Felanilla 21

At first I could immediately smell the same hay note that is found in PG's Bois Blonde, a perfume I own and love. It's almost like a wilted lettuce/rotten vegetable scent, but I happen to like it. The scent was also quite powdery. I wondered what gave me the impression this would smell like vanilla, it was so far from vanilla. Yet within several minutes I began to pick up a light vanilla caramel. Quite gourmand for something that didn't start out gourmand at all. The notes I thought I smelled were vanilla, caramel, iris, amber, and orange. While there is no orange listed in the notes, it's hard for me to believe there is no citrus in this perfume. I also felt like I'd smelled something like this before and became a bit nostalgic for whatever that scent might have been.... I glanced at some of the reviews below and saw Shalimar Initial mentioned a couple times, and it made sense why this perfume seemed so familiar. I used to own Shalimar Initial, but I found it too weak for my taste. I also didn't love the "Guerlainaide" that some people talk about, which tends to give Guerlains an old-fashioned smell that doesn't suit me. I'm sure I'm not alone in that regard. So I have to agree--this is Shalimar Initial (improved). Felanilla is more interesting with the green hay note floating around. Sillage and longevity are both very good. My shirt smelled amazing the next day, with strong traces of the perfume still lingering. I wasn't tired of Shalimar Initial, it was just the sillage that annoyed me...so I would consider Felanilla as a worthy replacement.

This reminds me a lot of Shalimar Parfum Initial! More than of regular Shalimar, it has a cosmetic vibe like Parfum Initial does. Especially in the opening. Later in the drydown, this is more spicy and resinous, and less fluffy-pink than sweet than PI. Felanilla is a warm, resinous vanilla and amber scent with a heavy dose of waxy, powdery iris. I definitely get some citrus here, even though it's not listed, but not the bergamot from Shalimar, to me it smells like a tiny spritz of mandarin orange is in there. The banana wood addition is really interesting and cool. I would never have guessed it and to be honest, I'm not sure how banana wood smells in real life (who does?), but after reading the notes list, I can pick up an understated fruity-woody, slightly banana-ish note in this and I love it. I don't get the hay note at all, I get the hay in Lutens' Chergui for example, but I can't smell it here. Overall a lovely perfume. I don't need it at the moment, but I might get a bottle if I ever empty my Shalimar Initial. I feel like PG is an underrated house, they have some real gems but aren't talked about much. Maybe it's the boring bottles and the sheer size of their collection. Anyways, I'd recommend anyone who likes the Shalimar lineup and especially Parfum Initial to try Felanilla.

I love Felanilla. Someone below described this as Shalimar on Xanax and I completely agree. If you took Shalimar and stripped some of the growling, animalic leather out and amped up the iris note you'd get Felanilla. For those of you who don't have Shalimar as a handy reference, here's what Felanilla smells like: a dry vanilla mixed with a cool toned, chalky and papery iris note, a bit of opoponax (smells like Carmex lip balm) which is not listed in Felanilla but is certainly present, combined with a note of softly indistinct amber, polished woods and a spicey saffron. Certainly unisex, I could see men who love Dior Homme Intense kicking it up a notch and making this their signature just as easily as I could see uber-femme women wearing this with red lipstick. Superb! ETA: I've worn through two whole sample vials of this now. I've got to say that this really, really smells like a spicier, smoother Carmex lip balm scent.Very medicinal smelling but I love it. Update 7/26/15: I finally gave in and bought myself I bottle of this beauty. I have to say I'm surprised with people's references to the cosmetic iris note. To me it is very distinctly a spicy vanilla perfume with cool iris hints and has nothing to do with makeup.

