Marilyn62

Oh. My. Gosh. Italica is the sweet almond perfume I never knew I needed!! Sweet milky almond vanilla goodness! I first got a sample and it sat and sat until I finally decided to try it and I immediately fell in love and got a 30ml because this juice is sweeeeet! Two sprays is plenty and will last on me all night and into the next morning if I wear it to bed. But now that I have it I have realized that I really love Italica and use it quite often so I am going to have to get a 100ml when I get low on this one (and Lira!).

Okay, so the notes listed for this on the Cocoapink website are "A blend of scrumptious vanilla cake notes with hints of sensual tonka bean warmed with a gentle layer of white musk". For the first few hours or so this smells very true to the notes. But then, Va Va Nilla turns into a vanilla floral. I mean REALLY floral. The first time I wore it I was luxuriating in vanilla cake slightly musky goodness and then helllllllllo flowers outta nowhere. I was like what is this? So if you are going by the notes when you purchase Va Va Nilla please be aware that it does not stay baked goods for long and you have to be into floral perfumes to like this one.

Oh my goodness. This is GOOD!!! A fragrant friend of mine sent me a decant from her bottle and after wearing it one night, I could not stop thinking about it. This perfume smells like creme brulee vanilla deliciousness!! It starts out with a heavier feel then lightens up as I wear it, and I am in a cloud of creme brulee all day. I do not get any smokiness from it whatsoever, just creamy vanilla with a brown sugar feel. Wow, I mean Kyse's Bonbons a la Vanille is my holy grail vanilla but this baby, it is right there in a very tightly squeezed second place to my beloved vanilla. Escapade Gourmande not only smells delicious but it lasts all day on me and I only use two sprays on my clothes (it is extrait de parfum so more concentrated). I can seriously still smell this after 12+ hours easily! I purchased a full bottle and it is displayed on my vanity looking so gorgeous! It's heavy and so shiny and looks luxurious! This is one of the best vanillas I have ever found. If you love vanillas like Vanille West Indies, Kyse Bonbons a la Vanille, and Indult Tihota, and you love literal gourmand perfumes, I think you will absolutely love this one.

A fragrant friend of mine sent me a sample of this perfume along with Maison Mataha Escapade Gourmande and Andromeda's Moon Tihota. I sprayed each on different parts of my arm and smelled one at a time. I was immediately drawn to Escapade Gourmande (I now own a full size bottle and am obsessed with it!) and put the other two away because they didn't really do anything to catch my attention much. A couple of weeks later I was messing with samples in my closet and decided to give Montale Sweet Vanilla another go. I sprayed a little on a paper strip and inhaled. And oh my goodness, it was GOOD! I could smell something that was almost lemony at first (looked at the notes and it was apricot..not sure how that read as lemon-like to my nose but it did) mixed with a beautiful vanilla. And then the dry down of that beautiful, sweet vanilla came through and I decided that I had to have it. I ordered a bottle and while I was waiting for that to come, I wore the sample and realized that, although I loved the smell of Sweet Vanilla, that glorious opening fades after a few minutes and then I am left with that lovely, but hard to detect, sweet vanilla scent. I have to put my nose right to where I sprayed the fragrance to actually smell it, and really try to smell it, which is a bummer. I have read and heard so much about this fragrance being a projector and I didn't even get a scent bubble from it, which would have been ideal. I will still use Sweet Vanilla because it's such a lovely scent, but I will be layering it with some of my other vanillas so I am not left with the sense that I am not even wearing perfume.

Edit: I decided to spray Sweet Vanilla on after over a month and now I can smell it much better!! That sweet vanilla apricot cake scent lasts way longer now!! I love it!!

Yes!! This is so GOOD!! I have been on a vanilla kick lately (I have been missing out all these years because I have discovered some good vanillas!) and have been looking for a longer lasting, sweet sugar cookie vanilla and this is it! There is something about the way the orchid, vanilla, and caramel harmonize that makes this fragrance absolutely stunning. I love that I don't detect any floral notes, just vanilla caramel goodness. A true gourmand. I already own St Barth Vanille West Indies, which Vaniglia is super close in scent to (same notes, and they are both very oily too), and I like it, but for some reason Vanille West Indies doesn't seem to last longer than a few hours on me to where I can smell it without trying because it sits super close to the skin on me. I read reviews that Vaniglia has more of a scent bubble and it does! And it's a better value than VWI too because you get more for a lesser price. I will keep using VWI but will not repurchase since I have Vaniglia and it has better performance on me and smells almost identical to me. I also love the simplicity of the bottle, it looks so good on my vanity!