Madagascan Vanilla Rum

[MCS4096]

A complex single note accord that melds pure bourbon vanilla with the scent of fermented molasses. The scent is dark, thick, sweet, heavy and rich, with a slight spicy smokiness.

 

Drat. Bought a bottle unsniffed, knowing full well that many of the lab's newer vanilla blends don't do well on my skin, but hoping against hope that this would work. First on it's strong boozy vanilla, and I'm thinking this is what Paduan Killer Swarm smells like (or would smell like if it had any throw at all... Anytime I wore it I thought I could just be *imagining* I smelled something). However, very very quickly this turns into dusty, dirty, plastic. I'm dreaming of an "old" bpal vanilla.. like whatever it is in Dorian, or Antique Lace.. those are perfect on me.. present vanillas only lead to heartbreak

[milo]

First sniff out of the bottle, and I thought this was going to be a big miss. Lots of caramel and brown sugar, my least fave notes. On, only like this for a minute or two, then dries to a lovely musky vanilla. Sweet, not cloying foody, but with an element of non foodiness here if that makes sense. It reminds me of one of my favourite vanilla blends, the orange label '13', though that one is more muskier, and slightly better imo. Further drying, less musky, more sweet, but still quite lovely. It also smells like the vanilla in Snow White, though I was wearing that blend earlier today, so it may be remnants. Will have to check another day. Glad to have a partial!

[ajansuz]

This turned out to be a bit of a disappointment for me. In the past with other booze notes, I've found I've amped them to an unpleasant degree, such as the tequila in Calaveras. I was hoping that wouldn't be the case with this. In the bottle, it's truly dreamy. Heavy, rich vanilla without too much sweetness, a slightly burned sugar tinge, and the booze isn't too strong. Unfortunately, when it hits my skin it's almost nothing but sharp rum. It takes a long time to come down from that to allow any vanilla out at all. When it finally does, most of the scent is so faded I can hardly smell it at all. I suppose I need to scratch off anything with a booze component from further purchases. I haven't found one yet that hasn't made me smell like I've spilled a strong drink on me and that doesn't drown out anything else sharing the bottle with it.

[lohengrin]

In the bottle: Rum. SIGH.

 

On skin, wet: Still very much a rum scent, with maybe a hint of caramel sweetness.

 

On skin, dry: The sweetness is pretty much gone, and this is just slightly-smoky rum.

 

After an hour: No significant change. It's a nice enough scent, but like the Tonka SN before it it's just not what I was looking for. I wanted sweet, warm, comfy vanilla and I got smoky booze.

[Alshneato]

I liked this in the decant- it was like the perfect caramel! Then I put it on and it went all coconut and perfume. Sigh.

[claudia6913]

In the bottle: I too get a very buttery, sweet scent.

Wet on the skin: Some of the smokiness and spiciness starts to come out.

Dry: This is warm, sweet, slightly spicy.

 

Love it! Reminds me of the vanilla in my beloved Lawn Gnome.

[brilliantcat]

I'm a vanilla addict so of course I ordered a bottle of this unsniffed. I'm doing a deathmatch with Rum-Soaked French Tonka on the other arm so this should be interesting!

 

MVR is buttery rummy vanilla-y goodness exploding out of the bottle. Mmmm! On my skin, it has the smoky heady richness of the molasses/rum backed by omgvanilla. Smoky, spicy, vanilla perfection.

 

While MVR and RSFT are definitely sisters, they're more than different enough for me to love both. I find RSFT sticks closer to the skin and is more delicate, whereas MVR has that smoky hit.

[Ajila]

In the bottle - A surprisingly harsh rum with the vanilla on top

 

Wet on me - Heavy booze with an almost coconutty vanilla beneath

 

Dry on me - Oddly what I so get from this is a light sweet coconut

 

Overall - I think I would have liked it more if it had been more vanillary

[Monster]

Right away I recognize this rum from Egg Nog, Butter Rum Cookie and Perversion. This isn't as syrupy sweet as I thought it was going to be which is really good. Sometimes really rich, sugar scents turn my stomach but this one is sweet without being cloying. This is a boozy, sugared vanilla and fortunately for me, it doesn't turn to plastic at all. I've been fortunate with the Lab's vanilla scents though, I hear a lot of people mentioning the sometimes plastic nature of their vanilla but the only scents that really did that for me were Love's Philosophy and Detestable Putrescence. Madagascan Vanilla Rum is a zero plastic, sweet, but not cloying vanilla rum that hugs the skin and is deliciously gorgeous. I thought this would be a novelty scent but it's something I can wear alone or layer with other scents. Another winner!

