18
Top Review
Thin Tonka Vanilla Water
I am immensely fascinated by Guerlain: The house has produced the most wonderful fragrances, written perfume art, and provided a platform for many perfumers to showcase their skills (just think of Mathilde Laurent and Shalimar Legere). Nevertheless, I am only really captivated by the established scents, while the newer fragrances from the last 10 years always seem somewhat loveless and a bit stripped down and thin.
I have been testing the exclusive collection for some time now, and I must say that while the scents appear to be overall of higher quality than the Guerlain mainstream fragrances, they are otherwise similarly bland and characterless.
Before I get stoned for this, I want to quickly mention that my impression may also be due to my nose - perhaps I simply do not perceive the greatness of the fragrances?
Be that as it may, here is my impression of Tonka Imperiale (representative of many others in the L'Art et la Matiere series): The fragrance has a pleasant and appealing start with warm, soft vanilla and an almondy, nutty note. It is slightly smoky, but not so much that I would perceive the scent as rough, scratchy, or oriental. It is pleasantly sweet.
After that, the fragrance fades quite rapidly, the tonka note disappears, leaving behind a pale, boring vanilla note.
The base note is hardly detectable: Where is the wood? The incense? If anything, there is only a hint of warmth from an airy cedar big-molecule mix on the skin. Disappointing.
Conclusion: Really beautiful opening, sobering further development, little sillage, and low longevity, which seamlessly integrates Tonka Imperiale into the effect and rating of its siblings from the Exclusives Collection (the only positive exception so far: Angelique Noire, which stands out a bit).
The fragrance is not painful and is overall quite nice. The same scent from a generic brand might have received a score of 60%. But with Guerlain, the bar is simply set higher; given the prices and the history of the house, there must be more to it.
I have been testing the exclusive collection for some time now, and I must say that while the scents appear to be overall of higher quality than the Guerlain mainstream fragrances, they are otherwise similarly bland and characterless.
Before I get stoned for this, I want to quickly mention that my impression may also be due to my nose - perhaps I simply do not perceive the greatness of the fragrances?
Be that as it may, here is my impression of Tonka Imperiale (representative of many others in the L'Art et la Matiere series): The fragrance has a pleasant and appealing start with warm, soft vanilla and an almondy, nutty note. It is slightly smoky, but not so much that I would perceive the scent as rough, scratchy, or oriental. It is pleasantly sweet.
After that, the fragrance fades quite rapidly, the tonka note disappears, leaving behind a pale, boring vanilla note.
The base note is hardly detectable: Where is the wood? The incense? If anything, there is only a hint of warmth from an airy cedar big-molecule mix on the skin. Disappointing.
Conclusion: Really beautiful opening, sobering further development, little sillage, and low longevity, which seamlessly integrates Tonka Imperiale into the effect and rating of its siblings from the Exclusives Collection (the only positive exception so far: Angelique Noire, which stands out a bit).
The fragrance is not painful and is overall quite nice. The same scent from a generic brand might have received a score of 60%. But with Guerlain, the bar is simply set higher; given the prices and the history of the house, there must be more to it.
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5 Comments
I felt the scent was exactly as you described it during testing!
Great opening that unfortunately fades away quickly!
What a shame :(