Is It Worth The Hype? The New KayAli Vanilla Royale
This year my obsession has been perfumes. It started when I realized my body was rejecting my signature scent due to menopause. I panicked! There was no way on God’s green earth you were going to catch me outside not being embraced by a beautiful perfume. So I went on the hunt for something new.
After watching a ton of YouTube fragrance reviews, many trials, and a whole lot of errors, I found my true love in KayAli Vanilla 28. I liked that it’s soft, yet has this semi sweet fragrance that one would describe as a skin/intimate scent (someone has to be in your personal space to smell it). And the most important factor - it doesn’t give me a migraine headache.
So when the new KayAli Vanilla Royale came out last week I HAD TO HAVE IT, especially since all of the girls on YouTube were raving about it!
When my travel size bottle arrived from Sephora (I never order a full bottle if I’m doing a blind buy) I was too thrilled to rip into it and try out this new fragrance. I checked out the back of the box where KayAli proudly lists the notes of its fragrances:
Vanilla
Golden Rum
Creme Brulee
Brown Sugar
Royal Oud
Sugared Patchouli
They sounded delicious, IKR!
Giddy like a school girl, I tore off the clear packaging and popped open the box, as I prepared myself for the first sniff, which I was sure was going to be a treat.
I closed my eyes and sprayed. I smiled as the rich scent hit my nose. Yes!
Then I frowned. My eyes popped open and the look on my face turned into WTF?!
The sweet scent immediately went from pleasant to obnoxious. I fanned the air. I needed the scent to go away and never to return.
The vanilla was immediately overshadowed with something else - probably the sugared patchouli and royal oud. Whatever it was I didn’t like it - at all!
Unfortunately, I’ll be returning this baby to Sephora and getting my $25 back. It was a total miss for me despite what the fragrance influencers are saying, but don’t get it twisted - I’ll still be rocking my Vanilla 28.
Photos by me - Dr. Carey Yazeed
Omg. I’ve had that experience far too many times. The top notes get wiped out by the base and it makes me ill! Thanks for the very honest review.
Thank you for the review. I too am on the hunt for a signature fragrance that seems to allude me. I'm drawn to warm vanilla fragrances, but the ones I've been coming across just haven't been hitting the right notes. The search continues.