Tangier Vanille by Aerin Lauder

Photosource: Scent Studio (own copyright)

 I was browsing second hand goods when I stumbled on a photo of five beautiful bottles of perfume. You guessed it, it was Aerin Lauder. The crystal cap, glass bottles and golden details caught my eye like a magpies (an old saying in Polish that magpies steal everything that shines. I was searching for the English word and to my surprise, scientists have now debunked that magpies aren't thieves at all). Anywho, someone was selling these eye-catching perfumes, but I had never heard of fragrances from Aerin and I have learned my lesson when buying blind. So I found my local retailer first.

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I talked with the lady at the stand for so long and found a kindred lover of fragrances. I don't find these often, so we had many laughs and I recommended her a handful of niche fragrances, whereas she told me the story of Aerin. I won't be getting into it in this review, because it's already becoming too long (and I haven't even started yet). I sniffed and smelled them all, and I must say that I wasn't head over heels. The scents were pretty, but quite safe and boring. So I grabbed a sample of Limone di Sicilia and Tangier Vanille (wow, what a surprise, a citrus and a vanilla! You know my obsession by now). Enough chatting, so how does Tangier Vanille smell like?

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I have smelled many vanillas. So many, that I have an unnamed categorisation of them in my head. Tangier Vanille falls into the one that I have the most difficulties with. If you remember my review of Vanille Gourmande by Florame, it is a type of vanilla that is very realistic and gourmand, but has a plastic or even modeling clay scent about it. As soon as I find it, I cannot look past it and detect other notes. The composition of Tangier Vanille is that of sandalwood and musk at the base, amber in the middle; and vanilla, bergamot and rose at the top. In Vanille Gourmande, the carrot was the culprit. In Tangier Vanille, I sense that it is the very slight note of sandalwood that causes the plastic scent. I love sandalwood and usually a perfume only gains from having it, but I feel like it is a fine balance of the type of vanilla used in TV and the ever so slight warm spiciness from the sandalwood that causes this unfortunate quality.

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I have had TV on the skin for about an hour now and some reviews I have read in the meantime have warped my impression of it. Some sense a cherry note, like that of Lost Cherry, and I must say that I also get a slight cherry now, but it is what I found to be the scent of modeling clay from the beginning. I would not ever say that TV has the gorgeous note of cherry like that of LC. It is like that of a child toy, a fake and nauseating scent of cherry.

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TV is weird. Yeah, I said it. I keep sniffing my wrists trying to find the appeal that other reviewers found, but I only find myself wanting to wash it off. It is a scent I wouldn't like to be caught in and I am due for work in an hour or so. Tangier Vanille smells like a teenage magazine fragrance. Like something from the 90's (which isn't an insult in itself, I'm from the 90's and I just remember scents like these being around). I am at a loss for words and maybe that's good, because this review is long enough. I just hope that Limone di Sicilia has something better in store for me.