La Maison de la Vanille Vanille noire du Mexique Review

I have been dithering on writing a review for far too long at this point. Now it's off to the races with a review.

Off and on for the fast couple weeks, I have been wearing La Maison de la Vanille's Vanille noire du Mexique. It's a goofy one to me. I get the basic layout of two different perfumes. I mean, really I do. I get Shalimar Ode a la Vanille (the Mexican one) and L'Artisan's Havana Vanille (or Vanille Absolutment or whatever they called it before the discontinued it). It has the basic Ode a la Vanille layout nut without the naughty bits but also had the thinker's parts of Havana Vanille. Havana Vanille was huge on the tobacco and the rum and Mexique doesn't have any of that but hints around at it.

Mexique is kind of a funky perfume because it plays off of two perfumes but yet, it's it's own perfume. I consistently get about 7 hours of wear out of this and make skin eats EDT's for breakfast. What I am really loving is the price tag of Mexique. For $60 and a 100ml, that's a really good bargain in the niche/hard to find. What makes me a little hesitant of purchasing a bottle is when I bought the sampler, the spray mechanisms caused for quite a bit of evaporation. That's what happens when spray mechanisms are put on by manufacturers. I hope that in the next couple months, I will take the plunge and just get a bottle. Since Shalimar Ode a la Vanille was a limited edition and Havana Vanille was discontinued, this fits the bill for me in terms of a vanilla.

La Maison de la Vanille Vanille sauvage de Madagascar Review

I spent part of yesterday cleaning up and organizing and found my sampler/travel set of La Maison de la Vanille. I had figured that I really didn't need the box and went to take the decants out and noticed something that really ticked me off. One of the decants was two thirds gone. All of the others seem to be okay, evaporation wise. I don't think that the planning for this travel set was thought out and executed all that well. So guess which one is getting reviewed? Vanille sauvage de Madagascar.

At first, I get a whopping dose of something like alcohol and I wasn't amused by this. Then the vanilla shows up. The vanilla is a creamy type of vanilla in the way of more like a buttercream icing. I've said time and time again, I like my vanilla inedible and this one is in the edible camp. I don't get much development except maybe some incense and the tiniest hint of musk. Towards the end, I get something that smells like chocolate. Chocolate is meant for eating and shouldn't be used in perfume. Lasting power for and EDT is pretty decent. A full bottle is $60 and that is a really good price but I'm saving myself the $60 and not getting a full bottle of this.

Yes, I am pretty crabby. From the two I have tried and reviewed thus far, I don't consider La Maison de la Vanille to be a niche perfume line. It's not about price but this smells more of what I would see in either Target's or maybe even Kohl's. But to sell at Luckyscent, next to Amouage and Andy Tauer offerings?

La Maison de la Vanille Vanille givree des Antilles Review

Thus far, it seems like I have wasted more time and money at Ulta and Sephora. Last Saturday, I was starting some Christmas shopping and ended up at Ulta. After poking around the little perfume section that mine has, I smelled Chanel's Gabrielle. I didn't spray any on due to the fact that I was wearing Amouage Epic and forgot to pack some decanting supplies. From what I could tell, it was mediocre at best and something I have smelled a million times before. I think that Chanel can do a better job when creating new perfumes.

But I have to get going on this review that has been floating around my brain and sitting in my drafts section of my blog. I have started to really explore vanilla perfumes and stumbled across the La Maison de la Vanille travel set. For 5 15ml coming in at $50, it was a bargain. For $50, I am not expecting them to be SDV or Havana Vanille but I am expecting something a little better than something cheap smelling. So for the past week, off and on, I have been wearing Vanille givree des Antilles.

At first spray, I get a very mellow, slightly inedible vanilla. Then things get a little funky and I couldn't place what kind of took over. It was a shaving cream note that started to dominate. My nose has always found a shaving cream note to be a funky note that tries to add a creamy type of vibe. But the issue becomes the threat of the shaving cream note completely turns me off. The vanilla was slightly inedible, like I had mentioned before but not far enough over for me to enjoy it. This one lasted about 5 hours on skin before fading out. That's pretty good for an EDT but a full bottle isn't in the cards for me.