Adi Ale Van Decembrie 89 on video: the hand-painted boxes, opened

Fifty-five seconds with the Adi Ale Van boxes on the table. Each fragrance from the Romanian artisan house arrives in a hand-painted wooden case, and this clip opens them one by one, Decembrie 89 Freedom Elixir among them.

What happens in the video

Hands lift the painted boxes, slide the lids and unwrap the flacons from their paper. You see the raffia packing inside, an engraved plaque, and the Decembrie 89 case with its label before the presenter gathers the collection in front of her. It is a look at the objects rather than a spoken review, so there is no transcript for this one.

What Decembrie 89 smells like

Named for Romania's December 1989 revolution, the elixir is a maximal gourmand: apple, lemon and orange on top, vanilla bean and hazelnut in the heart, and Madagascar vanilla, vanilla absolute and rum in the base. It is enormous in projection and built to last, which is why it appears in our beast-mode and vanilla guides.

Who it is for

Anyone who wants vanilla with weight and warmth rather than sugar, and who does not mind being noticed. The fragrance page carries the full story, the accord breakdown and our longevity and sillage ratings.

Try it before the bottle

We decant Decembrie 89 from an original bottle into 2 ml, 5 ml and 10 ml atomizers. The 50 ml bottle is there when you are sure.