Vanilla comes from the cured pods of a climbing orchid. The pods are fermented and dried until they turn dark and oily, and that process develops the scent. In perfume it smells warm, creamy and sweet, with a soft powdery edge. Some vanilla notes lean toward cocoa or caramel, others toward smoke or wood. Perfumers use it in two ways: as the centre of a gourmand scent, or as a quiet base that rounds off sharper materials. It blends easily with almond, amber, tonka bean and musk. Because vanillin is also made in laboratories, many perfumes carry a vanilla tone that is cleaner and lighter than the pod itself.
In this range vanilla mostly sits in the base, where it softens woods and resins and leaves a warm, creamy finish on skin.
