![\"lapsang](\"https:\/\/nstperfume.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/lapsang-brown-s.jpg\")
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Autumn and the scent of smoke seem made for each other. Maybe it\u2019s the nostalgia of the season\u2019s first wood fires, or a taste of peaty Scotch, or the steaming pots of smoky Lapsang Souchong<\/a> tea that sound so good on a rainy afternoon, but for me it\u2019s hard to separate smoke and November. For that reason, I looked forward to sampling Aftelier<\/a> Vanilla Smoke.<\/p>\n Not that I didn\u2019t have my concerns. After all, not all smoke is good smoke. Would the smoke be toasty or touched with cumin (like real wood smoke can be) or acrid? Worse, would the vanilla smell like cake batter? Fortunately, with Mandy Aftel we\u2019re in good hands.<\/p>\n Aftelier Vanilla Smoke\u2019s notes include yellow mandarin, Siam wood, saffron absolute, vanillin, vanilla absolute, Lapsang Souchong, ambergris and coumarin. I tested both the Eau de Parfum and the Parfum.<\/p>\n In a nutshell, Vanilla Smoke is an easy-wearing blend of smoke and vanilla touched with amber. Just what you\u2019d expect. The smoke is from Lapsang Souchong tea, and the vanilla is rooty and not pudding-like. (Even if you aren\u2019t much of a tea drinker, if you like woody-herbal smoke you owe it to yourself to brew a cup of Lapsang Souchong for the scent alone. The tea gets its aroma from being dried over pine fires.) Vanilla Smoke won\u2019t startle anyone with its inventiveness, and my guess is that it will please a wide range of people. It\u2019s a natural combination \u2014 comforting and nostalgic.<\/p>\n Where Vanilla Smoke\u2019s brilliance shows is in how the vanilla and smoke balance each other so well, with neither taking a starring role. Even though either note on its own could be demanding, let alone combined, they mind their manners and stay silky instead of insistent. Keep sniffing, and you\u2019ll appreciate how saffron lifts and cools Vanilla Smoke and gives it a subtle skin feel. (I especially noticed the saffron in the Eau de Parfum\u2019s opening moments.) In the Parfum, ambergris stands out more to me than in the Eau de Parfum with its salty, shimmery feel.<\/p>\n Vanilla Smoke has quiet yet present sillage, but it burns off quickly. The Eau de Parfum almost completely vanishes on my skin within three hours. I was afraid that Vanilla Smoke might flatten to vanilla and amber in its dry down, but it keeps its shape until the end for the Eau de Parfum. No worries there. The Parfum dries down to a sophisticated wood-tinged amber that sticks tight for five or six hours after the rest of the fragrance is gone. (The Parfum comes with a pipette and tiny auxiliary bottle you can tuck in your purse for touch-ups.)\u00a0<\/p>\n I have a few more drops of Vanilla Smoke Parfum left. I think I\u2019ll save them for Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n Aftelier Vanilla Smoke is available in 30 ml Eau de Parfum ($180); 7.5 ml Parfum ($180); 2 ml mini Parfum ($50), and a .25 ml sample of the Parfum ($6). For information on where to buy it, see Aftelier under Perfume Houses<\/a>.<\/p>\n Note: top image is Lapsang souchong<\/em> [cropped and colored] by poppet with a camera at flickr<\/a>; some rights reserved<\/a>.<\/p>\n Read the rest of this article »<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Autumn and the scent of smoke seem made for each other. Maybe it\u2019s the nostalgia of the season\u2019s first wood fires, or a taste of peaty Scotch, or the steaming pots of smoky Lapsang Souchong<\/a> tea that sound so good on a rainy afternoon, but for me it\u2019s hard to separate smoke and November. For that reason, I looked forward to sampling Aftelier<\/a> Vanilla Smoke.<\/p>\n Not that I didn\u2019t have my concerns. After all, not all smoke is good smoke. Would the smoke be toasty or touched with cumin (like real wood smoke can be) or acrid? Worse, would the vanilla smell like cake batter? Fortunately, with Mandy Aftel we\u2019re in good hands…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[24,25,113,107],"class_list":{"0":"post-134004","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-perfume-talk","7":"tag-aftelier","8":"tag-natural-perfume","9":"tag-tea","10":"tag-vanilla","11":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nstperfume.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nstperfume.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nstperfume.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nstperfume.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nstperfume.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nstperfume.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134004\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nstperfume.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nstperfume.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nstperfume.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Aftelier](\"https:\/\/nstperfume.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/ap-vs-s.jpg\")
<\/p>\nPossibly of interest<\/h2>\n
Aftelier Joie de Vert ~ fragrance review<\/a><\/div>Aftelier Violet Ambrosia & Olfactive Studio Violet Shot ~ fragrance reviews<\/a><\/div>Shalini Amorem Rose & Aftelier Antique Ambergris ~ fragrance review<\/a><\/div><\/div>\n<\/p>\n