Saturday, October 04, 2008

SOTD: the discontinued L'Occitane Vanille extrait de parfum

I feel like October has continued the mountain of problems from August and September which were mainly car issues, until the last week of September which involved a filling falling out an a wisdom tooth that needs to be removed, and then this last Thursday which involved my computer hitting its death bed (I knew it was coming but still it was sudden and now I am typing on a brand new computer), and best of all to top that Thursday off my satellite dish decided that it would no longer receive a signal (worst part all I had wanted to do Thursday was watch the vice-presidential debates). So here I am spending my Saturday waiting for the technician to come fix my dish. I will say one good thing happened on Thursday my package that both me and my swapper were getting worried about possibly being lost in the mail because it took half a month to arrive, arrived. It contained a much sought after vanilla fragrance (that for many is Holy Grail vanilla): L'Occitane's Vanille Extrait de Parfum.

I wish I could say I was one of those woman who only wore dry leathery green mossy intellectual scents, but the truth is quite frankly I am a vanilla lover. I am a proud to say I have moved beyond the stage of loving vanilla just because it is vanilla and can see the many variations in vanilla from the candy/cupcake vanillas to the woodsy/smoky/resinous vanillas, I tend to be a lover of the latter finding them closer to the vanilla extract scent that so many of us vanilla lovers are obsessed with finding.

Where does L'Occitane's Vanille lay in the spectrum of vanillas? This is a pure vanilla but not dark and smokey enough to be an extract, althought it does hint at extract with notes of dark caramel. It quite frankly reminds me of a really good flan, the creamy custard flecked with vanilla beans, the kind that is never sickeningly sweet but wonderfully perfumed with vanilla so that you can taste that dark bittersweet flavor that comes from using a vanilla bean and really good vanilla extract. Of course topping off the flan is that gorgeous bittersweet caramel sauce, that makes a beautiful contrast to the creamy custard. This is a gourmand no doubt about it and very much vanilla at that, in fact I might call this a vanilla soliflore there is so litte change, but I should say this is really good for it offers exactly what it promises: vanilla. This has great strength and really does bloom on the skin. Perfect on a rainy day waiting for the technician to come.

On a side note, the vanilla that comes closest to this is Molinard's Vanille, but that vanilla is still just a sad shadow of this.

****Update: Wasn't the satellite, turns out it was the receiver box, don't even ask me how, I never once played with receiver. Now watching the most wonderfully anal retentive cooking shows out there: Cook's Illustrated which hosts America's Test Kitchen and Cook's Country. Off to cook. Testing out another Mark Bittman recipe.
image provided by artnet.com
image: Naughty Boy by Brandi Milne

11 comments:

The Daily Connoisseur said...

Sorry to hear about your hectic week- it sounds like it can only go up from here!

I have never tried L'Occitane's Vanille Extrait de Parfum. I do have their La Vanilliers eau de parfum- and detest the fragrance (but love the bottle). I generally love vanilla too- I think foodies tend to...

Unknown said...

Hi Daily,
I'm hoping it is going to get better. As for the extrait; I had never tried it before this and last vanilla they had beres no resemblance to this (they also discontinued the vanilla you just mentioned).

ScentScelf said...

Thanks for introducing me to L'Occitane Vinille extrait de parfum"...sort of...(argh, another discontinued scent of interest)... ;)

Mercury is in retrograde. All things having to do with communications are supposed to be blarkey. Sorry it's hitting you so hard...especially after all the car issues.

As far as I'm concerned, some days are green mossy dry leathery intellectual...but others are best with vanilla.

Best...

Unknown said...

Scent, I wouldn't worry too much there are plenty of awesome vanillas out there. Just waiting to be loved. I imagine with all the hecticness everyone is reaching for something with a little vanilla (probably the most comforting of comfort scents).

Divina said...

I've been craving vanilla and gourmands/orientals in general these past few days as well. Unfortunately I'd never even heard of this dc/ed gem by Occitane before I read your post. :/ Why does Occitane insist on discontinuing the good stuff? (the previous honey scent was far superior to the awfully lemony/pissy new one) But I digress. I tried Montale's Boise Vanille for the first time this weekend. Not really my thing. Vanilla absolute in woods, and as unsweet as you'd expect the absolut to be. Unexpectedly masculine too. Really like the top and heart notes, but the very masculine dry-down is sort of a turn off for me. I like my vanillas comforting :) Speaking of Montale, your samples are on their way my dear. I managed to dig out your address myself! So there :P

*HUGS!*

Unknown said...

Oh Divina you are ridiculously awesome! I need to email you and get your address, because there is a house I want you to try. Thank you for being super sweet. I had never heard of this Vanilla either until my time over at MUA; this baby has a big following over there. I'm kind've amazed that L'Occitane discontinued the previous scent; that one was so nice and well gentle, the new one reminds me of L de Lolita Lempicka (the one time I tried it). Still L'Occitane has such a bad record with their scents; years ago they had a rose neroli scent that was really nice. I'm not a big fan of masculine drydowns especially with my vanilla; you know what vanilla I've been falling in love with all over again? Vanille Noire du Mexique, somehow it has just been perfect lately.

Rose said...

I have been away from the computer all weekend but am sorry to hear about the computer and satelite problems- either would be bad but both at the same time is horrid, it sounds like you kept very calm.

Hopefully the rest of October will be smooth and stress free for you.

I think this is the great thing about being a perfume lover, you can have many different scents for all your different moods and tastes. I also love a good vanilla. I have no problem with loving vanilla even if it isn't the most intellectual and I still enjoy the occasional sprtiz of the body shop vanilla and get compliments on it. The one I love most but that doesn't love me is Serge as we talked about. Still maybe one day...

Unknown said...

I wish the rest of October was going to be smooth and fancy free but today is my consultation to get by wisdom teeth removed. And well there is nothing smooth about that.

Rose have you ever tried Organza Indecence, that is a delightful woody vanilla.

Rose said...

Oh good luck with the wisdom tooth. I hate the dentist and have to be in real pain so I really do feel for you.

Yes I have, I read the great reviews on MUA and hunted some down (it was had to find here which made it an even more exciting quest, the thrill of the chase!). It's lovely!

Anonymous said...

I have been trying to find the L'Occitane Vanilla forever! Please help and let me know if and where I can find this gem!

THANK YOU!!!

Unknown said...

Hi Sara, I got this through a swap at Makeupalley the only recommendation I give you is search out on ebay or the Makeupalley swap zone.