fragrance

Initio Addictive Vibration Perfume Review

Initio Addictive Vibration perfume review

Have you missed me? I know it’s been a long time since I’ve posted (umm…months), but here I am. Long story short, everything is fine. I’ve just been so busy with my new career and in general, life. Something had to give and it was this blog. After taking a break for my own sanity, I’m ready to talk about perfume again. Here I am breaking my multi-month sabbatical to talk about a white floral by French niche brand Initio that has a ridiculous name, Addictive Vibration.

Addictive Vibration is a warm, heady floral. It opens with beeswax and orange blossom. It smells like the glow from golden hour sunshine mixed with nutmeg. This opening is dry, warm, heady with a hint of powder (that powdery “solar” amber like that in Mugler Alien). The spices mixed with musk bring to mind the cozy comfort that I get from things like Malle Musc Ravageur. In the heart, the orange blossom goes a little “grape jelly” like the orange blossoms in things like Serge Lutens Fleurs d’Oranger. Additionally, it has a cool breeze of tuberose. Addictive Vibration reminds me of other perfumes, but only in pieces. Together it’s its own distinct perfume. The dry-down goes into a direction that I was hoping something that opened like dusk and grape jelly would go into. It gets funkier, more animalic with amber-hued honey, tobacco-like vanilla bean pods and a lot of oak-scented bourbon. But, that’s not all! It’s the musk. The musk is everything that I loved about Malle Musc Ravageur (pumpkin pie spice, baby powder and cocoa butter on skin) but with more of a salty, mineral quality….it’s like the weirdness in Malle Dans tes Bras. That weirdness is like sweat and sweet, powdery mimosa blossoms.

In summary, this is a very Maurice Roucel-y composition. (He’s the nose behind Malle Musc Ravageur, Malle Dans tes Bras, Guerlain Insolence, Hermès 24 Faubourg, Le Labo Labdanum 18 and the list goes on…). For those unfamiliar with his work, he’s really great at creating compositions that have a velvet-y, dense feel. He’s also amazing with combining the raw sensuality of white florals and animalic musks until they almost come across as vulgar because they are just so carnal, flesh-y and literally smell like sex. Addictive Vibration is a sweet white floral with sweaty, musky skin and unwashed, rumpled sheets. It’s a post-coital orange blossom.

Mamie van Doren

Notes listed include apple blossom, orange blossom, vanilla orchid, musk and honey. Launched in 2016. PERFUMERS – Maurice Roucel

Give Addictive Vibration a try if you like white florals or frankly any of Roucel’s perfumes. Or perfumes like Serge Lutens Fleurs d’Oranger, Mugler Alien, Moresque Regina, Jean Paul Gaultier Classique, Lancôme Poême and/or Malle Musc Ravageur. After wearing this some more, I realize it also makes me think of the now discontinued CdG Daphne – sweet, incense-y white floral.

Projection is average and longevity is above average.

The 3.4 oz retails for $305 at Osswald. Samples are also available for purchase.

Victoria’s Final EauPINIONSweet, spicy orange blossom and musk. If an orange blossom could be a sex symbol, well, here ya go.Does a perfume get more Maurice Roucel than this? Is that even possible?


*Sample obtained by me. Product pic from the brand. Mamie van Doren from fanpix.net.

10 thoughts on “Initio Addictive Vibration Perfume Review

  1. Welcome back! IG is good for some things, but not your great reviews so I was happy to see this! Sounds pretty darn amazing, Musc Ravageur didn’t work for me (at all), got too sweet but this might warrant a sample. Course if I love it I’ll just have to be happy with samples – $305….

    And about as far as you can get from Maurice Roucel as you can get but Good Chemistry at Target has a good summer scent – Apricot Bloom that wears nicely on me $10 for body spray.

    1. Thanks for sticking around 🙂

      Yeah, IG is everything I can do short and sweet and try not to overthink. It’s not an ideal platform for perfume imho.

      Oh, good to know. I had read about those but haven’t tried them. I get distracted enough whenever I go to Target because I rarely go and when I do I try to catch up on their house brands. I have to go with a strict list and I’ll Apricot Bloom to it!

      Wearing this, I was so surprised that there was a time that I used to wear Malle MR. I haven’t worn it in YEARS. I took out my little bottle and sprayed it on and boy, I sure don’t remember all that lavender. I remember it being there but this time, it was mostly all I could notice. (And yes, it leaned sweet, like lavender frosting).

  2. Ah Roucel! I did not know he created Labdanum 18 – that was just my most recent fragrance purchase as I love its warm sexiness. Musc Ravageur is sheer perfection and one of my fave scents of all time. Must track down all his other creations!

    1. You should! He definitely has a style that stands out. If you like that sort of thing, he’s the guy! He’s just so good at those scents that are warm, cozy but also sexy. He *gets* it.

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