Vanilla Orchid

[Wench457]

[No additional description provided.]

Testing fairly soon after the bottle arrived, so I will edit if things change after settling/aging.

I am getting a lot of orchid and almost no vanilla at this point. The orchid is very similar to violets for me. It's wanting to go soapy and sharp, though it settles back down into pretty flowers fairly quickly.

I have high hopes that this will mellow a lot with aging. It's quite pretty, but definitely more of a floral than a gourmand scent.

[Bassmastadroog]

Seconding that this is a floral- NOT a gourmand scent, on me anyway. It's very clean, very white. Not sharp, and also not soapy. I rather enjoy this single note. I don't really have any idea of what I would layer it with. On its own it's just a really clean floral. Sort of smells like an orchid lotion. I really enjoy this scent for days when I just want to smell freshly showered, because it's clean but it still retains its authenticity of a flower without soap. It's nice!

[roseus]

A fresh, clean floral-vanilla. Just the tiniest bit of sweetness at the base. Very airy and cool.

[Lambent]

Have you ever eaten those karma orchids before? Vanilla Orchid captures that experience in a bottle. It's a very faint scent that has an icy quality. More orchid than vanilla. It's like the cutting clean, crunchy, slightly green taste of those edible orchids. Those who were looking for a more gourmand or creamy vanilla scent will be disappointed. However, those who enjoy floral fragrances and clean/green smells might like this.

 

UPDATE: On subsequent tries, Vanilla Orchid is stronger and a bit creamier (but not really vanillic). It's definitely still "floral" and perfumey in character. A little fresh linen-like.

Edited April 9, 2017 by Kris

[Missa_Moth]

Light, clean, airy white orchid perfume. I agree that it's definitely a floral with some vanilla sweetness, but not a gourmand. Not soapy or overpowering, very pretty! Vanilla comes out in later dry down stages, but remains a floral vanilla.

Edited March 26, 2017 by Missa_Moth

[Lycanthrope]

I'm not getting much vanilla at all. Mostly a kind of sappy/stemmy green, with a light airy yellow-gold floral topnote. I think I get maybe a little hint of like a bourbon sweet vanilla, but still very planty, not very rich. It's nice... not sure I'm going to hoard it, although I did grab two. It's nice. Have to play around with this one and blending.

[puck_nc]

Origin: Straight from the Lab

 

Initial Thoughts: I have several blends that I love that use this note. I thought I'd see what the stripped-down version is like. Then I read the reviews of it being more orchid than vanilla. Hm. Could be soap city.

 

In the Bottle: Cool, creamy, sweet, white, and floral. I actually am getting an impression of vanilla in there. I like it. At worst it would be a great scent locket option.

 

Wet: It immediately goes VERY floral, tilting greenish. This often happens with me and florals - I can't wear the BPAL rose or violet notes because the green takes over to horrid levels of skank on my skin. But this is skating up toward the vicinity of green without turning bad.

 

Drydown: Hm. This feels like it's going in the soap direction for me, but I'm not sure if that's because I gravitate toward soaps with floral scents. It stays on the sweet side for me.

 

Verdict: I'll play with it some more before I decide whether to keep the bottle. But if you are a fan of white sweetish florals, this is something to try.

[Casablanca]

On my skin, this is a creamy floral, both in tone and in the color it brings to mind. I get vanilla in this creaminess, but this blend is mostly about the bloom.

 

Different orchids can smell quite different (or not like anything). This is creamy, pale, and airy, and only light-handedly perfumey. I find it understated rather than heady. Early on it has a little leaning toward violets, in some small part of it, but that fades from me before it dries. Then it becomes a little cleaner and greener.

Edited March 31, 2017 by Casablanca

[Blood onmy hands]

I only went with a decant of this one, because I was pretty sure that it was going to be all floral and no vanilla on me, and that wound up being a good call. It's a sharp white floral with a sharp, green edge to it on my skin. It goes slightly soapy in the drydown and has a perfumey, almost white musk-ish tone to it. Not a fan at all.

