Hey, how about a perfume post and a drawing today!
Parfums de Nicolai’s newest entry in the perfume market is Vanille Intense. Notes of Orange, orange blossoms, immortelle, cinnamon, woods, patchouli, amber and musk make up this perfume.
Okay, just love here, love, love, love. I have a love/hate relationship with Vanilla anyway, so whether I’ll like or despise vanilla is a coin toss. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it’s just cloying and won’t let go of my skin far beyond the time I need it to get the hell off of me. This vanilla concoction has all the hallmarks of Nicolai – just not what you’re expecting exactly. For me, I get a lot more immortelle, orange and cinnamon than anything else. The vanilla is a trickle somewhere in the back that vaguely tickles, but isn’t overwhelming in the least. This is spicy and warm, but has that restrained elegance that marks all of the Nicolai perfumes, with just enough of a kink in it so it will never be like something else you already have. The longer this is on, the more immortelle I get, which is just gorgeous. There’s a little bit of booziness in it, but in the perfect quantity so I don’t feel like I just tossed back a shot that’s making me a little queasy.
Patricia Nicolai is one of my perfume heroes. I think she does everything well and has an unerring sense of taste that is off the beaten path, but she never makes it weird.
So let’s do a giveaway of two samples of the Vanille Intense. And I also have two samples of Andy Tauer’s Une Rose Chypree to give away too. So drop a note in comments, tell me what you favorite Nicolai is or one you really want to try to be entered in the drawing!
Also, I do have a favor to ask of someone if you live in NYC and could run out and pick up some Cradle of Light from CB in Brooklyne. Just click on the contact Us button if you might be able to do it.
Was the winner announced? Did I miss the announcement? I keep compulsively and hopefully returning to this post but can’t find anything.
I love sacredblue, but haven’t had a chance to try a lot of that line yet. I’ll take a swing at the drawing, too!
So how does this one compare to Guerlain’s vanilla? Yes, please enter me into the drawing as well.
Yes! Yes! Vanilla Hound here, count me in for the drawing! I love PdN’s New York! It’s got the good spicy parts of Obsession Men and has the similarities to Creed’s Bois du Portugal, but done with so much more personality and less stuffy and upright.
SOUNDS WONDERFUL. PLEASE PUT ME IN THE DRAWING
I haven’t tried that many Nicolai fragrances, but I really like New York.
I’d love the chance to win. I’ve never had the pleasure of trying any of the PdNs, although recently ordered a sample of New York from TPC for my hubby to try. I’m most eager to try Odalisque or Maharanih.
Thanks!
Thanks for another enticing review! Somehow I don’t yet have any PdN’s but I’m going to have to explore them-am feeling a TPC urge coming on! Of course, I’m another Tauer fangirl, especially L’air! Please enter me in your draw, thanks!
I’d love to win either of those samples. I’ve tried few PdNs, but love Balle de Match and Balkis.
I’d love to try Fig Tea! Got Odalisque as a sample in a perfume order once and quite enjoyed it…thank you for entering me in the drawing!
I like quite a few Nicolais. My favorite is like many before me, New York.
I like Maharadjah, Balle de Match, and Nicolai pour
Homme, also
I like PdN Eau d’Été quite a bit. Perfect for summer, as the name suggests. I wish I could find more that I liked. Please enter me in the drawing- thanks!
Of the PdNs, I’ve tried only Odalisque and Eclipse, neither of which worked on me, but I’ve heard such rave reviews that I haven’t given up hope! I’d love to be entered in the drawing for the Vanille Intense, but please leave me out of the Tauer portion if possible, since I already have a sample of the Rose Chypree. Thank you!
I don’t know the PdN line but I’ll try anything. Please enter me in the drawing.
PdN frags are among my favorites: Sacrebleu and No. 1 are my summer staples. Please enter me in the Vanilla Intense drawing.
