Today in the vanilla trials, I'm sampling Lea Extreme. The notes are almond, vanilla, and light musk. I want to say the almond gives this vanilla a slightly powdery feel, and it's a little duskier and--well, less alcoholic is the best way I can think to phrase it, except that implies Vanille is alcoholic when it isn't--than the Ligne St. Barth Vanille.One thing I'm loving about both Lea Extreme and Vanille is how simple they are to wear but how luscious they smell. I've been sampling my fool head off for months (see my Samples by House list...and that's only since mid May!), waiting for someone other than Bob to say anything about the way I smell. Every time I wear something I'm sure will evoke a response to work or to a party: nothing. I get absolutely nothing.
But on Saturday I wore Vanille to a party, and no fewer than four people commented how good I smelled...and there were only eight people at the party, including myself! I read somewhere recently (I honestly can't remember where...it was an article on the Internet, I'm pretty sure) that women wear perfume mostly for themselves. I know I've certainly felt that to be the case. But apparently, when you wear vanilla, you wear it for everyone in the room. Now, I should mention that three of the four people (I'm not counting Bob...if I count Bob, it was five people) were men. This may give credence to the myth that men love perfume that smells like food, although I believe the most preferred scent of all was pumpkin. Although I'm enjoying these fragrances (again, they are wonderful in the heat...the humidity sort of warms them up, but in a good way rather than an oppressive or cloying way), I don't think I'm ready to go around smellng like the last course at Thanksgiving dinner, so for me pumpkin perfume is a ways off. I'll stick with Vanille and Lea Extreme!
*photo from Luckyscent
