Shaghaf Vanilla Toffee Swiss Arabian 2024

Don’t mind the bad reviews for this one. People have been clamoring to be the first to get their hands on this to post content right off of the heels of big releases like Bianco Latte and similar clones.

Shaghaf Vanilla Toffee is nothing like that. This is a very dark and intense gourmand that really teeters that line on what people actually call gourmand.

Just looking at the note breakdown it makes me think of a chef brainstorming a dessert, combining flavors that can compliment each other to get to a certain flavor, chasing that michelin star. In this case the chef focused on toffee’s dark roasted flavor.

That’s what this smells like to me.

It opens with strong toffee and supplemented with black coffee notes with some brown sugar binding the two together. The dates and cardamom pop in the accentuate the opening notes creating some smoky feel, on top of a backdrop of vanilla and a hint of walnut. The mix of the last two gives it that very slight milk feel. On the dry down the backdrop of vanilla remains, tonka keeping it soft, and the woods, musk and benzoin come out keeping some level of smokiness that compliments the vanilla very well. Like a a fancy affogato

To my nose that darkness of it makes it lean more masculine.

The darkness does make it very versatile. Someone could easily dress this up in a suit for a night out like a casino, date, ballroom event. Or dress this down for home to lounge. If your girl wears Bianco Latte you can wear this.

Definitely would work better for colder days.

Other than that it delivers on the name, lots of vanilla and toffee with complimentary flavors that develop around it. Idk what everyone else expected when they saw the word toffee on the bottle. Toffee is cooked at higher temps than caramel and give a much darker and more roasted flavor. It doesn’t smell burnt or bitter you just don’t like toffee ¯ _(ツ)_/¯

She is Sticky Dates’ older sister! They clearly have the exact same family tree: same sticky-toffee-pudding mother, same sandalwood-benzoin father. This one went to college, though.

She’s just a little bit older, a little more sophisticated, and she’s brought a little extra spice and a gorgeous nutty vibe to the family dinner. But where the younger sister is out throwing a sweet, loud tantrum, this one has actual manners.

If you love the original family DNA, this is the version that actually knows how to behave in public.

Given this perfume’s mixed reviews on fragrantica, I half expected to immediately become overwhelmed with a cloyingly sweet sugar bomb. It’s not quite that but it is certainly for acquired tastes.

It’s certainly sweet but densely so, like thick walnut infused sweets or a date paste pastry. Both the walnut and dates appear right at the top.

There’s a thickness to VT that reminds me of Mischief Academy’s Winnie the Pooh honey-based fragrance because both are heavy, thick slightly oppressive.

I think this would make an awesome candle or reed diffuser for the house. It could potentially work as a layering scent, but it could also be headache-inducing.

The reviews here are very mixed.
Everything from 1 to 10 is included, and many seem to be quite disappointed.
This is probably also due to the fact that the scent was a bit hyped or that with the name "Vanilla Toffee" one simply expected something really amazing.
I wasn't disappointed myself, but Vanilla Toffee couldn't really meet my high expectations.

In the opening, I get a full blast of sweet, salty toffee.
I don't perceive coffee, but there is a strange off-note that I can't really describe.
It almost smells metallic.

After a few minutes, this off-note becomes nuttier, and I perceive a nice walnut note.
The fruity aspect of the date is also subtly present in the background.
Somehow it also smells spicy, not too much, but you can definitely pick it out; it could be from the cardamom.
The combination of dates, toffee, and cardamom has a slight hint of licorice for me.
The smoky note that some complain about, I hardly perceive at all.
Benzoin can sometimes smell slightly smoky, depending on which type of benzoin is used here, it can smell like it does here.

Towards the end, I only perceive 4 notes: walnut as the most prominent note, toffee, cardamom, and benzoin.
Sweet, heavy, slightly salty, spicy, and really minimally smoky.

My personal Shaghaf Oud ranking looks as follows:

"Shaghaf Oud Tonka | Swiss Arabian"
Shaghaf Oud Ahmar Eau de Parfum
Shaghaf Oud Azraq Eau de Parfum
Shaghaf Vanilla Toffee
Shaghaf Oud Royale
Shaghaf Oud Elixir
Shaghaf Oud Abyad
Shaghaf Oud Eau de Parfum
Shaghaf Oud Aswad

It shares 4th place with "Shaghaf Oud Royale | Swiss Arabian," which isn't bad at all.
One should simply not expect the craziest gourmand scent ever, and of course, it would be better to get a sample first.
I don't even need to mention that it is not a blind buy candidate based on the reviews.

As for the performance, I can only say that it doesn't hold up to "Shaghaf Oud / شغف عود (Eau de Parfum) | Swiss Arabian," "Shaghaf Oud Azraq (Eau de Parfum) | Swiss Arabian," or "Shaghaf Oud Abyad | Swiss Arabian."
It is rather one of the weaker Shaghafs, but still, the performance is moderate to good (H&S).

My conclusion: Not an easy scent.
I find it neither bad nor really good.
For the current price, I would neither buy it nor recommend it.
If it has to be a Shaghaf, then better go for "Shaghaf Oud Tonka | Swiss Arabian," which I can only recommend to everyone.

Vanilla Toffee... Finally a new scent suitable for autumn and winter. Man... the anticipation was huge because Swiss Arabian definitely has some very good fragrances in their range and the YouTube promotional videos from some influencers for this scent were quite positive.
So I pre-ordered it right away... Vanilla Toffee... sounds great, delicious, exciting, and tasty. Today it finally arrived. I was more than ready to officially kick off the Christmas season, so I quickly unwrapped it, took a look at the wonderfully yellow, creamy bottle, and sprayed it on immediately.

Instead of the long-awaited HO HO HO, it unfortunately started with HUST HUST HUST... and that's not a lie... Wow, what was that? The opening hits hard... but where is my creamy toffee, the milk, the coffee, and the delicious vanilla?

Let's get to the point... Vanilla Toffee reminds me more of a barbecue evening where too much lighter fluid was used, charred wood, or burnt caramel from the frying pan. Too intense, too abstract, way too smoky. It really doesn't work for me, and unfortunately, my expectations were not met at all.

I much prefer the Vanilla Haze by Fugazzi, which truly transports you to a Christmas market scent-wise.

After a few hours, the scent is still super strong, so in terms of longevity, it can certainly be rated as good. There will surely be people who find Vanilla Toffee extraordinary and "different" in a good way. I wouldn't recommend a blind buy; better to get a sample first and sniff it. For me, unfortunately, there's nothing left to do but write a new scent on my wish list for Santa Claus.