Favorite PdN: Balle de Match, although I can’t wear it (smells masculine to me). Also Vanille Tonka, because it takes me back to my Misspent Youth.
I would love to sample the Tauer Rose. I’ve never found the right rose scent. Waiting for samples from Madini and Tigerflag.
Please enter me in drawing!
Well, i mat have to check this one out. I am not a vainlla lover at all but this sounds sufficiently non-trad to interest me…
It sounds beautiful! Would love to be entered in the draw although I have no answer for your question–I’ve yet to try a Nicolai fragrance.
Thank you!
I rather like Sacrebleu, though good god is it ever sweet on my skin. Too sweet even for me, and that’s saying something. I don’t get the love for PdN New York; it doesn’t smell anything like I assumed it would when I read the various reviews of it.
Please put me in the drawing, because I am dying to try Un rose chyprée and I will try anything with vanilla in it.
I currently own Sacrebleu and Juste Un Reve. I love vanilla and would love to be in the drawing. Thank you!
I’ll add my praise to the PdN thread. Also, I will be near the CB I hate perfume gallery this weekend. I stopped in there a few months ago for CoL and was told it wasn’t being made anymore b/c an ingredient couldn’t be procured any more (or was of bad quality). Send me an email.
I love PdN! My husband just bought me a bottle of Le Temps d’Une Fete for our wedding anniversary and it’s lovely; just enough green & just enough floral. I’d love to be entered in the drawing, thanks!
Please, please, please enter me in the draw! I love both lines and more importantly I love your blog.
I’ll be in heaven when I win.
Cheers.
Oh! OH! I really want to try this one.
I have to confess I have only tried PdN’s Vanille Tonka and Eau d’Ete. I love Eau d’Ete … beautiful, light, quintessentially hot weather fragrance.
Please do enter me in the drawing.
I really love Balkis and I would really love to be entered in the drawing. I’m dieing to try the Vanilla!
The Vanille Intense sounds great! Please enter me in the drawing. The only PdN I’ve tried is the Fig Tea, which I really liked.
Hope all is well!
The Vanille Intense sounds lovely! I have not tried any of the scents by Parfums de Nicolai, but I love the idea of the Guerlain connection. Would like to try the Eau Turquoise for summer. Sounds perfect for the Midwest humidity and heat. Please enter me in the drawing. Thank you!
I have yet to try any of the Nicolais, but Odalisque is one I am curious about. The Vanille Intense sound just wonderful too – but what I really want to try is Une Rose Chypree, please enter me in the draw! 😀
Please enter me in the drawing. I would love to try Rose Chypree and Vanille Intense.
Hello, my favorite PdN perfume is Sacrebleu. Last week I fell in love with Le Temps d’une Fete and I am going to buy a bottle of it very soon. I would like to be entered in the drawing. Thanks!
Oh Fig Tea! I wore it yesterday and realized that there is just about one spray left in my decant. I haven’t tried too many of the PdN’s and it sound like I’m going to have to try Sacreblue and Vanille Intense.
Hi there!
Sacrebleu is probably my favorite of the line.
Thank you, Patty, for entering me in the drawing.
Hugs!
I would love to be entered into the drawing! While I have worn several of Tauer’s scents, I haven’t tried any of the Nicolai line. With spring/summer allergies, I don’t venture out of the tried and true until the cold weather returns. This prevents me from sampling as often as I’d like. Sounds like I need to add some of her scents to my list, especially Fig Tea and Sacreblue.
I’d love to be entered in the drawing! The PdN that I’ve wanted to try for a while now (but have never gotten around to trying) is Maharanih..And ofcourse I’ve been dying to try Andy’s Une Rose Chypree..
I’m definitely a PdN fan! Favorite? That’s difficult; there are so many I love. Since it’s summer, I’ll go with Fig Tea. Winter? Sacrebleu or Maharanih.
I’d love to try the Vanilla; the other on my must-try list is Vie de Chateau.
