PG21 Felanilla Parfumerie Generale for women and men

At first I could immediately smell the same hay note that is found in PG's Bois Blonde, a perfume I own and love. It's almost like a wilted lettuce/rotten vegetable scent, but I happen to like it. The scent was also quite powdery. I wondered what gave me the impression this would smell like vanilla, it was so far from vanilla.

Yet within several minutes I began to pick up a light vanilla caramel. Quite gourmand for something that didn't start out gourmand at all. The notes I thought I smelled were vanilla, caramel, iris, amber, and orange. While there is no orange listed in the notes, it's hard for me to believe there is no citrus in this perfume. I also felt like I'd smelled something like this before and became a bit nostalgic for whatever that scent might have been....

I glanced at some of the reviews below and saw Shalimar Initial mentioned a couple times, and it made sense why this perfume seemed so familiar. I used to own Shalimar Initial, but I found it too weak for my taste. I also didn't love the "Guerlainaide" that some people talk about, which tends to give Guerlains an old-fashioned smell that doesn't suit me. I'm sure I'm not alone in that regard.

So I have to agree--this is Shalimar Initial (improved). Felanilla is more interesting with the green hay note floating around. Sillage and longevity are both very good. My shirt smelled amazing the next day, with strong traces of the perfume still lingering. I wasn't tired of Shalimar Initial, it was just the sillage that annoyed me...so I would consider Felanilla as a worthy replacement.

As a cat owner, I can definitely say this starts out smelling like a brush full of old cat fur, or like someone's house who keeps too many cats.

It then (thankfully) fades quickly into a spicy vanillic amber.

The transition from musty kitty fur to spice-cake dessert makes me a little queasy.

I'm puzzled by the "spicy" categorization. This is very definitely vanilla based and it's interesting but unless hay is now considered a spice (strictly speaking it would have to be a herb but that's beside the point) there's nothing spicy about this. My first thought when I smelled it was Dzing!--this was visceral enough that I had trouble finding the connection--I finally decided it was the amber-hay notes that I smelled first. After several hours I'd call this "interesting", well made, highly unusual but not something it would occur to me to pick up and wear again. One thing very much in its favor: if you like it it stays fairly close to the skin so it can very much be your small private pleasure if you work in a place that has aromaphobics.

Sillage: close, nuzzle distance
Longevity: 2-4 hours
Fabulosity: dancing bear
Value to price ratio: mediocre
7/10

I don't agree on most comments on this vanilla to be not sweet. The more the amber emerges, the sweeter it gets until the point, where I find it nearly vile. The iris-amber combination, which makes it sweet powdery, is alluring and repulsing at the same time. I imagine on a man that might smell very very nice, but I don't like it on women. Maybe because Felanilla reminds me somehow of playing with Barbie and of old fashioned male bath cosmetics (iris!).

And folks, let us not forget this awful opening! Ok, it's a funny smell, but for no money in the world I want to smell like wet cardboards. To smell Falanilla out of curiosity and the fun in it is one thing (and for that purpose really an experience), but to go in public is something totally different. Try before you buy.

Also, the comparision to Musc Ravageur is?? Where does that come from? To my nose they have nothing in common, don't be fooled that if you love one, you automatically love the other. I warned you! :)
Also no cat in general or Shalimar in particular to me.

After all Felanilla is very unique and it's really a lot of fun to explore it. A must try, not necessary a must wear, imho.

This is perfect if you find the citrus and incense of Shalimar difficult. Felanilla is an unusual take on vanilla, it is "dry" and predominantly "cool", the latter due to the iris but the hay absolute adds a warm sweetness but it never quite enters into gourmand territory. The banana wood is subtle and it brightens the iris, and as Luca Turin says, allowing it to "smile" . The opening is a little medicinal (saffron?) but this fades quickly and the scent develops into a sleek and sensuous adult vanilla-amber with a delicious earthy-woody powderiness, Felanilla has won me over, very quietly and slowly, but insistently. This cat has got the cream. Puurrrfect.

Wow! An opening that some alcoholic in a few seconds and following Initial remembered Shalimar initial EDP, but without the citrus notes. This leaves less acid Felanilla. But opening it is a stick! Another difference is that powerful vanilla PG 21 seemed drier. The iris is also evident in the opening.

