Vanille Caviar by BDK Parfums

I need to give it another chance on skin, even though I’m scared, because on the blotter it didn’t work for me at all. I think you really need to test niche vanillas on skin before buying, because they have so much evolution and complexity. Edit 1: I’m liking its development on skin more. Edit 2: A week after my first fleeting impression, I have conclusions. From the very first spray, it’s clear this isn’t a perfume looking to please easily. The opening combines black currant and calamus, but there’s no fruity or bright top note. The currant appears dark and contained, cut through by the dry, slightly bitter character of the calamus. That unusual note sets the course: the fragrance feels sober, with an interesting tension that avoids any youthful gesture. In the heart, the vanilla and cocoa could have steered the composition toward a gourmand profile, but that doesn’t happen. The sweetness is measured and controlled. The cocoa adds depth and bitterness, while the osmanthus leans toward a leather register, contributing a rougher, more elegant nuance. Everything stays balanced, without becoming dense or cloying. The base, with labdanum, Peru balsam, and vanilla, wraps the skin in a warm, resinous, and persistent embrace. The vanilla reappears but never dominates; it accompanies and softens without over-sweetening. The result is a serious trail with character, feeling crafted and uncompromising. It’s a fragrance that could have been sweet… but it chose another path. Clearly oriented toward people who enjoy niche perfumes with their own identity and don’t seek to please everyone.

Well, after testing it for a few days, I can say something about this new creation by BDK. First off: it’s a very unoriginal scent, zero surprise units. It’s a realistic vanilla smell, not a pastry vanilla, but the orchid pistil that produces vanilla. A herbal vanilla. Do I love this type of scent? Yes. Have I smelled this type of scent a thousand times? Also yes. For example, Perris Monte Carlo’s Tahiti Vanilla does it very well too (and for less money). What happens with this perfume is that in the dry down, especially, there’s an accord that smells like olives to me. More specifically, the brine from the can of olives with anchovies at Mercadona. I’ve thought about it over and over, and I swear it smells exactly like that, along with the vanilla clearly. It’s not that I dislike it, it just made me laugh. The perfume is good, I’m not going to buy it because I already have other scents with this DNA. That said, it’s very versatile and totally unisex.