Shaving Product Review - Ariana & Evans "Vanille de Tabac"

Value (Cost, Packaging and Performance)

Lather (Density, Glide and Feel)

Post-shave (Healing, Moisture and Feel)

Scent (Quality, Strength and Longevity)

Fans of a certain Tom Ford scent will find this Ariana & Evans Vanille de Tabac offering in a #soap and #aftershave close enough to the original at a price hard to ignore.

Vanille de Tabac is a a smooth oriental, opening immediately with opulent essences of tobacco leaf and aromatic spice notes. The heart unfolds with creamy tonka bean, tobacco flower, vanilla and cocoa and finishes with dry fruit accord enriched with sweet wood sap.

If you like Tom Ford Tobacco Vanille, you'll LOVE this.

Another Ariana & Evans product today; I'm on a roll! For a background on Ariana & Evans check out the appropriately named article; What is Ariana & Evans? Check out my earlier reviews of L'Orange Verte, Asian Plum, Khalifa and NYC for much more info. Again, the branding and packaging are excellent, but I think the artwork starts to stray a bit from the luxury vibe the brand is after with this one. Personally, I'm fine with it - but the woman sitting on a cigar recalls one Monica Lewinsky a bit... At least she's not wearing a blue dress, right?

The Vanille de Tabac scent is robust, masculine and just lasts. It features notes of tobacco leaf, ginger, spice notes, tonka bean, cocoa and a fruit accord (enriched with sweet wood sap). If that sounds at all familiar, it's essentially a clone of Tom Ford Tobacco Vanille (which has top notes of tobacco leaf and spicy notes; middle notes of tonka bean, tobacco blossom, vanilla and cacao; and base notes of dried fruits and woody notes). You'll note that that's an extensive use of the word "notes..." As you can see, they're similar, but ever so slightly different - Vanille de Tabac does smells close enough to the real deal. More of an evening scent, in the cooler months.

On open there's definitely a spicy tobacco hit; the tobacco leaf already smells like this but the ginger and "spice notes" amp it up further. In the middle, the tonka bean (essentially a warm vanilla vibe) and cocoa meld together to form a warm, creamy chocolate. Finally, on the base you're left with the vanillic tonka bean but with subtle hints of slightly fruity undertones. No matter how you say it - Tobacco Vanille or Vanille de Tabac you're basically looking at a tobacco open to a vanilla finish. And that's a wonderful thing. Both the soap and aftershave scent strengths are a high medium with the former blossoming further when lathered. I could smell it easily for the duration of the shave. The aftershave has a medium sillage, but a good longevity at 4-6 hours. Not bad at all for an aftershave, remember! You high rollers could always follow up with the real thing or the similar (but better, IMO) Parfums de Marly Herod - but these are the missing pieces of your morning routine - from start to finish.

The hardware consisted of a #TimelessRazor #TRBR38 bronze razor with a #PolSilver on shave two (actually out of the Assassin Razor the other day). The nifty brush from #WildWestBrushworks called Anthem Eagle sports a 24mm Tuxedo knot. There aren't many occasions where one can break out such a color combination - but it definitely worked today!

Yet another very pleasant shave with #arianaevans soap, bolstered by the matching aftershave. Both of which punch above their price points. The scent of Vannile de Tabac hits with some of my favorite notes; I'm certainly a sucker for anything with vanilla. Obviously a TFTV clone and as many do, can fall a little short in terms of ultimate scent quality, sillage/projection, longevity, etc. but let's be fair - this is an aftershave. Plus, it won't even come close to breaking the bank (the real thing would cost you $320 MSRP for 100ml!). You could follow up with Alexandria Fragrances Sweet Smoke ($40/30ml-$60/60ml) or Dua Fragrances Sweet Tabacum ($50/30ml). So yeah - I really enjoy this offering of Vanille de Tabac! Good stuff.