These NOT Perfumes have an interesting concept and exploitation of a 'loophole' (as Joanna Venables calls it) is what drew me in really. The whole Nordic/pagan/celtic style appeals to me, they are almost a bit black metal or something? (NOT that I'm a fan of that) Right down to the constant double negatives and the Borat inflected marketing statements which I found as tedious as the fragrances...Nahhhht!!! (tee hee) Vaan is a murky, dirty vanilla fragrance which doesn't seem for a second like it's a NOT a deliberate stylistic choice, but perhaps I've giving too much credit? This is actually quite, animal quite intimate but chaotic...if it was a colour it would be dark brorange a deep shade of yurquoise. Vaan has the feeling of something that has been left to ferment or hung to age like some artisan meat or cheese? Or more aptly Oud or Ambergris. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if Ambergris featured in here, it does have animal facets and that grounded feeling you get from perfume anchored with treasured whale vomit/turd. So the opening is actually quite resinous, darker resins I'd say myrrh, labdanum, opoponax, tolu etc... but it's never all about those, the most prominent and growing note is one of cocao. This merges into the general warm naturalist feel of the purfume, and smells maybe a touch like patchouli but still warmly, vanillic, kinda furry but never over sweet. The drydown strips back the chocolate and becomes that little bit more resinous again. This was a nice experience, I don't if having prior knowledge of the origins of the brand gives this impression but something about Vaan is incredibly Scandinavian, almost viking like and this fragrance is a big pussycat really. It has spooky forest vibes all over it though. Now I'm not sure but there seems to be a large constituent of naturals in these, you can just tell. The statement about the NOT being perfume because they clearly aren't complying with any guidelines is slightly lost on me and I think it's because I just associate banned stuff oakmoss (wrongly coz there's loads of restricted materials) but because there's not even one that has super predominant oakmoss or animal notes I just feel a bit disappointed. That's with the line in general...Vaan is one of my favourites but they are all worth sniffing out. The initial strength and potency does die back very quickly but the drydowns are often long, evolutionary affairs. NOT has my vote.