Sweet Oriental Dream
Montale (2005)

This is the of those fragrances that doesn't really smell like a perfume to me.. it smells like a classic baby oil or powder. At first I get baby powder. A bit like those scented dolls when you were a kid, a synthetic hint of plastic too. Eventually it warms up and becomes more human; a sweeter, skin like scent.
I think it's pretty cool! It's a great one to wear to bed, just dabbed on lightly. The almond and vanilla really come out towards the end and makes it very soothing and comforting. Almost reminds me of hugging a newborn baby or a puppy, that indescribable feeling!

It has not the well known Montale DNA in it. A gourmand mix of honey, vanilla and almond. And it's different from 80% of Montale's products meaning the rose notes are well hidden in the back.

The opening is too powdery but after 15 minutes it becomes very pleasant and sweet. I am a fan of honey so it's obvious i like this perfume. After the drydown Sweet Oriental Dream is honey at its best.

A good perfume but i don't find it that oriental. Longevity is very big and sillage is above moderate.

This, is a Montale? I'm shocked. It isn't the usual, blast-that-knocks-you-off-your-chair frag. I get a big rose at first. The honey and almond are syrupy. Not too sickly sweet. I get a little "smoke" here - could be the rose and stuff messing with me. Big vanilla ice cream note appears.

This isn't exclusively a rose scent, nor is it entirely a gourmand. It's a wicked blend of both. It seems to see-saw it's profile.

Much later it becomes a vanilla-rose blend that mimics patchouli. Almost pure powdery. Delicious!

When I was an angsty teenager, my greatest pleasure was to retreat to my room, turn on my pink Lava Lite, listen to the Talking Heads, and burn my "chocolate cake" incense. I loved that incense. It smelled little like chocolate cake, but DID smell like some sort of sweet almond dessert being toasted over sandalwood. I couldn't find a perfume that smelled like it, so I'd burn it in my closet and shut the door to get the smell on my clothing.

So when I first tried Sweet Oriental Dream this many years later, it brought tears to my eyes, because it was that smell from my teenage bedroom. Objectively, it's super strong and a lot of the same great accord, all almond-y and incense-y, if obviously synthetic. It's certainly one that's going to be lethal with over-application, so I'm using samples I can dab until the day when I finally buy a full bottle and brave spraying it. And I will buy a bottle, for although SOD smells just like it could be a BPAL scent - and I had my hopes for a substitution - I've now tried hundreds of BPALs, and can confidently say that there isn't one in the catalog quite like it.

The last time I went to visit my mom, who lives in same house, I bought a new pink party light and lay there in my old bedroom wearing this perfume since that old chocolate cake incense is long gone.

Not as horrifying as it sounds coming from one of the least subtle houses in perfumery. The honey is there, but it's dialed back, blended with scorched maltol, and the whole thing's cut with Montale's signature condom note (a rubbery saffron) that actually launches the scent into a more intriguing space. Don't get me wrong, it's still best suited for folks who choose to smell like donuts of their own cognizance, but given the brand and the name of the perfume, it's not nearly as gag-inducing as you might think. Well-shaped, somewhat polite, and not a total cliche–which is quite impressive for Montale. Would I wear it? Of course not. Is it as bad as it could have been? Not really.

Very similar to TDC Oriental Lounge but a little less dark. Long lasting and named appropriately. Better suited for temps below 65 degrees.