Le Labo Vanille 44 - Paris Exclusive

Le Labo Vanille 44 is one of the City Exclusives from Le Labo, available in Paris.  Le Labo does sell all of the City Exclusives everywhere every year or two, so don't despair if you fall in love! It was created by Alberto Morillas and launched in 2007.  The notes from Le Labo say ""It is a complex association of amber and woody incense that will unveil after its first taste of musk, a profound smell of vanilla. This fragrance is just a poem."

We agree! Le Labo is more than a sum of its parts. Yes, there is vanilla in there, but this is really not a vanilla-centric fragrance (not like a cupcake in the least!), so vanilla haters might want to take a second look. It is a lot about the woods and gaiac, and it is subtle and has this amazing waft to it. You walk through a room, then turn around and think... wow, who smells so good?  Yeah, it's you.

Notes of bergamot, incense, gaiac wood, mandarin, vanilla, muscenone, pipol and hedione.  

Reviews of Le Labo Vanille 44

From Bois de Jasmin - "Vanille 44 is not really vanilla. It’s a dry vanilla pod that explores the woody angle of the pod, leaving out the sugary cupcake aspects that have mostly defined vanilla in the last decade. In its place is what Le Labo describes as “vanilla disguised,” and that it is, by incense, guaiacwood (smoky rose), hedione (jasmine-like, for luminosity) and pipol (tarry, smoked tea).  Primarily it’s a woody frankincense spun around a subterfuge vanilla.  It does smell different enough to arouse not just interest, but excitement, among those of us who like vanilla as a woody, but not as a dessert, element."

From Perfume Posse - "Le Labo Vanille 44 is the Paris City Exclusive, and it whispers vanilla softly in your ear, coos a little, you look at the price tag and what you have to go through to get a bottle and say no, no, no!  And Le Labo Vanille 44 whispers, oui, oui, oui!  Incense and woods have this absolutely magical touch with the vanilla, and you think it will just float off in the air at any moment, but this thing sticks and floats and keeps whispering, oui, oui, oui. Give in, save yourself the useless resistance. 

From Makekup Alley - "I am not a lover of out and out vanillas, for example l'artisan is way too vanilla for me, Le Labo have managed to do something really special with their vanilla, it twists and turns as you wear it, sometimes there is a sweet almost creamy floral aspect to it then next there is the woods and smoky aspect, always with a faint underlying creamy vanilla."