Spiritueuse Double Vanille

What the house declares

Guerlain describes a woody ambery fragrance in which an excess of vanilla reveals its smoky, woody and generous facets. Jasmine, ylang-ylang, benzoin and cedar accompany it, with syrupy accents of rum: the house evokes long sea voyages, rum and crates of spices.

The house says it uses a Madagascan vanilla planifolia that takes eighteen months to prepare. It uses it as a tincture, an age-old technique of the house: the pods, cut by hand, are cold-macerated to enhance their scent.

Three tiers

The house used to break its fragrance down into three stages: pink pepper, bergamot and incense in the top; Bulgarian rose, jasmine and ylang-ylang in the heart; vanilla, benzoin, rum and cedarwood in the base. That breakdown is used here.

Not all the reviews mention jasmine: Robin Krug, in 2008, lists vanilla, spices, benzoin, incense, cedar, pink pepper, bergamot, Bulgarian rose and ylang-ylang, and Victoria Frolova a similar list, without jasmine or rum. The house now names jasmine.

What the label declares

The list Guerlain publishes places, after alcohol, fragrance and water, tetramethyl acetyloctahydronaphthalenes, a synthetic woody note, ahead of ylang-ylang oil (Cananga odorata), vanillin and Virginia cedar oil (Juniperus virginiana), along with coumarin.

It also shows bitter orange peel oil, geranium oil (Pelargonium graveolens), rose ketones, linalyl acetate and constituents of citrus and flowers, such as linalool, limonene, citronellol, geraniol, citral, isoeugenol and farnesol.

One UV filter, butyl methoxydibenzoylmethane, protects the juice from light, and four colorants, two yellows, a red and a violet, tint it. Guerlain notes that its lists are updated and refers to the product packaging.