Please enter me in the drawing (my luck has to kick in at some point, doesn’t it?). The only PdN I’ve tried is Le Temps d’une Fete, which I really like. There are so many things I want to try & just not enough time!
Please enter me in the drawing; I adore Andy Tauer’s work. New York by Parfums de Nicolai is interesting in a old fashioned masculine sense. I am also recently “touring” the newer Vanilla creations so I am interested this latest one. Thank for your blog, it’s on my blog rounds every morning!
I don’t know if I’ve even had a chance to experience a 1/3 of the Nicolai line, but I do know that I, too, have found everything well done and greater or lesser degrees of interesting. I think that three Nicolai’s (Temps d’une Fete, Odalisque, and Sacrebleu) represent the best of a carefully opened love in my perfume progression…started with small decants of each, moved to larger, now am at the 30ml for one, ready for larger there and 30s for the other two. Kind of proud of my thoughtful restraint… 😉
Been hearing all about the Rose Chypree, but haven’t had a chance at it yet. Would love to be included in today’s drawing.
The Andy Tauer Rose Chypree sounds graceful, whilst the vanille sounds “yummy.” Like so many others have written, I’m not familiar with PDN but have already broadened my fragrance horizons after having found this lovely site and am delighted to continue. Pleas enter me in the drawing, and thanks for such a charming post. (Aren’t they all, though!)
Please enter me in the drawing, too!
Kristen L
I would Love to try this, Immortelle is a favorite of mine…
Hello, My favorite PDN scent is Juste Un Reve. It just isn’t summer without it. I have a decant of Vie de Chateau, which a few commenters have raved about. I will try it again. Would love to try the new Vanille Intense, since you say it is not too much of the vanilla. You make the rest sound great, even tho I don’t know what immortelle would smell like. Please include me in the draw.
I’m poking my head out of the lurker-filled shadows to say how much I enjoyed this review. I haven’t tried any of the PdN scents yet, but I’m dying to, and I will when I head to London in a couple of weeks! I would really like to try Sacrebleu, Odalisque, Vanille Tonka, New York… and now this one! Please enter me… =)
Just last night I was “researching” (i.e., wasting time?) vanilla fragrances because I’m suddenly obsessed with finding the perfect one. (Maybe it’s because we’re having one of those typical Northern California summers where the mornings start out foggy and in the low 50s.) And the PDN vanilla fragrances were some of the more interesting ones I put on my growing list.
Good Morning..I’d love to be entered into the drawing, PDN is one of the lines I just couldn’t do without. My very favorite is probably Fig Tea..which isjust delicious, but I also love Vanille Tonka and Vie de Chateau.
Le Temps D’Une Fete is what I have on now and it may be my favorite of the line. I have sampled a lot of them but not all yet. Sometimes Copacabana is just what I need. Like others have said, even if a PDN scent isn’t something I would normally wear, I greatly admire it for what it is.
Thanks for the giveaway and please enter me in the drawing. I love Andy Tauer too!
Like so many here, I lurve Le Temps D’Une Fete. I get the most gorgeous honey (which I don’t normally like). I have a love/hate thing going with Maharadjah. I adored it until I noted some funky green thing in there and now sometimes that’s all I smell. This Vanille Intense sounds like everything I love in Maharadjah so I’d love to try it. And you know I’m Andy’s fan girl! Have been anxious to try the Rose Chypree! How’s the training going?
Another PdN to sniff? Toss my name in there! I adore several PdN fragrances – you’re making me pick ONE?!?! Okay, then, my ONE is Fete. Followed closely by Vanille Tonka, Just un Reve, Odalisque, Balkis, and Fig Tea. I’d be all over Maharanih, too, if it weren’t for the Secret Ball Dust* in the drydown.
I agree with Karin – VT reminds me of Sacrebleu, but I preferred the giggly rum-sotted limes in VT.
