WHAT I SMELL: Vanille Charnelle opens with a sparkling pepper which is soon met with a vanilla gourmand rather almond-ish ylang-ylang. It’s sweet without being sugary and it smells like a baking rack full of cooling almond cookies. But there’s a bit of sour from either the ylang-ylang or the tonka that keeps the perfume from being too confectionary. The opening had me a bit worried that the perfume was going to rise up and scream. But thankfully, after a few minutes the fragrance begins to contain itself. The vetiver begins to come forward and with it comes a welcomed reedy woodiness that begins to dry out the vanilla. But even as it continues to dry out, the vanilla almond is front and center; albeit less sugared. After some time, the perfume journeys into a more floral realm and moves from gourmand to oriental. It really is beautiful in a richly opulent and exotic way. The notes are beefy and amped up and what was turning dry becomes ripened. Vanille Charnelle then moves to a decaying spiced floral that’s wrapped up in vanilla.
Top notes are ylang-ylang and pepper; middle notes are vanilla, tonka bean and white musk; base notes are vanilla absolute and vetiver.
WHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME: There’s something very nostalgic and 1970s about this perfume…very Annie Hall.
THREE ADJECTIVES THAT DESCRIBE VANILLE CHARNELLE: charming, noticable, sentimental
WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT VANILLE CHARNELLE: Fashion for Lunch, Perfume Shrine, Alice in Beautyland
BOTTOM LINE: Vanille Charnelle is a wonderfully spiced floral vanilla perfume the makes me want to reach for my tweed jacket. A little of the perfume goes a long way, so when spritzing, do sparingly.
- Bone Rating: 4 out of possible 5 bones
- Scent: Oriental Floral
- Classification: Unisex
- Expense: $280 for 75 ml eau de parfum
Sample courtesy of Lucky Scent.
January 27, 2016 at 6:13 am
You are creating lemmings, two reviews in a row! And LOL at “rise up and scream”. I will challenge myself to see if I can use it in a business context.
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January 27, 2016 at 6:40 am
LOL. Heck, there are plenty of perfumes that “rise up and scream”…especially when it comes to vanilla or something fruity gourmand.
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January 27, 2016 at 9:11 am
OOOOH
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January 27, 2016 at 5:37 pm
I take it that’a good oooooh??!!! 🙂
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January 27, 2016 at 8:12 pm
Most definitely. I doubt Japan will get these but I will definitely check them out when I go back to the UK. Vanilla, almond and ylang and I am there!
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January 27, 2016 at 11:47 am
I am not a fan of almond per se, but I love vanilla and that’s a killer name for a perfume!
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January 27, 2016 at 5:04 pm
Agree on the name – and the bottle is so pretty!
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January 29, 2016 at 12:06 pm
This sounds good. I know I briefly tried this but now I’m going to hunt it out again for another sniff. x
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January 30, 2016 at 6:11 am
This is a nice surprise for me. Vanilla can be so over the top, but this lands in a really beautiful place.
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January 30, 2016 at 10:35 am
Well I would love to smell Vanille Charnelle. Annie Hall you say? I am intrigued!! Cheers!
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January 31, 2016 at 6:13 am
Hey there! Yes, there’s something very 70’s nostalgic about the perfume in the drydown. I can’t put my finger on if it smells like a scent from back then…but for some reason Annie Hall popped into my head. Maybe there’s a distant memory tied up between the two?!
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January 31, 2016 at 1:09 pm
Yes it must be. Well as Annie would say if stumped by that memory… “La de da…La de da…” Cheers!
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February 8, 2016 at 4:42 am
When I read about this new Goutal’s line I was sceptical but your review gives me hope. Though I rarely like almond in perfumes if not too sweet it might still work for me.
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February 8, 2016 at 5:25 am
Vanilla and almond would typically make me go running screaming….they contained this all very nicely if I do say so myself.
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