Hermèssence Vanille Galante
Hermès (2009)

Maybe my sample was off? I actually get fish here. The vanilla is a lovely resinous affair, but there's a clear fishy seaweed note, like you've been cleaning fish in your kitchen sink while wearing a really good vanilla fragrance. The fish fades a bit as it dries down, but never quite fads. In the end, I have seashore and fish with vanilla salt.

Unsweetened vanilla, banana-ish ylang, and tobacco...and a little cognac of course, to make things interesting. One of the most interesting Hermessence fragrances, its like a cousin to Ambre Narguile in some respect, it has that gourmandish quality about it. The tobacco here is excellent. Shame that this did not receive more love, cause its unique and interesting.

The vanilla in the opening is unusual in that it is not a heavy intrusively sweet note, but a bright, light crystalline and. restrained vanilla. Interesting.

The rest is a triad of spices - very gentle, hints of white smoke, and a woodsy undertone.

I get soft sillage, weak projection and four hours of longevity on my skin.

The actual vanilla in the ancient for warmer autumn days shows just enough presence to be counted. The rest is so weak that one wonders why someone diluted it to such a weak level. A shortage of laboratory supplies? Minimalism as an excuse for the lack of quality and olfactory presence? 2.5/5

Sunflowers F454 by Vincent van Gogh 1888

People into longevity and sillage look away now.

I blame my dislike of vanilla to the plethora of cheap vanilla fragrances overpopulating the market since forever. Most people generally not into perfume, whenever they decide it's about time to buy a fragrance, they go 90% of the times for something vanilla-centered. The problem is that of this 90%, another 90% of the time their choice go towards cheap-goumrnadic and overly sweet vanillas.The result is that we're surrounded by cheap vanilla. As a matter of fact, I very rarely can stand vanilla fragrances (exception made for a bunch of older Guerlains, some ambers and very few others).

With that said, Vanille Galante is completely another thing. I'm generally not a big fan of Ellena's *light touch* but in this case it definitely played in the fragrance favor. To me, VG reads mainly as a watery-floral with vanillic facets. There's a banana peel vibe going on (probably provided by the ylang-ylang) and a bitter, kind of smoky, presence contrasting the overall sweetness. The result is beyond sophistication in my opinion. Light but noticeable, extremely elegant and, in the end, quite an unique take on the main theme.

Now, two more considerations:

1) As most of the Hermessence, I find this overpriced. It's good and I thoroughly like it but it's not better than most of the *regular* Hermes if you like their general style. Both quality-wise and artistically-wise.

2) For the most part, my theory is that there aren't good ingredients and bad ones. Yes, there are better and worst quality vanillas, there are materials that depending on one's tastes are more appealing than others but, the big difference is made by how perfumers use them.

Downline: Vanille Galante is probably not a masterpiece but it's a thoroughly enjoyable fragrance in my book.

I really like this one! Sheer, sweet and subtle.

I get a lot of ylang-ylang in here (along with that characteristic faint, yet creamy hint of a banana like note). But what I especially like here is Jean-Claude Ellena's transparent use of vanilla. Forget the heavy, boozy, almost animalic vanilla of Guerlain, etc. Here the Vanilla is wrapped in very light spices and cognac. It's still quite light, but by no means fleeting. I would best describe it as "transparent". Neither too light, nor too heavy and cloying.

His inspiration was the origin of Vanilla as a trading spice, being brought across oceans in long voyages on sailing ships; along with other spices such as cloves and cinnamon, all tightly packed next to wooden barrels of cognac etc. All these ingredients can be detected in this fragrance, and they are all balanced beautifully.

I think Vanille Gallante is actually a really beautiful one. I know other people get rotten banana out of this, and that's a shame. But to me it's smells like hints of spices, Indian chai tea, and a creamy vanilla extract. I find it quite intoxicating. I think this is my favourite use of vanilla outside of a Guerlain perfume. Very different though, but I appreciate his take on it. Not bad Ellena!