Atelier Cologne - Vanille Insensee

I hadn´t tried anything from Atelier Cologne, but I got a sample of their latest offering, Vanille Insensee in a recent swap.


Mmm, mmm and... mmm, this is really thrilling. Somewhere hiding in all the dark smokiness of Vanille Insensee there is actually some vanilla. To find it I have to be a smoke-fireman for a while...


i don´t have any good smoky fragrance in my collection. Smoky notes are a bit difficult to me. Smoky smoke, often with birch tar can easily become to sharp and even headache inducing on me. Incense smoky can turn in strange directions, like Messe de Minuit that becomes sweet coca cola on me, Comme des Garcons Insence line smells more like room fragrances then perfume to me and my latest finding, Oriental Lumpus have so much insence in it that it turns on my insence allergy leaving me with my eyes all watery and red. Serge Noir is to dusty and grey and Patchouli 24 (27) from Le Labo becomes very monotone after about 18 hours and have to be put down by a dip in the water.


Vanille Insensee might be the perfect smoky frag for me! I don´t know why it becomes SO smoky on me, the name isn´t related to insence, apperantly it means something like Vanille Insane.


Notes of lime, coriander, jasmine, vetiver, oakmoss, oakwood, vanilla. Probably it´s a mix between really smoky vetiver and a grey, duty oakmoss making the smoke soft, comapct, on the border to dusty/powdery and very comfortable. i belive jasmine and vanille contributes with a little sweet softness, but over all this is an unsweet, dark, saturated and very smoky scent.


Vanille Insensee is a cologne absolut 15%, I´m not totally sure what that is. But probably diluted to 15% fragrance essences. Yet, vanille Insensee has a really good staying power, after 12 hours I still smell some smoky vanilla. The sillage is great (I´ve only got a dab on sample). Maybe you can guess it´s a cologne thnaks to it´s airy and somewhat light character even though filled with such heavy notes. How a scent can be both heavy and airy at the same time might be a contradiction, but Vanille Insensee is that!


I´ve always thought of smoky notes to be a little thrilling, a little film noir and kind of mysterious. Vanille Insensee fullfils that with ease. Vanille Insensee is really nice on women, but I think it would be great on men as well. If you´re looking for a smoky fragrance with some sweetness, you should give this a try.


Do you have any favorite smoky fragrances?





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