Vaniglia Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella for women and men

On my skin this turned out to be a soft vanilla fragrance with just a bit of spicy chocolate thrown in. It reminds me of a Tootsie Roll :)) It's only slightly sweet, and it is smooth and delicious. My skin chemistry is such that I do not get any of the smokiness or extreme sweetness that some of the other reviewers experienced - or maybe I am strangely anosmic to those qualities, I don't know. Anyway, on me Vaniglia lies extremely close to the skin and lasts a long time. I found it to be a nice, yummy, warm personal fragrance.

On me, I get a ton of vanilla, but also something smokey in the background. I don't get any sweet notes from this. Slightly powdery. I would not purchase again, and probably will sell this off. It's not feminine enough for me. It smells like old men at the pool hall with their fedora's on, cigar smoke lingering in the air in the back of the pool tables. Yep, I visited the pool halls only to purchase comic books when I was younger, I was too afraid to look in the back, but when I got older, I used to hang out in another one, and this cologne reminds me of that. I think it's better suited for a man. Not a young man either, this is old man's elixir.

On initial application this scent was very alcoholish, like a spicy gin cocktail with lemon in the topnotes. However, the development of this fragrance is lovely. The middle notes and base notes start to come out and when the scent dries down it is a lovely very spicy, incensy vanilla with cacao in the background. The cacao gives the scent this dark incense quality that is unique in my experience. It is not a sweet chocolate at all.

Overall, I do not find this scent too sweet. It's very darkly soft and has good longevity, surprising for a cologne. The vanilla is really beautiful, strong like an actual vanilla pod, but without the sugar. I like this fragrance more each time I put it on. It has surprising depth for a cologne. A man could definitely rock this with no problem at all.

I'm still in a slight state of shock. I never expected to smell such a sweet vanilla scent. Actually it's sweeter than sweet, it smells almost like a bag of icing sugar.

It's hard to detect the vanilla in Santa Maria Novella's Vaniglia. It seems to be smothered by a variety of sweet accords; soft incense, sugary powder and banana lollies. If you're not looking for the perfect vanilla, then this fragrance is enjoyably different, but for vanilla lovers seeking vanilla in all its glory, this fragrance could be a disappointment.

In all honesty, I'm not a huge fan of the sugary and powdery opening, but I do like it once it reaches the heart. Vaniglia becomes increasingly spicier and smokier as it settles on the skin. Very unique in its approach and strangely sensual.

It's somewhat of an acquired taste in some ways. It's not something that I initially liked, yet the more I subject myself to smelling it, the more it grows on me. The spicy and musky accords really make Vaniglia an interesting experience on the skin. After five hours of wear, the scent is still there but very subtle, as you would expect from a cologne.

Throughout Vaniglia's development, I really didn't sense any strong vanilla accords, however I did smell it every now and then, lingering in the background, not necessarily wanting to be found. Sugar, spices, powder and smoky incense is a more realistic scent description.

The vanilla is not too sweet and I smelled something like incense in the fragrance. For a minute, it reminded me of Ambre Sultan by Serge Lutens, but without the heavy smoky notes. The lasting power in this was excellent and I am very surprised because it's a cologne.