Vaniglia del Madagascar
by I Profumi di Firenze

This is probably a vanilla lovers dream, although I wouldn’t call it a pure vanilla scent. There is a floral – orchid – subtly but persistently present in the background of the vanilla note, and orchid is one of my major dislikes. The vanilla here is excellent. It is not an excessively sweet variety… it has a slight woody ambiance, as if they included the vanilla pod in the mixture, and I think the vanilla has a slightly heated or burned effect, too – I get a trace of caramel. I am not a vanilla lover but I do enjoy the use of vanilla in Vaniglia del Madagascar, even though the orchid rather annoys me. I recognize this as a fragrance that would probably be very dear to a true vanilla lover. It is feminine, has a soft sillage, and does not last very long on my skin – three or four hours.

A very sweet and straight up vanilla. None of the complexity of, for instance, Nicolai's Vanilla Tonka or L'Artisan Vanilia, but if you are a vanilla freak, this is great. Lasting power is only so so (about 2 hours on me, then I smell very little but a memory of vanilla and a little spice), but is wonderful when I layer with patchouli fragrances like Jalaine Patchouli. I am a total vanilla nut, so this is in my wardrobe.