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Dark Vanilla Urban Scents 2018

7.5 / 10 139 Ratings

A perfume by Urban Scents for women and men, released in 2018. The scent is sweet-spicy. It is still in production.
Pronunciation Compare

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Main accords

Sweet

Spicy

Creamy

Resinous

Gourmand

Fragrance Pyramid

Top Notes

Camphor tree Rum

Rum

Pink pepper

Heart Notes

Vanillin

Heliotropin Benzoin

Benzoin

Base Notes

Bourbon vanilla absolute

Vanilla CO2 Rooibos

Rooibos

Tonka bean

Perfumer

Marie Urban Le Febvre

Ratings

Scent

7.5139 Ratings

Longevity

7.4126 Ratings

Sillage

7.0127 Ratings

Bottle

7.2108 Ratings

Value for money

5.939 Ratings

Submitted by BruceLee, last update on 08/01/2024.

Smells similar

What the fragrance is similar to

Valentina Myrrh Assoluto

Vanille Fatale

This Is Him!

Bitter Sweet

Vanilla Diorama

Ani Extrait de Parfum

Reviews

8 in-depth fragrance descriptions

09/17/2018

9Scent 8Longevity 7Sillage

Parma
278 Reviews

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Parma

Top Review 30

Suspended in the Darkness

Actually, I don't really like vanilla in fragrances, especially when it is the main ingredient. Most of the time it is too sweet or too soft for me. There are exceptions, like in Helmut Lang's "Eau de Cologne," where it is used very subtly.
But this fragrance is an exception, even though it is a pure vanilla scent. This is because it lives up to its name.

Fragrance Development:

It starts with a beautiful, natural Bourbon vanilla note that already exhibits this intense, full vanilla aroma that will characterize this fragrance. However, it is not overwhelming, but rather restrained by a slightly dirty, almost resinous and rum-like tone, which is not noticeable in the further projection. It gives the fragrance its earthiness and depth.

As it develops, an impression reminiscent of a rooibos vanilla tea surprisingly joins in. An incredibly smooth, silky nuance. At this point, the fragrance has a deep, full-bodied, and almost velvety aroma, and in my opinion, it has reached its peak. From there, it progresses very linearly, becoming a tad sweeter, and maintains this earthy, deep vanilla quality, which I also attribute to an untreated (Bourbon) vanilla pod, until the end. You feel embraced by this fragrance from the very beginning. It is not overwhelming and so wonderfully balanced that I always look forward to wearing it in cool weather. And that says something coming from a vanilla-critical perfumista!

Longevity and Sillage:

I can perceive the fragrance on my skin quite well for about 4 hours. After that, the effect gradually diminishes, but I can still faintly sense it for a long time. After 12 hours (2 sprays on the neck), it is still easily recognizable. The sillage is moderate for several hours. From the 4th to 5th hour, the projection slowly becomes skin-close.

Usage:

In my eyes, it is an ideal autumn and winter fragrance, as it conveys a lot of warmth. It is suitable for both special and everyday occasions, as it is neither too modern nor too classic or elegant. It has its own, unexcited, timeless character. Very pleasant.

Conclusion:

This vanilla fragrance has convinced me that there are earthy, deep vanilla scents that do not become too sweet, yet do not have to hide their character. With this new release, the Berlin niche brand Urban Scents - which I have already discussed in my comment on Gunpowder Cologne - has once again created a very high-quality, very naturally appealing, and pleasantly understated fragrance.

11/13/2020

Ttfortwo
90 Reviews

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Ttfortwo

Top Review 34

Delicate to the Point of Self-Sacrifice

Yes, one can interpret rum/benzoe/vanilla this way. Of course, one can. So delicate, so ethereal, spiderweb-light, so poppy petal-taffeta-like, one can.

But then what?

Dark Vanilla is so sublime that almost nothing remains of the idea of rum/benzoe/vanilla. I considered that my nose might simply be too coarse for this delicacy, and surely that is a not insignificant part of the problem.

