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saniakadet – :
This scent is gorgeous! Why aren’t more people talking about this? (Edit: I see now that it was discontinued)
I do get a smoked caramel quality that the other reviewers have spoke of. It’s delicious and sexy, it reminds me a bit of shalimar parfum initial. It also reminds me of L de lolita lempicka. L de lolita is much more cinnamon-y, but you can’t deny the similarities. I mean orange, vanilla, cinnamon, and immortelle? Come on. I hate to admit it, but it smells a lot better than Lolita’s offering that has remained treasured in my collection.
I would say this is a gourmand fragrance. It reminds me of more elegant offerings like shalimar, but definitely is sweet, spicy, and smoky. It’s been a long time since I’ve smelt something and thought “I’ve got to have this!” But this one had me running out to ebay and forgetting all about the perfume I planned to buy this year (I’m only buying one this year and this made the cut, yes!)
Desperado – :
I have fallen like a tree trunk. Total love. This perfume is not your everyday vanilla, nor the sweet thing you think it might be. Vanilla Intense is smoky and confident vanilla fragrance, and it certainly is unisex.
It combines vanilla and orange, and the prominent immortelle plays the second violin with an elegant style. The note pyramid seems to be too simple for what I get. I love vanilla but I can also sometimes feel that it can be done in a boring way. This beauty is everything but boring. The vanilla is bitter and dry. The perfumeI changes a lot over the time and keeps on moving from almost disappearing to suddenly flowing over me like a smooth scarf. My appreciation goes to Patricia de Nicolai who provides the world with gems like this. Thank you!
01ctac – :
This perfume changed so much over the first 90 minutes or so. My opinion seemed to change every 15 minutes. When I first put it on, it smelled like smoked caramel, not vanilla. It seemed very thick and heavy. As I walked around the house, the perfume went through various phases. It became much more like freshly peeled orange and spicy cloves, nothing thick at all, but light and almost transparent. I hopped onto the bus, and throughout the ride it smelled like a Dole Pineapple and Orange juice blend mixed with melted candle wax. I was very annoyed at this point, wanting to scrub, thinking is there any vanilla here? Finally about an hour later, it began to smell like a generic vanilla and spice candle. Then sugar cookies with cinnamon. Finally a base of creamy vanilla and cinnamon. Beautiful!
This perfume was like taking a trip. I enjoyed the ride…and the final destination.
csscss – :
Vanille Intense is true to it’s name – it’s intense. It opens with a HUGE head-clearing blast of camphory spice that reminds me of men’s aftershave. On me there is some soapiness in the heart. It quickly moves into a very complex dry down that is both incensey and spicy and sweet, warm, dark, musky vanilla. Even after 10 hours it is still a warm, spicy vanilla skin scent. However, this fragrance is not a gourmand, not really a ‘vanilla’ vanilla. I sampled this several times and it definitely took some getting used to, but I really like it’s intensity, it’s assertiveness, the way the scent is layered, how it evolves and changes, and I also like it’s sillage and longevity. It’s wonderfully invigorating, it definitely clears the cobwebs, and it would be a good unisex fragrance as well.
vv26 – :
This smells like the flame of a flickering candle in a Wiccan shop…more precisely, the scent those candles leave on books–it even smells a little bit like glue book bindings.
I detect a lot of wax, raw vanilla pod, and tangy citrus that all meld together to create a delicious glow from the skin. It’s comforting/enveloping but exciting/strange at the same time.
This is not a foody vanilla at all–this is a gothic-Wiccan-pirate’s vanilla. Sillage and lasting power are mighty strong. I’ve never smelled anything like this.
serg92 – :
I loved the opening notes, which to my nose smelled very fruity bubble gummy. Afterwards slight bitterness came through, I could smell juicy ripe pineapple (not listed here) mixed with bitter caramelised peel-like the opening notes of 1804. Then, after couple of hours, it went downhill and began to annoy me. It became less sweet and more bitter, guess that would be the amber note. I swear I could detect a hint of cloves, almost faint dental smell, mixed with cinnamon and peel. I got really impatient with it and washed it off after 3 hours so I shall never know how this story ends.
Overall, I liked the opening but the end? Who knows eh?
bandneasmab – :
IVe had my tester for a couple years now, testing it over and over, unsure if I like it or not. I finally decided that, although I love all things vanilla and the notes sound great, this is too amber-spicy for me. It could definitely suit a man too and this masculine slant is what turns me off. Yes so shoot me I like my vanillas on the sweeter side.
asperin – :
There is something here that smells strongly of clove, but I don’t see clove in the notes listed above. I am not a fan of clove notes in perfume.
Nevertheless, I find this to be an absolutely gorgeous and complex, spicy, sweet, dry vanillic oriental with fantastic sillage and lasting power! Really unbelievable sillage, a little goes a long, long way!
If you love clove, which I know many people do, you have to sample this one.
34alisha – :
Normally I am insatiable for vanilla and I love PdN therefore I was so confident that I would love this that I bought it unsniffed. Silly me! On my skin there is something in it that produces a sharp, sour note that grows to dominate the whole fragrance. It sounds so good on paper – indeed it smells better on actual paper – so it’s just me. Pity – it sits unloved on a shelf in the perfume cupboard reminding me to try before I buy!!!!
