Unknown Pleasures Kerosene 2013

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7.8 / 10 315 Ratings

A popular perfume by Kerosene for women and men, released in 2013. The scent is gourmand-sweet. The longevity is above-average. It is still in production.
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Main accords

Gourmand

Sweet

Citrus

Spicy

Creamy

Fragrance Notes

Lemon

Waffle cone

Bergamot

Caramel

Earl Grey tea Vanilla

Vanilla

Honey

Tonka bean

Perfumer & Creative Guidance

John Pegg Brand owner, Perfume maker

Ratings

Scent

7.8315 Ratings

Longevity

8.2263 Ratings

Sillage

7.6263 Ratings

Bottle

7.9234 Ratings

Value for money

7.1123 Ratings

Submitted by Charlotte, last update on 03/27/2025.

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Reviews

19 in-depth fragrance descriptions

05/27/2016

RhythmnHues
30 Reviews

RhythmnHues

Helpful Review 2

Meh

Smells like a clumsy pastry chef who spilled a lot of Earl Grey on his apron and probably into the cake too.

A very (nauseatingly) heady, sweet lemon cake opening. The lemon reminding me of a dishwashing liquid. Lots of sweet n salty caramel. Something very thick and butter-like - almost smelling like cocoa butter. Truckloads of coconut. Very oily and very un-perfumelike. Lots of tea, somehow smelling decent amidst this seemingly chaotic brew.

In all honesty it smelled like I was working all day in the kitchen, baking some goodies with all those ingredients and then didn't feel it was necessary to take a bath (or change my clothes) before landing up for tea. All those smells still linger on...in a totally annoying sort of way. All that's left now is a very un-interesting and un-creative drydown of plain ol' vanilla and powdery tonka.

I'm really new to this "niche" world. Tried a few so far and have liked most of them. They always smell good/pleasant. And more importantly I love gourmands, which is why this was the first one I tried from their discovery set of 12. And all I wanted to do was take a shower and wear something else. That's really not a good feeling. Definitely meh, for me.

Anyways. This is new to me. Maybe this is creative and I can't tell it yet. I'm going to try the other 11 from this set and figure how it goes.

10/08/2023

ScentStudio
150 Reviews

ScentStudio

Helpful Review 3

A gourmand lovers dream

Unknown Pleasures by Kerosene fragrances is one of the most memorable fragrances in my perfume collection at the moment.
The fragrance is a wonderful gourmand fitting the season of autumn with its comforting notes of tea, sweet caramel and zesty lemon perfectly.
I imagine myself coming home to a warm cup of Earl Grey tea with sugar and freshly squeezed lemon after a long walk in the park.
The opening of Unknown Pleasures is lemon, freshly cut, zesty and ripe. Earl Grey lingers close behind, but the mouthwatering cane sugar, sweet like caramel, powers through and is as dominant as the lemon. A perfect balance between sweet and sour.

Over time, the fragrance smells like the tea my mother used to make, which was equally sweet as it was zesty.

Be careful with this one, it is a powerful fragrance and one spray on the wrist is enough.
The house of Kerosene is what I love about niche fragrances; though they are very complex, they have a wonderful transparency - all the notes are distinguishable from each other, realistic like Hell, yet blended to perfection. You are instantly transported to a place, a city, a memory or a dream.
After oxidation, Unknown Pleasures remains mostly the same, but the fragrance notes resemble that of a real tea moment impeccably.
You've poured hot water into your cup, the tea steeps and its aroma comforts you. You stir in a teaspoon of cane sugar. Then, cutting into the lemon, the oils in its zest overpowers it all - that is the first impression and initial composition of Unknown Pleasures.
However, like a cup of tea, overtime the lemon isn't as powerful, the beverage cools down as you wait for it to be drinkable. The sugar has fully melted, cane sugar gives the tea a slight caramel taste, the tea has steeped long enough and you are ready to comfort yourself with it.
Unknown Pleasures is an absolute dream. It might not be in everyone's taste, but you cannot refute this fragrance's immaculate composition.

11/15/2022

JSpines
171 Reviews

JSpines

5

Kerosene Unknown Pleasures

This fragrance is delightful! I wore it to work yesterday and 2 people told me that I smelled really good!
To me, this is linear, it goes on smelling like a straight-up lemon meringue pie and last night when I was getting my pyjamas on, I was still getting lemon meringue pie vibes. I usually reserve citrus scents for the summertime when my heavy-hitters are too much for the warm weather but because this citrus ventures into gourmand territory, it's perfectly suited for Fall and Winter.
Wearing this made me feel comforted and happy. It is truly a pick-me-up type of fragrance. A comfort scent for the soul. On my skin, I got a slight woody undertone underneath the creamy lemon meringue pie. So warm and sweet but not cloying or cheap smelling. Very luxe!
Silliage and lasting power were not an issue for me. Both were top-notch.
I only had a decant of this and am so happy that I finally tested it out. Not sure if I'd buy a full bottle or not, only because it's expensive and I'm not sure I'd classify this as an everyday scent but it's beautiful nonetheless. Yummy and delectable!

09/12/2022

Mlleghoul
422 Reviews

Mlleghoul

5

a bonkers dessert of a fragrance

I need to be in a specific, special mood to reach for this one. Which is to say deep in the throes of a massive sugar craving. For context, the official description of Kerosene's Unknown Pleasures mentions a picturesque vision of walking down a cold street in Manchester, listening to Joy Division, sipping on a warm cup of London Fog. And then a whole bunch of stuff about cozy vanilla and zingy lemon." Ok, so this is less some idyllic goth afternoon tea stroll in the UK, and more a trendy bar in Austin's house special creme brulee pina colada topped with those lightly spiced airplane shortbread cookies that are tastier than they have any right to be. This is like coconut, pineapple, and toasted vanilla custard Mcflurry with an add-in of Biscoff cookies. And by the way, I am not picking on Austin. I traveled there once, and forgot to pack perfume -the horror!- and I bought this bottle of Unknown Pleasures from a lovely little boutique there. It's an almost horrifyingly bonkers dessert perfume and I gotta say, I love it.

02/12/2025

10
Scent

celeblas
119 Reviews

celeblas

2

Crêpes au Citron

When I first tried this in 2020, it was a divine lemon crepe scent. It was a bottle of Crêpes au Citron. The sweet vanilla and lemon in this working together to become something new, as if they've been baked into a cake and just come out of the oven. A delicious fragrance, if you like that sort of thing, which I do. Sweet lemon crepes. This was cake with vanilla and citrus frosting. It was very close to the fragrance of the Avocado No Wash hair cleanser from Lush, which they later released as a fragrance, but of course with more complexity, and depth.

But a recent decant that I compared to my original was instead a pure toasted sweet coconut. So I'm not sure if that's just how this batch of it was mixed or if that was a new formulation. I wouldn't personally pick up a bottle of the coconut heavy version, though the previous one was incredible. Perhaps also some batches get a diﬀerent dominant note vs. others, or create particular accords depending on the source ingredients for those batches?

Personally I would make an eﬀort to ensure that no batch comes out with such a strong coconut scent, as that isn't the profile for this fragrance. Still love it, but really do want the sugary-lemon-centric version. I also asked someone else to smell it, who knows the fragrance and asked them to guess what it was. They couldn't ID it as Unknown Pleasures because they said "the lemon notes are missing."

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