Va Va VanillaSpicy Vanilla Extrait de Parfum

Va Va Vanilla by Sarah Baker is a liqueur-like spicy vanilla extrait de parfum, unisex, created by Margaux Le Paih Guérin. “Danger offers you a drink,” the house summarizes.

Two cocktails and a vanilla

Sarah Baker is a multidisciplinary artist — film, photography, installation — and the founder of the house, based in an East London studio. She entrusts each fragrance to a different nose and accompanies each with a mini-scenario. This one begins at dusk: “The moment when darkness meets light. Espresso martinis and Manhattans blend with a voluptuous, milky vanilla that you never tire of. Three words: “sensational, hedonistic, speakeasy.”

An opening of espresso martini, cinnamon and black cherry

The espresso martini is a note in its own right: coffee, vodka, sugar, foam. The cinnamon and the black cherry “add the sparkle,” says the house. A bar opening, not a perfumery.

A heart of saffron, coffee, crushed nuts, rum and Manhattan cocktail

The saffron — “low and hoarse,” according to the house — brings its leathery trait. The coffee extends the martini, the crushed nuts a dry gourmandise, the rum and the Manhattan cocktail — whiskey, vermouth, bitter — a second drink. Five materials, including two named cocktails.

A base of vanilla, guaiac wood, leather, warm skin, sandalwood and silky wood

The vanilla finally takes center stage. The guaiac wood brings its tarry smoke, the leather — “the softest of leathers” — a suppleness. The sandalwood and the silky woods round off, and the warm skin closes the composition on a bodily note. Six materials: it is the house’s longest base.

The house’s gesture

Two named cocktails, one in the head and the other in the heart, are placed like two raw materials in their own right. Perfumery often evokes alcohol; it rarely names recipes. Here, the fragrance reads like an evening that progresses — a drink, then another, then the skin.

For whom, for what occasions?

For those who love adult vanillas and night fragrances. Autumn and winter, evenings. A unisex extrait de parfum. The house does not test any products on animals and composes in compliance with IFRA, without nitromuscs, colorants, phthalates or organohalogen compounds.