One of the YouTube creators recently did a short video on the scent that, according to researchers, people consider the most pleasant. Of course, even before they ran a mini-poll asking to choose from the 4 quite ubiquitous aromas, I knew the answer – that’s why I won’t even try running it here (hence the topic). But I looked up the study, and I thought that the conclusions were interesting:
- Culture plays a minimal role in the perception of odor pleasantness.
- Individuals within cultures vary as to which odors they find pleasant.
- Human olfactory perception is strongly constrained by universal principles.
Odor preference rankings were collected from nine culturally and geographically diverse populations. These included the three hunter-gatherer groups, Seri from a coastal desert and Maniq and Semaq Beri from tropical rainforest, one shoreline forager, Mah Meri, from a tropical coast; one swidden-horticulturalist, Semelai, from tropical rainforest; one farmer-foraging community, Chachi, from tropical rainforest; one subsistence agriculturalist community, Imbabura Quichua, from temperate highlands; and two urban dwellers from industrial and postindustrial communities of bustling urban settings, Mexican and Thai. The data from these nine communities were then related to available data from a large dataset on odor preference collected from urban dwellers from the USA (New York City).
If you want to read through the study, here’s a link.
Saturday Question #166:
What Is Your Favorite Vanilla Perfume?
Similar to bergamot, rose and jasmine, vanilla is a “usual suspect” in many compositions. But this question is about perfumes where one can unmistakably pinpoint that ingredient as a main player.
Do you have many vanilla perfumes? Any? How often do you wear those?
My Answer
I do not love vanilla in perfumes. I do not dislike it either. Over the years, I found 5-6 vanilla-centric perfumes I like and wear. Vanilla perfumes are my rainy day perfumes. Vanilla perfumes are my sick-day-but-still-don’t-want-going-commando perfumes. And sometimes those are “just because” – but not too often.
Today I wore Le Labo Vanille 44. I’m on my second decant, which means that I like it. If it weren’t for Le Labo’s idiotic “city exclusive” gimmick, I would have probably bought a small bottle of it by now, despite the price. I’m still contemplating getting a bottle of Tauer‘s Vanilla Flash. But my #1 vanilla perfume is still Mona di Orio Vanille.
How about you?
Undina's Looking Glass 
It’s not my favourite note. The two that instantly come to mind are Eau Duelle by Diptyque and Givenchy Pi. Bvlgari Black and Tabacco Toscano by Santa Maria Novella are two others I enjoy where vanilla is heavily present but might not be the main player. I’ll have to sample that Mona di Orio.
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Even though I used to like Pi and went through at least 2/3 of a bottle, I have never thought about it as vanilla perfume.
I like wearing Eau Duelle in tropical climate: it blooms nicely there.
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Not keen on vanilla, at least when it is one of the main notes; I can’t cope with anything too sweet and these days vanilla perfumes seem to be overdosed in sugar and make me feel nauseous. But I used to wear L’Artisan Parfumeur’s Vanilia, which wasn’t cloying and had something quite addictive about it!
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Have you tried Sylvaine Delacourte‘s vanilla perfumes collection? I think, there was at least one “drier” vanilla (maybe more). I like her Valkyrie: it has a nice citrusy opening.
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We love vanilla! Favorites in the house are Dame Perfumery Black Flower Mexican Vanilla, Pacifica Island Vanilla and Pacifica Vanilla Vera Cruz
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omg! How could I forget Vanille Insensee! That’s my daughter’s absolute favorite! It smells amazing on her and I love it too! I tried to buy the huge bottle of it when they discontinued distribution in the US but Jomashop notified me a month later that it was out of stock! A good friend sent me 20 ml of it from her neglected bottle luckily so my daughter has a bit more.
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I remember how surprised I was when I discovered that VI didn’t work for me since most of Atelier Colognes’s perfumes do. Still, I’m sad they are not in the US any more. I’m not sure why they made that decision.
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Black Flower Mexican Vanilla is fabulous, and sophisticated.
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I love vanilla and have a ton of gourmands. Spiritueuse Double Vanille by Guerlain is number one.
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Eeek, I can’t believe I forgot SDV by Guerlain! It’s divine!
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I’ve just finished my SDV decant. It was good. At some point, I might revisit the current version to see if I still like/want it.
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I have quite a few vanilla forward perfumes – part of my entry into perfume world. Tauerville Vanilla Flash, Goutal Vanille Exquise, L’Artisan Vanille Absolument, Nicolaï Vanille Tonka, SL Un Bois Vanille, Shalimar Ode a La Vanille- Mexique, AdP Mandorlo di Sicilia (root beer vanilla!), Hypnotic Poison (marzipan vanilla!) are all in regular rotation. I don’t think I have a favorite, though… as time went on and my nose matured other notes became more interesting. Good for cozy at home days, though!
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MMKinPA, what do you think of the Vanille Exquise-I had a bottle from the time it was originally issued, and bought another last summer. The one from last summer smelled remarkably different to me-way more almond than vanilla.