 

ETA: After about 30 minutes, there's a coconut quality to this which makes it even BETTER (I love coconut). Yowza. <3

Edited March 8, 2014 by Monster

[Gin]

This shoulda been perfect for me. I love vanilla, I love rum. Instead, Madagascan Vanilla Rum goes on burnt-caramelly, with that high rum/coconutty note that stabs my sinuses. Two hours later, it's mellowed into a gorgeous marshmallowy vanilla that makes me want to chew my arm off (in a good way), but I don't know if I can deal with the initial two hours.

[lunaticana]

I got this from a friend, during one of our BPAL meets

I did read all of these reviews to decide if I really wa ted to have the bottle

And skin tested a few drops aswell!

And I did smell that it has a very spicy kick to it!

I love love love this vanilla that has SPICE and not just buttery vanilla.

i already have enough of the more "normal" BPAL vanilla types.

I think it is super sexy to wear to something special

Ow. And it is my FIRST SN!!!

[vanilla323]

In the bottle: coconutty vanilla

 

On the skin: this one is stronger then rum soaked french tonka and a little deeper. It may be the molasses. It's more buttery and vanilla like. I really like it.

 

Dry down: Now the rum has come in more and taken over. It's starting to fade already though. I can only smell the rum and the vanilla has gone away

 

Sadly this was also very weak on throw and longevity. But while it lasted it was delicious.

[LizziesLuck]

Pure love! I only wish it lasted a bit longer and was a bit stronger on my skin. To me, this is the same rum note that is in Red Lantern. Sexy, smoky and sweet. Love it! So glad I grabbed a bottle!

[Emily Iscariot]

In the bottle, I hate this. It's the same kind of buttery that made Sugar Cookie 2005 go completely wrong on me. But when I put this on my skin it does all the right things. It's beautiful vanilla with just a hint of warm booziness, and it's one of those rare oils that has enough throw that I can enjoy it wafting around without having to constantly sniff my wrists. Definitely a keeper.

[Coldfire]

Decant: deep vanilla, really aged deep vanilla
Wet On Me: dark vanilla booze
Drying Down: starting to get a nut note when I sniff. not sure if this is from the booze?
Dry: the vanilla has mellowed out and turned into a nut booze scent under my nose. Interesting to try but will probably trade out.

[Soupy Twist]

Tonka and brûlée in the bottle. Goes on promisingly as tonka and rum, but the rum soon scorches into burnt brûlée. This finishes as dry spices and rum dregs, what similar to Apple Butter Rum and Spiced Rum Buttercream Coffee did on me. Goddammit why can't I just find a nice bourbon vanilla which lasts?!

Apparently the Lab differentiates between "sweet rum" and "rum," and their plain ol' rum doesn't work on my skin. Elegba is great. This is the morning after Elizabeth Swan burned all the rum for a distress signal.

[doomsday_disco]

I like this more than I was expecting to! I love vanilla, but rum generally isn't my thing. At first, it's kind of like a vanilla-infused butter rum Lifesaver, and then it becomes a pretty evenly balanced vanilla rum scent. But over time, the vanilla note comes out more, and it becomes this really nice vanilla that mingles with the warmth of the rum.

 

This is the best rum scent I have tried! Thanks to the lovely person that sent me some to try.

Edited April 11, 2019 by doomsday_disco

[JakkieTreehorn]

I love this.  In the bottle it’s definitely dark, syrupy vanilla extract.  Wet that’s really amplified, and it’s delicious.  It rivals my favorite NAVA vanilla for sure.  Dry down is super interesting.  It loses some of the sweetness and there’s something slightly spicy that doesn’t read as rum or foodie type spice at all.  When this is dry it actually reminds me of what I wish Snake Oil could be for me.  Snake Oil is just too much for my sensitive sniffer, but this feels a little bit similar to me but I can actually wear it.  Pretty excited about this.