Vanille Absolument (was Havana Vanille) by L’Artisan Parfumeur 2009

/ australianperfumejunkiescom

Hiya all you lovely Perfumistas,

I ordered my Vanille Absolument from the French sale online recently but it was once known as Havana Vanille too. Different name, same juice apparently. I have a long standing love of vanilla in food and fragrance so add this to rum, leather and musk; it was a no brainer.

Photo Stolen L’Artiisan Parfumeur

Fragrantica gives these notes/accords
Top: Clove, Mexican vanilla pod, leather and crystallized dried fruit
Heart: Narcissus, rum, everlasting flower, tonka bean, tobacco leaves and honey
Base: Balms, vanilla absolute, smoked woods and musks

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

OMG! The opening of slightly bitter vanilla is mesmerising, and to have put the leather in right up top to cut through the sweet, spicy candied fruit and give you a blast of dark cakery is genius. I get a milky/ice-creamy blush through the beginning too. Dark rum and honeyed tonka come in to give the whole a cocktail-ish almost Brandy Alexander feel that is both boozy, alcoholic, spicy and cozy warm. I am trying to parse the narcissus and everlasting daisies but they are completely subjugated by the other notes; but every now and then I almost smell them. Although this is a vanilla fragrance there is so much more to it, twists and turns within turns. The dry down is a warm and sweet vanilla that is held back from being foodie by the musk and woods, though I don’t get smoke in the traditional sense.

This is a classy, elegant fragrance that still remains friendly and approachable with good longevity (at about 5 hours before I lose 3 spritz completely) and the sillage & scent bubble are good too. Where would I wear it? This is so divine that I’m finding it hard to think of somewhere I couldn’t wear Vanille Absolument. It may be a little too much for a workplace where there are anti-perfume rules or very close quarters, otherwise from jeans to Haute Couture, Bar B Q to meet the Queen. Excellent as a date night fragrance because it’s sensual rather than sexual.

NowSmellThis and TheNonBlonde do great reviews with much more knowledge than I posess, go check them out too.

LuckyScent have 100ml for $165
Parfum1 has 100ml for $165 (still as Havana Vanille and I’m wondering if it’s pre-reformulation there?)
ThePoshPeasant has decants starting at only $5

How do you all feel about Vanilla? Does it spark your attention and is there one I should definitely try?

See you all tomorrow, thanks for dropping in.
Portia xx

12 thoughts on “Vanille Absolument (was Havana Vanille) by L’Artisan Parfumeur 2009”

  2. Good review! I also love Havana Vanille (or whatever it’s called), and even bought a big decant of it. It’s one of the perfumes that I wear when I’m teaching. I wonder if the name change was accompanied by reformulation?

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  3. Mmmm, this does sound good. I’ve got a spreadsheet for keeping track of the longer-termed lemmings (it’s too bleeding hot here right now for vanilla), and this is going into it.

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  4. I haven’t tried this one yet (it is a huge range of perfumes) but I will at some point. I have no strong feelings either way about vanilla perfumes: I’m not a huge fan (not girly enough?) but I do not run away from it either.

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  5. I got a sample of this when I bought Dzing !! It came in that tiny little vial so I could not get a understanding of the fragrance from the minuscule amount I got ! When I read about it , I was in love !! When I got it it smelt thin and un impressive? I needed more …..
    Blv black sits comfortably in my vanilla catergry and a 5 ml tabacco vanille is a great alternative and sometimes the two together is a great combo !
    Thanks for the review , trust you’re well xx

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    • Hey Sinnerman1,
      I think this needs to be spritzed for the full drama of it to open. You already have a couple of gold medal Vanilla’s. I have JPG Le Male and a couple of others but this is the clear Vanilla winner,
      Portia xx

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  6. Just catching up on my blog reading. I love vanilla ice cream, vanilla cake, vanilla sweets. But somehow most vanilla fragrances don’t play nice with me. They either get overbearingly sweet, like someone dumped a truckload of sugar vanilla on me, or they turn sour. The one I’ve had good luck with is Tom Ford’s Tobacco Vanille. Alas, it’s much too warm right now to be thinking of TF TV. Been going with vetivers, Cristalle, No. 19 and somehow the florals in Tommi Sooni’s Passerelle are working quite well in this heat. Funny that all us northern hemisphere folk are complaining about the heat while you’re having your winter. Give us a few months and we’ll be complaining about the cold while you are enjoying your summer.

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    • HAH! You are right, we have been having an incredibly mild winter this year, I’ve been sunbaking this week to keep my vitamin D levels good.
      Isn’t Passerelle by Tommi Sooni AWESOME!! Great choice for your Northern summer.
      Portia xx

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