Amouage – Material – Amouage Material slipped under my radar. I’m still yet to try Boundless, the male release that accompanied it. As it turns out, I might have been just as well forgetting about Material. It feels like a mediocre effort from a house with the prestige of Amouage. This sort of balsamic ambery vanilla with benzoin and tonka composition has been done a million times before. And might I say at a far better price point. The dry down is thin and softly spoken. Yikes.
Dior – Vanilla Diorama – The sparkly opening of Vanilla Diroama had me thinking of Ambre Nuit. I guess the combination of citruses and pink pepper created that effect. However, it soon veers a different course, settling down and displaying its gourmand facets. Nothing too original here, but it is well done and did have me reaching for my wrist to smell it from time to time. The overall impression is that it’s a muted version of Tobacco Vanille and plays to the similar gourmand tune of the brand’s very own cult favourite, Feve Delicieuse. I’ll be interested to see if this wins over the lovers of that scent. As for me, well, I enjoyed it, much more than Amouage Material. It didn’t exactly have me doing cartwheels, though.
Have you tried these vanilla releases?
Note: Samples obtained by author. Bottle images courtesy of Google.