Vangelis

This. THIS. is what I've been looking for when I set out to find my signature fragrance 10 years ago!! I went to a perfume store in my area setting out to try and buy something from Guerlain L'Art et La Matiere. I tested all of the orientals and moved on to smell Kilian, Heeley, Profvmvm Roma and some more. I turned around to ask for more test strips and the guy I spoke to happen to be the fragrance expert for the store chain. He made us smell some stuff but when I told him that I love Armani Privé Bleu Turquoise he gave me this to smell. he told me it smells like Masala chai. I immediately melted (my friend and this guy told me I had that absolute happiness look on my face). This is the absolute creamiest soft spicy smell I've been looking for the longest time. All niche perfumes that are described as creamy are not this cream creamy and becomes skin scent too easily. That always makes me hesitate to put down a lot of money for non-designer fragrance. I'm ecstatic to finally find my dream signature fragrance! UPDATE: Okay. Let me put down a proper review as my initial one was just me fangirling like an idiot. The notes listed here are incomplete. According to their website it should be the following. Top notes: Cardamom, Bitter Almond, Pepper, Clementine. Heart notes: Jasmine, Carnation. Base notes: Sandalwood, Vanilla. The opening has a blast of black pepper it might make you sneeze. The black pepper lingers but every other notes bloom in together and create a melange of comforting and warm spices on an extremely creamy and plush vanilla base. The vanilla is not boozy at all. I don't find it too sweet or too bitter. It's just right. I could not distinguish the flowers. I reckon they're there to provide a little floral sweetness. No indolic poopy smell. It smells pretty linear the entire time but comfortable with 0 screechiness. It's not exactly a challenging fragrance but it's blended gorgeously and creates the most comforting scent to me. I got it for EUR 130ish for 100ml. To me it's a good value for a well-blended dumb-reach comforting scent.

I'm still very much in the testing phase with all the SD Vanillas, but so far, this is the one that is standing out and keeping me coming back for more. The vanilla is very present throughout the wear but never heavy or cloying - it's a light, pleasant, intriguing vanilla. I can't really identify the other notes as they all seem to stay in the background in a support role to let the lovely vanilla shine. The overall effect to me is a fresh, almost green vanilla, which is interesting, since vanilla is so commonly combined with spices, woods or is heavily gourmand. My experience of it also contradicts the notes listed. This should wear as a spicy vanilla, but to my nose it comes off more fresh. I told myself when purchasing all three sample packs that it was just for sampling, but I might be losing my resolve when it comes to Vangelis. A full, albeit small bottle may be in my future. Why couldn't I have chosen a cheap hobby, lol! Update: And @oncebitten -- YES! The banana note. I thought I was hallucinating but just read your review and see you got that too. Just one more thing to love about Vangelis!

This is lovely and very different to anything in my current collection of vanillas. It shares more than a few notes with Shalimar, but I find everything here infinitely more modern and accessible. I get very little of the citrus, but I'm okay with that since I was really hoping for a soft, spice-tinged vanilla, and that's exactly what this delivers on. The cardamom and clove are superb, and it must be some trick my senses are playing on me but I get the faintest whiff of banana mixed in with chai tea? What a warm, beautiful treat. I really appreciate that they offer 7.5ml sprays for every fragrance in the line. It's a great, low commitment way to give these a test run. I've got samples of Vangelis, Osiris, and Ozkan, and this is the first one I'm trying out. Highly likely I will be graduating to a full bottle when the sample runs out!

I'll make it simple, it's heavenly. I wear it daily and the compliments don't stop. A very clever blending that makes people smile when they pass by you. I am on my last full size and will lament that I cannot buy it anymore, well actually, I am crushed. I have not found anything even close to it and that is a great disappointment. It worked with my body chemistry so very perfectly. In the 1980's I used to by Ivoire Parfum in Nice, just two dabs behind the ears were very heady. The original formula for Ivoire and Vangelis are/were in my top 5. Some things should stay the same.

This is my favorite from Sylvaine Delacourte's vanilla line. Not surprising considering 3 of my favorite notes (cloves, cardamom & cinnamon) are listed. What is surprising is how light and fresh this fragrance smells. With those notes, you would expect something spicy, heavy, and cloying. But here, the spices are done with such a light hand, that they entice instead of blasting you in the face. Also, what helps is that this perfume is not too sweet, so it's never cloying even in 30+ degree weather, like today. Overall just a beautiful, elegant, superbly balanced composition.