Secrets d'Essences - Vanille Noire Yves Rocher 2010

"WHERE IS IT?!" I want to yell at Yves. Why has the most beautiful vanilla perfume been withdrawn from the market?! Explain it to me! WHY?! :'-(

Fortunately I had secured a large bottle just before the disaster, which I now guard like a treasure. When I started looking for the right body lotion shortly afterwards, I was shocked to discover that the complete series had been taken out of the range.

You might have to back up a little - I love vanilla. Always have. In my (for me, by my standards) quite considerable collection I had and have numerous vanilla perfumes, which all went in a different direction. Sometimes more vanilla sugar, sometimes coconut, sometimes creamy, sometimes like pudding... That's all well and good and has its justification - but no perfume smelled like a scratched-out vanilla pod. And I know how it smells, because vanilla sugar is not allowed in my house! When I bake cakes, cookies and the like, I always love it when my hands still smell of this fine vanilla note hours after the black pod has been scraped out. And that's exactly the kind of perfume I had been looking for - and found.

I can't describe the fragrance any better - it smells exactly like vanilla. Sweet, lulling, delicious, gourmand, slightly woody and with a pinch of orange marzipan. Vanille Noire is my candidate for cold winter days, when it's freezing outside, when I take out my wool sweater and just want to be accompanied by warmth.