Flannie

Overdose of Sensuality

We’ve been waiting for its grand return ever since Tom Ford introduced us to Vanilla Sex: a vanilla fragrance that speaks sex in its purest form, freeing itself from years of association with childish memories and regressive gluttony. With a touch of sensuality, between two bursts of animalistic intensity, Vanille Caviar from BDK offers pure sex-on-the-pod.

The icon

After a very sexy vanilla opening, not to say a pure sex one, with calamus and blackcurrant bud at the top, Vanille Caviar, the penultimate addition to the Matière collection at BDK, plays with animalistic overdoses and a touch of gourmandise around an oily, sexual, leathery vanilla pod, between cistus and Peruvian balsam in the base notes.

Soul and substance

While Vanille Caviar isn’t intended to be part of BDK’s collection Les Parisiennes, it nonetheless possesses the soul and character of the brand. It could easily stroll through Pigalle in Paris alongside Rouge Smoking, the brand’s flagship fragrance, even if Vanille Caviar is not quite Parisian Fluent yet.

Its beautifully textured, tawny facets lend it a devilishly exotic air, some untamed temper bringing us straight back to the jungle the pod was born in.

Being Vanille Caviar

‘People often talk about my audacity. I would say it was high time to finally remind everyone why vanilla is one of the most expensive ingredients on the market. Opulent, I dare. I’m called brutal, direct, but I’m generous. I’m not for the faint of heart as you know faint of heart never won a fair lady. My heels are high, but they don’t click. I move across your skin until your senses are satiated.’

Its creator

David Benedek. David Benedek, the perfume editor and founder of the brand BDK, studied at the French Fashion Institute. He created the BDK brand with the desire to approach perfume like he would approach clothing. The Matière collection, in this spirit, explores the finest materials of modern perfumery in a new way, like it would do with beautiful fabrics. “In creating Vanille Caviar, I wanted to reveal vanilla in its rawest and most sensual expression, getting as close as possible to the material, to the grain contained in the pod, the vanilla caviar.” With this fragrance, David Benedek is more of a Tom Ford than Tom Ford himself.

Partner in Crime

To create it, David Benedek called upon Alexandra Carlin, who also worked with him on Velvet Tonka and Velvet Tonka Extrait. Alexandra Carlin, a perfumer with a keen eye for fashion, sharp and elegant, could herself be a heroine of BDK’s other collection, Les Parisiennes. “I chose a fairly short formula with many raw materials that have character, such as labdanum or calamus, a rhizome that comes from India. I used it for the texture it brings to a perfume. It has a bit of a ‘cookie dough’ effect. A deliberate choice I do not regret. I did not add any other gourmand notes to let the pod speak for itself.”

Guilty Pleasure Vanilla

Alexandra doesn’t wear many vanilla fragrances, but she adores L by Lolita Lempicka, created by Maurice Roucel, who was none other than her mentor during her studies. It’s a milky, caramelized vanilla with a touch of character and a carefree sensuality.

David, on the other hand, is crazy about crème anglaise, which he enjoys every year when he goes skiing with friends. « I could eat the entire bowl of it, it’s so intense and comforting. »

The narration

While Paris is an everyday heroine for David Benedek, it was Madagascar that he wanted to pay homage to with Vanille Caviar. “I still remember the smell of the vanilla plantations when we visited them,” says David Benedek: “I remained obsessed by the smell of the pods, dark and shiny, almost liquorice, both intense and deeply sensual, as they dried.”

Backstage

A fantastic ingredient grows in a unique environment, cared after by amazing and devoted people. This duo truly respects the « unsung heroes » on the plantations who showed them how they worked on the pods while they visited Madagascar.

« Ready to be sold, the pods are inspected by a whole team of older Malagasy men, often retired, who smell them and decide whether or not the pods meet the standards. There can be mold or diseases that these men with incredible noses can detect simply by smelling the pods, » explains Alexandra. « It’s impressive! »