gourmandt

Patchouli upfront, but not overpoweringly medicinal, and vanilla comes in quickly to calm it down. It dries to a beautiful, soft spun sugar which is not too cloying or that kind of immature sweetness. I got a good 4-5 hours without going nose blind to it. Projection is fine, people that want it stronger would need to overspray but I prefer my scent bubble to be smaller.

In terms of lemony scents, I have Akro Bake to compare this to. Bake is more of a photorealistic lemon curd meringue with a longer dry down, whereas Devotion has the lemon upfront as well, but I got more boozy notes and a quicker dry down into biscuity and powdery notes. The lemon fades within 5 minutes and gives way to some sort of background note I can’t quite put my finger on, almost like a salted biscuit quality. It feels warm and malty. I feel there is more complexity in Devotion than Bake. Bake is what you want if you really want to smell like baked goods. Devotion is what you want if you’re looking for more body and something a little more mature. I’m not a huge fan of the dry down on myself but this would definitely have a demographic to serve.

Very linear, soft sugar and vanilla. Projection is not great, although 5 hours later I can still smell it on myself so longevity is good. Does what it says on the tin, nothing particularly exciting but definitely not offensive either. Only bought a sample, probably doesn’t stand out enough for me to want to buy a bigger bottle. But I am keen to try more Kayali to see what else they have.

This is such an interesting scent. Up front, I get lots of spice and chocolate, very dark and creamy. As it’s drying down, it turns to an aniseed and almost menthol mix, like sambuca mixed with tiger balm, and the sweetness is turned up. The aniseed fades away after 15 minutes to the background and it becomes almost a very soft version of the original YSL Opium. I think this could be unisex, but I feel after the dry down it becomes a bit more gourmand and slightly feminine. Silage is good, only needed 3 sprays to really announce itself.

So bummed about this one given the rave reviews. I love vanilla and lavender so I thought this would be a slam dunk. I get lavender up front but the dry down is a mix of faint vanilla mixed with a very soapy aftertaste. Every time I caught a whiff it would cling to the back of my throat, like I had just drank a cup of soapy water. Glad it was only a sample. 5/10