Having given in to curiosity, I ordered a sample of Rose Chypree from luckyscent two weeks ago (it came with my bottle of Fete!) and am testing it today. I wouldn’t have waited this long, but my sniffer’s been busted due to a cold. So far, RC is quite radiant and intelligent and lovely, and I think it’s perfectly unisex. I typically find many so-called unisex scents too masculine for my taste, but this isn’t – it doesn’t say either “man” or “woman,” it just says “beautiful.”
*Lee’s phrase
Three hours into the RC test (day one, obviously, because I’m going to have to wear it again and soon), I have a wristful of deliciousness! Chypres are tricky for me unless they’re strongly floral, but this one is just gorgeous.
I’m going to have to give this another go before I send it off to its new home – I swear, everybody is so blasted in love with this thing – what am I missing?
xo>-)
I completely agree with your accessement of Patricia Nikolai. Perfect balance – quirky enough but never over the top. Love Maharadjah, New York and Vie de Chateau! Would love to try Vanille Intense. Andy’s Rose Chypree has been on my to try list forever as well. Thanks so much!
Temps D’Une Fete and New York are fantastic on me…they radiate quality and warmth. Had I the $, (you know, after I win the lottery!) I’d buy the entire line. Please also throw my name in the drawing…
So happy you guys are discussing Tauer & PdN today! I actually own full bottles from both of these lines – very unusual. (Limited by budget constraints!)
Favorite PdN is Fig Tea – perfect for Florida heat & humidity. Hoping my next full bottle purchase is Balle de Match, also perfect for the same reasons. Hmmm – one is an eau fraiche – or however its spelled – & one is from the men’s line – so maybe I haven’t really scratched the surface with PdN’s. Would love a sample of the Vanille Intense.
As for Tauer – Bought myself a bottle of Incense Rose for Christmas. It’s heaven. Actually used it as aromatherapy while having a root canal & it was very calming & wonderful. Une Rose Chypree sounds wonderful!
Susan, you are so right about Fig Tea and the Florida humidity! It’s my staple come August and September. 🙂
I just love New York and Mahardjah. Very excited for the new Tauer-please enter me in the drawing-Thank you!!
Good morning!
What a great review. I think you and I have the same relationship with vanilla – I always approach it as if it’s a biohazard (and it can be to my queasy self).
Anyhoodle, my PdN faves are Odalisque and Maharanih, mostly because those are the only two I’ve sampled so far! Shelley is going to seduce me with Temps d’un Fete, I’m sure…and then it’ll be off to the races.
I would love to be entered in the drawing but if I win, can you only send me the PdN and choose someone else for the Tauer? I have a sample (which is going to a Good Home next week) and it doesn’t work on me. None of his do, alas, except (maybe) his Vetiver Dance – and even that one is a crapshoot. They’re gorgeous scents, just not on me!
xoxo>-)
I’m a total newbie to niche fragrances, so have never sampled any of PdN or Tauer’s scents. Many sound wonderful and when I travel to London this summer I may get some chances! Please include me in the drawing.
I’ve never tried PdN, which seems odd seeing how much sampling of niche stuff I used to do. Please enter me in the drawing.
Typo – INCENSE rose. It’s my love that’s intense.
What a wonderful drawing! My two favorite lines!
Restrained elegance is a perfect description of the PdN line. Le Temps D’Une Fete and Odalisque are my favorites for the season, and Sacrebleu for cooler weather. They are so lovely, and full bottles are relatively affordable, for which I am so very grateful.
Andy Tauer is a marvel – I cannot wait to try Un Rose Chypree.
His perfumes are so evocative (and addictive) – right now I am in love with Intense Rose. Thank you Patty, you are terrific!
Patricia Nicolai is probably my girl-crush of the perfume world. I admire all her perfumes, even the ones that don’t work for me. Balkis is my favorite. Vanille Tonka is wonderful as well. Please enter me in the drawing, I’m always up for sniffing a new PdN and a new Tauer!
I, too, have a love hate relationship with vanilla but this one sounds right up my alley.
