French Vanilla

[zombiewench]

Tahitian vanilla bean with a slight custard undertone.

The custard is STRONG in this, at least on me. The vanilla is a bit on the plastic side, but I don't mind. It's a VERY rich scent, but I can see it layering well with other scents for sure!

 

I like it, but my husband REALLY likes it, and he's not always a vanilla fan

[Dark Alice]

Light, sweet, whipped french vanilla. I have had this before in a very expensive French dessert with a custard undertone. This satisfies my sweet tooth for any and all sweet vanilla foods for the day. Get thee some while ye still can!!!!

[WickedSage]

This is a lovely soft yet strong vanilla. Will work beautiful for layering or simply using by itself. It reminds me of these cupcake dolls that were scented that i had when i was little. Smells incredible when layered with Creepy! Highly recommend for all vanilla lovers and those who love layering scents!

[Mellifluous]

I gotta say, I'm really loving my Vanilla. It is very gourmand perfume-y vanilla, on me. I did not get any plastic notes at all. Not overly sugary either. Just a slightly warm, rich, diffusive vanilla. I'm happy I bought 4 bottles... and I might go back for more with the next update, if still available.

ETA: I called it 'perfume-y above, but now that I've thought on it and worn it a few times, its actually slightly amber-y. Like maybe it has some labdanum in it? Maybe tonka?

Either way, still total win for me!

[puck_nc]

Origin: Straight from the Lab

 

Initial Thoughts: I do love me some vanilla.

 

In the Bottle: Extremely vanilla. Very sweet. Playing a bit with a plasticky edge - my initial impression was of a candle or some such scented with vanilla.

 

Wet: The vanilla seems to hide a bit. It's now a more generic sweet dessert. I guess it's custard - I'm not sure I could identify custard by the scent.

 

Drydown: The vanilla comes back and this time it's reminding me of a soap or bath product I've run across. There's no actual "soap" to this, but I'm remembering lathering up as I smell it.

 

Verdict: I'm not sure it works on me as a standalone, but I definitely want to try a little layering with some of my scents that maybe would like an added level of sweet vanilla.

[reynardine]

This was an insta-bottle order for me because I love BPAL's vanilla. The French Vanilla single note is just divine! It's a rich vanilla, not strong, but has lasted four hours so far. Very smooth. Not as obvious as the vanilla ice-cream of Detestable Putrescence nor as strong. Just absolutely lovely. I went back and ordered a couple more bottles, and I haven't done that in years. If you love vanilla, get while the getting is good!

[SmilesSunshine]

pleasing & smooth. the gourmand note is present, without overbearing density. aromatic. texture silken like wanna cotta, vanilla is a dark golden... SUBLIME!! i love this. layered and solo. begs the question:HOW MANY bottles do i need?!!!!

[verystarry]

Vanilla notes on me can be iffy. In TKO it's plastic. In Snake Oil I don't smell it at all. In Edith it was just too---brown sugar vanilla on my skin. But I love the smell of Vanilla so I tried it. Right off in the bottle it wasn't very strong smelling and it instantly went very powdery on me. I was super disappointed but someone else commented that it smelled great on me like candy. Then a weird thing happened about an hour into it, the vanilla came out very strong. It was really lovely and just a nice close to the skin vanilla. I have to say my nose REALLY detects a hint of anise in this----which could maybe be tonka? I'm not a perfect sniffer but it might be back up worthy for sleeping and layering as vanilla is a really calming scent. I don't get a lot of throw from it but am excited to put her under some of my favs and see what happens!

[princessbeena]

Hmmmmm not really what I was expecting which isn't necessarily a bad thing. In the bottle it smelled a little bit like a root beer/cream soda combo. It goes a little bit like play doh on the dry down. So sad my skin chemistry isn't working well with this SN. The anise is there and very detectable.

Edited August 30, 2016 by princessbeena

[octic]

BPAL vanilla!!!!!

This is what I've been dreaming of. Tombstone without the cedar, Golden Priapus without the juniper, and Stimulating Sassafras Strengthener with less fizz. It is rich and root beer-y.

 

Edit: I'd love to hear Love's Philosophy comparisons, as I haven't tried that.

Edited August 30, 2016 by octic

[elile]

Pastéis de Nata! This reminds me of those delicious custard tartlets we had every day on our recent trip to Lisbon. The custard is strong, the vanilla is rich and sugary but light. Very comforting. No plastic on me. I bought 2 bottles and am considering more.

 

Edit: Ok, the plastic doll smell is definately there now *sadface*

Edited September 2, 2016 by elile

[marared]

Very definitely smells like the vanilla in Love's Philosophy. Wrong kind of sweet for me, alas.

[Wench457]

Totally agree with maraed, it is Love's Philosophy without the saffron. I am so used to wearing LP, which is one of my favorites, that I almost feel like this is missing something. I love it as is, but I do think it will definitely benefit from some aging, to smooth out the slightly sharp edges.

Edited September 4, 2016 by Wench457

[animalcules]

Light, fresh, custard-y vanilla with a wet feeling to it and definitely a strong anise note. Not what I was expecting at all - this is somewhat unusual and refreshing, not rich creamy and super-sweet like so many BPAL vanillas. Reminds me of Knockout Drops and Huesos de Santos.

[milo]

Not getting the anise here. It does remind me of Love's Philosophy vanilla, it's fluffy and non-foody, as smooth as silk. I'm not really getting the custard vibe either, it's just a lovely pouffy vanilla.

eta: Day 3. This smells like a cross between Tombstone and Love's Philosophy vanillas. WIN!

Edited September 10, 2016 by milo

[Soupy Twist]

I'm probably lucky that the Lab's site is down right now, because I would have bought this in the first half-hour of wearing it and then really regretted it.

