A friend of mine calls Tihota “the best vanilla ever made” and she’s a vanilla lover. I had a chance to stop by the Tihota booth at Esxence, and I caught them in a rare moment of quiet. The brand was founded by Francis Kurkdjian and all the perfumes have been done by him. There are 4 in the line and they’re well-done plays on common themes: a floral, a rose, leather and vanilla. I’ve come to become a fan of some of his work. The most perfume I smell, the more I realize that it’s incredibly difficult to create a real hit, but he has done many and there’s a simplicity to his formulas that is admirable. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Tihota might be the best vanilla ever made (I don’t think I’ve smelled enough of them to really know) but it won’t blow you away by smelling like anything unusual. It is like eating a gourmet caramel made by the world’s best chef. It’s creamy and buttery, dosed with just the right amount of ingredients to make it truly interesting – a pinch of salt and a tiny amount of smoke. As the caramel melts in your mouth, you enjoy the flavour from beginning to end – but at the end of the day, it’s still just a caramel. If you love caramels, you will splurge for the best there is, you will sample as many as you can before you choose a favourite, and you will even seek out the rare and refined. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Tihota is for those of you who are on a vanilla journey – think of it as the vanilla made by a fascinating and talented perfumer. It is sublime.
