When it comes to perfume reviews, Crazy Perfume Lady is someone I look up to. Why? Her knowledge is extensive and her vocabulary is simply much wider than mine, but I try and do my best to relay my own thoughts about perfume. Her comment on r/indiemakeupandmore about different NAVA vanillas sparked my interest and I knew that one day I’ll try at least some of those fabled fragrances. So, here’s my first post about Nocturne Alchemy Vanillas.

I bought my decants from Crown & Tulip, a not-for-profit “business” run by two perfume lovers (Update, August 2018: the owners don’t offer their decant services anymore). These decants cost $4.25 (Spooktacular) and $5.75 (Crystalline and Kobalt), which is a rather cheap way to test out a perfume.

Find Crystalline and Kobalt on the Nocturne Alchemy website: here for $29 (5 ml).

Find Spooktacular on the Nocturne Alchemy website: here for $11 (2 ml), $22 (5 ml) or $42 (10 ml).

Looking for the review of Crystalline? The review has been moved here.

Looking for a Halloween vanilla scent? Check out my review of Vampire Vanilla Bat here.

Kobalt

Exquisite vanilla accord of Cairo vanilla orchid leaves, pure EO of a true non-hybrid Egyptian vanilla grown specifically for NA by our beloved Egyptian alchemist based in Cairo.

Kobalt is a creamy vanilla with a sour leaf note, that isn’t pleasant at first but it soon dissipates in favour of a green orchid note. The scent has quite a bit of throw but it’s not pungent. The floral and the vanilla notes blend nearly seamlessly – I can smell them separately but they go together really well. As the perfume starts drying down, the leaf note disappears and leaves just a sweet vanilla in its wake. It almost smells candy-like but it remains classy throughout the whole time. It lasts for a good while and it has a good throw, especially at the beginning.

Spooktacular

Vanilla essence, mallow root, whispers of sugar and unearthly vanilla bean pods. New formulation with Bastet’s ice cream accord. It is quite spooktacular.

Spooktacular is a sweet foody vanilla essence and vanilla ice cream, bottled in a perfume. This blend is the creamiest, sweetest, foodiest of these three NAVA vanillas! It’s practically like a decadent vanilla ice cream. This note disappears unusually fast, though, and I’m left with a sweet “skin scent” that might very well be a light marshmallow. Perhaps it’s shown once again that I can’t do mallow root? Dry, Spooktacular smells mostly like marshmallow and vanilla but it’s not as delicious as it is in the bottle, unfortunately. It’s got the lightest throw of them all, too: I can’t really smell it unless I press my nose to my arm. I’ll use this one up but will not repurchase it.

To sum up, Crystalline is the clear winner in this first round, and I can’t wait to try other NAVA vanillas or vanilla-centric blends!

What’s your favourite vanilla blend, indie or mainstream?

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