Annick Goutal

Let me first say that I love many of Goutal's scents and some classics like "Heure Exquise" are long time favourites of mine and are favourites in my collection.
This was the first and only Goutal scent that almost made me gag. I think it smells horrendous. Like mouldy, wet earth combined with overripe, rotting fruits. This scent combination is superstrong with a very strong endurance and sillage. I couldn't wait to wash this off and that rarely happens.
I had two different samples of this so I know this wasn't gone off when I tested it.
So, this might be for you if you like mouldy scents and if you like alcoholic fermented plums and such.
Absolutely not for me

Vanille Exquise is a sublime well rounded non-sweet vanilla.
It reminds me of vintage Guerlain Shalimar minus the leather note plus a bittersweet hint of almond.
It starts off with a blast of non-gourmand vanilla and a herbal overtone (angelica?). After about 10 minutes in an incense note gets stronger (benzoin). Later rhum and woods that have been there all along become more prominent, joining the ever deepening vanilla in an oriental dance.
Towards the base, I do get a very slight medicinal hint.
This comes as an EdT, but lasts about 4 hours on my skin before it gets weaker and less complex.
It has decent sillage, but, quite typically for a Goutal, it seems polite enough to be worn year round, summer and winter, work or play.

I have a cute mini bottle, about half the size of the full bottle. If your idea of hyacinth is Chamade, then this well blended, smooth hyacinth is Chamades civilized mild mannered granddaughter. On my skin chemistry, it’s relatively pleasant and innocuous. it’s sweet, but not narcotic like some honeysuckle scents. I’ve worn a lot of Annick Goutal and 9nly lately c9me to understand that they generally don’t work with my chemistry. Eau de Hadrian is like Pledge furniture polish. Folavril is like cheap hotel soap. Eau de Sud was okay, but Guerlain Pamplelune, much better on my skin. But this is nice. Reading the reviews below, I cannot emphasize enough that Goutals are not a blind buy and that skin chemistry is a big factor.

I used to wear this a long time ago when I was on a Goutal journey. It smelt clean and soapy on me. I don’t recall any trace of mango. My mom sniiffed me and said I smelt like generic (cheap) hotel soap. I switched to Eau d Hadrian whihc smelt like pledge furniture polish on me, then Eau de Sud. Recently I came across a bottle mini of Goutals gran amour, which seemed like a well blended, mainstream grandchild of Chamade. But, after many bottles over various Goutals, I realized Goutal just doesn’t really work on my skin chemistry.

A beautiful bright and juicy pear that dries down into something that reminds me of a Philosphy scent from the Grace line. Lovely.