Finally a PG I like! To me this is mostly a "cosmetic" (you know the one) iris paired with an inedible vanilla/musk combination but there are subtleties that make it pretty unique! The Carmex comparison is definitely accurate . It has this strange depth to it that I've come to recognize as the scent of petroleum jelly or vaseline. The saffron is also subtly detectable and it adds a much needed spicy tinge that keeps this from smelling like a vanilla-mint flavored urinal cake. To me the most interesting aspect of Felanilla is the opening's contrast between the cold, almost mentholated Iris and the fuzzy, warm musky vanilla. It quite literally smells cold on top and warm on bottom. It's like hugging someone in the fall. Your body feels the warmth coming off the other person but your face is cold from a breeze flowing over your coat. Eventually the warm notes beat out the iris and it enters a pleasant vanillic amber drydown. I LOVE the opening to this, and I appreciate the drydown but it does make me miss the action in the beginning. In a way its a bit top heavy, so I can't justify a full bottle but It is ideal for a decant! It has great longevity and about average sillage on me. 8/10

Gorgeous. Starts with a silvery and stark Iris that feels very futuristic and cold. This only lasts a few moments though before a plume of ambery vanilla that is in no way sweet or gourmand envelops the Iris in a sensual bear hug. There’s something a bit animalic in the background but it’s almost completely restrained, there’s just the barest edge of it. After a bit violets and hay become more prominent, adding some lighter notes that mainly serve to reinforce the feeling of deep smooth sensuality of the rest of the composition. The dry down is the same but add more powder. In my opinion, this is one sexy creature. It’s unisex. It’s for fall and winter and cooler spring nights. Definitely a date night perfume or something to be enjoyed by yourself. I think this telegraphs a message of extreme sensuality, it’s one of the sexiest perfumes I’ve smelled. It’s the polar opposite of some of the sweet and sugary vanillas that are out there now. If they are a white fluffy long haired kitten in a pink boudoir this is a muscular and sleek leopard stalking the Savannah.

This is a scent that doesn't take itself to seriously, starting with the whimsical name. It is very feline in the way it twines around you, like a cat sinuously winding around your body. As it settles it is more of a langorous stretch after a cat nap, soft and slinky. This is not a predatory cat, but a playful one who can be aloof and purring at the same time. It starts on me with a medicinal/astringent note that fades very quickly into the heart notes that are a very efferevescent vanilla, woody, ambery concotion. The final drydown for me is the same as the heart but with a bit more of the wood notes and the iris coming out to play, adding the powdery note, just a bit in the backround to give it a softness. Good longevity for me about 7-9 hours. This scent wears close, but it does project enough to have a curious passerby inquire as to what you are wearing. I like that this fragrance is playful and chic all at the same time. If you don't like foody vanilla perfumes this one is a must try.

The opening is wet hay to me. It goes through a slightly animalic phase as it dries, and reminds me of Zoologist Musk Deer for a bit, at one point quite strongly until the animalic quality fades. The two scents both have this dirty musk type scent, though it is lighter in Felanilla and disappears in about a half hour. Then comes a wonderful dry, musky, slightly sweet vanilla amber scent that verges on pudding-like, very comforting. I quite enjoy this scent, the first two hours are a fun ride and settles to something warm and enveloping bubble. Performance and sillage are surprisingly good considering how poorly most PG scents perform on me, I sprayed a few spritzes from my sample onto my hand and hours later as I got into my boyfriend’s car he immediately smelled it and said it smelled good.

I’m very scared of vanilla but I don’t wanna be one of those guys... hates what’s popular even if it’s good so i dabble and test myself. But this scent is probably one of the first i ever sampled and i fell in love. So early on my vanilla hatred was challenged like right out the gate. So i continued on usually including one vanilla scent per sample haul and none of them were this good. Apart from some other really spicy herbal ambers that just so happened to have vanilla. But this is the only vanilla up front and center scent that doesn’t really make me think I’m wearing a vanilla scent it’s so odd. Like the main player is clearly vanilla but presented dry brown yet fluffy. Kinda like a dry angels dust from Bianchi. Which i also adore. This takes it into a more unisex world.