Another part is that I have often had the (admittedly somewhat absurd) feeling with many Urban Scents fragrances that I am experiencing the description of a scent rather than the scent itself. Whisper-soft, sensitive, and detailed descriptions, wonderful quiet words pearl and fade away, and in my mind, a pale watercolor emerges, gently brushed, the finest color and scent nuances blend together. Marie le Febvre tells me with her artworks how scents could smell. Just as a Japanese watercolor shows me how a bamboo garden might look. Or how the melody of Sibelius's sad waltz can lend a sound to the essence of sorrow. As beautiful, moving, and touching as all this may be: I am not sitting in the bamboo garden, I am not sad, and I am only smelling the idea of a scent.

This worked for me with some tested fragrances from Urban Scents, with Gunpowder Cologne, with Sensual Blend, with Desert Rose, that is, with the more delicate, the more fragile plants. It even worked somewhat with Singular Oud.

But it does not work with Dark Vanilla, with notes like cannonballs: rum, vanilla, heliotrope, benzoe. If they are only allowed to appear in the mirror, what remains then? A whispered scream, the fanfare of Beethoven's Fifth - hummed.

Yet this one is also really well made: It’s magnificent how the thundering top note is lifted to the light, made permeable, transparent, and brought to float by precisely a touch of camphor.

But then I lose access to the scent. The only thing I can really smell is a delicate hint of vanilla, just enough to awaken memories, memories of vanilla, memories of benzoe. Also of rooibos, the idea of the woody-dusty scent of rooibos forms in my mind and I can very well imagine how rooibos could smell in the Dark Vanilla scent structure, how it will smell, how it MUST smell - but I do not smell it. It’s complicated. And unsettling.

One more sentence about a possible evaluation. Dark Vanilla and I are so estranged that I do not see myself capable of giving a fair rating, also because I do not want to assign a cowardly eight. Sillage and projection are phenomenal in the first minutes, but then decline so quickly that a seven would still be flattering. Longevity? The idea of the scent, the vanilla, does indeed bury itself over a longer time in my skin, in my clothing, an eight would be appropriate.

But I’d rather leave it at that.

10/17/2018

8.5Scent 8Longevity 8Sillage

FvSpee
323 Reviews

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FvSpee

Top Review 29

Cold Vanilla

Urban Scents has added a new fragrance to its base series. This is to be welcomed. Even if one appreciates the restrained emission policy of this perfume house, the portfolio is still quite manageable. And a perfumer wouldn’t be one if she only wanted to spend her time selling the existing range and designing scented candles and special occasion room fragrances for the opening of new hotels. A composer also wants to see a really beautiful new symphony performed publicly from time to time.

Dark Vanilla indeed fills a gap in the house's offerings, where the light, cheerful scents have a certain predominance. It joins the stronger, fuller works like Sensual Blend and Singular Oud, but it is still something very special.

Approaching the fragrance through the listed notes, we discern a nearly monomaniacal vanilla obsession, finding ourselves in a vanilla orgy. We see Bourbon vanilla in two forms in the base note, alongside tonka bean, which is named for its flavor? Exactly: Mexican vanilla. In the heart note, we find vanillin, no comment; and furthermore heliotropin (also known as piperonal) and benzoin resin. The scent of the latter two substances is described in relevant online encyclopedias as "vanilla and almond-like" (heliotropin) and "balsamic and quite vanilla-like" (benzoin).

Despite all this, "Dark Vanilla" is for me even less a typical vanilla scent than for the two previous reviewers. Perhaps I am scent-blind, but I am not even 100% sure that I would recognize vanilla without assistance (the hint is already swung in the name). We associate vanilla scents with warmth and sweetness, and Dark Vanilla is only extremely limited in sweetness and, for me, in all humility, not warm at all, but rather damp and cold like November. It is still an autumn and winter fragrance, but not one for cuddling by the open fireplace; rather, for me, it is a hard, dirty (I borrowed the 'dirt' from Parma, thank you) scent for Philip Marlowe, who stands freezing in the rain at some corner with his hat pulled down and trench coat collar turned up, observing a gangster (even if the scent may contain a certain comforting promise that better times will come again).