 

Goes on as a perfect fizzy root beer float. This gets smoother and rounder as it dries but is still the exact experience of root beer and vanilla ice cream. But the final drydown turns into a sour, musky plastic. It really wants to be the vanilla marshmallow of Stekkjarstaur, but it's missing. Damn.

[SophieCedar]

On me, this is the perfect vanilla. Soft, sweet, warm, creamy, reallllyyyyy long wear. A vanilla I crave and have a hard time finding..now its here.

[Gateau]

I jumped on 3 bottles to stash, but it's not my favorite vanilla (which will forever be the Madagascar vanilla in Celeste). This is really a smell-a-like with Love's Philosophy for me. It starts out with a sort of plasticky or pasty edge that I associate with Tonka. Once it fully dries down and settles in, though, it's a very nice and rich vanilla with a lot of staying power. So I'll muddle through that first half hour in order to enjoy the results.

[LizziesLuck]

I am so excited to try this that I can barely contain myself. Vanilla is my favourite note, and I have been dreaming of some sort of vanilla SN for forever.

 

 

Wet: Wow, interesting. There's something root beer like about this. Either root beer or anise. Very much reminds me of the vanilla in Loved to Death, which I have always got an anise hint from (and loved). Definitely some comparison to Love's Philosophy as well, which lots of people get root beer from. This is much drier than I expected, not really creamy or buttery at all on me, and thus far NOT EVEN A HINT of plastic. It's really yummy, and much more complex than I ever expected a single note to be. Mmmm.

 

 

Dry: I love this. It really does have a spicy quality on my skin though - either anise or sassafras, but I really can't decide which. Either way, I love this root beer/anise thing it's doing on my skin. I smelled it in the bottle, and couldn't detect anything other than vanilla, so I am guessing this is one of those cool skin chem things. Either way, glad to have this, and so glad it didn't turn to plastic on me. It's really lovely.

[zankoku_zen]

Sweet foodie custardy vanilla with a tinge of plastic. Good throw and wear length.

[Susan Shirley]

Sweet vanilla and custard, for sure. I also get a little bit of plastic, but it's not bad. I really like this one, but I accidentally knocked half of it down the drain :'-(

[Blood onmy hands]

I bought three bottles of this and have re-homed all three. I was really hoping that it would smell like the French vanilla in Joyful Moon, but it doesn't at all. It smells like a watered down version of Love's Philosophy, which I already didn't enjoy. It's sort of a creamy vanilla scent, but it mainly smells like chalk dust and powdered milk, and has a weird spiciness that reminds me of root beer/sassafras. Powdery, dry, weird root beer and underwhelming on me.

[celestia]

♔ French Vanilla

 

In the Bottle: Mild vanilla cream, a little oily and plasticky

Wet: A light vanilla custard with a spicy note with an astringent ‘extracty’ boozy note The vanilla in this is not deep and rich like vanilla bean, but mixed into a pudding to smell more like custard and less like vanilla cream. It’s slightly plasticky and carries a bit of a spice that smells a little like anise to accent the vanilla and give it a bit more depth, but it's not at all prominent.... and it almost burns off completely in the first 10 seconds. French Vanilla smells almost identical to the vanilla present in Love’s Philosophy- sans the saffron. There are two vanillas I was assuming it would be- I hoped that it would be more like the same Madagascan vanilla note I get from Celeste, Antique Lace and Elfv4… but where celeste’s vanilla note is creamy rich, full bodied and vanilla-beany (vanilla rich), the vanilla in this is light and absent, airy and almost milky- kind of like the vanilla I get in Love’s Philosophy with a similar extract note (vanilla lite) only not so amped that it ends up smelling like menthol/wintergreens.

 

Drydown: The anise aspect is fairly light and is drunk completely by my skin pretty early. The lingering aftermath ends up giving the vanilla more depth and dimension- no added liquorice. yay! I get a little bit of a caramel note that reminds me of that fried dought smells from Midway… kind of like Midway got stripped of all its flavour and got left with the base vanilla hhaha. Midway was definitely more cotton candy and fried funnel cake- but it had this oily sort of smell that reminds me of the diluted-ness in the French Vanilla

It kind of smells like a light caramel and vanilla custard cream. I kind of really like this, it dries completely to a sugary cream but I feel like I should be holding out for a muskier, AL-based Madagascan vanilla or a richer, more full bodied vanilla.

 

TL;DR: Airy, milky and oily light vanilla

[PeculiarHeroine]

This is a very custard-y vanilla. Its very creamy and smooth. The trouble is that it is not very strong, and it doesn't bloom into anything incredible on my skin. I'm a little disappointed, as I was hoping for something that knocked me down with its magnificence. As it is, French Vanilla is alright, but just alright.

[Elspethdixon]

I had high hopes for this single note, because vanilla is one of my favorite notes.

 

Unlike some of the other testers, I don't really get any anise from this - it goes on a very custardy, rich vanilla that reminds me slightly of B&BW's Vanilla Bean Noel (I've seen comparisons to Love's Philosophy, but that's a more airy, slightly-tangy vanilla on me). Like the Bath & Body Works lotion, the custard-vanilla scent is almost creme brulee-like, and I feel like I should adore it, but there's a slightly plasticky/oily edge to it that's keeping it from being the perfect vanilla of my dreams. Vanilla rarely goes plastic or play-doh-like on me, so this was an unexpected disappointment.

 

It's not bad, but it doesn't live up to my (admittedly extremely high) hopes. I'm going to try it in an oil burner before sending it to the swaps pile, though, just in case it redeems itself by turning out to be the perfect vanilla room scent.