Spending a few minutes the opening notes soften and begin to enter the woody amber with a touch slightly bitter (must be the note of hay), approaching the region and the nose spray, he could feel slightly bitter in the central region of the tongue, but was something very subtle. Do not bother me.

Perfume totally unisex, maybe even a little more feminine than the Initial Shalimar initial EDP. I really liked

This is a scent that doesn't take itself to seriously, starting with the whimsical name. It is very feline in the way it twines around you, like a cat sinuously winding around your body. As it settles it is more of a langorous stretch after a cat nap, soft and slinky. This is not a predatory cat, but a playful one who can be aloof and purring at the same time.


It starts on me with a medicinal/astringent note that fades very quickly into the heart notes that are a very efferevescent vanilla, woody, ambery concotion. The final drydown for me is the same as the heart but with a bit more of the wood notes and the iris coming out to play, adding the powdery note, just a bit in the backround to give it a softness. Good longevity for me about 7-9 hours. This scent wears close, but it does project enough to have a curious passerby inquire as to what you are wearing. I like that this fragrance is playful and chic all at the same time. If you don't like foody vanilla perfumes this one is a must try.

This is an interesting Fragrance, It starts of very sparkling on me like champagne!! the vanilla, musk and amber is there - I agree with others its not sickly sweet. Its warm, musky, powdery, honey, sparkly with saffron and Iris - makes it interesting and very wearable - there is a softness. I think it is unisex. Like it but think i would like it more on my man or on my clothes/bedding, not so much on me. Maybe I should try it again in winter.

Most interesting vanilla that I have ever smelled. A vanilla that lacks its typical, sometimes vulgar sweetness. A vanilla with an earthy and woody quality instead, and a spicy undertone. The overall effect is an elegant and casual dry vanilla that is perfectly unisex. I would say that this a delicate perfume which wears very close to the skin and I see it as skin scent which has an ever so subtle gourmand effect with powdery nuances.
Nothing feline to my nose, though. It lacks the toughness I was expecting from the name. As for the comparison to Musc Ravageur, it's not nearly half as bold, BUT it's a wonderfully de-sweetened vanilla. Unique!

Edit I just want to edit this a bit. It does bear a striking similarity to Musc Ravageur in its development and dry down especially. That being said Felanilla is a much more toned down and "softer" version of MR. No problem with wearing it at the office. I think.

This comes out of the gate as an obvious gourmand. There is a note that reminds me of either a root beer or coke float. I can’t quite put a finger on it. Ah hah... It reminds me of the coke flavored Slurpees from 7-Eleven that I would frequently get as a child 30 years ago. This scent is a mixture of coke and vanilla with a bit of woody fizzyness, perhaps some malt. As it settles I get a distinct vanilla cupcake accord. I am disappointed this isn't richer and more spicy or more resinous based on the notes listed. I usually love Parfumerie Generale but this doesn't get close to being on the purchase list.

When I first sampled this one I had a contrasting feeling. On one side I thought it was a pleasant warm vanilla, on the other side I thought it was too similar to FM Musc Ravageur but without FM power. I gave it a second chance and got a another sample. Well, I still think Maurice Roucel is much better than Guillame, I still think Felanilla lacks something but I can definitely say it is an incredibly addicting and very comfortable scent.

Here follows my review based on the first sample I got:

I quite like this one but, to be honest, it striked me as a sort of mash up between Musc Ravageur and Acier Alluminum. Well, actually I think Musc Ravageur has a stronger personality and Maurice Roucel is much better than Pierre Guillame, but that's another point. Felanilla is surely a well crafted warm vanilla scent, filled with top quality ingredients, with an acceptable sillage and a no more than reasonable lasting power but IMO it lacks in depth. It has a nice opening with a lot of amber and a hint of banana wood somewhere and a much better drydown that turns the scent into a confortable and quite close to the skin amber/vanilla but it still lacks in something...I still have to decide if I really like Pierre Guillame's creations or not but my suggestion to him, would surely be to reduce a little the reange of his productions and maybe focus on just a bunch of fragrances and complete them. I love Cozè, Intrigant Patchouli, Aomassai and find Papyrus De Ciane absolutely fantastic (unfortunately the latter doesn't match with my skin chemistry, but on paper is delightful) but my impression is too many of Guillame's fragrances (not all of them) are kinda incomplete or inconsistent. A nice scent, anyway.

