Instead of getting run over at the mall I spend the days immediately after Thanksgiving baking cookies. I really only am motivated to make cookies during the Holiday season. I have my favorites along with recipes I’ve optimized to my taste. The kitchen counter is cleared of all unnecessary things as it becomes my surface to make my cookies. As much as the cookies are fun to eat, I noticed a couple years ago what a lovely scent the ingredients provide as I am working. Vanilla, spices, fruits, the wood of the rolling pin, and the muskiness of the effort. I was thinking what a nice perfume this would make. It seems like Essential Parfums Divine Vanille is that fragrance.
Essential Parfums debuted last year with a set of five perfumes. It is an interesting brand aesthetic where the perfumer is given wide latitude to create. The only commandment is to use sustainable materials. It isn’t explicitly stated on the website but to keep it simple also seems to be important, too. I liked the original five quite a bit for their execution. Orange X Santal was my favorite but I felt they all would appeal to perfume fans who liked the ingredients named on the label. Perfumer Olivier Pescheux is given his opportunity with Divine Vanille.
Olivier Pescheux
The keynote sustainable ingredient is vanilla from Madagascar. M. Pescheux sets it up as the spine of this perfume. I bake with Madagascar vanilla. It always struck me as having a kind of boozy undertone to its scent in the bottle. M. Pescheux plays up that part of his ingredient which keeps this from becoming too food-like. The vanilla is there and M. Pescheuz surrounds it in cinnamon along with black pepper and clary sage. The cinnamon is the main player. It takes the sweet vanilla and gives it some verve. The clary sage teases out just enough green to remind you vanilla comes from an orchid. The black pepper acts like a bit of sizzle atop it all. As this moves to the heart the fruit takes over. The apricot nature of Osmanthus is combined with the fruity rose synthetic Pomarose. It gives a set of luscious fruitiness attenuated by the rose and leather dualities of the two. Cedar reminds me of the rolling pin nearby. Tonka bean adds a toastiness to the vanilla as we move to the base. Benzoin, patchouli and musk form a classic Oriental base. Which is the scent of myself under the blanket waiting for the timers to go off as the cookies bake.
Divine Vanille has 10-12 hour longevity and average sillage.
Divine Vanille is another simple construct from a brand which allows its perfumers to strike a different balance. It is an excellent addition to the collection particularly welcome for the Holidays.
Disclosure: this review is based on a sample I purchased.
–Mark Behnke
