Cumaru De Tonka

Cumaru De Tonka opens with the warm nutty hit of bitter almond and a sprinkle of spice, quickly giving way to the star: a rich, hay-sweet tonka bean amplified by coumarin and a dusting of cacao. Vanilla rounds out the drydown into a soft, almost edible warmth with a faint amber glow. It chases the addictive, Coca-Cola-syrup quality that makes Guerlain's Tonka Sarrapia Extrait 75 so moreish. Where the original layers in a powdery, soapy vintage facet and projects for hours with serious depth, this version reads sweeter and more linear, the almond-and-tonka accord pleasant but a little two-dimensional next to the extrait. It is comforting and cosy rather than complex, the kind of warm gourmand amber that wraps around you on a cold evening. Longevity is decent for a budget oil but well short of the original's marathon. A genuinely cosy, sensual tonka for anyone who loves almondy gourmand warmth and does not want to spend extrait money.