Vientiane

My review is based on the previous (2nd version) iteration of Vientiane, which to my nose differs greatly from the current version (May 2022). This one is among the very best displays of a natural sandalwood-based perfume in my books, alongside offerings from other artisanal houses like Ensar Oud, Areej le Dore, TRNP, and Bogue Profumo. It is also all-natural, and the overall experience is just soul-touching. At first, I had acquired several samples of this perfume around 2019 and loved it immediately, but for whatever reason, never purchased a full bottle. I just used my samples, one by one, until they announced a new version would be made available, using a different sandalwood provider. Gulp! I knew I waited for too long, but was still optimistic about it, so I immediately purchased a sample of the new one to compare. Unfortunately, my hopes were crushed, as the new one differed greatly from the one I had. and to my taste, not for the better. I had searched all over and barely managed to grab a previous version. Funny, as this house seems to fly under the radar. Natural Sandalwood, and especially good quality stuff, is really not real with commercial perfumes. Basically, everything that sells in large amounts. There are very few exceptions(Santal de Mysore, Trayee), but the general rule is, if you LOVE Sandalwood as I do, you need to go down the artisanal path, and the pure oil path. The oil will teach you to understand this marvelous material, and then you can use your nose to spot the hundreds of fake Sandalwood perfumes out there, much like with Oud. Vientiane is one of the loveliest and most unique uses of this wood that I've come across in spray perfumes. Doing a proper, good Sandalwood perfume, is very difficult. Finding one, even more so. Vientiane does that. It uses three types of Sandalwood, and the overall profile here is buttery, creamy, milky, powdery, and woody. Not really akin to the Mysore profile, as it is not as spicy and sweet. But just as good, trust me. Now, Charna has decided to use in this composition several very interesting notes and accords that perfectly complement the main ingredient's profile. To my nose, the main players alongside the Sandalwwod, are the Silk Vine, and the Jasmine Rice accord. The Silk Vine provides a beautiful green quality, as well as a noticeable milky facet, further enhancing the savory aspects of this perfume. Speaking of savory facets, the Jasmine Rice Accord is very vivid and true to life, perfectly placed alongside the powdery facets of the Sandalwood. These are the main three players throughout the life of the perfume to my nose. There are some minor other ones like Jasmine and Vanilla, but they are barely noticeable. This is all about the Sandalwood, Silk Vine, and Jasmine Rice trio. It has a clear savory quality but it doesn't feel edible or by no means gourmand. It is soothing, calming, soul touching. The creamiest Sandalwood served with Jasmine Rice and Fresh Milk. Woody, buttery, milky, powdery, savory, and just a tad bit sweet. As with all perfumes from this house, all-natural. One of the best Sandalwood forward perfumes out there, and one of the most relaxing perfumes to wear. The current batch differs greatly from the previous one to my nose. The Vanilla is much stronger, it is much sweeter and almost has this burnt sugar quality to it. The green-milky qualities of the silk Vine are not there anymore, and the Jasmine Rice accord barely surfaces. I can see how it might bear more commercial success, as it does feel more mass appealing, but to someone like myself who's not into that, it lacks the originality, the raw nature-like feel, and the soothing properties that made me fall in love with the previous one.

Yippee! Thanks for adding it to your library! As I got a chance to try Vientiane I was very excited because it has charming story! This is certainly a fragrance for lovers of sandalwood, rice powder and sweet milky scents of high quality. Those notes are very intense, they smell very pure and when you smell it, you can surely tell that there was put a lot of work in creating this fragrance so the natural scent of ingredients was not ruined but they are blended very well and smell natural and niche (very luxurious! every time I am wearing it I think that I am a queen), authentic and sensual. Also for Vientiane was used special jasmine rice tincture to highlight the milky, lactone-like quality of aged sandalwood. Honestly guys, to me Vientiane is a remarkable fragrance. There is simply nothing like it out there. It is the first powdery SWEET scent that is not "too much" and that is not overwhelming. Creamy, yummy sandalwood with sweet powdery jasmine rice A real beauty that is worth a try!

Absolutely all over this scent; if I could drink a perfume, I'd have a fine night pouring this into a glass with a few ice cubes. I honestly felt uneven about buying this, but my gut said to go for it, and I ordered a sample version. I will most definitely be getting a full bottle. It's nice and milky, almost condensed milk mixed with vanilla essence, and it won me over immediately. Loved it on application and dry down. I love the wood note on it; it just gives it a bit more staying power in my mind. I applied this over Lapsang Lover, just for fun to see what it'd smell like, and it was kind of a miss, so I don't think Vientiane should really be put over any other perfumes, although that's up to others to experiment with. 100%, do buy from this perfumery, and Vientiane is definitely worth buying if you like vanilla woody scents.

Woodsy sandalwood perfume made from the real things. It is rather linear with a simple composition. I can’t smell much of the highly praised rice aroma. I wonder whether that‘s because I’ve been eating rice all my life so that I’ve become nose blind to it. Vientiane is one of my favorite picks from this house. It is warm and cool, evocative and calming at the same time. It’s not as complex as some other offerings from the house (Heart of Darkness, Divine came to mind). It is simple and elegant. I enjoy Vientiane as is. But when I crave a little floral/feminine twist, I layer this with Rose 802 perfume oil. The result is a deeply soothing, woody floral scent.

