beauty
It’s time to rethink vanilla: grown-up, sophisticated and reclaiming its rightful place as the cool girl’s signature scent
I take issue with the dictionary definition of vanilla as an adjective, which reads as follows: ‘having no special or extra features; ordinary or standard’. Just one look at the line-up of this season’s most exciting fragrances proves that this does the spice a disservice. In the world of scent, vanilla is not only a long-time industry favourite but the new top note du jour. Dare we say team throws up vivid descriptions of freshly baked cake, vanilla chai lattes, custard and the smell of newborn babies. The same can’t be said for patchouli or bergamot. This comfort connection, according to scientists, can be traced back to our earliest memories. A 2019 study found that vanilla can be transferred from a lactating mother’s diet into breast milk, while another study found babies drank for longer when exposed to vanilla. It seems to soothe us at a biological level: research by Tubingen University in Germany revealed that smelling vanilla reduced the startle reflex in both humans and animals, and can help to lessen crying in newborns. Perhaps we know this innately, as another study found that vanilla is seen as the most pleasant smell across nine different cultures, from indigenous communities to urban city dwellers. But over the years, vanilla slowly gained a bad rep. As ‘skin scents’ and ‘barely-there fragrances’ took over consumer shopping habits, vanilla was shunted to the side for being sweet, cloying and too much of a statement note in a time where you wanted to walk into the room before your perfume did. Thankfully, though, the tides are shifting once again. Now, as nostalgia takes centre stage and economic instability sees more of us seeking comfort in pockets of day-to-day life, vanilla has well and truly re-entered the chat. On Lookfantastic.com alone, searches for ‘vanilla perfume’ saw an uplift of 21% compared with last year, while searches for ‘vanilla heart note’ and ‘vanilla top note’ were up 100% and 173% year-on-year respectively. You don’t have to search long for one, either. As analogous as butter to bread, vanilla is a requisite for most scented tinctures even if they don’t shout about it. “You’ll be hard pushed to find a bestselling scent that doesn’t feature vanilla in some capacity,” says Rebecca Reynolds, perfume expert at The Perfume Shop. In fact, you may be surprised to hear it’s an unexpected staple in some of the world’s bestselling scents, including Dior’s Sauvage, Chanel’s N°5 and Byredo’s Gypsy Water. Finally, vanilla is reclaiming its rightful place as the star of the fragrance hall – and 2024’s iterations are all grown-up. “The newer fragrances we’re seeing coming into the market have a more elegant, more adult-like sense to them, thanks to other notes like cinnamon and sandalwood, making them warmer overall when worn,” explains Reynolds. Read on to discover some of our favourite vanilla scents that are (almost) good enough to eat.
