Cashmere wood
Sandalwood
Amber
Orange blossom
Vanilla macaron
Candied blossoms
Gourmandgrl
302 Reviews
Gourmandgrl
Helpful Review
5
Very skippable (don't believe the Sephora reviews/social media hype)
If you love this one, I'll be happy for you and don't want to rain on anyone's parade. But as someone who enjoys even the simplest and most basic of vanilla fragrances... Plush Vanilla was a big letdown for me.
First, the bottle: as you can see, it's the same one as Pink Woods - just obviously a different color/label design. (If you haven't seen that one yet in person: it's a super heavyweight glass bottle that is taller than expected, "triangular pillar"-shaped, with a solid metal top/cap. High quality, well-made - and almost hefty enough to be wielded as some type of weapon haha.) The purple is true to the photos, and the font choice for the fragrance name makes everything feel fun/youthful/girly.
But when it comes to the fragrance itself? Listen, I'm a huge proponent of "simplistic" fragrances - a blend doesn't have to be complex for me to enjoy it (some of my favorites are very linear)... yet this one was just SO flat. An artificial-feeling, basic, sweet vanilla with not much going for it and no real category to fit into: not boozy enough to be considered a bourbon vanilla, and not tasty enough to be considered gourmand in my book either (doesn't embody ice cream, cookies, cake, etc.). Just... exists in what I picture as a "vanilla blob" form - i.e. not in a very memorable or desirable way (at least to my nose - and I'm a vanilla fiend!).
The sweetness felt like too much without any dimension for balance, and the dry-down morphed into a synthetic, sweet-vanilla-sandalwood mess. (Truly - it was rough smelling the tester strip as it developed.)
I saw reviews on Sephora saying "This smells like cookies, I want to eat myself!" - yet there were no desserts to be found, to me. Many of the reviews were incentivized (look for the free product disclaimer), so maybe they felt obligated to say something nice? Or maybe they truly haven't experienced better vanillas yet. I know scent is subjective, but Pharmacia - Côte Vanille is a much better alternative (I want you to have affordable vanillas in your life, and this one is actually cheaper/much higher quality)!
P.S. They made this look like it was an online exclusive, but it's not. If your local Sephora doesn't show online that they have it in stock, just pop in to see - mine had a tester bottle, even when not showing it online.
First, the bottle: as you can see, it's the same one as Pink Woods - just obviously a different color/label design. (If you haven't seen that one yet in person: it's a super heavyweight glass bottle that is taller than expected, "triangular pillar"-shaped, with a solid metal top/cap. High quality, well-made - and almost hefty enough to be wielded as some type of weapon haha.) The purple is true to the photos, and the font choice for the fragrance name makes everything feel fun/youthful/girly.
But when it comes to the fragrance itself? Listen, I'm a huge proponent of "simplistic" fragrances - a blend doesn't have to be complex for me to enjoy it (some of my favorites are very linear)... yet this one was just SO flat. An artificial-feeling, basic, sweet vanilla with not much going for it and no real category to fit into: not boozy enough to be considered a bourbon vanilla, and not tasty enough to be considered gourmand in my book either (doesn't embody ice cream, cookies, cake, etc.). Just... exists in what I picture as a "vanilla blob" form - i.e. not in a very memorable or desirable way (at least to my nose - and I'm a vanilla fiend!).
The sweetness felt like too much without any dimension for balance, and the dry-down morphed into a synthetic, sweet-vanilla-sandalwood mess. (Truly - it was rough smelling the tester strip as it developed.)
I saw reviews on Sephora saying "This smells like cookies, I want to eat myself!" - yet there were no desserts to be found, to me. Many of the reviews were incentivized (look for the free product disclaimer), so maybe they felt obligated to say something nice? Or maybe they truly haven't experienced better vanillas yet. I know scent is subjective, but Pharmacia - Côte Vanille is a much better alternative (I want you to have affordable vanillas in your life, and this one is actually cheaper/much higher quality)!
P.S. They made this look like it was an online exclusive, but it's not. If your local Sephora doesn't show online that they have it in stock, just pop in to see - mine had a tester bottle, even when not showing it online.
2 Comments
Gourmandgrl
vanillalover
Jayvicmay
Rjudge
Laalyskh
CaroKoss
JuliaSniff89
