Vanilla Man

Vanilla Man sets out to make vanilla read as rich, spicy and masculine rather than sweet, and it does it by borrowing from the old European barbershop. The vanilla is the destination, but the route there is aromatic. The opening is bright and resinous-fresh: bergamot and mandarin leaf give a clean citrus lift, and juniper adds the gin-like, slightly peppery bite that stops the start from feeling soft. Within the first half hour the heart takes over, and this is where the barbershop comes in. Lavender and clary sage give a herbal, faintly soapy aromatic accord, and elemi resin brings a lemony, incense-edged spice that wearers pick up as the touch of spice under the sweetness. The dry-down is where the name earns itself. Vanilla absolute rises through the herbs and settles as the dominant note, creamy rather than sugary, held up by dry Atlas cedar and a thread of olibanum that keeps it smoky and grown-up. Wearers consistently say the vanilla comes through more the longer it sits on skin, so it smells better an hour in than it does from the bottle. It wears at a moderate, arm's-length projection and lasts well into the evening as an eau de parfum. The warmth and the resinous base make it most at home in autumn and winter, on dates, dinners and relaxed evenings out; the fresh opening keeps it wearable in the office, but it is too cosy for high summer or the gym. It sits in the modern masculine-vanilla lane, closer to a lavender-and-vanilla barbershop fougere than to a gourmand dessert, and it is the more aromatic, less sweet counterpart to Ellis Brooklyn's own Vanilla Milk and Vanilla Salt.