Matiere Premiere Vanilla Powder EDP Review
26 October, 2023
As soon as I heard Vanilla Powder was about to launch, it immediately had my attention. As a long term lover of vanilla scents, I knew I had to get my nose on this one. I’d also heard how beautiful MATIERE PREMIERE fragrances were, so I was very excited to be given the opportunity to try out the brand’s latest release.
The fragrance is based on the main ingredient of Vanilla Absolute Madagascar. With the concept of ‘An explosion of white modern powders on dark Vanilla beans’ with ‘the addictive character of Vanilla reinforced by Coconut powder. Bright Palo Santo wood brings structure and verticality. White Musks envelop the Vanilla and powders for a contemporary, luminous perfume.’ – MATIERE PREMIERE.
This is the brand’s 12th fragrance, created by brand co-founder Aurélien Guichard – and my own first experience of MATIERE PREMIERE fragrances. Three complementary accords were selected to reveal the beautiful facets of the Madagascan vanilla absolute: Coconut powder, White musk, and Palo Santo.
“Vanilla is a raw material I’ve always wanted to include in the MATIERE PREMIERE collection. This fragrance is a refined vanilla: its dark richness is met with an explosion of white modern powders.” – Aurélien Guichard.
Vanilla Powder opens with a slightly sweet but mostly powdery coconut note, draped in light, smooth vanilla, with subtle woods in the background. The scent is quite linear, it really doesn’t change much over time, except becoming slightly sweeter in the dry down. This one is big on the coconut which is strong throughout the longevity of the scent. It feels powdery, but I wouldn’t say soft at all; this is quite a meaty scent with a lot of depth and weight due to the rich vanilla, yet it still manages to hold a cool, airiness. This fragrance is also quite intense but not overpowering. Vanilla Powder is definitely what I’d call striking, if somebody walks into a room wearing this, everyone will notice. It’s really quite beautiful, and very well composed. The vanilla here is different to any other vanilla fragrance I’ve tried.
This is a scent that makes me think of vanilla snow – and I know obviously that’s not a thing. But if you imagine a warm vanilla scent, gourmand, edible, golden in colour – well, Vanilla Powder is the opposite of this. This is a cool scent, the vanilla is rich and prominent, but not in an edible, dessert-like way, and if the scent was represented by a colour, it would definitely be silver.
I feel like this is quite a unisex fragrance, almost touching on masculine. This is nowhere near a standard sweet vanilla scent that you might expect. Also, the projection on this is huge. When I first tested this fragrance, literally one spray on paper, my husband said he could smell it in the next room. Very impressive.
Overall I think this is a really interesting take on vanilla, and I don’t think I’ve tried anything quite like it before. If you’re into vanillas but you’re looking for something different, Vanilla Powder should definitely be on your radar.
MATIERE PREMIERE Vanilla Powder is available now at Harrods, Selfridges and MATIERE PREMIERE.
