Upon application, Vanille Benjoin immediately envelops its wearer in a soft, protective cocoon of vanilla that we find insanely comforting. It’s a hug in a bottle. The perfumer, an island native herself, helped the brand to source two types of very special vanilla for this scent – the first, a soft, floral Tahitian vanilla, and the second, a resinous Madagascaran vanilla. The vanillas add a toasty warmth to the scent, as well as a delicious “roundness”, but it’s worth noting that there’s nothing sugary or heavy about Vanille Benjoin. The vanilla here is dry and woody, tending towards the savory end of the spectrum rather than the sweet.
The salty diffusiveness of ambroxan certainly helps to control sweetness, but the main hand in ensuring the scent remains dry is the Siam benzoin, the basenote material chosen here to be “married” to the vanilla. Although benzoin is roughly analogous to vanilla in that they both add a warm, sweet “fullness” to the basenotes of a scent, benzoin differs substantially by being far more medicinal, resinous, and spicy-peppery in character. In Vanille Benjoin, the fiery cinnamon topnotes of benzoin are cleverly matched, step for step, by cedarwood, a material possessed of a similarly spicy, balsamic underbite. In an equally smart move, the doughy, clay-like properties of benzoin are drawn out by a judicious application of tonka bean absolute, which shares with benzoin a buttery texture and nutty aftertaste. Vanille Benjoin resolves itself in a delicious vanilla suede accord that signals pure luxury and comfort, without any of attendant stodge - powdered sugar diffused in the crisp, cold air of a winter’s morning.
