Lorenzo Villoresi Sandalo and Regina Harris Amber Vanilla

LORENZO VILLORESI SANDALO: Italian perfumer Lorenzo Villoresi claims to use “only the finest natural ingredients collected from every part of the globe,” with all aspects of perfume production carried out manually.

His Sandalo is based on the essence of Mysore Sandalwood, harvested from the Mysore region of Karnataka, Southern India and considered one of the best sandalwood essences on the market. It opens with a burst of rubbing-alcohol (lavender) and citrus, then quickly settles into a heavier, woodsy routine flanked by some medium-bodied florals (allegedly rose and neroli, but they’re so well blended that it’s difficult to really pinpoint where they sit in the mix) and underscored with loamy grasses.

Since Sandalo is predominantly (if not 100%) natural, it wears softly (too softly for my taste) and the overall effect is one of a rounded, deep forest scent, replete with a Bambi or two . . . yet for a fragrance titled Sandalo, I’m surprised at how much more I smell the musk and vetiver than the sandalwood; but not to worry, the whole thing pulls a Houdini-worthy vanishing act in well under three hours, so the sandalwood point is moot, anyway.

REGINA HARRIS AMBER VANILLA: Like her Frankincense Myrrhe Rose Maroc Oil, Regina Harris’ Amber Vanilla is also a concentrated perfume oil, with a little going a rather long way.

Amber Vanilla is, at first glance, exactly what it’s name would lead you to believe — a resinous fragrance slathered in sweetness, but while the vanilla is definitely recognizable and persistent, it’s not a spotlight hog. A smattering of spices play along: cinnamon, maybe clove, and I’m throwing in some coriander just because I wasted time digging into the spice drawer and sniffing at the shaker of ground coriander for comparison’s sake — hey, there are worse ways to spend an afternoon! And as long as we’re playing guessing games, I think there might even be some teakwood, strewn with patchouli leaves and rose petals.

Oh, crazy mad scientist, thy name is Regina Harris.

Where was I? Oh, right — while Amber Vanilla unabashedly tips its hand as it emerges from the bottle in a wave of slightly medicinal iris-root and raw honey, the slow, unassuming evolution on the skin from iris-benzoin-sticky to spicy-woods-and-vanilla-bean-dry is easier said than done, and I’m sure most of us have horror stories we can share of sinking into thick pools of hyper-sugared syrups passing for amber. Thankfully, this isn’t the case with Amber Vanilla.

Perfume Smellin’ Things goes on some Harlequin Romance Novel worthy tear about it being all Pre-Raphaelite sensuous and St. Theresa of Avila divine, but that just means she likes it, y’all! The Non-Blonde notes that it wasn’t until the second date that she fell in love.

Again, I wish this were a spray parfum or EDP rather than a concentrated oil, but that’s a minor quibble in the face of quality. Worth checking out if you’re on the lookout for an amber fragrance that keeps its feet dry and its hand out of the cookie jar. The bottle is nice, too.

UPDATE:

Amber Vanilla has a serious lifespan — it’s the next morning and I can still smell it on my skin, and not just barely, either. It must be the type of vanilla utilized, as the scent is pretty much strictly vanilla at this late stage in the game.