Hello.
Recently I found myself not feeling the perfumes I bought last year and this is because I did wear them all the time during my late teens. I love the fragrances but they're just not me anymore. This coincided with Samantha Maria's video on her perfume collection and her enthusiasm sparked a drive in me to find some new late 20's Lisa scents.
I know next to nothing about fragrance but thought - as I'm never going to get to a perfume shop in the near future I'd take my mission to the internet! Time for some blind buying!!
I looked up the ingredients in my favourite Lush products hoping to find some perfumes to provide similar nasal pleasure. Elderberries don't appear to be too common in perfume but berries, in general are! On Frangrantica, the other perfumes in Dior's poison range looked to be more mature than the the ones I loved so much as a teen. Eden Perfumes didn't have matches to these so much search continued.
Sammi's love of Tom Ford fragrance kept popping into my head. I don't know why I didn't go back to the video for more information, but I didn't. It was 2am, who knew what my brain was doing. I had "Tom Ford" and "Vanilla" floating around my mind together so Googled it to find Tom Ford Tobacco Vanille. The fact it was inspired by London, the true love of my early 20's and the words spice, cocoa and dry fruit really appealed to me. I think most of this was my brain being confused and thinking this was the one Sammy talked about, so I tracked down and ordered the Eden Perfumes match, No. 470.
After this I looked it up and Frangrantica and was like, "whathaveibought.". Nobody seemed to like it. It was reviewed as literally vanilla and tobacco. Neither of which I am particularly keen on, according to my memory. This set me on another mission to order a back-up perfume in case I hated it.
The day it arrived I tore it open to smell it, fearing the worst. But it was actually pretty nice! I didn't hate it so spritzed some on me and went to work. After a few minutes (the "dry down"?!) I started to fall in love with it. It's gorgeous! I really struggle to identify anything but vanilla and tobacco in it like others, but they compliment each other surprisingly well! It's like a grown-up version of Vanillary from Lush... the original one. I think of the Gorilla Vanillary as the kind of rebellious teenager as it's not as soft and sweet. Tobacco Vanille / No. 470 is the mature one! Vanillary all grown up! I cannot describe scent really, but it's so, so yum. My mate said I smell of the "best things - sweets and fags". The vanilla really is sweet. The tobacco is like some high quality baccy and sometimes smells a bit smoky throughout the day (it lasts ages) but not in a way that smells like I, or someone near me as been smoking (I HATE that!). It'd bloody lush.
Somehow, the fragrance makes sense. Obviously I cannot compare No. 470 to Tobacco Vanille right now but if I get the chance to one day, I will. Going by mine and others' experiences of Eden Perfumes however, I'm sure it's a great dupe. I think I'd be using Eden if I wasn't vegan - it's the same scent for a fraction of the price! And much more responsibly produced than most mainstream perfumes. Bonus! Ding ding ding ding ding!
Anyway, this perfume is to die for and I think it's definitely a good fit or current me. The first time I saw myself in a mirror whilst smelling it on me, everything seemed to match and suit and generally be a winning combination. I have a new signature scent! Yay!
Please check out Eden Perfumes if you want your favourite perfume for £15 and that money to go better places. They're all vegan, cruelty free, organic and Eden Perfumes really encourage recycling. Just awesome, basically. If anyone would like to take me to the shop in Brighton, please, please do :P
Are you a fan of Eden Perfumes or Tobacco Vanille? If you'd recommend any similar fragrances please do in the comments! My back-up perfume has all the smells I love but mixed together they smell like handwash - I NEED PERFUME!
I'm off to sniff my wrists some more.