[lizabelle]

Vanilla orchid is one of my favorite notes (although I haven't encountered it much in BPAL yet), so I had to snatch up a bottle of this. Surprisingly enough I don't find this to be overly sweet, or even super creamy. It's recognizably floral but also has a strong vanillic undertone with a bit of a boozy bite. It's reminiscent of some of the bourbon vanilla notes the lab does, plus a darker sort of floral. It's very pretty, but I don't think I'll be hoarding it like I expected to be.

[TrailerTrashPrincess]

if you remember Regan, this is very very similar.

 

perhaps i'll dig out my Regan and do a double test, but based on scent memory, this could be a good stand-in for folks who loved Regan before it went the way of the dodo.

 

not vanilla. orchid. creamy pale purple. a floral for folks who don't think they can do florals, maybe?

[zankoku_zen]

Creamy orchid with a whiff of vanilla. This one is a sophisticated floral. The vanilla smells evaporates as it dries, and you're left with a more jungle/plant smelling orchid. Good throw and wear length.

[Leopard403]

My nose is all intermingled with my brain with this one! I ordered it hoping it would be somewhat reminiscent of monoi, and it has that same kind of creamy high-floral vibe. But it also smells just like the night-blooming jasmine my mom planted outside my childhood window. So there is something definitively green in there, and I think this makes it more wearable. The hint of vanilla makes it lean toward the soapy side on the drydown, but in this case that isn't a bad thing. So how on earth do I reconcile all of that? I don't; I just wear it and smile.

[LizziesLuck]

Wet: Sweet, heady orchid. I agree there are hints of green in this, balancing it out and keeping it from getting screechy and headache inducing. It's very lovely, feminine, elegant, and realistic. I like orchid a lot, and this doesn't disappoint! Smells like summer, or the tropics - warm and steamy.

 

 

Dry: Pure floral love. Just a beautiful perfect orchid. I can't really tell the difference between different varieties of orchid, so I will take Beth's word that this is a vanilla orchid. It's really pretty, not too sweet, just enough green to ground it. A great spring or summer scent.

[Aviatrix]

This smells just like the vanilla orchid I know and love, so it did not disappoint! It is a light, pretty floral with a hint of non-foody vanilla in the background. Simple and perfect

[milo]

Floral, clean, and white, as other reviewers have noted. This doesn't play nice on my skin, but I'll give it a bit of time to see if the vanilla comes out some more. It is quite airy and pretty, I think it just needs to settle, or I need new skin...

[littleflight]

This is springtime in a bottle. It's a light and fresh floral that has something "green" about it...like this vanilla orchid was just snapped at it's stem and the chlorophyll is wafting through the air. It brings back childhood memories of going to the Philadelphia Flower Show with my grandmother and swooning over the rare flowers that were being presented. It's just lovely!

[faifai]

This smells nothing like what I thought. I am confused. I think I was expecting something more 50/50 vanilla and orchid, and instead this is all orchid and no vanilla. Maybe a dash of green plant-like freshness in there too. It reminds me of a single perfect flower boutonniere fresh out of the florist's fridge.

 

It smells fantastic layered with vanilla or marshmallow type scents! I tried it with SN French Vanilla, Stekkjarstaur, Stale Sugar Crusted Marshmallow Chick and a number of other companies' stuff - Arcana Rich Vanilla, Arcana Marshmallow, NAVA Vanille Noir, Possets Arcturus, etc. So I do think it has value as a single note layered with other things. I initially wanted to swap it away but I think I'll hold onto it.

Edited May 12, 2017 by faifai

[LiberAmoris]

Vanilla Orchid is a gorgeous floral. I've always assumed that the smell of the single note alludes to the scent of the flower itself, rather than a compound with the scent of the vanilla pods produced by the same plant. Even so, I always catch the tiniest hint of something vanillic in the note that might just be my imagination.

 

The orchid note smells warm and slightly waxy, sweet and gently tropical. There's a humidity and a thread of pleasant sharpness that also runs through it. This will be a go-to for me this summer!

