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08/20/2012
Sherapop
1239 Reviews
Sherapop
1
Run of the mill vanilla...
I have a large bottle of all-natural vanilla bean extract from Mexico, purchased at the duty-free shop on my way back home. It smells wonderful, and it cost all of $5. Maybe that's part of the reason why I have a hard time mustering up much enthusiasm for vanilla soli-scent perfumes. Vanilla as the centerpiece of a perfume invariably seems pretty hum-drum to me. Vanilla is beautiful, of course. It is delicious, granted. I have many fond memories of the vanilla we used in an organic chemistry lab to develop thin layer chromatography plates. The smell of cooked vanilla wafted through the air, overwhelming and masking all of the carcinogenic fumes no doubt circulating there.
As a perfume, however, vanilla is, again, a hard sell. I love to bake with vanilla. I love to bathe in vanilla. I lamented the discontinuation of the Bath & Body Works VANILLA NOIR line, which, while inexpensive, smelled about as swell as vanilla perfumes get, at least according to my nose. There are entire houses dedicated to the humble vanilla bean, dressed up in golden robes to form the centerpiece of perfume. Les Senteurs Gourmandes by Laurence Dumont offer every single conceivable permutation of vanilla in gourmand perfumes. Would you like some musk with your vanilla? Or some violet? How about patchouli? Or plum? Bourbon? Perhaps you'd like to smell like a vanilla-infused madeleine straight from the oven? Or vanilla-flavored fig? Vanilla infused monoi, anyone?
With this vast array and abundance of vanilla perfume choices, I have to say that Christiane Celle CALYPSO VANILLA is one of the humblest of this already humble genre. Yes, it smells fine. It's a nice, polite and light vanilla perfume. I just cannot get very excited about it.
As a perfume, however, vanilla is, again, a hard sell. I love to bake with vanilla. I love to bathe in vanilla. I lamented the discontinuation of the Bath & Body Works VANILLA NOIR line, which, while inexpensive, smelled about as swell as vanilla perfumes get, at least according to my nose. There are entire houses dedicated to the humble vanilla bean, dressed up in golden robes to form the centerpiece of perfume. Les Senteurs Gourmandes by Laurence Dumont offer every single conceivable permutation of vanilla in gourmand perfumes. Would you like some musk with your vanilla? Or some violet? How about patchouli? Or plum? Bourbon? Perhaps you'd like to smell like a vanilla-infused madeleine straight from the oven? Or vanilla-flavored fig? Vanilla infused monoi, anyone?
With this vast array and abundance of vanilla perfume choices, I have to say that Christiane Celle CALYPSO VANILLA is one of the humblest of this already humble genre. Yes, it smells fine. It's a nice, polite and light vanilla perfume. I just cannot get very excited about it.
