Orchidée Vanille

Hmm I'm still deciding whether to like this or not. I can smell the vanilla strongly, which is great. And a bit of the orange. In the dry down I can definitely get chocolate notes which I love as well. The only thing is that there is this kind of "gasoline" note in there and that's one of the reasons it kinda reminds me of vanilla woods in a way (b/c I also smelled that same gasoliney smell in VW). Idk, I'm still giving it a chance and see how I like it over time. Everything else is lovely minus that strange note in there. I'll change the review if I end up liking it. Also the price for a full size bottle is bananas for this kind of fragrance. It should be no more than $80. It doesn't smell that luxurious to me. mid-Novermber 2023 Update: I started layering with my favorite vanilla (Fresh Cream Warm Cashmere) and they smell pretty yummy together... Also I've layered it with Giorgio Armani Ocean di Gioia and sometimes Acqua di Gioia (I know, odd combos) but it smells divine, especially with Ocean. These combos drown out the strange gasoline note lol and I don't detect it anymore. It works well with Cheirosa 62 as well. For me anyway! 12/6/2023 Updating once again, for the last time: My "like" for this fragrance has turned into "love". The one note I was previously describing as "gasoliny" is no longer that to me the longer I have worn this and explored the scent. I'm not sure if it was the need for the fragrance to macerate, but that note I once thought of as strange, I believe is the crossing between the citrus and the orange with the floral in between there and as I've discovered the mixture of those specific notes and have been able to identify them properly, I find them well-blended and actually delicious, like the scent of those yummy dark chocolate orange peel candy bars. I think this with the fact that the scent macerated over time has made the notes yummier. I completely change my mind from my initial review. This fragrance has become a keeper.

I have a travel-size sprayer of Orchidée Vanille, not a full-size bottle, but I love its unusual cocoa-laced vanilla fragrance enough that I bought an Oil Perfumery dupe of it to extend the sprays a bit. The OP version is remarkably close, although it performs differently, being an oil--it lasts a lot longer, but it's more linear than the alcohol-based original fragrance is, and consequently perhaps a bit less complex. That said, I'm not sure I would be able to tell them apart during the drydown in a blind sniff test. If Orchidée Vanille has a flaw, it's that it wears very close to the skin. It's not likely to offend others because it's not likely even to register as a fragrance to others--it's quite subtle for a floral vanilla. It's not entirely dissimilar to Dior Addict, only with the volume turned down from eleven to perhaps four, and that's if you're an oversprayer. I like to layer the spray over a bit of the OP "impression" to improve the performance and not use up what remains in my decant with a few wearings. I changed my grade of this from a like to a love and then back to a like because as much as I love this fragrance, I require a bit more assertiveness in my perfumes. I'm not saying it ought to project like Kenzo Jungle L'Elephant or even like pre-reformulation Dior Addict, but I do think Orchidée Vanille would have a higher ranking than even its impressive 4.27 if it sang a little more loudly. To quote the late genius Scott Miller of Game Theory, "I've tried subtlety before/And I will not anymore." Update: Just read from another reviewer below, who called the company, that this and all the other fragrances in this line are being discontinued. Pick up the Oil Perfumery dupe if you can't find the real thing--or even if you can. It's remarkably accurate, and it wears better.P Update: It's apparently NOT discontinued.

@BlessedBlossom I disagree :/ nothing very smokey. I love how Orchidee Vanille is though, Celine Black Tie is also a vanilla but has orris and moss which is what I think can make it lean masculine on me sometimes whereas with Orchidee Vanille, there is no chance of it doing that- also in Orchidee Vanille there is the orange and chocolate combination that makes it slighty more gourmand. Maybe the smokiness you find is from the cedarwood that both of these perfumes have! (I own both, but I wear Orchidee Vanille far more) Also; it breaks my heart a little to see quite a few people complain about not smelling enough from this fragrance- I want to say that because of many fragrance houses coming out with perfumes with extreme projection and sillage, we have much less sensitivity in our noses to how strong a scent actually is- someone who doesn't wear fragrances at all said that this was all they could smell for a while when I sprayed it on myself in front of them. To me personally it has been helpful to alternate between wearing my frags of different strengths, and wearing the stronger ones further away from my face, OR try not to sniff it up close incredibly often; because I become fairly nose blind to any perfume scent if I smell it too much. I don't think not becoming a little nose blind to certain notes is possible unfortunately. I like fragrance houses that concentrate on developing and using the best ingredients, and not create so many sillage bombs, because it just seems to desensitise our noses more and more. However, I appreciate having more sillage with some fragrances, and some with more intimate projection.

So my opinion of this scent LARGELY differs when I was wearing it via decant, and via full bottle. From the decant (still a spray), I experienced UBER SWEETNESS - sweetness that was all toothache, as delicious as it was! Pure vanilla/chocolate, sweet floral orchid thrown in, with slightly bitter almonds and sugar. A gourmand, but of cupcake sweetness, slightly lacking refinement. From the bottle, I had a totally different experience, and one I much prefer! After the initial spray, I was met with a surprising cream-soda accord! Followed by the most delicious combination of dark chocolate, vanilla & mandarin - full of depth, and while it was sweet, it was a very round and gentle sweetness, not cloying at all. As the perfume dried down, I went through the soft orchid, almond, and frosting that I had known before - but instead of a sharp, birthday cake frosting, this was a dense, rich buttercream frosting that you can only find on the dessert table of a black-tie event in a swanky mansion. Heavenly. I always receive a staggering amount of compliments when I wear this, because it's vanilla done differently! A wondrous comfort fragrance, gourmand but not overly so; sweet, but balanced with other accords; enough sillage & longevity to keep you satisfied throughout the day, but not overwhelming. One of the perfect scents in my wardrobe, and if you are a gourmand lover - this is a must try!! After Shalimar Parfum Initial was discontinued, I wanted to conserve my bottles & backups for special occasions, and I had to find a new scent to become my signature! Orchidee Vanille is that scent, I think.

I threw this into a mix of vanilla based decants a while ago and remember feeling underwhelmed by it. I think all I caught on the first spray was the florals, and I'm not a big floral fan. I was also in that big vanilla mindframe so I put the decant out of view. Until this morning. On a whim, I gave myself a spray of Orchidee Vanille before a work out, figuring I'll be showering it off soon enough if I couldn't stand the floral. But WOW! I don't know why but it just really spoke to me this morning. All the notes worked in harmony. The vanilla was there but also the florals, but not in a dominant way which suits me. Based on the notes, this in theory should have been a slam dunk from the first spray but it took a neutral mindset with the second spray to really appreciate it. It's amazing and I'm just about to pull the trigger on a full bottle. I daresay it will be a daily wear. It's present but not screaming for attention. It has the 'Ahhhh' deliciousness of vanilla I get from Kayali Vanilla 28 but with so much more complexity and sophistication in execution. I'm definitely in love. Edit - Still in love, but worked out why. It has some similarity in dry-down to Vuitton's Contre Moi which has sadly been discontinued and is a firm favourite of mine. There's a faire few shared notes so not too surprising. To be honest, Orchidee Vanille doesn't have the performance of Contre Moi but it's easier to wear. Full bottle on the way!