Gardenia often seems like a note or theme that people look for in a perfume. I often get asked for gardenia perfume suggestions. However, I always have to tell people that I haven’t found my perfect gardenia. I’m still searching. So many gardenias smell like a functional fragrance. Some give me a headache. Others are merely “OK”. The closest to “my” gardenia is Kai perfume oil.
Kai is a clean musky floral. When the oil warms on the skin, Kai becomes more floral. It’s a melange of Southern Californian florals and a greener gardenia. The dry-down is a clean “Egyptian musk”.
If you’re looking for a gardenia, start with Kai. Gardenias typically don’t play nicely with me, but Kai does. It’s a straight forward gardenia that isn’t suffocating.
I actually prefer the oil of Kai over the EDP (which is odd for me). The oil is richer and more voluptuous. I also find that it lasts much longer on the skin.
Notes listed gardenia and white florals. Launch date 1999.
Give Kai a try if you like gardenia. Or if you like perfumes like J.Lo Glow, Chantecaille Tiare, Estee Lauder Tuberose Gardenia, Philosophy Amazing Grace, Penhaligon’s Gardenia and/or Pacifica Tahitian Gardenia. Even Kai says their perfume is unisex and Tommy Lee wears it. I don’t even like Tommy Lee but if he does wear Kai, I’ve decided that I like him.
The perfume oil has average projection and longevity for an oil. Keep in mind that most oils are more “intimate” and sit closely on the skin.
The perfume oil retails for $48 at Beautyhabit. Kai also has a line of body products that are absolutely fabulous and worth buying if you like scented bath and body products.
Victoria’s Final EauPINION – Gardenia over a clean musk. So far, it’s the closest to “me” gardenia that I have found.
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I’ve been waiting on a review of this since it seems to be a mildly popular frag! Thanks
It is a popular one but I can see why it’s popular 🙂
There was some list going around recently supposedly telling what fragrances different celebrities wore. I read Kai over and over. I was able to get my nose on the EDP at Barneys. I thought it was decent.
David Rhaybans recently posted..Frapin L’Humaniste – Fragrance Review
Really, really, really amazing PR 😉 I do believe that some celebs wear it, it’s a pretty floral that does remind one of SoCal.
It just breaks my perfume-loving heart that the Dallas Barney’s pulled up stakes and left. There is no other physical place with such a glorious variety of scents to sample.
I’ve been looking for white florals this spring and summer. So many “gardenia” perfumes seem to actually be “tuberose plus” perfumes, requiring appreciation on their general floral merits rather than on their particular artistic rendering of gardenia. So far, the one I like best to wear is Pilar and Lucy’s To Twirl All Girly, because it’s loud and bombastic and the floral note is passionately married to incense. The stuff lasts fo-evah on my skin, too. It doesn’t seem to get a lot of love on the Internet.
I can’t believe it closed. It seems like it would have been a very successful market. There’s lots of expendable income and the employment rate is good. Plus, Texans like nice stuff! It’s crazy that they completely shut it down.
The Seattle location is being remodeled. It’s a complete and total mess right now…perfumes in the shoe “department”. I hear once this is done, they’ll carry more perfumes, but we’ll see. The perfume selection was really sorry before all of this remodeling stuff.
I don’t have any experience with the Pilar & Lucy line. But, you mentioned white floral and incense so I’m interested. Oh, I like CdG Daphne as a white floral incense but it has some sweetness, more than I usually want in the summer.
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