Back in 2004, I banged on about the horror of my signature scent being discontinued. As I explained way back then, I am not really a fragrance person, but I do very much adore vanilla orchid.
*cries*
I have no idea why I a holding onto a 16 year old bottle of scent with a barely legible label and two drops remaining
I wavered between unsatisfactory attempts to replicate Beloved Fragrance and nothing …
One of the unsatisfactory variants – completely gorgeous, wonderfully sultry and utterly unsuited to wear during the day.
…and then some years later I discovered an almost perfect replacement – which has now also been discontinued.
no photo – amazingly, I must have discarded the empty bottle
*cries*
And so I went on a quest and sprayed and sprayed and in desperation bought this:
Highly unsatisfactory … the very ordinary scent lasts about 2 seconds before it vanishes completely
And quickly abandoned it.
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Just what is it with vanilla products and their short livedness?
Get to almost the end of the container and a replacement is nowhere to be found! Though I was fortunate enough to find a very heavily discounted replacement for the discontinued St Ives at SupaIGA – which I am using very sparingly.
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And then for a good while, I went with the freshly scrubbed skin … until we were in New Calendonia, walked into L’Occitane and found this!
Which is almost, almost the scent I require and which I have been using with wild abandon.
As you are aware, Joan is in Europe and I asked her if she would pick me up another bottle, it being unavailable in Australia, and me going through it with aforesaid abandon.
Would that it were that simple! No L’Occitane store had heard of it and upon further research discovered it was not L’Occitane at all!
While attempting to source where exactly I could find a replacement, I stumbled across this Ace! website.
It sells wee samples of most of the fragrances they stock and they stock a lot. I went a little crazy ordering a sample of every version of vanilla I could find and sat back for the long wait for them to arrived.
Except the wait was not too long and my wee parcel arrived today!
Contents:
- Jalaine: Vanilla
- Van Cleef & Arpels: Orchidee Vanille
- Farmacia SS. Annunziata dal 1561: Vaniglia del Madagascar
- La Maison de la Vanille: Absolu de Vanille
- M. Micallef: Vanille Cuir
- La Maison de la Vanille: Vanille Noire du Mexique
- Les Nereides: Douceur de Vanille
I cannot wait until tomorrow to try them out. And hang the cost, I am going to stock up on my favourites!