I’m not a huge vanilla fan-I don’t mind it in some things but don’t enjoy it as much as a star player. I do have Goutal’s Vanille Charnal, which is a nice rich vanilla that doesn’t smell like food to me. I also have the Dries Van Notes scent from Frederic Malle, which is equally about sandalwood and jasmin.
This is the first hot day of the year, here-Thursday I was working outside most of the day and it was freezing. Now it’s 31 and I’m happy-going down to 2 degrees C here tonight. I’ll enjoy the heat while I can . Hope everyone’s having a great weekend, or maybe a great long weekend :)
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I don’t think I tried that AG line. Maybe in passing while visiting Liberty in London, but I don’t remember any of them.
I don’t like either cold or hot weather. My ideal range is 22-24C. And it’s almost that weather here now.
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That is quite a collection! I know just a few of these (since I don’t actively search for perfumes with this note). I agree though that this type of perfumes is great for cozy days.
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Although I do like vanilla as a bit player in floral perfumes, I am not a big fan of pure vanilla scents.I’ll tell you the most recent one I bought, Divine Vanilla by Essential Parfums. It is fairly light, not very sweet, and spicy with a touch of incense, so I really love it in cooler weather. Also, it has cinnamon, which always seems to smell very good on my skin. Lastly, great price point. And, it is not that I don’t like the smell of vanilla, it’s just that perfumes that smell like true, sweet vanilla, make me want to make chocolate chip cookie dough an eat it, something that may or may not have happened in my past!
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I wonder if I don’t like vanilla in perfumes more has the opposite to your cause: I don’t really like vanilla in food. I mean, I don’t mind it, but I don’t crave it either.
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Bal à Versailles may be the one I like most to smell from my mini bottle, but not to wear. On skin, I like the drydown of my favorite chocolate perfumes, The Body Shop Amorito and L’Atelier Materi Cacao Porcelana. Smooth and not cloyingly sweet.
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I haven’t tried any of your two favorites, but since I mostly don’t like chocolate in perfumes, they might not be my thing because of that.
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Orchidee Vanille by Van Cleef and Note Vanille by Micallef are favorites, along with Chopard Casmir, one of the first vanilla centric fragrances. Also always enjoy Kenzi Amour EDP.
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Kenzo it should have been 🤪
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I remember that I tried several vanilla perfumes from Micallef, but none of them caught me enough to want to buy them. Kenzo was good, but, again, not something that I wanted in my collection.
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Must admit I own a few vanilla’s. SDV, Bois de Vanille, Outremer Vanille, Kayali Vanilla & Vanilla Coco, Lush Vanillary & probably more.
From them all SDV & Outremer are my favourites. Neither are pudding sweet. The Outremer is is a bargain!
Saying that I do miss the original Dior Addict’s custard
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Outremer is a good one. I need to add it to my collection since it’s a lovely cheapie!
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I don’t seek out vanilla, but I do have a few vanilla-forward scents I like very much. Anne Klein II is a big love, even the reissue (I first used the original in the 1980s), and so is Montale’s Intense Café. Tauerville’s Vanilla Flash is excellent, and so is Lutens’ Un Bois Vanille. I really, really like my “summer” vanilla, Berdoues’ Vanira Moorea, which reminds me that I need to pull it out.
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I thunked my bottle of the Berdoues… it’s that good!!
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Oh Undina, I love a good vanilla. Even a mediocre plus one will get my noses attention. There must be a dozen vanilla with a little else, heaps of vanilla forward ambers and some tricky ones like MdO Vanille where it is skilfully wrought within a perfumes filigree rather than the stand out note.
One of the ones that gets wear is Morn to Dusk by Eau d’Italie.
Portia x
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Has anyone tried Material by Amouage? It’s a Cecile Zarokian creation. I think she is a very good perfumer. I don’t always love her creations, but they are well done. Material is supposed to be an exploration of every aspect of vanilla and it’s very interesting. I thought what she did was pretty brilliant, exploring some woodier, more animalic aspects of vanilla. The fragrance has oud in it, a touch, not a lot and it’s a very dark, almost meaty vanilla. It fascinated me so I used up my sample but it wasn’t anything that I loved so I wasn’t going to spend a huge amount of $ for a bottle of Material. I would love to hear what others thought of this fragrance if you have tried it!! I’ll probably get another sample and try it again.
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What interesting insights! I’m very wary of oud, but this sounds manageable.
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I have a decant of it but haven’t sampled it yet
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Vanilla! I love the note but seldom ask for it in stores as I would rather have a great iris rather than a great vanilla. My favorites have already been mentioned and it looks like I intersect with many here: Le Labo Vanille 44, Guerlain SDV, Guerlain MVP, Dior Addict, among others.
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I don’t have an outright favourite, but I do second several of the recommendations on here eg Black Mexican Flower Vanilla. I’d add AG Vanille Exquise, Ava Luxe Love’s True Bluish Light, and Hermes Vanille Galante, with its salty lily twist.
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