SERGE LUTENS
UN BOIS VANILLE

2003

PERFUMER
Christopher Sheldrake

Vanila
Coconut Milk
Beeswax
liquorice
Sandalwood
Tonka Bean
Bitter Almond
Benzoin
Guaiac Wood
Musk

Un Bois Vanille is an example of how to do a undeniably vanilla-centered fragrance, without being overly sweet. That being said… I fell out of love with it as quick as I initially liked it.

I’d definitely call this a full gourmand, with not only the vanilla being prominent, but also caramel and coconut to my nose. It’s like a mix of a custardy vanilla and a vanilla-coconut oat cookie, that moves into caramel more the more I smell it. Overall, seems like a simple fragrance, but one that I love wearing. In that aspect this gives me the same enjoyment and feeling as Dior Bois D’Argent and I can see this having a similar place and function in its respective collection.

It’s sweet throughout, but somehow not cloying in the slightest. Un Bois Vanille has a dry texture for me most of the wear; sometimes a cookie, sometimes a cardboard wood, to at an extreme, a dusty, old library.

On the other hand, it is lactonic, but not at all in a thick creamy or condensed milk way that gourmands often transform into. It’s light on its feet, with room to breathe within the fragrance. It adds a welcome change of pace and keeps Un Bois Vanille from being a ‘guilty pleasure’, in favor of a rather sophisticated gourmand.

Stillm Un Bois Vanille might not qualify  for masterpiece status or appeal to part of the Serge Lutens crowd the way some of their other works do. For me, it felt too cardboard-like to fully love after a while and I got rid of my bottle.