Vanill Addict

There are an infinite number of ingredients in perfumery. Smelled on their own, most of them make a tepid impression: neither love at first sniff nor get that away from me. Yet there is one ingredient that hardly ever leaves anyone indifferent: you either love it or you hate it. And hating it is easy. Like patchouli, vanilla hasn’t always been in everyone’s good graces. And like patchouli, it managed to slip away discreetly… the better to make a stunning comeback a few years later, basking in the flattering glow of its newfound stardom.

Why does vanilla have the power to provoke polarized reactions of rejection or addiction? Perhaps it has something to do with its mysterious nature, neither spice, nor flower: vanilla is the fruit of certain varieties of orchids. Orchids… ah, perfumers’ favorite fantasy flower. Few orchids, actually have a smell; yet for most people nowadays, orchids should smell like a vanilla floral that’s preferably… not too gourmand.

Ah, there’s the rub. It is undoubtedly vanilla’s gourmand character that makes it so divisive. But just how objective can we really be in olfactory terms, when most of the desserts, chocolate bars and sweets we’ve eaten since we were little are flavored with vanilla. And by the way, just what does vanilla really smell like? Because more and more brands and perfumers have been insisting lately on how different the smell of the actual vanilla bean is. Nothing, they say, like the syrupy caramel or packaged pastry notes that some inexpensive perfumes have.

But let’s not be too hard on the synthetic molecules vanillin and ethyl vanillin – an olfactory tiger a compared to the first. Indeed, they are indispensable to gourmand fragrances. And therefore to all those – and there are in fact quite a few – who are addicted to them. Besides, the unique essence of vanilla bean, possesses a puzzling scent. Spicy, ambry, liqueur-syrupy and a little bit salty…worlds away from the clichéd ideas some people have about vanilla. In fact, vanilla is rarely a cliché, but rather a chameleon that knows how to display different facets. Nowadays, in response to informed, gourmet consumers, vanilla has managed to discard its cloying image in favor of more unusual accords. Vanilla-inflected fragrances are also taking on liqueur-y hues, like Angel Liqueur de Parfum (Mugler) and Spiritueuse Double Vanille (Guerlain), as well as tobacco: Back to Black (By Kilian), Havana Vanille (L’Artisan Parfumeur). And then there are the plants with supernatural scents, like Guerlain’s angélique noire and the immortal flower in L (Lolita Lempicka).

Thanks to perfumes like Hermès’s Vanille Galante (a spicy-solar floral) and Armani’s Onde Mystère (a musky oriental), vanilla may even manage to convince women who say they don’t like it. Other scents worth trying: Cascade from the Swiss jeweler Chopard (a crystalline powdery oriental) and Osez-Moi, from lingerie designer Chantal Thomass (an almondy and floral vanilla). Also worth remembering: Kenzo Amour (balsamy, woodsy, with a rice note) and the classic American scent by Donna Karan, Cashmere Mist, a cashmere of woodsy-ambry musks.

But women who love the intoxicating, narcotic scent of vanilla needn’t worry. Intense vanilla scents like Guerlain’s Shalimar, 85 years old this year, never seem to age. As for Dior, they’ve decided to re-launch Hypnotic Poison (1998) in search of the broader success the scent deserves. The ruby-red perfume – a best-seller in Italy and elsewhere – now has a seriously famous face. This fatale vanilla elixir, with spicy, erotic accents is now incarnated by Italian actress Monica Bellucci.