It’s a simple fragrance, but I love it! Powdered rice mixed with creamed woods. It smells really comforting. Somehow reminds me of grains, like a warm bowl of wheat cereal with milk. Not too sweet. I have the little roller ball, but I really want the full size. On my skin it lasts and projects quite well, so the little roller ball has actually lasted a long time. The fragrance would probably perform even better when sprayed from the bottle.

Gorgeous savory milk scent. Something I’ve sought for years in vain, until now. A holy grail creamy, true sandalwood and cold unsweetened rice milk.I used my 5ml rollerball up in a week because I was so obsessed. I no longer have a desire to create my own perfume because if I did and somehow had the skills to do so, it would smell exactly like Vientiane. Charna Ethier is a genius.

Purchased a few smaller roller balls from Providence to try out some of their fragrances...this one is definitely my favorite as a soft sandalwood, woodsy affair...the rice concept hums in the background...worth trying, especially if you are into natural perfumes...

I really do respect this one but at the end of the day it is not one of my favorite sandalwoods. I have a vial of artisanal distilled Australian sandalwood oil and one of Mysore sandalwood oil. They are good enough to use as references when it comes to some sandalwood based fragrances and I can assure you this fragrance gets pretty spot on to the scent of the creamy almost milky and fatty sandalwood sensation that is typical of Australian sandalwood. For these reasons I like the direction behind Vientiane because sandalwood is one of my favorite ingredients and I've been on the hunt for a sandalwood centric fragrance that does it right. It begins smelling like Cream of Wheat a cuisine I loved to eat as a kid and it begun to bring back wonderful memories but then it changed into something frankly, unpleasant. Ultimately that's as far as my appreciation goes for the scent because then in its drydown it becomes too starchy and dry to be wearable for me. It smells dry, sharp and scratchy in my nose almost feeling like dehydration has set in. Because it is arid smelling, it makes me feel this phantom sensation like my nasal cavity is becoming enflamed but thankfully there is no allergy reaction it is solely how the fragrance smells and how it lingers that makes it do this to me. The smell of this competes strongly with the smell of food making everything I eat taste bitter and chemically so I don't know when I'd be able to wear this. I am absolutely heartbroken to have to deny this scent because those notes are so inventive and unique "A Rice note?", "What is Silkvine?" ultimately I must pay respects because this fragrance is quite unique and has great lasting power. I was hoping Vientiane could show me the beauty of all of these exotic notes but it is unfortunately too much for me to bear. Ultimately Vientiane is one of those fragrances where the thought or idea of it is actually more appealing that my actual wearing experience, and I can't continue making the mistake of wearing it hoping it will suddenly become a fragrance I love. I notice the quality of ingredients in Vientiane are quite well chosen but I always struggle and feel claustrophobic when I'm in it. 7.5/10

I really wanted to like this one but it is a no for me. The sandalwood is very nice at the start but then the silk vine comes in and ruins the whole composition of the fragrance for me. I think it would be better to leave the silk vine out. It has a strange scent, to my nose, like sweetened condensed milk. Yuck!

Vientiane Providence Perfume Co. EDP It is for me one of the greatest joys in Life when a Perfume arrives and catapults the olfactory senses and so too the mind in to realms of exuberance garnished with fecund musings and imaginations made good by the composition’s originality, integrity and beauty. Such a Perfume and, in my humble opinion, one of the absolute best of 2018, is Vientiane by the Providence Perfume Co. Indeed, apprehending the sheer beauty of Vientiane is like walking in to a late-Victorian house and becoming lost in the State of Nature within the myriad patterns of William Morris’s textiles as, beyond an initial passage of perfectly balanced sweet and slightly bitter contrasts that, on arriving, arrest and then nullify whatever else one might be thinking about, there becomes a richness of Stillness and Space as Variations on a Theme of Sandalwood unfold. The Perfume's luxurious facets employed lock and unlock not unlike the swirls of coherence in Morris’s unique designs and can become a study in studious detail if perceptually interrogated or, perhaps, an abstract mood-scape that accesses Ambience and explorations in the Modalities of Tonality. Or one might consider the realms of possibilities Vientiane offers as if handed a Morrisian Map of sorts with which to discover the Metaphysics. With a capacity by way of smell to shift palate from something delectably dainty and edible awaiting the obligatory arrival of la crème, in-fawn, to a nearby blanched humble bowl of rice, there persists a lactonic femininity that nourishes the heart yet never overpowers in its presentation as if echoing an era in which modesty and virtue prevailed as duty. Soft, and aromatic, slightly off-green, and for this writer, ‘creamy and dreamy’ as opposed to old-fashioned ‘powdery’: as a solitary clock ticks inexorably in the room paradoxically creating a rhythm harmonious with the absence of measured time, Vientiane persists, and flirts as if persuading the wearer to discover next that fountain of nourishment and imagination to be found along the corridor and in the bedroom. A masterpiece of subtlety, tranquillity, and beauty absolute. Bravo! 5-stars!

Having read nothing but rave reviews for this perfume and being a lover of sandalwood, I made the huge mistake of a blind buy. The bottle itself is lovely and when sprayed the sandalwood element is certainly true and well rounded, BUT, something in here (possibly the ginger lily?) smells like cat pee. I find it to be totally unwearable, as does my daughter, who has a very different skin chemistry to me. Even when sprayed in the air or onto a tissue, the unmistakeable odour of cat pee predominates. Possibly the worst perfume I have smelt in a very long time.