Old friend, you conjure memories of childhood; you jangle the nerves, and then soothe them in turn.
My bottle is indeed old, but none the less loved for it.
It has distilled itself to its proverbial essence- it is what it was, merely magnified.
1997 was the year that Patricia de Nicolai [granddaughter of Pierre Guerlain] created Vanille Tonka; at that time, it was an anomaly.
Today, it holds its own, as so many other noses and houses have sought to author incenses in abundance.
This is one which retains its mystery.
Top: basil, lemon, mandarin
Heart: carnation, orange blossom, pepper, cinnamon
Base: frankincense, vanilla, tonka bean
We read notes, time and again.
What do they reveal? Do they recount the whole tale?
Vanille Tonka is, perhaps, above all- sublimely odd.
It begins by summoning the summer garden –herbal, anisic basil, tart and juicy fleeting citrus.
Its heart is all heat and spice, carnation chasing cinnamon, black pepper ablaze, all dry ferocity.
Orange blossom serves to soften- what else could she do?
The heart is a madhouse of fire and longing.
The suave base swings censers.
Echoes of High Mass, the air thick and holy with sacred smoke.
Vanilla is not sweet here; she harmonizes the intemperate heart with tenderness, tonka lending its plaintively hay-like voice hinting of almonds.
More than the sum of its parts alone…
What a wonder.
Photo Credits:
Vanille Tonka- luckyscent.com
Magnify – oocities.com
Patricia de Nicolai at Osmotheque- perfumesmellinthings.blogspot.com
Mysterium Magnum – esoteric.msu.edu
Rossetti's Holy Grail – illusionsgallery.com
Burning heart- morewaystowastetime.blogspot.com
High Mass- flickr.com
The Creation of Adam – templestudy.com
–Ida Meister, Senior Editor