“Amour” by Kenzo and “Hacienda” by Vebelle are two very comforting perfumes, flattering feel-good fragrances for women.
The colour of the perfumes is a soft rose, like cherry blossoms.
Some years ago, probably 4, during Corona time, my time investment in perfumes became extensive. That is when I found the German brand Vebelle, one of those engaged in making what I call “inspired fragrances”, meaning they model many of their perfumes around existing ones from well known brands.
One thing must be clear – there is never an exact copy of any perfume ever. I bought many, from various brands; some even advertising to be an exact copy (bad style in my opinion). No, they are not, never. On the diversity of so called copies or twins you might want to read my post on Tom Ford’s “Lost Cherry”.
Vebelle, which had been rebranded to Eaunique, only gave the scent notes and if you wanted to know if there was a well-known perfume with similar ones, or if it was an inhouse creation, you had to google the scent notes. I bought many Vebelle perfumes on the written scent notes only and did the googling only after I had smelt them and liked them. The quality was generally good and it gave me the option to try many gourmand scents. That is how I found “Hacienda”, a rice-scented perfume.
Rice-scented perfumes are few, and good ones even less. “Hacienda” was my first and till today is one of the best I know of.
Scent notes are as follows, according to the website of Eaunique: rice, white tea, heliotrope, frangipani, cherry blossom, wood, vanilla, frankincense, and musk.
The perfume perfectly captures the smell of warm and freshly made sweet rice pudding with milk. Probably the rice has been decorated with sweet-smelling flowers instead of the fruits that normally come with it in a dish. The flowers are not overwhelming, as nothing of the perfume is overwhelming. I do smell marzipan, probably the result of frangipani with vanilla and musk.
“Hacienda” is a friendly companion that stays in the background. Actually, a perfect way of using the perfume is for yourself on the sofa to enhance a feeling of coziness.
„Hacienda“ was an unexpected good fragrance and I decided to buy „Amour“ by Kenzo as well, as both seemed to have the same scent notes. The Kenzo website is not very helpful, but the parfumo and FRAGRANTICA platforms are. They quote the same scent notes as mentioned above for “Hacienda”.
When I sprayed „Amour“ for the first time, it smelled a little less strong and less sweet than “Hacienda”, and the marzipan touch was missing. The cherry blossoms, on the other hand, were more present. To be honest, I like “Hacienda” better. This said, “Amour” by Kenzo is one of the most loved perfumes on the parfumo platform (rated no. 25 in women’s perfumes as of today, 27th of July, 2025).
“Amour” was created by perfumers Olivier Cresp and Daphne Bugey in 2006. According to some users, the composition has been changed over the years.
Only when writing that post today, I noted that Eaunique is dissolving their stocks, as the owners claim on their website that after 40 years in the online perfume business they now intend to retire. A pity, the quality was ok and from time to time they also offered interesting no-name skin care of a very sensible quality. Let us see if this is the end of the story.
Kenzo, a Japanese fashion brand founded by Kenzo Takada and partners in 1970 in Paris, certainly will continue to be present around the world. The company was bought in 1993 by LVMH. In 1999 Kenzo Takada left his business to concentrate on his hobbies and travelling. He continued to be an active artist till his death in 2020.
Somehow “Amour” seems to be like a mirror of the founder of the brand Kenzo and his fashion: reserved, caressing and friendly.
Most rice scents I know of come from Asian perfume designers. Today brands like d’Annam and BORNTOSTANDOUT have given their share. The first was Kenzo with “Amour”.
It always starts with a special person who is trying something out for the first time. Others then can build on it.
Post Scriptum: January 2026. Although I really liked my Vebelle / Eaunique perfumes, I threw them all away now. Most of them lost their initial smell, unfortunately. Whilst this is said to happen to all perfumes of all brands after some years, I noted it here quite clearly. Having and smelling them for a few years was a good experience I would not miss.