I purchased 4 PdN perfumes unsniffed when Beauty Habit was having a 20% discount and of the 4, I tend to reach for New York more often than the others: Maharanih, Balle de Match, and Eau Exotique. In theory, I should love EE but every time I put it on there is something about it that turns me off. Maybe I need patience … or more seasoning as a perfumista-wannabe. 🙂
Please enter me in the draw. Thank you!
I haven’t had the chance to try the Nicolai perfumes yet, but New York is the one highest on my “need to get” list. Le Temps dune Fete also sounds very good. Anyway, my wife loves the vanilla notes in Tocade, so we’d definitely be interested in sampling the Vanille Intense! Please enter me in the draw.
I have yet to try Ms. Nicolai’s perfumes, but Le temps d’une fête, Odalisque, and her Rose Pivoine have been calling my name for awhile! And now this spicy vanilla you make sound so enticing!!! Thanks for a chance to win.
Gosh–I have been lusting for Fig Tea or Eau d’ete! Both are on my need to try list. Most vanillas end up smelling rather like plastic on me, but not even that would stop me from trying something with orange blossom. Sniffing Vanille Intense or Andy’s Rose–most likely pure pleasure.
Thank you for offering the draw…
I’ve been eyeing Vanille Intense and considering my long love affair with vanilla, this is very close to the top of my list of perfumes I’m all agog to try. I’m very new to the world of scent so I’ve tried realtively few perfumes and own even fewer, but I am waiting (impatiently!) on my first 20 or so samples to be delivered. 🙂 I would love to be entered in this drawing! Any chance to educate my nose is worth it. 🙂
Thanks Patty for adding another must have to my word document wishlist lol. I haven’t tried any of the PdN’s,a bit hard to come by here in australia but the vanilla intense sounds like it’s made just for me. I’m also dying to try sacrebleu & number one. I’ve just had a squiz at the pdn website & am pleasantly surprised to discover that prices are quite reasonable in comparison to other niche lines. Would love to be in the draw for both samples, i’m a newbie to andy tauer also.
Great to see this post, Patty, I am another appreciator of PdN, especially Odalisque. Would love to be in the draw!
My favourite is Fig Tea just to pick a different one. Her candles are great too – Maharadjah is my favourite there. I would love to be entered in the drawing. Thank you so much.
I love PdN! Besides JCE frags, they are my absolute favorites. At the moment, I am in the middle of a swap with a generous MUA’er for a whole bunch in the PdN series, but she doesn’t have Vanilla Intense, so I would be delighted to win a sample. My two favorites thus far are Juste Un Reve and Eau de Ete, but I also like Odalisque. Majahdarah is a bit too masculine on me. There’s something uniquely comforting about her scents, and I simply cannot wait for my package to arrive so that I can try more. Also, the price point is fantastic– she’s one of the few parfumers who I am likely to buy several full bottles from.
I didn’t explicitly say it in my comment, but please do enter me in the drawing for the PdN! 🙂
sigh…I just knew that you’d create another lemming (or two or five) for me…and why have I not tried any PdN yet??? Ok her line is on my immediate “To Sniff” list! I have always loved Andy’s art(and he’s so cute in that nerdy sorta way, eh?) Yes, please enter me into the drawing!!!
The only PdN I have tried is Vanille Tonka which I really liked. I would love to try the new Vanille, especially this time of year. I would also like to try Un Rose Chypre. Thanks..
Ohhhhh!!!! I’ve been waiting to hear a review on this. Thanks for posting, Patty. Sounds WONDERFUL!!! I’m an avid PdN fan. Just discovered her last year, and now own five bottles and a couple of decants. There are still so many I haven’t tried. Sacrebleu is by far my favorite of the ones I’ve sampled. Have bottles of Sacrebleu, Le Temps d’une Fete, Eau Turquoise, Juste un Reve, and Cococabana. To me, Vanille Tonka smells so similar to Sacrebleu that I nixed it. Tried to love Maharanih, but couldn’t get past the skank note (whatever it is). Odalisque is another possible bottle purchase for me, and Fig Tea is a great summer scent, but don’t think I need it just yet.
