Vanilla in Perfumery • Nez + LMR

The deep dive into vanilla’s role beyond pastry—how it’s used in chypre and gourmand compositions—is exactly the nerdy detail I was hoping for, and the six authors bring real range to the chapters. It’s a hefty read for a perfume book, but the writing stays clear and engaging throughout.

Bought this on a whim after a pastry-obsessed friend mentioned it, and now I can’t stop flipping through the chapters on bean sourcing and extraction. The essays from seven different authors give it a depth I wasn’t expecting for such a niche topic. It’s the kind of book that makes you smell vanilla

The writing is gorgeous—it reads like a love letter to the pod, not just a list of perfumes. I especially appreciated the deep dive into how vanilla behaves differently across extraction methods, something I’ve never seen spelled out so clearly.