The grown-up vanilla scents without a whiff of dessert | Sali Hughes

Channelling Parisian patisseries rather than cloying cupcakes, these sophisticated fragrances are light enough for spring

I heard recently from a retailer that vanilla perfumes are currently outselling florals, and it occurred to me that I’ve rarely written about the former. I love and wear lots of fragrances containing vanilla (Chanel’s Coco and Celine’s Black Tie, for two), but when vanilla is the entire point, I’m turned off by the sickly sponge batter scent.

And so I set myself the challenge of finding a more sophisticated selection of vanilla perfumes – grownup and not cloying as we enter spring, unsticky and with not a whiff of cupcake.