Your description of Vanille Intense makes it sound like another must have. Would love to try it. Thanks for offering a draw! Am also anxious to try Andy’s Rose Chypree.
Sorry, I don’t live in NYC. I hope someone can help you out!
I’ll be going to London in a couple of weeks, so I’m really looking forward to trying her perfumes; especially Just une Reve and No1.
Please enter me in the draw. Thank you!
I love PdN! I think she’s absolutely brilliant and definitely underappreciated. Hard to pick a fave, but I’d probably have to choose Pour Homme, Fig Tea, Vetyver or Juste un Reve…or Vie de Chateau…or Sacre Bleu. Yep, definitely hard to make a choice. I was sure I’d tried this vanilla scent, but from your description, it sounds like I haven’t. Sounds gorgeous!
Sounds very tempting! I have a special place in my heart for the Nicolai line, especially Sacrebleu (and Vie de chateau, so hard to choose one!).
I just love New York. Please, enter me in the drawing.
I have tried a few now, and Le Temps D’Une Fete is my favorite so far. Please enter me in the draw!
Thanks!
Somehow I have managed to miss trying her perfumes. I have only tried Sacre Bleue but that was at the beginning of my perfume adventures. The Vanille Intense sounds nice – you guys have taught me well and I now prefer a vanilla with some kind of twist to it. So clearly I need to order some samples! (or win one today! 🙂 )
I’d just like to add that I am also very admiring of the fact that Nicolai’s prices are very reasonable given the quality and beauty of the perfumes, and that she offers smaller bottles of her fragrances. I sometimes wonder if she were to slap a hefty price tag on them and market them as limited editions or some such, whether the general buying public would make more of a fuss about them and not take them for granted quite as much as they are IMHO. Maybe I’m reading too much into things, but Patricia just strikes me as having her head in the right place and her priorities well in order.
I am with you when it comes to having profound admiration for Patricia de Nicolai — I just think she has tremendous talent and an incredible track record. I love to see female noses really knocking it out of the park because Germaine Cellier was such a genius and it’s great to see other women coming up in her wake.
Masha and I are PdN twins — it’s extremely difficult to choose, but I’m gonna have to say Sacrebleu, followed by Odalisque, followed by Fete, followed by New York, followed by…well, you get the idea.
I’d love to be in the drawing for a drop of the Vanille Intense, but I have already benefited from the Posse’s generosity on the Rose chypree front so I’ll gladly step aside and take my name out of the running for that lovely stuff.
I have so many favourite Parfums de Nicolaï fragrances… Um, my favourites at the moment are Odalisque, New York, and Vétyver. Sorry, I couldn’t choose just one…
Sacrebleu but with Vanille tonka as a close second. The vanille intense sounds lovely though. Please enter me in the draw.
I really like the Nicolai’s, and I’d have a hard time choosing between Sacrebleu and Odalisque. I think in the end, I’d choose the Sacrebleu. Oh, but then there’s Vie de Chateau….
Please enter me in the drawing! Thanks.
I don’t know the Nicolai line – would LOVE to try, though. Please enter me in the drawing. Thanks!
Le Temps D’une Fete is intriguing to me at the moment, but I have yet to try it. I would love to be entered in the drawing as well!
Ooooh! Sounds wonderful Patty- tanks for the review….and please put me in the draw!
You’re making me choose a favorite?!! Okay, at this very moment, it is Le Temps D’une Fete. But I love so many of them-Number One, Odalisque, Vetyver and others. And even those that I don’t wear
I admire for their composition and creativity. What a great line!
Hi! I’d love to be entered. I haven’t tried any Nicolai, but have long had New York on my to test list, as well as Tauer’s Une Rose Chypree.