Hi there Posse, Vanille Marine came out the year I started writing about fragrance. My sample came in one of the luckyScent Packs that you can buy of the most up-to-date frags they get in. They come in these very annoying 0.7ml vials that don’t spritz and basically make you use the whole lot at once in a lovely big sillage wearing adventure. Having dissed them I must also say that I do even still love to get them. They are always reasonably priced and have a bunch of things I’d never choose for myself.
Why are we talking about it today? I just found a decant that had been hiding here for a while and am spritzing with gay abandon.
Vanille Marine by Jean-Claude Astier for M. Micallef 2012
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Lemon, black currant
Heart: Vanilla, white flowers, sea water
Base: Benzoin, musk, woody notes
Vanille Marine is a perfect mid season fragrance for me. The fruits open cool, sharp and metallic. No not really metallic but mineral. Salty. It’s the opening that really gets me every time. The first 15-20 minutes are like the battle of the salt, citrus and flowers. It’s a beautiful combination and feels masterfully weighted. You know all the salty jasmine beauty scents? Imagine if someone had taken that idea as far as it could go and added a sugary lift. Vanille Marine is as addictive as sugar too.
PDI
Then, as if the combatants are now too weary to shine, a dry vanilla, feeling more amber than bakery waltzes in and steals the show. The whole fragrance warms through and turns completely cozy. It’s a complete about face. Still maintaining this interesting mineral feel that base, while still cozy, also has a dry grass smell and I keep thinking it’s vetiver. Dry down is a soft focus vanilla woods tinged with salt, not bad but not thrilling either. It’s a lovely way to finish really.
Further reading: Muse In Wooden Shoes and Notable Scents
LuckyScent has $225/100ml + Samples
Surrender To Chance has samples of Vanille Cuir from $3.50/0.5ml
Did you try the Micallef Vanille line when they were released? What about Vanille Marine?
Portia xx
Hi there Eldarwen22,
Yes the bottles are divine. I’ve found a couple of extra good juices too. This one and Ylang In Gold. Both glorious.
Portia xx
The only M. Micallef that I’ve tried and owned is Note Ambree. The bottle is somewhere in my house but don’t exactly where. What always seems to trip me up is the bottles are beautiful but the prices don’t match what’s going on with the perfume.