Alexandra Short

This is one of my favorites from The Dua Brand! It reminds me a little bit of Dama Bianca/Sol De Janeiro’s Cheirosa ‘40. I hadn’t thought of this comparison until a friend pointed it out. Nonetheless, it is such a beautiful vanilla fragrance that I am obsessed with! I have 3 bottles in total :)

It's just so delicious. Vanilla heaven for all the gourmand lovers out there. It's also great for layering. This has become my most complimented fragrance - I went to an event and someone said “the hallway smells like you”.

Great fragrance! One of the few Dua's I kept. It is great for layering and I find it to be pretty strong and borders between sweet and sultry vanilla. It is a must for the vanilla frag lover.

I just got this today and I knew it reminded me of something I couldn't remember - but I figured it out: Golden Sand by Al Rehab, basically identical but 1/6 the price...

I might be slightly biased since it’s my fragrance but it’s the best vanilla for layering! Nothing comes close to how clean this vanilla is! 🤍

Very nice clean vibes with some sweet vanilla and musk! I enjoy wearing this often and its long lasting too. Highly recommend this one!

This is my favorite perfume from Dua so far. Lovely slightly floral, spicy, cake vanilla.

Very similar to Golden Sand by Al-Rehab :)

As soon as I smelled this, I was amazed at how similar it was to The 7 Virtues Vanilla Woods. I decluttered mine 1.5 years ago because (even though I loved her), I thought I'd have a good chance of finding some more complex vanillas. Little did I know I wouldn't find anything quite similar. There are some other very popular vanillas that I own and appreciate, but just don't get the hype about (ex. Kayali Vanilla 28). I love vanilla, so I like them all, but I don't know what's exactly I'm looking for that isn't there. That's the struggle with vanillas... I like them all, but it's magical when I find a vanilla I actually love. Anyway, I'm super off-topic now, haha. It wasn't until last week that I remembered I had an official sample of Vanilla Woods that I kept for memory's sake. I sprayed it side-by-side with Alexandria Short and my suspicion was confirmed. This is almost a dead ringer for Vanilla Woods. The differences are mild. Vanilla Woods has a teeny bit more sparkle because the pear is very softly present throughout the wear, whereas the bergamot in Alexandria Short doesn't last so much outside of the opening/top note phase. Alexandria Short is also slightly more of a Play-Doh-like vanilla with a bit more smokiness. I want to emphasize, however, that these differences (though you may imagine them making a decent impact) are virtually undetectable to someone not sniffing them side-by-side with laser beam focus. For the longest time, I've considered re-purchasing Vanilla Woods, but now I do not have to.

this is probably one of the most straightforward vanilla fragrances i've ever tried. i found out about this in a fragrance-centered facebook group where it was very heavily lauded (for good reason!). it's simple enough to be perfect for layering with other fragrances, but at the same time it has enough going on to stand on it's own. to my nose, i mostly get the sweeter, vanilla-adjacent notes (like the cupcake, milk, and the whipped cream), but i also feel like the rose and bergamot are doing something underneath all that to really complement the vanilla. because it IS so straightforward, it can come off as a "baking" vanilla or something reminiscent of vanilla extract. for those in search of a fresher, perhaps greener, less sweet vanilla: this is not it! since this is an extrait, longevity and sillage are great; i sprayed this on myself maybe twice to test and it filled the entire cabin of my car. however, great success comes at a cost; with most duas, you have to let it sit and macerate to realize its true potential, which is a bit of a disappointment if (like me) you really want to dig into a fragrance right away once you receive it. in the same way, some ingredient in the perfume itself (not the fragrance) smells plasticky and burnt, and that taints the whole experience for me as i can smell it on myself throughout the day. despite this, i do like this perfume and plan to use it in my layering experiments, and i definitely think it's worth picking up.

I've never understood the notes for this (not really a surprise, Duas notes are all over the place). I don't get any noticeable rose or bergamot. I do get sweet icecream vanilla, but it's mixed with vanilla extract and sort of spicy/ incense like notes. If you want true sweet, creamy ice-cream vanilla, you want Dua's Vanillac Dreams or Indult Tihota. This is more along the lines of Spiritueous Double Vanille or Kayali Vanilla. Sweet, but not supersweet, not at all gourmand or creamy, it's a fairly grown up vanilla. It reminds me mostly strongly of Eau des Missions by Couvent des minimes, but much stronger with better silage.

I wanted to love this, but it smells sharp and astringent to my nose. There’s something in the dry down that is just bitter and harsh. Maybe it’s my skin chemistry, but this is a huge no for me.

Haha yes on the dot mbberry!! I kept trying to figure out why this reminded me of winter and as soon as I read the "sol '40" it all made sense cause i wore that a lot last winter. This does smell crazy close to that which is interesting to me considering the notes. I can't imagine it would be everyone's cup of tea though.

I have an enormous amount of perfumes and body sprays my DUA collection is growing but this one is my favorite out of all that I have and gets compliments men love it, I pare it with a Victorias Secret mist I’ll never reveal to anyone and men flock to me, women ask me what it is, and it’s MY scent so I’ll never tell!

I am definitely reminded of Vanilla Woods, MOD Vanilla and MK Midnight Shimmer. If you like any of those, you'll like this, but it might be slightly redundant if you're trying to limit similar fragrances in your collection. I am a serious vanilla fan so I don't mind having tons of vanillas. Bring them on!

I don't know what makes this one different than any of my other vanillas, but I absolutely love this! It's sweet, but not that sickly sweet gourmand that's so popular right now. Well done and such a great price!

This is a nice fragrance that I tend to use for layering. It smells like a brighter and less dense version of Kayali's Vanilla 28.

This has become my absolute favorite Vanilla fragrance! Its beautiful and perfect