Five Indie Vanillas Worth Your Attention

I like vanilla oh hell lets me honest I love a good vanilla perfume, which these days feels like a bit of a contentious statement, but I think that is because there is so many bad vanillas on the market. What are my vanilla credentials: I have a lot of vanilla perfumes, I've worn vanilla perfumes for a long time, and I'm willing to smell the high and the low end of the vanilla perfume market. The above image is what I always feel like a good vanilla can do for the wearer.

1. Vanilla Botanique by Dawn Spencer Hurwitz
Do you need a decadent baroque vanilla in your life? The kind of thing that says I am utterly worthy of adoration mortals. Then you need to get your hands on a sample of Vanille Botanique. Vanille Botanique is the closest I have ever come to a diva vanilla, it is just so rich and assured of itself. It is deeply balsamic and full, this is no candy vanilla. This recalls the rich oriental scents of bygone eras but with the modern love of vanilla the emphasis. Try if you like Shalimar by Guerlain or Cuir Beluga by Guarlain.

2. Black Flower Mexican Vanilla by Dame Perfumery
A genuinely sexy musk vanilla. Vanilla perfumes can sometimes be well utterly girlish and adolescent, this is not. Black Flower Mexican Vanilla is the lovely genesis of the theme of musk and vanilla found in Shalimar but applied with Dame's sensibilities. The scent just blends with the wearer beautifully, the vanilla is dark and woodsy and the musk is gently animalic and there is a splash of sweet cream and woods. It is the sort of scent that blends beautifully with the wearer but still projects. Try if you like Shalimar by Guerlain, Spiritueuse Double Vanille by Guerlain, or Musc Ravageur by Frederic Malle.

3. Provanilla by Providence Perfume
A good genuine sweet vanilla that does not go into the banal and repetitive zone is very hard to find. Most scents that report to be "pure" vanilla scents usually have some sort of other sweet quality going on that is not in fact vanilla but is some sort of sweet that a user will think is vanilla unless they really analyze it. Provanilla is genuine sweet vanilla and I mean that as an utter compliment, this is a vanilla that is basically pure once the opening credits subside. Provanilla is about as close as that idea people always talk about finding in a vanilla perfume, the vanilla extract scent, but better because there is no alcohol note there is only perfect vanilla. I just have to say I love the opening of this scent, melon and then rose while it does quickly become pure vanilla on me, the opening could probably throw you for a loop. Try if you like Vanille Botanique by Dawn Spencer Hurwitz, Midnight Orchid by Susanne Lang, or Un Bois Vanille by Serge Lutens.

4. Vanilla Autumn by CJ's Scents
The thing about many gourmand leaning vanillas is they can become very stifling after awhile (I'm looking at you Comptoir Sud Pacifique and your many variations on vanilla) so if you are me, you tend to avoid them. Yet, in the right perfumer's hand they know how to make the gourmand quality not stifling. Vanilla Autumn by CJ's Scents, is the perfect dulce de leche vanilla to me. This creamy caramel vanilla is so perfectly done, you get the gourmand, but the stifling effect is reigned in by CJ. Somehow CJ is able to add an airiness to this vanilla that keeps it from the suffocation zone yet at the same time the creamy goodness is still very there. Try if you like Candy by Prada, Vanille Abricot by Comptoir Sud Pacifique, or Vanille Fleurie de Tahiti by La Maison de la Vanille

5. Vanilla Flash by Tauerville
Do you want a big hunky spicy vanilla? Then please look no further than Vanilla Flash. Vanilla Flash is flashing because it is a hot flame like vanilla, there is an intense spicy cinnamon running through it and rich tobacco throughout the composition. The finale is the Tauerade of a whole lot of ambregris and musk with hints of rose but it is still very much vanilla. Try if you like Tobacco Vanilla by Tom Ford, Tonka by Reminiscence, or Eau Duelle by Diptyque.

So the thing about all these vanillas is all of the wonderful perfumers offer them at a reasonable price and smaller quantities. They all have excellent longevity and frankly knock out their extremely high end competition and low end competition in my opinion. If you are a vanilla lover these in my opinion are currently the best vanillas on the market to try.

Image by Reuban Negron

The Children of PHI Une Rose de Kandahar: Rose Flash and Vanilla Flash by Tauerville Perfumes aka Andy Tauer

It should be at this point stated that Andy Tauer loves roses. He has created multiple scents dedicated to roses. And one of his great opus roses is the rather elusive PHI Une Rose de Kandahar. A gorgeous gourmand fougere rose. It is a rose that tackles apricots, tobaccos, cinnamon almond pastries, and musky herbal goodness. It is a big opulent scent worthy of praise. It is also on the elusive side of acquiring, the rose used in it is hard to obtain, Andy has always been up front about the fact the scent cannot be constant in his offerings.

I am going to make the argument that PHI Une Rose de Kandahar has been very inspiring for Andy Tauer and that technically it has inspired two flankers: Rose Flash and Vanilla Flash. I know flankers if bit of divisive term because it usually means "crap" but sometimes someone actually uses it properly and creates fragrances that have a clear pedigree to another fragrance but are definitely fragrances of their own.

The first is Rose Flash, perhaps one of the most gourmand roses out on the market. I will also say the price is beyond generous in what you are getting. In this case if you have smelled PHI you will remember that it starts with a gorgeous sweet mix of apricot, cinnamon almond pastry, and rose. This opening is so delicious and makes an excellent argument for roses and stone fruits supported by cinnamon pastry. With Rose Flash, Tauer amps the fruit and rose idea, which he has also played with in Une Rose Vermeille (that scent a combo of rose and raspberry), here we are treated to roses, peaches, berries, and spicy vanilla all with that touch of ambregris effusiveness. The connection to PHI in Rose Flash is the marriage of rose and stone fruit, here the aspect is more peachy than apricot, but still it is the lush jam of roses and peaches echoing the apricot rose jam beginning of PHI. The further proof of heritage is the eventual dry down of Rose Flash that echoes the tobacco and vanilla found in PHI.

Rose Flash ends on a bed of tobacco, vanilla, and ambergris and from that bed does Vanilla Flash jump. Vanilla Flash amps up the spicy decadent cinnamon pastry note found in PHI. If you love that moment where PHI is cinnamon almond pastry with hints of rosewater then Vanilla Flash is for you. The beginning is vanilla and cinnamon, it is big, but then quickly enters that delightful rose note, a clear echo of the rose in Rose Flash. Vanilla Flash eventually ends in blend of vanilla, spices, tobacco, and the ever present ambergris note. The connection to PHI smelled in the tobacco and ambergris blend.

At this point I am hoping for Almond Flash and Apricot Flash.  What I find interesting when doing a comparison of all three of these perfumes, is that word "Flash" is excellent in describing the Flash series of scents because they are flashier than PHI. PHI is a smoother more subdued scent, where as the Flash series of scents is about quickly announcing themselves and getting to the point. They are delightful in their pointed assertiveness, they are obviously the more boisterous children of the more melodious PHI. There is no doubt that PHI is the more sophisticated scent of the three and the more sensual with the addition of a prominent musk note, but for sheer playful delight the Flash series wins.

First Image: Andy Tauer