Un Bois Vanille

This is one of those fragrances that is totally influenced by skin chemistry,it's very different on different people's skin As a vanilla lover I couldn't miss this one,so I blindbought it...I find it lovely,adorable and unique,I have tried lots of vanilla dominant fragrances but I can't name anything similar to this one It's definitely sweet but not cloying,delicious but not childish,there is sort of a burnt/smokey undertone,maybe liquorice (not burnt sugar)that balances it's sweetness It opens with a dark vanilla blended gorgeously with honey/beeswax,caramelized benzoin and tonka,and a hint of creamy sandalwood and liquorice..I can't detect any coconut in the opening part..as time passes that burnt undertone fades and it becomes sweeter,now there is more honey and I can get some coconut cream ,also just a little amount of almond shows itself in drydown besides woods that make the scent a tad powdery. so drydown is a tad darker with tonka,balmy woods and almond,it's also warm,smooth and very likable It's not too dry and powdery as I've expected,it's kind of creamy/milky and if you're looking for dominant coconut or woodsy notes or almond,you're probably gonna be disappointed,there is just a hint of mentioned notes blended with honeyed syrupy vanilla..that's exactly why I love it so much,it's well blended and nothing is overdone but if you're not into sweet scents and licorice you may find it gooey,sticky,burnt mess but for me this is a vanilla,honey heaven I enjoy it on autumn more than freezing winter nights,it's warm,sweet and comforting so good for cold temp but when it's too cold,it doesn't project that much.by the way,it leans on the feminine side IMO Longevity is very good but sillage is just a little more than moderate,I wished it projected more This is among my my top five favorite vanilla scents and one of my most beloved serge lutens fragrances(fleur d'oranger and datura noir are my other favorites) This is very delicious,addictive, balanced,sensual and soothing,well done serge lutens 65 dollars I've paid for it is not wasted ❤❤❤❤❤ Edit: I love layering this with Datura Noir. It creates a scent which reminds me of Dior Hypnotic Poison but much better 2nd Edit: After a few months I can pick up a lot more of the coconut and also more waxyness than before. I have a coconut-vanilla candle which smells 80% similar to the dry down of this perfume. I still like it though رد پایی از تمام نتها رو میشه حس کرد که باعث شدن این عطر، فراتر از یه رایحه وانیلی ساده باشه و ابعاد مختلف و عمق داشته باشه برای من وانیل و موم عسل، نتهای غالب هستن که یکم ته بوی سوخته/اسموکی طور بخاطر لیکوریک پیدا کرده که بنظر من، رایحه رو خاص و اعتیادآور میکنه. علاوه بر این نتهای چوبی، خامه نارگیل و بادوم هم محسوسن درکل میشه گفت یه وانیل عسلی، اسموکی، پودری، خامه ای، چوبی، نارگیلی هست. خوشمزه و اعتیادآور.. یکمم حس و حال وکسی داره که باعث میشه یادآور بوی شمع وانیل-نارگیل باشه. درکل اگه شما هم دوستدار عطرهای وانیلی هستین، بشدت توصیه میکنمش چون با عطرهای وانیلی دیگه متفاوته. اگه دنبال ورژن مردونه تر همین رایحه هستید الکساندر جی عود وانیل رو امتحان کنید ضمنا توصیه میکنم اون بویس وانیل رو با داتورا نویر لیر کنید. ترکیبشون یکم شبیه هیپنوتیک پویزن میشه اما خیلی بهتر

I ordered a quarter-ounce travel sprayer from my fragrance-of-the-month club, and I can already tell that I'm going to use this up to the last drop and rue its absence, even though I have at least a dozen good vanilla-centric perfumes in my collection. As others have noted, this isn't similar to most of the other vanilla perfumes. It's a bit drier and woodier, but there is a slightly unctuous accord coming through that must be the beeswax and coconut--it gets creamy, but not nearly as sweet as, say, Libre Intense or Mon Guerlain Intense. I think of all my vanilla perfumes, it reminds me the most of Lalique Le Parfum, although that one has a strong sage note that is absent here. There is a touch of licorice, but I don't notice it nearly as much as I notice it in Lolita Lempicka Lolitaland, for instance. I do understand why some people compare the scent to that of a candle, but that doesn't bother me. I guess I would rather smell like a scented candle than a slice of pie. Either way, if it's a perfume with more than a drop of vanilla in it, my husband will invoke the Pillsbury Doughboy. I'm getting just as much wood, wax, amber, and balsam, but your mileage may vary. If you're iffy about vanilla, you should probably procure a sample before springing for a full bottle. The travel sprayer size is good for me, since it often takes me a few wears to decide if I truly love something. After several hours' wear, it is starting to remind me of Van Cleef & Arpels Orchidée vanille--it's not quite as sweet or as floral, but the bases are quite similar. Update: wearing over the past couple of days in an attempt to use up my smaller amounts and decants, before they go off or evaporate, I am once again impressed by the longevity of this fragrance. It doesn't have much throw--my husband insists that he can't smell it unless his nose is practically touching my skin--but that could be a good thing for many people. I haven't worked in an office with other humans around for years, but when I did I occasionally upset one of my more sensitive colleagues. Well, I can't imagine that happening with this fragrance, unless you aggressively sprayed it on them, and only a truly depraved profligate would waste expensive Lutens juice like that. I can't let myself buy any more perfume this year, and I have already gone over my desired budget, but I will be genuinely sorry when I run out of Un Bois Vanille. I'll have to console myself with one of the dozens of other vanilla-woods fragrances I have, but not one is very much like UBV. Update: Well, there is one that is very much like UBV, and that is Dua Brand A Vanillac Wood. The Dua "impression" is an extrait, so it has a bit more throw, arguably, but they are remarkably similar on the drydown. UBV is likely smoother and more complex, but I don't think many people would be able to tell them apart blindfolded.