OMG - so sexy! Very sweet opening dries down to a gorgeous Vanilla - amber, quite syrupy and boozy. The hay and iris giving a tad dustiness and yet slightly airy. Delish! A tad dark - it reminds me of smelling the glass jar of brown sugar when I was a kid with a dollop of syrupy vanilla. Quite different to all my vanillas, maybe, just maybe erring on the ladies side but fine for men. Super natural gourmand and possibly going to the top shelf amongst Olfactive Studio Vanilla Shot and Atelier Cologne Vanille Incensee which are the class leaders for me. For reference and perspective I also own Jovoy Remember Me and Comptoir Sud Pacific Soufflé Des Indes. I have tried many and these are my faves.

Powdery? Maybe, but a very specific powder. Felanilla smells like you've just hit a rich vein of mineral sherbet in the shimmering darkness and, as you bring your magical haul up to the daylight and the scent settles down, in comes the hay and iris root, turning subterranean to heady summer. The true surprise is in the vanilla. Almost absent initially, it grows in confidence as the fresher scents wilt and you're left imbued with its warmth as if soaked all day in vanilla sunlight. A gorgeous and surprisingly complex fragrance that rewards continued wear.

I adore it. Very comfortable and luxurious. Where Alfarom describes Felanilla as "kinda incomplete or inconsistent", I kinda like it for its openness (if that makes any sense). Lovely amber and hay, warm vanilla, beautiful iris and bananaleaf!!... Absolutely irresistible. Unfortunately I have to drown myself in Felanilla to keep the vibe going. Worth its money? The smell: Undoubtedly Sillage: Only if you love close-to-skin sents Longevity: Medium

Felanilla is a combination of feline and vanilla. It’s a seemingly relaxed arrangement of saffron, vanilla (two rare and precious varieties: Bourbon and Taihitian), hay and sweet woods but it’s a feline prowl of a scent. This vanilla is for grown-ups and is neither girly nor smells of patisserie. A precious, generous and racy combination of three absolutes (hay, iris and vanilla) resting on a fruity woods base.

A lot like most perfumes by Parfumerie Generale--a little challenging at first. It smelled like fluffy vanilla marshmallow and plastic dolls. Rather quickly, the plastic doll scent nearly vanished, and the vanilla took on a delicious quality that reminded me of a syrupy, dark vanilla liqueur heated up with a generous dollop of softly whipped cream on top. I'm drooling....

This is an awesome fragrance! It's a non-sweet, dry, unisex vanilla with really good lasting power, and with a moderate sillage. I have a 5ml decant of this, and after I run out I have to buy more. This is worth trying out if you don't like sticky sugary sweet vanilla perfumes. It's really nice to wear on a cold day, especially a rainy one. It lifts your mood.

Wow -! Forgot how good this is. An ambery resinous vanilla. The darkness kinda makes it more of a tonka vibe partly because of the Iris and the banana leaf. An occasional vinegary and powdery vibe occasionally interplays. Out of all vanillas it’s about the only one I can say is male centric though awesome on a woman. @nixonienne there is no clove.

To my uneducated naive nose it smells like delicious dry vanilla with a warm woody undertone, overlayed by the smell of very very green banana peel. It is this green banana peelish note that makes it one of my absolute favourite perfumes ;)I did not know vanilla could smell this good!

First impression: very beautiful, unsweetened hay vanilla. After an hour it becomes a lovely personal scent, I couldn’t stop smelling myself. There’s a soft powdery feel to this, it’s a persistent but quiet beauty. Onto my wish list it goes.

This is a beautiful and rugged, dry vanilla scent. It smells like walking through dry grass and violets with the sun on your neck. Such an underripe, green quality balanced by warm vanilla and amber. A unique, incredibly versatile scent.

So many wonderful reviews on here. I love this one and the whole line. It is an exquisite vanilla and saffron with a beautifully blended amber. It is elegant and comforting at the same time. Pleasure to wear.

Beautiful oriental spicy vanilla. Intriguing. In Shalimar style. Now I want to buy Shalimar. Thanks.