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.