Well now, this is different. Normally I’m not a vanilla guy. I have an aversion to sweet things - perfume, food, drinks, you name it. If it’s sweet, I’m going to be extremely picky, and vanilla perfumes are almost always sweet. I never fit-in anywhere; how I wish, sometimes, to not be a weirdo. Un Bois Vanille isn’t sweet. Don’t believe the many. Well, ok, it’s a touch sweet, but UBV is about far more than that. This is one of the stiffest, most strident, bitter, and peppery vanilla+wood perfumes I’ve ever smelled. It wants to pick a fight with someone, and I’m happy to take a gut punch. Riding on the success of Feminite du Bois, which proved that women at the turn of the century could love a wood based perfume, Lutens gave us a stupid number of wood perfumes that are really just flankers to FdB - but, honestly, that’s a bit of a mischaracterization because many are good enough to stand well on their own (and some aren’t), but all have FdB to thank for their inspiration and birth. UBV is not an exception, but it is good enough to stand on its own - great, even. Strong nose-tingling pepper, bitter and unctuous and metallic almonds, and floral and waxy and semisweet beeswax open the perfume. Bam! It hits you square in the nose. Behind these opening notes that are coming at you like a fist, you pick up the muscles and bones of the arm, stiff and strong, of guaiac, benzoin, and anise. Woody and hard like a maple baseball bat, warm spices of high body heat temperatures, earthy and sweaty oily like the hot breath of a boxer. The vanilla is here too, but it’s giving you its vegetal, bitter, and black qualities - saving its gourmand qualities for later. Eventually UBV calms down, the fight is eventually over, and we settle-in for calm, slightly sweet, gourmand vanilla and a creamy and slightly peppery sandalwood (that smells a lot like the old formulations of FdB - cough). The coconut milk facet that the brand, and several online reviewers, have commented on is there but it’s masked. There is something creamy, unctuous, nutty, and coconut-y in UBV but in the opening does it really distinguish itself from nuttiness of the almond? No, not really. In the dry down does it really distinguish itself from the creamy sandalwood? No, not really. I can believe it’s there, maybe like a glue bridging everything, but it doesn’t ever take center stage, preferring instead to work behind the scenes it seems. The first time I wore UBV, I thought “blah.” The second time I wore it I thought “hmm.” The third time I wore it I thought “hey, this is pretty darn good.” The fourth and subsequent times I wore it I thought “this is one of the best vanilla woods I’ve worn.” Give this one time and patience. No one likes being smacked or punched around, but BDSM preferences don’t happen overnight, do they....

Un Bois Vanille smells like fall in a bottle to me. At it's simplest it's a woody vanilla, but it's not at all simple. It is smokey and spiced with a waxy sweetness through out. The sweetness is very slight but because of the beeswax it still feels rich and a little heavy. I don't specifically smell the coconut milk, but it seems to add a smoothness to the composition. The woods are more burning wood than fresh-chopped or dry wood. There is something perfectly fitting wearing this outdoors on a crisp fall day. It blends so beautifully with the fresh air and if you close your eyes you can imagine you are walking through the woods even if you are inthe middle of the city. Because of this, I always think of this as a fall scent. It works just as well in the winter, but there is something magical about wearing it in the fall. Un Bois Vanille is a straight up unisex fragrance for anyone that likes an interesting vanilla. I am surprised to see that so many people here have voted it as more feminine because I would love to smell this on a man as much as I enjoy wearing it myself. Reading some reviews, I think that some people get a lot more sweetness that I do. Perhaps that's why some find it more feminine leaning. My bottle is the currently available black label bottle. The performance is excellent. It lasts forever on clothes and easily 8-10 hours on skin. The projection is also solid. It projects to al least arms length for most of the wear and a bit beyond for the first couple of hours. I find it too heavy if I overspray. I would suggestion starting with a light spray (2-4 sprays) and add a little more if needed. I tend to wear 2 or 3 sprays and add an extra 1 or two late in the day, if I want to wear it well into the night. Serge Lutens is a pretty reasonably price niche house. The retail pricing is quite reasonable anf the deals at discounters can be excellent.

The lightest colored juice in my, so far four strong Serge Lutens collection. The opening is entirely dominated by the beeswax note. Sweet, but fresh, light floral honey covering the waxy surface - these bees have being gathering fresh pollen from spring and summer flowers for their hive and have not been fed any sugar water. Once the beeswax note starts to calm down, the bitter tones come out - people think "coconut milk" would smell like coconut flakes, hence why some reviewers in here are trying to mindbend themselves into feeling "coconut note" which isn't there - coconut milk smells bitter-sweet and slightly lactonic, which will be a better descriptor to the note that comes into play after the opening (mind that none of these are official notes provided by the house, aside from vanilla, black licorice and sandalwood, so we are all using our experience and not in small part our imagination here). In the drydown, the scent goes into more of a smooth, creamy direction with the vanilla and sweet woods, but i am not ready to call it "balsamic" or "woody" yet - the beeswax and the bitter lactonic notes are still there, albeit much subdued. This type of fresh sweetness for me wouldn't work the greatest during the winter chill or in the high summer heat - but for every other weather, it fits. For me, this is a more unisex scent than the rest of my SL bottles - even the rose bomb that is Santal Majuscule. This is not a "Sir Michael Caine in his 50s" type of scent, more of a "David Beckham in his late 40s (or even Victoria)" All and all - another different, complex, multidimensional scent from a great niche house. Not for every taste, not for every occasion - but if it works for you it will be a gem in your collection.