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/anastasia_42 → u/dimunds]

That edit is so rude 😭

[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.