Vanilla 28
Kayali (2018)

True to notes description. My first whiff after placing on my skin was vanilla and floral sharing the spotlight. That soon gave way to a slight prominence of floral. After about an hour, vanilla took center stage, with the floral difficult to pick up.

This is a prominent vanilla scent that is slightly more interesting than I’ve experienced before. It doesn’t smell liked baked goods, but also doesn’t lose its vanilla core.

During the first hour, the smell made me think of a long weekend away in a northern city, in early spring or fall. Which is a nice feeling. Being able to get away, but not too far and for not too long. I think that sums up this vanilla. Interesting but still familiar and safe.

I have been testing vanilla fragrances as often as I can without devoting myself completely as a vanilla tester. While I don’t think this is as beautiful as some other offerings out there, I do think it performs well and delivers a good vanilla experience. I notice that it does have a little bit of a generic vanilla quality to it, kind of like it’s mid-grade or something. There is an edge to it that gives it a vibe that it’s not the best quality, however, it’s easy for me to ignore that and move past it. It smells like vanilla and a crispy burnt sugar to me. But while it’s sweet, I don’t find it to be too sweet. It gives me those cozy vibes that I find to be calming, and I use this one a lot at bedtime to help me fall asleep and it does a very good job at that.

ETA(08/2022): my bottle is a few months old now and a lot darker in color than it was when I first purchased it. I know that’s common for a lot of fragrances, but I’ve noticed that the scent of this is a lot richer, deeper and more dynamic now… and I’m not quite sure if that’s just in my head due to the color change, or if it really is aging like a fine wine. But now, the sillage smells like chocolate chip cookies fresh from the oven. Still a lovely bedtime scent… a little too foody for me to wear out and about, but I occasionally use it to layer with other fragrances for fun, and it works out well.

The opening is warm, burnt sugar, and light florals. The dominant vanilla comes in shortly thereafter.

The wife didn't like this when she wore it but I thought it smelled pretty nice and more unisex than fem. I gave it a wearing and sure enough, now she likes it on me. It's similar to other tonka-vanilla sweet scents that tout themselves as being unisex. The jasmine isn't overdone here so should be safe for anyone to wear.

Excellent performance with plenty of projection and all day longevity.