I am sure that not only the selection of vanilla aromas (here, apparently dark, unsweetened variants were used), but especially the few, but quite brilliantly employed contrast notes are responsible for this entirely different vanilla feeling. There is the rum, which hits you like a fist in the face right from the start. And as that slowly fades away, the benzoin with its throat-clearing effect, which I perceive as almost dominant in the middle and even late phases of the scent (my nose is also very sensitive to benzoin). I don’t know what the camphor tree (also known as "Ho wood") is about, but it seems to be an original substance.

I would like to dedicate a paragraph to the rooibos or red bush tea, which the manufacturers are quite proud of using; in the presentation sheet for the fragrance, it states among other things: "With Dark Vanilla, a unique fragrance innovation has emerged, as rooibos has not been used in classic fine perfumery before." If that is true, then congratulations. It fits well! I find that you can distinctly smell the rooibos, and it creates, together with the vanilla, the creamy, silky feeling that Ohdeberlin speaks of (and similarly the silky sensation of Parma): In tea blends like "Earl Grey Cream" or "Rooibos Cream," the "cream" is always evoked by the addition of vanillin or vanilla, as there is no "cream scent" per se.

From this, one can already see: My black-and-white film hardboiled gangster wet asphalt interpretation above is of course only one of the possible ones; you can also read Dark Vanilla differently with your nose - like in a kaleidoscope: Instead of Philip Marlowe, there is Mma Ramotswe, who is comfortably drinking rooibos tea with cream on the veranda with Mma Makutsi, and instead of the rum that the tattooed scarred man downs in the dive bar, the vial with the rum aroma from Dr. Oetker that my grandma, God rest her soul, poured into the delicious cheesecake batter. This slightly ironic ambiguity gives the fragrance a special charm.

In conclusion: For me, the FIRST (!!!) from this house that has a high sillage (oh yes!) and longevity. Although there were also three small sprays on my face and neck and three more on my wrist (to the horror of the sensitive nose beside me), with this perhaps rather generous dosage, it has now lasted for me for nine hours...

11/20/2018

7.5Scent 7Longevity 7Sillage

FabianO
1008 Reviews

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FabianO

Top Review 16

"The Winter is Coming..." - Benzoin-Saturated Vanilla Cuddles

Yes, even though I started with a Game of Thrones quote, I suspect that "Dark Vanilla" must have seemed far too cozy and comfortable for the unshaven, blood-crusted warrior horde from the series.

Soap was surely the height of all feelings, and only on days with -day in the name. Even the severely frostbitten Cersei Lannister would probably have reached for something sharper...

This Urban Scents does not reinvent the wheel when it comes to cozy and silky vanilla, as the aforementioned ingredients have already been packed into various winter fragrances many times before.

Lots of benzoin, a hint of rum, but ultimately a very smooth, delicate vanilla that drifts slightly into the feminine in its pure form. Cozy in times of fogged-up glasses, runny noses, and frozen red ears.

Overall relatively low in development, but quite well-balanced, not too extreme in sweetness, rather balsamic and medium-bodied.

Longevity and sillage are fine. Pleasant to smell when winter is coming...

11/14/2018

8.5Scent 8Longevity 8Sillage

pudelbonzo
2405 Reviews

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pudelbonzo

Top Review 16

Voluminous Vanilla

Today I received a package from Urban Scents with Dark Vanilla samples.

Now, that is a service that should set a standard.

I am usually very fond of Urban Scents fragrances - and a vanilla scent particularly excited me.
This fragrance direction promises comforting coziness, and also curbs the craving for sweets.
This way, you save calories without suffering.

Normally, I reach for creations from La Maison de la Vanille, but the dark vanilla from Berlin also does its job well.

The mark of the vanilla pod is authentically represented - creamy aromatic with a slight sweetness.
The rum note is delicious, uniquely rounded off by soft pepper.
Rooibos adds a dark tone, with a hint of bitterness.
Yet it remains appetizing with a delicate marzipan-like tonka.

Dark Vanilla is not a direct gourmand, although it melts deliciously on the nose.
Here, the accompanying emotion takes center stage, which I would describe as calm security.

The longevity is excellent, as the midday spray will still accompany me as a bedtime treat, and - hopefully - ensure sweet dreams.

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