Product of the Month: Atelier Cologne Vanille Insensee



"He wove through the crowd when suddenly his heart quickened. That scent. It was hers. He had worn it first until she stole it for herself. Now, there she was before him and the magic of years past came flooding back in a moment."

 When I was first given this perfume, I rolled my eyes.  I absolutely despise vanilla based perfume.  One of my worst nightmares is that I'm stuck back in the early 90s, and a horde of female zombies absolutely coated with Coty's Vanilla Fields have me trapped in a tiny room.  The zombie part I can handle; it's the Vanilla Fields that gets to me.  Blegh.  If there's a symbol for everything I never want to be, that perfume may very well be it. 

Being that I'm an uncultured mook, when I was first introduced to this cologne my first association with it's name was "Vanilla Insence."  To me, though, it does have an insence smell to it; this has a vaguely Nag Champa-ish scent.  Nag Champa happens to be one of my absolute favorite scents ever.  The website says that the cologne contains lime, cedrat, coriander, jasmine, oak, vetiver, Madagascar vanilla, oakmoss and amber. 

Ced?

I'm sure those are all in there somewhere, along with such fancy terms as sillage  and hesperidia. 

I know that I'm in love with this perfume, cologne, or whatever.  Frankly, it smells like pure sexuality.  It's raw, myseterious, and heedy.  It's vaguely woodsy, and just a hint of masculine, which emphasises strength.  I also suspect that it could be extremely overpowering if one is heavy handed.