Mancera, circa 2015. Oud all the things, use all the florals. Aoud Vanille is another off-kilter Montale creation anchored in a synthetic oud and anonymous florals. The vanilla is somewhat dry, the base is vaguely woody. I'm sure there's some cardamom and saffron hidden in here. I tried to figure out what "florals" meant and got a list of 400 compounds that basically meant *Rose* so good luck pinning it down. This is not really an oud, or a particularly strong vanilla. I believe this was Montale trying to make a classy male vanilla that didn't smell like Ultra Male or Pi. The effect is an oddly sharp vanilla with a bouquet thrown in. It's wearable but unorthodox. Performance is good of course, but the strength is more in the 8 hours of sillage. I was willing to try it, because most of the old Manceras have stayed in production. King Vanilla was another one I tried to wear. I think the newer vanilla releases will fall in line with what people expect. Xplicit Vanilla is a good example. If you want both oud and vanilla in a digestible form, I enjoy Vertus Vanilla Oud. I haven't worn a real oud vanilla fragrance but I'm sure houses like Amouage have something available. This will not be a full bottle for me. Despite this being flowers and vanilla I couldn't get my girlfriend to tolerate it for more than 15 minutes.

Smell of fresh cold rain in a garden done pretty well. Lasts well on me and one of the better and unique designer freshies imo. Super slept on so im glad that many wouldn’t smell like me. Need another bottle tho as i have less than 10ml left in mine.