist in the aluminum bottle. I know it sounds like that should be obvious, but we all occasionally miss details! The “parfum” performs more like a body mist would, or a weak cologne. The actual hair and body mist of this new Island Vanilla though?— do not waste your money!! It’s ridiculous, it’s just water with a teeny tiny little bit of scent. Its performance is ... well, it’s so weak, there really isn’t a numerical performance level to give for it! It’s sooooo faint, I swear it has to have a negative number in performance rating. Its performance may be far from 100% but its performance IS 100% full of laughs! So laugh and forget the hair/body mist, it adds nothing. Mist your hair (clothes too) along with your skin with just the “parfum” instead. Doing this, it actually performs pretty well.

i was a huge fan of the original and i still love this one tbh. i agree with the hypnotic poison reference as this has a similar play dough thing going on. i personally love perfumes that give a play dough vibe (or dolls head, or lipstick, that kinda thing). i’m not sure if the longevity lives up to the original yet (that one lasted me ALL day with amazing projection) so maybe i’ll update once ive worn it for a while. but so far so good, this also kinda reminds me of love don’t be shy but without the animalic quality that smelled off on my skin. not a dupe really but just in the same vein

So I got a sample of this at Marshall’s in a discovery set.. so I’m not 100% sure what iteration of the formula I’m testing or how old the sample was. But I really loved the smell, it’s definitely a warm, more tropical vanilla. But the real kicker for me was the longevity. I work in food service and I was doing dishes where I was getting my arms almost completely soaked by soapy water early on in my shift. I could still clearly smell this on my wrists and inner elbows where I applied at the end of my shift, it did lose some of the initial sillage though. Crazy longevity!

I've never smelled this fragrance before the reformulation, but I can honestly say I love this version! The "just right" vanilla I've been searching for has been under my nose all along. Go figure! I'm willing to bet I like Island Vanilla so much because it's reminiscent of Cloud which is one of my favorites. The 2 together smell divine. Unlike many other vanilla perfumes, I'm not getting any play-doh with this one. It smells as advertised without aggressive spicy or floral notes that feel out of place.

I have never smelled the original version of this vanilla perfume, but I've heard that it was the best ever. This version of the vanilla scent is very clean and there is nothing "island" about it. After it dries down, it turns just a bit more sweet. Unfortunately, it is a weak perfume and you won't smell it after 1-2 hours. All in all, it is a good vanilla perfume.