The Poule de Luxe collection from Crazylibellule & The Poppies is a series of solid twist-up perfumes centering on vanilla notes. The line, as a whole, is easy to like: the packaging is adorable and convenient, and best of all, they are reasonably priced at $16 for 5 gr. Their Encens Mystic easily qualifies as my best bargain find of 2006.

The Poule de Luxe collection does not have anything that will displace Encens Mystic as my particular favorite, but it is high on the “fun” factor and bound to find fans with vanilla freaks. My favorite of the bunch is the Vanilla Moka (shown), which features notes of dark chocolate, cocoa bean, sandalwood, mocha, coffee liqueur and musk. Years ago, I used to love a particular kind of coffee hard candy, and I’ve been going crazy the last few days trying to remember what it was called, but at any rate, Vanilla Moka smells exactly like it: dark coffee with just a touch of chocolate, sweet but not overly so. The dry down gets woodier, paler and creamier, and has a nice comfort scent vibe, assuming you love the smell of coffee. The lasting power is not quite so good as the Encens Mystic, but at the price, it is hard to complain, and insofar as you can just throw the tube in your purse or pocket, touch ups are not a problem…

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