[celestia]

♔ Vanilla Orchid SN

In the Bottle: Sweet, Light musky, Tropical Floral Orchid

Wet: Naturally sweet heady fumes from a summer white, tropical orchid at the height of bloom. This is not the dressed up, conceptual level of what a lot of vanilla orchid scents smell like, which I suppose is silly to assume with a true to scent single note anyway. Its definitely not as vanillic as the sweet orchid vanile in Regan, nor the rich orchid-touched, floral vanilla musk in Elf v4 or Antique Lace (also NAVA's Kobalt) - and its not quite as tropically heady and humid as the vanilla orchid and accompanying florals in Cascading Blossoms- but its sort of a sweet, live orchid with traces of the same type of musky floral vanilla from these blends. I definitely dont get much of a green stem either so I cant call it fresh or dewy the way I see Rose Red and her freshly cut stems, or the dewy grass-like note accompanying green smelling florals as in Venus Verticordia. In fact, any freshness is coming from the petals or orchid itself. I feel like I this kind of smell is more likely to waft around during the summer, or late spring where its more humid.

Drydown: It certainly isnt much of a morpher. The headiness from the non-gourmand, floral vanilla remains a little too perfumey for me to identify the rest of the blend as fresh and green but it certainly smells living. Ultimately this smells like a white tropical orchid growing in the humidity of some sort of orchid-only greenhouse. Humid, steamy, white tropical orchid.

TL;DR: Sweet, heady and human white tropical orchid, with a faint trace of non-gourmand, creamy floral vanilla musk.

Edited May 15, 2017 by celestia

[donkehpoo]

Wet: This is a delicate floral scent. Very soft, "clean", and inoffensive to someone who doesn't typically like florals.

 

Dry: Pretty much exactly the same as the wet stage. This didn't turn into baby powder or soap on my skin, so I consider that a win!

 

I bought this mostly for layering purposes, and I think it'll be lovely for that.

Edited June 16, 2018 by donkehpoo

[Soupy Twist]

Generic white floral. Maybe hints of sweetness, like honeysuckle or gardenia. Becomes waxy on the drydown. No vanilla at all. I have prettier florals than the opening, and the florals in this don't even last.

[AraliaShine]

In the bottle: all orchid, nary a vanilla bean

Wet: a subtly sweet floral with an underpinning of crushed waxy greenery

As it warms on my skin, the orchid scent lifts up and wafts start to become a bit more heady

while still remaining clean. No trace of overblown jasmine here-- not a whiff of the indolic.

A very regal , reined-in, fresh white to creamy yellow tropical flower aroma prevails with only

the faintest touch of sweetness. The initial green scent is now only noticeable close to the skin.

Dry, this matures into an elegant, crisp floral that edges towards but never quite reaches

soapiness on my skin. Waxy, thick petals shimmer as they bounce the hazy sunshine

back at you, not wilting a bit, their aroma barely hinting at the rich vanilla to come.

I visualize an almost white bloom with a pale butter-yellow sheen at its center.

While not my usual choice, Vanilla Orchid SN will be a show-stopping special occasion fragrance

all by herself. I look forward to trying some layering and pairings with some of my sweeter hair

glosses. Pickled Vanilla Orchid, anyone?

[Lucchesa]

Vanilla Orchid is a soft, sweet white floral on my skin. It is definitely orchid, with just the barest hint of vanilla, so don't expect this one to be foodie -- we're talking about the flower here. Orchid is a pretty heady note, and florals are not really my jam, but I will keep this imp to help my nose differentiate the note when I find it in other blends (for instance, I first tried this while testing Rigorous Love, and it helped me understand which part of that blend was the vanilla orchid). If you like white florals, though, this is a gorgeous one.

[biggnerd]

This is one of my favorite notes, so I was very interested in getting a bottle of the SN.

 

In the bottle: beautiful sweet orchid

Wet: beautiful sweet orchid but....bug spray is fighting to come out.

Dry: bugspray wins