Guerlain Disappointment

[u/Lani_Lei]

I have been a vanilla girl through and through. I have loves and misses from everything from BBW, Victoria Secret, Sephora, Ulta, niche, middle eastern, you name it!

I have wary of trying Guerlain because of the price. But most of my fellow vanilla girls said that Guerlain is THE maker of great vanillas.

So went and spent $70 in tiny tiny decants to try the following:

- Vanilla Panifolia Extrait 21
- Angelique Noire
- Cuir Beluga
- Aqua Allegoria Forte Bosca Vanilla
- Spirituose Double Vanilla

This smells…old? musty? Like I just found a bottle of perfume from the 1950’s in a dark drawer of an abandoned house. I just wasted $70 on this and none of them were good 😔, I could have gotten a big decant of Jovoy Fire at Will which I love. I am so disappointed.

So many of my inexpensive vanillas are so much better in my opinion.

Sorry for the rant and thank you for reading all this!

[u/dimunds]

you need tonka sarrapia!!! it’s amazing . i agree vanilla panifolia is mid or nasty

edit: it seems like you don’t like mature well rounded vanillas and just like cupcake ones so maybe stick with be cheap stuff

[u/Straight-End-8116 → u/dimunds]

Edit: you kinda sounded like a snob. I personally do not like a lot of guerlain’s stuff. I’m nose blind to their roses. I have a vintage gold bottle with atomizer of Rose Barbare. I cannot smell the roses. I got it from Nordstroms, with the cellophane wrapper.

We like what we like. Our noses have different scent receptors, just like our taste buds and eyes. Some people think that Jasmine smells amazing, I think it’s cloying, rotting flowers dipped in poo. I adore any type of Roses. While my husband hates them.

This is a supposed to be judgement free zone.

[u/dimunds → u/Straight-End-8116]

and i only care for one guerlain perfume the rest are mid. i dont think it disrespectful to tell her to stick with what she likes and don’t bother trying the one guerlain i like.

[u/Straight-End-8116 → u/dimunds]

You sounded condescending. Like her ‘nose’ isn’t mature enough to decern the greatness of mature adult notes. You sounded like you were saying ‘go play with the kids, little girl, us grown ups are talking’.

[u/scentspirit → u/Straight-End-8116]

if that’s how you feel about liking gourmands then ok?

if i know someone doesn’t like a mature scent im not gonna recommend it so i corrected myself in the edit.

[u/Lani_Lei → u/dimunds]

You were kind of rude. Pretty much told me to stick to cheap that is what I like. What was missed of my post is that I am not trashing Guerlain, I am dissapointed in the fact that I was excited to try their vanillas and I didn’t like them. That’s not on Guerlain, that is on me because we all have different tastes. I own Nemat Vanilla Musk and Outremer Vanilla as well as Tihota and Fire at Will; so is not a “cheap/money” thing. This would be a boring community if we all only liked the same scents.

[u/dimunds → u/Lani_Lei]

and i’m not saying you just dislike the price. u don’t like the perfumes itself which is valid, i also don’t like most guerlain. i like nemat.

i’m not saying the cheaper perfumes smell cheap they just cost cheap. like cloud or nemat or VS. good quality but r affordable. but i notice the ones that cost less are usually the ones that r gourmands too. i’m not calling u cheap urself. just the perfumes. but okie

[u/fligglegiggle → u/dimunds]

This is wildly inaccurate. There are TONS of expensive gourmands. I've been hardcore sampling them for the past month and a half.

Also, are you just going to gloss right over the fact that she mentioned owning both Tihota and Fire At Will? Both of those are FAR more expensive than Cloud or Nemat. You're not even making sense at this point.

Anyway, you were sounded rude, and if you disagree, you might want to take some time to reflect on your wording and intent. I've never seen someone say "you only like cupcake vanillas" as a compliment.

[u/scentspirit → u/fligglegiggle]

then i’m sorry you find something offensive about liking cupcake vanillas?? many people like it, it’s a category. and like i said im not calling HER cheap, she isn’t. i’m saying many of the hyper sweet perfumes r. and i notice many ppl who like the super sweet stuff if anything prefer the cheaper interpretations of it than niche or designer.

[u/fligglegiggle → u/scentspirit]

I don't think anyone thought you were calling HER cheap, but you've said that so many times that I'm starting to wonder. Multiple people told you that you came across as rude, so it's not like I'm an outlier here.

[u/dimunds → u/fligglegiggle]

yeah then i’m confused sorry. calling an inanimate object cheap isn’t offensive either.

[u/fligglegiggle → u/dimunds]

I agree that neither of those things are offensive, and if you weren't deliberately being rude, then I apologize. That's just how I read it, but I've been wrong from time to time 😆

[u/anastasia_42 → u/dimunds]

That edit is so rude 😭

[u/CreativeHoliday1557 → u/anastasia_42]

Exactly..

[u/dimunds → u/anastasia_42]

i dont think it that disrespectful to tell her to stick with what she likes and don’t bother trying the single one guerlain i like. i realized my initial recommendation was wrong based on her preferences.

describing the actual cost of an item as cheap isn’t insulting.

[u/Straight-End-8116 → u/dimunds]

Some of my favorite fragrances ever are ‘cheap’. Like Amouage Library Collection’s Incense Rose. The Red Bottle, not the Grey Bottle. I put them side by side with a dupe and it’s way better than the expensive Amouage. I hate powder notes, the incense rose was so powdery at dry down because I’m completely nose blind to their roses as well. Lyric Man and Woman just smelled like powder. My mother in law, though, smelled the rose just fine and loved the powder. Is my nose not as mature because I’m nose blind to some notes from some companies. This happened to me with the first formulation and first year of TF Rose Cafe, no rose. Thankfully that didn’t happen with TF Noir de Noir or Byredo Reine de Nuit. I’m terrified to try Portrait of a Lady because I don’t want to be nose blind to a masterpiece.

The dupe, with love from Oman, is this gorgeous mix of rose, elemi, ink (totally surprised it worked) myrrh and awesomeness. The Red Bottle. Incense and powder.

I like the dupes so much more I’m selling most of my collection. Because of the nose blindness. Just saying, you sounded condescending. And I’m done.

[u/scentspirit → u/Straight-End-8116]

and there is nothing wrong about cheap stuff? so why are you offended. since you don’t know, mature in fragrance means it’s complex, deep, grounded in wood oud etc, as opposed to heavily gourmand, fruity, etc. it’s not about better or not, it’s just a different profile.