Sirus9334 – :
Another masterpiece: a totally different vanilla may be de Nicolai was the first one to offer a different point of view on the same spot: vanilla, but here we have no more ice-cream and puddings but a proper perfume for grown-up people (no matter sex, age and so on) Great persistency.
cheprakow – :
I have a tester of this. To me, it’s pleasant on its own, sweet and comfy and perhaps reminiscent of a vanilla-scented candle…but hey, I like vanilla-scented candles. And in a certain mood, I don’t mind smelling like one myself. One evening, I tried a dab behind each ear, topped with a spritz of Jo Malone Pomegranate Noir. The combination was rich and spicy. Like vanilla-scented candle blended with cinnamony-spicy deep red fruit. Very soft and natural, and new — something I’d never “scented” before. Nice sillage, too (a friend noticed me when I walked in the door and said “Yumm”) — and lasted all evening. I will definitely try this combo again! And again….
Edit, many weeks later…I’ve grown to absolutely love Vanille Intense. I’ve been dabbing this scent liberally behind each ear, after a shower, and adding several spritzes of Jo Malone Vanilla Anise. I’m trying to reach for other scents, but this is like one of those favorite dishes at a restaurant. You tell yourself you’re going to try something new this time, but you keep yearning for that certain flavor you know you love. And you order your favorite again. This is a delicious scent on its own, but I love it like crazy with the JM vanilla anise. And I sometimes add a spritz of JM Pomegranate Noir to the mix. I’ve had enough “MMmmm you smell g-o-o-d” comments to know it’s not just me…
rachitsky – :
Very beautiful and personal the way Madame de Nicolai is able to match real vanilla beans so smoky and bitter – as they taste really -and the alcoholic note of rum. The first time I tried it on me I was a bit puzzled as I used to be cocooned by a different kind of vanilla. Growing up I started adoring V.I. (I’m still also in love with other “cuddling” vanilla…) a complex (vanilla and rum are just the top of the iceberg!), long-long lasting and well balanced perfume; being a fragrance composed by mostly natural ingredients it takes a while before giving its best: so be patient when you decide for or against it!
D_N_X – :
Received this as a sample with purchase from luckyscents.
Well on me it smells like a used Yankee Candle. Thats not necessarily a good thing. I even get a bit of a wax note from it.
I’m not a huge fan of vanilla based scents, and this one really dosen’t do much for me.
Mihailgokk – :
Vanille Intense is a very complex and multilayered fragrance to my nose.
I haven`t smelled such a huge contrast in between the opening and drydown in any other perfumes.
It starts off very-very sharp and at this point I wonder why it is classified as an oriental vanilla, where is the vanilla at all ? All I can smell is some extremely screechy blend of orange, patchouli and (maybe) immortal. I start to give up.
I can`t forget about it of course, because this scent goes on forever and lingers with decent sillage.
After about half of a day or so, the fragrance starts to behave itself and this naughty boozy vanilla takes over.
This drydown is beautifully yummy, warm, delicious, sophisticated and (slightly syrupy) sweet! Gorgeous!
I wish it could smell like it all the way!
I will have to keep testing it because I am not sure about the initial opening and the first 3-4 hours, but the drydown is one of the most beautiful vanillas, is really to die for!
kostik12 – :
Wow, not sure what Moyra got, but I’d like to try that! On me this was a boring vanilla with faintly fruity notes and a hint of cinnamon. Mostly, it smelled like vanilla and bubblegum, exactly. Sweet, powdery and young. Nothing I need to smell like. She had much more fun, sounds like. And since Kterhark had such an unpleasantly stinky experience with it (this was tolerable on me, just nothing to get excited about) I think this is definitely a try before buy kind of scent.
minkin-tolik – :
An unusual fragrance,sweet yet sour, vanillic yet earthy,boozy yet woodsy/ambery. From the first sniff all the way down to the drydown, its mouthwatering but not foody and very well made, in a sophisticated warm evenings sort of way.
I absolutely LOVE it, it works beautifully with my chemistry, with nary a note of drunken party goers in the sultry tropics, just beautiful orange flowers, spices, and a twist of immortelle and patchouli with the tiniest bit of high quality rhum to make it *that* much more of an unusual riff on the vanillic theme. It settles down to a soft warm delicious base that still waves a bouquet of orange flowers and immortelle. Gorgeous stuff!
Definitely a try before buy via the little samples from Lucky Scent, but for me, definitely full bottle, BIG bottle worthy.
наталья19778 – :
I ordered a sample because I’m a fan of both the house and vanilla. My first impression was ‘burnt sugar-butter in the frying pan’.
After it developed I realized that the alcohol note is dominant and that I should have passed.
Here’s how this wears on me: picture a group of revelers throwing back one hard liquor shot after the other. They are in a hot and humid tropical setting, and as the sun rises in the sky sweat rolls off their back and pools under their arm pits. Their liver shudders at the onslaught and tries frantically to clean it out of the body, mainly through the skin. Now their sweat is mixed with the faint sweetness of liver processed sugar toxins. Oh yummy.
This just stinks stank stunk on me. But I’ve since showered so I’m feeling better now. Can’t speak for the revelers, however.