Vanilla Wood / Woody Vanilla

Can anyone help in my search for a woody vanilla ?

Just a simple vanilla'd wood. Worn maself out on this search.

That's an idea - will give it a try.
Now that I think of it maybe straight vanilla & Bvl black .... hmmmm.

Thank you.

Been looking @ that. How's Felanilla on the femme ?

Alrighty then .... gonna give it a shot Thanks

thanks - will give that a try. I picked up on your recommendation of Ambre 114 & that is really good ish. Will see if lightnin strikes twice.

Samples of Bois Vanille on the way & looks like another trip to the mall for L'Occitane

Now for the 1st round of eliminations :

Montale Bois Vanille vs SL Un Bois Vanille

Montale = plenty of wood but little if any vanilla + the iris

SL = plenty of vanilla but very little sandalwood or gaiac on the drydown.

This round goes to Un Bois Vanille. It may be easier to spike with a wood tone.

I fully intend on sampling all suggestions .... just thot I'd ride this dead horse a little further
in case in contributed in some way for anyone else.

Thanks Kess . . . . Have noticed that one a few times but blew right by it for some reason.
Will give it a shot.

2nd round elimination ends in a tie.
The two contenders = Indult's Tihota & Ginestet Le Boise.

Opinions :

Le Boise - Absolutely love this one. At the top end the dry cedar / oak note with a slight 'wine' tinge is glorious. Dry and smooth.

Midway of this trip - a little incense begins to seep through and it begins to remind me somewhat of Straight to Heaven & Pure Oud by Kilian.

However, it's downhill from there - not with the scent itself but its lightness meaning no staying power and no sillage.

More intensity and longevity and this would be a keeper. Higher dosage levels MAY help I suppose.

Tihota - This one is an outstanding vanilla fragrance.
So good, it begins to give Guerlain's SDV a run for its money IMO - the big difference being the inclusion of 'smoke' in SDV, which is the SDV downfall as far as I'm concerned.
Personally, I'm beginning to think that smoke notes are playing out - at least I hope so. For me, their time has come and gone since so many are / have done it.

I've read that Tihota projects a sort of vanilla cake aura - that IS true but the waft is only slightly so. Not overly sweet and it is pretty linear. For me, the drydown reveals a dry vanilla and leaves an 'amber' note originally present behind.

One note I pick up on is a sort of 'berry' tone which I haven't heard or seen mentioned before. It could just be my skin @ this particular point in time but I can't imagine how.
Either way, this is good stuff - for a relatively single note vanilla.

One a scale of 1 - 10, I'm giving it an 8 on intensity or strength a 7 in the longevity department as well as a 7 for projection / sillage.

This round ended in a tie simply because I can see uses and merits in both. Completely different animals in my book.

For the purposes of this lil exercise, Tihota would need the inclusion of wood to meet what I'm looking for while Le Boise would need more vanilla & I'm not quite sure which would be easier to 're-characterize'.

Thanks to all 3 of you. Aomassai goes on the test list.

Have tried Costes - but looks like I need to break it out & try again for this purpose.

The 3rd chapter in this search is to compare LOccitane Eau des Baux with Parfumerie Generale Aomassai - 1st trial for each :


LOccitane Eau des Baux - (cypresswood, tonka bean, vanilla, incense, cardamom and coumarin)

Initial application revealed a fairly heavy vanilla note, dry but nice.
The transition leads - fairly quickly (10 min.) - to the reported incense note combined with what seems to be the courmarin.
Meh . its ok but nothing to really swoon over.

This so-so excursion then seems to just drop into the cypresswood note and thats where it gets a little strange to my nose.

Owning several iterations of deer musk and aoud / musk mixtures and knowing full well
how urinous they can be sometimes - it isnt something easily forgotten - I was blown
away by that some urine tone in the bottom end. It isnt off putting or obnoxious, it just wasnt something I was expecting.

Thinking about it for a bit, its possible that it could be a rotten wood smell or tone. Ive encountered that scent out in the woods from time to time and its the only
thing my experiences can conjure up. Its a little odd to me though for sure.

As this one has dried down & settled in, it seems to switch back and forth between
a smoke note and that sort of urine/rotten wood scent, even more odd - between these
shifts the scent is emitting a type of floral note.

Im thinking this one needs another test - this just isnt right somehow. A manly scent ? . . . . ummm OK but that sucker hasnt bathed in a few days and hes been
stalking in an old growth forest. Is that me ? Some days but NOT everyday for sure.

An hour later and Baux has settled into a modified wood more along the lines of what I am looking for. Very little Vanilla at that point though. Was hoping for more.



Parfumerie Generale Aomassai - (caramel, toasted hazelnuts, licorice, bitter orange, spices, wenge wood, vetiver, balsam wood, incense, dried grasses, resins)

Several people visiting this call for help recommended this one so it had to be given a test. Mtgprox05, however, suggested giving it a good bit of time to get to the good stuff
and not immediately be put off by the caramel / toffee top notes. Geez was he right. I dont mind the overly sweet smell of caramel but good lord NOT something
I wanna smell like. My goodness thats strong.

Thankfully the caramel backed off fairly quickly and moved into - what I presume to be - the hazelnut / spice notes. That was kind of interesting and I kinda liked it really
(hmmmm,maybe I should be looking for a nutty vanilla instead of woods).

Midway into the progression, a strange note began to take over - the licorice / orange maybe ? Not annoying, more like here we are careening down the road chock full
of caramel / marshmallows / nuts and spices then - ooops, make a hard left at the last
second. A little odd & nicely different but the combinations became pretty feminine
in my estimation.

About an hour into this trip and the woods made their appearance perfectly clear.
Wenge ? Possibly, I wouldnt know. Balsam - oh yeah, for sure.
The drydown though - on my skin - seems to end up as a balsam / vanilla combination and Im torn. Why ? There seems to be a fruit note mingled in there somewhere.
I wouldnt say its the orange. I suppose it could be a licorice remnant as odd as that
sounds. Ultimately this one is a little bit of a twisted vanilla for me and sort of reminds
me of Sephora fr Mysterieuse which is a vanilla / patchouli.

This one I like but this round goes to Eau des Baux.

4th Chapter is to compare PG's Cadjmere with Felanilla :

Cadjmere - A little odd at first, but a right nice 'nilla. It quickly slides into - what I belive to be - one of the nicest, smoothest sandalwoods I have ever experienced.
@ the drydown - + an hour later, the sandalwood maintains while the vanilla twists it slightly to add sweetness. I'm liking this one A LOT. The closest to my mind's eye so far. I could definitely live with this one for sure.

Felanilla - ODD . . . . just odd. Fairly heavy vanilla to begin with then quickly moves into one of the strangest, astringently 'floral' (it's the best I could do for a description) that does absolutely nothing for me. I just can't wear this one. If more vanilla were added to Mark Buxton's Hot Leather it would = Felanilla at this point. After about 3 hours, it ultimately ends @ a nice vanilla with a wood tone mix. VERY nice, but since the journey is just as important as the destination to me - this one is a no go.

Obvious winner - Cadjmere & at the top of the list so far.