Reviews of Spiritueuse Double Vanille (2007)
by Guerlain

This is to vanilla fragrances what Audemars Piguet is to watches.... above and beyond anything either run-of-the-mill or even merely 'high-end'. I waited for six weeks for my sample and it was worth the wait. First off, a single spray allowed me to enjoy the fragrance for hours, and I could smell it without reaching my wrist to my nose (I was in a car).

The initial notes are a rich, deep and sweet vanilla. Within a few minutes, Double Vanille morphs into something that is like sweet pipe tobacco, slightly spicy and slightly woody. Tom Ford Tobacco Vanilla comes close, but doesn't have either the depth or spiciness. The fragrance continues to morph, with spice, wood, and vanilla notes intertwining. It finally settles into a vanilla-amber type of base. This was all from a single spray on the back of my hand, so I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to a full wear.

Now if I could just find a bottle....

I originally decided to visit the Guerlain boutique, in order to investigate this, based on the recommendation of a fellow Basenoter. My first impression was a faint vanilla and rum scent that underwhelmed me - I was expecting it to be much stronger. Undeterred, I proceeded to apply four spritzes to my body - one to either side of my neck and another two to my chest (under my shirt). I then left the store and continued shopping elsewhere.

For the first hour, I wasn't really detecting that much but, when I did, I smelt some similarities to Hermèssence Ambre Narguilé. I continued testing other fragrances elsewhere and eventually went home. At this point, I had more or less written off Spiritueuse Double Vanille for being too subtle to my nose (much like Hermèssence Ambre Narguilé) and forgot about purchasing a bottle.

And then a funny thing happened: throughout the day, I could smell this heavenly aroma around me. At first, I thought it was another fragrance that I tested on my wrist but I eventually came to the conclusion that this wasn’t the case. I then forgot about it and had a siesta. During the periods when I was awake, I could still detect this enveloping aroma - much to the point where it was driving me crazy not knowing which scent it was. It was just so warm and extremely sexy!

After waking up, the aroma was still there. I then decided to have a shower and removed my shirt. As soon as I did this, I realised that the scent was on my shirt too and instantly knew that the heavenly scent had to be Spiritueuse Double Vanille. I was absolutely amazed! There was even a faint trace of it in the apartment for several hours. Out of curiosity, I decided to wear the same shirt again, when bumming around the apartment the following day. The scent was still evident and I knew then that I had to buy a bottle of this elixir at the next available opportunity.

A couple of days later, I returned to the Guerlain boutique, tested the juice again and, sure enough, the same scent that had captivated me for the last two days was in that very bottle. I swiftly located one of the SAs and told her I wanted to purchase a bottle, whipped out my debit card, paid and left with a big smile on my face.

However, soon after returning to London, I found myself in a conundrum - I now had two vanilla scents in a wardrobe where everything else is unique and distinctive. The other vanilla scent I owned was Givenchy's Pi EDP (also a limited edition and now very rare). After some deliberation, I decided to pit them against each other by spraying one on either arm before going to bed. Up until now, my Pi EDP had been the best vanilla scent I had ever come across. However, when compared to Spiritueuse Double Vanille, it completely paled in comparison – it just came across as synthetic and flat.

When I woke up, Spiritueuse Double Vanille was still evident on my arm and stayed that way for a good 12 hours (it probably would have been more had I not been tossing and turning). As for Pi, it had more or less disappeared from my skin. As a result, it was pretty obvious that my bottle of Pi had to go. My all-time favourite vanilla fragrance trumped with panache? I just couldn’t believe it!

Spiritueuse Double Vanille is a very Luten-esque scent that is worthy of the title of possibly the best Guerlain release for the last 80 years. This is certainly not an overstatement and I urge you to investigate this olfactory miracle at the soonest opportunity. $200 may be a lot of money for a 75ml vanilla scent but, believe me when I say that this is THE BEST vanilla scent ever made. It is sheer heaven and only gets better as it develops further on the skin.

It’s an amazing creation.

Perfect. Warm, sweet, and sooo addictive. Vanilla, spiced rum, pipe tobacco and caramel. I only wish it was a bit stronger. It doesnt seem to carry well unless i apply a good bit of it. One spritz on my skin seems to vanish with the hour.

Trebor's review is wonderful, and I agree with him that this Guerlain is very "Luten-esque"! Spiritueuse Double Vanille has substance and depth yet remains sheer. The vanilla here is rich and smooth, with a note of pure sweet pipe tobacco complimented by the slightest bit of booziness and smoke. I too was taken by suprise, SDV is very easy to enjoy, and completely wearable by a man or woman.

This review is under revision.

A wonderful scent from the nose the the venerable J.P. Guerlain, this is an EDP in the classic French style dominated by a vanilla, but that is far from the whole story. While the rich vanilla persists, there is an ongoing development of supporting notes. Booze, tobacco, hay, smoky incense, some florals all unroll richly to prevent this from becoming sickly sweet, there is a kind of tart dryness underlying it all too, frosted with creme caramel burned sugar.

Sillage is controlled and perfect and longevity is very good. It doesn't stay glued to you forever either, it is possible to wash it off at the end of the day.

A masterpiece.

Five years after his retirement, Jean-Paul Guerlain continues to put his fingerprints on the image of the house. With Spiritueuse Double Vanille, a high quality, limited edition Eau de Parfum from 2007, he once again dwells on the famous guerlinade's indispensable ingredient vanilla. This time it's not Metallica's bright, shining vanilla, but a sombre, Shalimarish gourmand vanilla. And it's a state-of-the-art Jean-Paul-Guerlain! Unlike most other fragrances, its opening is not dominated by citrus. Instead it starts with tingling alcoholic notes of matured dark rum and continues through vanilla, moisty pipe tobacco, cedar wood, frankincense, dry spices and the tiniest bit of rose. It makes you travel to colorful, sexy Havana, then to stringent Pierre Hermé's deluxe cake shop in Paris. This fragrance is fat, deep and delicious, its sillage is velvet soft and detectable twenty hours after application, and it's not wrongly marketed as an aphrodisiac. The bottle is a simple, sharp and tasteful block of thick glass, embellished with the famous bee-symbol in red sealing wax. The label on the bottle's back tells this small erotic story about vanilla: 'Vanilla belongs to the Orchid family and was discovered by Cortez [Spanish explorer born in 1485]. Considering that vanilla in the 17th Century was acclimatized in royal gardens, its infertility was surprising. The botanists had not understood that the bees were actually flirting with the vanilla plants. It was Charles Albius, a slave from Reunion Island, that in 1841 discovered the 'gesture' that ensured the vanilla plant's line of descent: With the aid of a sharp point of bamboo he picked out the pollen and transferred it to the flower's stigma. Today, the hands of professional 'matchmakers' can fertilize, one by one, up to 2000 flowers per day. Vanilla is mainly cultivated in Madagascar, Java, Tahiti, Reunion Island and Seychelles. In time of harvest, each vanilla bean is picked when it has reached a precise level of ripening. That's when the ritual of preparation begins.'