Rating: 7.5/10

First of all, I have to put on tons of it to make it stay on my skin for longer than 3-4 hours. It seems as if my skin just swallows it.

Second, the vanilla is drowned by the amber on me at least. Although I love the opening and the first hour is just magical, after that I can only smell deep, warm amber of the finest quality with a tiny bit of hay and vanilla. No banana for me and it certainly does not belong to the foody vanillas' family. It's elegant and comforting at the same time.

I'd say that due to the lack of sillage and longevity it's not FB worthy for me but a. I love it too much at least for while it lasts and b. having bought Cadjmere, I found out that the PG bottle juice is usually much stronger than the sample. So, the jury is still out on this one.

I had to put a lot on, not my usual practice, to smell this. After a woody, cake-like start, not particularly vanillic, it dries into a gorgeous amber vanilla scent, smooth, warm and comfortable. I really am loving this. It is somehow golden and softly lit. A beautiful vanilla composition.

Well that reminded me another beautiful perfume,organza indecence.I don't find it that complex as organza is,I can only feel the warm vanilla extract nothing else,so I'll stick to the milkyness of organza!

To my uneducated naive nose it smells like delicious dry vanilla with a warm woody undertone, overlayed by the smell of very very green banana peel. It is this green banana peelish note that makes it one of my absolute favourite perfumes ;)I did not know vanilla could smell this good!

An intriguing vanilla in the vein of Shalimar but maintaining its own personality.

First things first, I've been getting a huge fan of PG lately, although Felanilla is not my favourite scent from the line.

Felanilla is a vanilla scent but not in the known way. It is the non-sweet, non-gourmand aspect of vanilla what also a man could easily enjoy.

It starts out with a blast of vanilla softly spiced with saffron. The hay note is apparent from the start to the finish with an interesting banana undertone in the heart. The dry down is very powdery as the vanilla meets the amber in the end. I did not feel any iris-addition.

To sum up, it is a bit weird vanilla interpretation, but definitely sniff-worthy.

A dear friend sent me a sample, knowing that I like orientals. In fact, the entire note list sounds right up my alley: saffron, iris, hay, vanilla, amber...

Despite the heavy dose of saffron (mmm!), this reminds me somewhat of vintage Emeraude or a modern version of Shalimar: a distinct, unfoody vanilla escorts all the other notes. The hay note is particularly lovely here, particularly with the saffron, and even the banana wood - which smells to me like green bananas - is a happy companion to the vanilla. The vanilla is not the sweet marshmallowy version that seems to be so popular these days, so if you're looking for Hanae Mori (which I like)or Mariah's M, you'll be disappointed. However, the amber in the base is quite sweet enough for me.

I was a little disappointed in Felanilla, but I think that's because I keep wanting it to be Emeraude (a Holy Grail scent for me if there ever was one). If you like vanilla and saffron, you'll probably enjoy this one. I recommend it.

A truly oriental and spicy scent. The Vanilla is the dominant note. I can smell a bit of amber and perhaps a bit of the saffron but can't detect any Iris in it, though it is on the list. It smells very sexy and seductive when I sniff it straight from the sample but on my skin, it smells like a bad concoction of vanilla and something foul.

Yet another masterpiece. This one is so beautiful, but still very different from most fragrances. Remind a little of L'Atisans Dzing! but much easier to wear, and I think for most people also easier to like. Anyway I think it´s amazing, warm, rich, sensual, glowing, longlasting, personal and animalic. Most things I am searching for in a fragrance, Felanilla has it, no doubt about it.

I was so sure about wishing a bottle of Parfumerie Generals Aomassai in christmas gift, but now I maybe think I will wish a bottle of Felanilla instead? Yes, it is sooo d-mn good! Seems like I am stumble upon a lot of very good perfumes lately, maybe to many?

Whatever... this is a must try!