Demeter Vanilla Ice Cream

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I don’t know what to say about Demeter’s more literal fragrances like Vanilla Ice Cream. The stuff smells like actual vanilla ice cream. Though I do get a bit of a synthetic vanilla vibe from this one. It is still a very good interpretation.

Vanilla Ice Cream

Vanilla Ice Cream

In Bottle: Rich, creamy, vanilla ice cream. It’s like the liquid essence and I like how it smells but there’s a certain plastic or synthetic quality to the vanilla that I can over look because everything else about the initial in-bottle sniff is so authentic.

Applied: Synthetic plastic vanilla that’s too sweet and too loud upon application. It is reminiscent of vanilla extract, the kind that you can buy at grocery stores that’s super sweet and has a bit of a licorice flavor (am I just crazy?) to it. I’m not wild about the vanilla note in this but most of the vanilla notes in your generic vanilla ice cream is of the loud, synthetic-like vanilla anyway. So it’s an authentic experience to be sure, but the authenticity is mimicking standard ice cream instead of gourmet stuff. The dry down comes really fast for a vanilla-based fragrance as the base turns a little darker while still maintaining its super sweet vanilla-like scent. The fragrance is pretty much one-dimensional and has pretty poor longevity (less than an hour of wear on my skin) but, like I said, it’s very authentic if you’re looking at generic ice creams.

Extra: There are a number of things I would have done differently with a vanilla ice cream inspired scent. I would use higher quality vanilla for one so that the fragrance takes on a spicy, dense quality instead of the syrupy sweet stuff that dominates this fragrance. I’d also give it a stronger base, and do something to make this stuff last longer. There were many ways this could have been done better but I suppose it’s ultimately achieving what Demeter set out to do; make a generic vanilla ice cream scent.

Design: The bottles are pretty basic, small and rectangular in shape. No thrills or frills. You get a pretty lackluster label with the bottle but then Demeter fragrances aren’t about the packaging. The bottle is fine. You may be interested to note that most of my Demeter bottles are the refillable type.

Fragrance Family: Gourmand

Notes: Sugar, vanilla, cream.

This is a good fragrance for you if you’re looking for an affordable straight-up vanilla scent and don’t care about synthetic vanilla vs. spicy vanilla. This stuff will deliver a sugary sweet rather authentic experience for a pretty cheap price. Just keep in mind that the longevity on this stuff seriously sucks.

Reviewed in This Post: Vanilla Ice Cream, 2010, Cologne Spray.

BPAL Miskatonic University

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Coffee has become something of an obsession of mine. Not in the drinking of it, but rather the smelling of coffee. That rich, dark, woody fragrance of coffee is the hallmark of a good morning to me. I suppose it helps that I’m not a coffee drinker so all the terrible mornings don’t sour this scent. But in my search for the perfect coffee fragrance, I’ve discovered one thing; The note does not last. Miskatonic University

In Bottle: Beautiful, creamy, rich coffee with a french vanilla twist in it. I smell a slightly fungal scent in this too that can probably be attributed to Black Phoenix’s dust note. It smells a bit like mushroom to me, but in the bottle, the mushroom is a good pairing to the coffee, making it just a little more complex than, “Here you go, your coffee smell” plunked down onto the table without ceremony.

Applied: Coffee, dense and rich and good enough to taste with creaminess and sweetness mixed into one. Miskatonic University is like a really good cup of coffee–for about thirty seconds. The coffee note in this fragrance is really fleeting on me and disappears in less than a minute. I can try layering all I want but it is not going to stick around on my skin. When that elusive coffee does evaporate it takes the vanilla and the sweetness with it. Remember that mushroom note? After  the coffee departs, the mushrooms absolutely bloom. Actually, I don’t think it’s mushroom I’m smelling but the leftover cream and the dust note mixing together to form this really bizarre tangent with the woodsy notes in Miskatonic University getting a scent that I can only attribute to mushrooms on wood polish. It’s not particularly interesting or nice. Well–that’s not true, it is interesting.

Extra: Miskatonic University is a fictional post-secondary institute located in Arkham which appears in the works of H.P. Lovecraft.

Design: Miskatonic University is bottled much in the same way all other Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab perfumes are. It has a different label to denote its place in the Picnic in Arkham series.

Fragrance Family: Gourmand

Notes: Irish coffee, dust, oak.

As much as I wanted to find that one true coffee scent in this fragrance, Miskatonic University and I were just not meant to be. The coffee note is so fleeting, and I shouldn’t be surprised, I guess. It is a top note for me. I just hoped it’d be one of those top notes that defied all logic and reason and hung around a bit.

Reviewed in This Post: Miskatonic University, 2009, 5ml Bottle.