Serge Lutens - Un Bois Vanille (perfume review)

I'm continuing my quest to find some Serge Lutens that work for me. I have several samples in the queue - Chergui, Daim Blond, La Fille de Berlin, De Profundis - but today we focus on Un Bois Vanille.

Un Bois Vanille is interesting in that its a collection of dichotomies. It opens up with the intense sugary sweetness of cotton candy, but rather than being light and airy, it possesses a rich creamy character akin to melting ice cream. But within the depths of the sweet, dark vanilla creme lurks a sharpness I associate with grosir tas import murah sandalwood. The bold, desserty sweetness is grounded ever so slightly by this sharpness, and there's a mild bitterness thats reminiscent of raw cocoa - in a vanilla perfume.

There's also a really faint undercurrent of black licorice, which feels a bit chewy. But it's really faint. Personally I hate anise and black licorice and it doesn't bother me at all in Un Bois Vanille. It's tempered well by the (minimally perceptible but) rich coconut milk. Clint also hates black licorice, and he didn't notice it at all.

Un Bois Vanille is definitely gourmandy, but I don't get sugar cookies or booze or cupcakes or frosting. Un Bois Vanille is basically the perfume version of creme brulee - it's warm, it's dense, it's crusted caramelized sugar over heavy, thick, custardy creams. Yeah, it's vanilla, but the vanilla is almost the backstory. 

Up close and personal with creme brulee.

Un Bois Vanille is probably the most pleasant Serge Lutens I've tried so far, and I can see why many people love it. Unfortunately for me, it triggers a particularly strong scent association that I just can't get past. I may be the only person in the world that feels this way, but for me the grosir tas batam sweet vanilla + sharp wood combination smells strikingly similar to the air freshener (cleaner??) used in many public restrooms. I mean, it's nearly identical in scent and in character. Un Bois Vanille is sweet, thick and heavy, just like that air freshener (which is understandably necessary to mask certain odors!).

Fortunately, the sweetness and heft of Un Bois Vanille backs down around the 2-3 hour mark, ridding it of the bathroom air freshener association. With the sweetness turned down, the vanilla actually takes on more of an extract feel than a dessert feel, and the drydown becomes slightly velvety and powdery on my skin. The drydown is definitely my favorite part of Un Bois Vanille.

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Clint's 3: Creamy, Chocolate, Pleasant

Clint really liked this one. He tends to like the vanillas, it seems.

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My rating of Un Bois Vanille: 3

1  -  - -  -  2  -  -  -  -  3  -  -  -  -  4  -  -  -  -  5

    Nausea/Gagging         Meh        Decent       Great         Olfactory Elation    

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Un Bois Vanille as described by the Aedes website:

Family: Oriental/Gourmand

Top Notes:  Vanilla, Sandalwood

Middle Notes: Licorice

Base Notes: Coconut milk

Perfumer: Christopher Sheldrake

lucky scent actually lists a longer set of notes: Black vanilla absolute, licorice, sandalwood, coconut milk, beeswax, caramelized benzoin, bitter almond, Gaiac wood, tonka bean

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Have you tried Un Bois Vanille? Is it one of your favorite vanillas?