Kayali Vacay in a Bottle (Summer 2024 Collection): Thoughts

Although, I believe these scents were limited edition, I am going to review the four scents which were included in this collection should you be able to get your hands on a bottle still. They were not what I expected from the reviews I saw online, in good and bad ways which will be revealed. The scents were all collectively summery and mostly fresh, honing onto the typical citrusy or coconut notes asscociated with summer fragrances. However, each fragrance in the Kayali ‘Vacay in a Bottle’ collection were distinct from eachother and felt they belonged in different scent families eventhough they belonged in the same season together. I personally would not layer these scents together as I believe they speak on completely different stages from eachother. In this blog I will be rating these fragrances against eachother and ranking them in order of my personal preference also. From my previous blog you can gauge my fragrance biases for the gourmand and indulgent so you can use that profile and this ranking as a guide to figuring out which of the four scents you would prefer for yourself.

1. Maui In a Bottle (Sweet Banana) | 37 - This was very sweet and exactly what it describes in the name “Sweet Banana”. As a lover of gourmand fragrances, this one was the most edible without any florals and aromatic discombobulating the fragrance which appears in the other fragrances. It smells exactly like bananas which is so interesting as it was not a common note which I have tried before. It makes a carmelised banana scent that is sweet and sugary but not in an artificial or sickly way. I tried this on while going about my day and the sweetness which is balanced with a creamy banana fruit opposed to the sweetness of a sweet, tart berry or a sour citrus fruit, made it enjoyable and didn’t cause any discomfort or migraines from the scent. It is so creamy with this clean and refreshing sweetness, and a gourmand vanilla base. It reminds me of Banana Rodgers or a Banana Sundae. It was a lovely gourmand scent which didn’t over complicate itself. This would pair nicely with Kayali’s Yum Boujee Marshmallow | 81 (Review coming soon ;) ), if you wanted to enhance that sweet dessert aroma. Or, it would pair nicely with Kayali’s Yum Pistachio Gelato | 33 (one of my favourite fragrances), to carmelise the banana with its notes of rum and deepen the atmosphere to create a boozy ‘Banana Rodgers’. This was my favourite from the collection and one of the top fragrances from the Kayali brand which I have tried. It is very sweet compared to my usual preferences but enjoyable and different from expected of vanilla fragrances. The longevity was also suprisingly very lasting, not as long as other fragrances which can last all day, but definetly seeped into the air around me and in my car which I could notice for a few, possibly 4-5, hours.

2. Maldives In a Bottle (Ylang Coco) | 20 - I love cocunut fragrances, they are creamy and gourmand but refreshing and sometimes juicy. They are perfect Summer fragrances which is why this fragrances ranks second. However, if you are looking to buy a cocunut fragrance I wouldn’t recommend this as a ‘must have’. It lacked compared to other coconut fragrances I have tried such as Estee Lauder’s Bronze Goddess eau Fraiche, or even another coconut scent by the same brand Kayali, their Utopia Vanilla Coco | 21. It was confusing with the coconut complimented with this overly green and aromatic notes. It was too sweet with a base of banana, which was used perfectly in the previous fragrance, but is rudely interrupted with this overwhelming rosemary note. The lemon is barely involved from my trial of it, adds more sweetness than sour. It is a mixture of aromatic and gourmand with too many extremes and feels unbalanced. It reminded me of Molton Brown’s Bluebell & Wild Strawberry but a worse version. In Bluebell & Wild Strawberry green and gourmand came together to create creamy feel, the tart strawberry compliments and combines these scents and the violet works to make it powdery and creamy. Whereas, this scent uses lemon which is sour and sweet and does not pair to break up this green or sweetness which a tart note would have and the coconut and rosemary to create a green creamy scent was mismatched and is too confusing and overwhelming. If you want this type of feel and scent family without these flaws and sickly sweetness and extreme herbacious nature, I would recommend Molton Brown’s Bluebell & Wild Strawberry instead. This was not my favourite from the Kayali brand, it was not an aromatic gourmand that I could enjoy unfortunately.

3. Capri In a Bottle (Lemon Sugar) | 14 - This scent I had high hopes for as I love a sour lemon fragrance and citrus scents. I also enjoy gourmands and felt this fragrance might adjoin the two. However, I was mistaken. This scent for me was too sweet in a sickly, artificial way. The sugar, raspberry, lemon combination smells of a melted fruit ice lolly and the vanilla is there which enhances this sweet dessert type smell which was already too sugary. It reminded me of Angel Fantasm by Mugler where I disliked the artficial overwhelming smell of pineapple in its top note. This scent gave me that same overly potent smell which caused overwhelm and a migraine sensation. However, the lack of green notes in this scent compared to Angel Fantasm, does make Kayali’s better and more connected as an overall piece of fragrance. This was too sugary and heavy for me, not sour at all which made it one dimensional as a scent, felt same throughout. If you like these sweet scents that remind you of childhood jellies then this is perfect for you, but this was too much for me as someone who doesn’t enjoy eating sweets nevermind smelling them.

4. Marrakesh In a Bottle (Orange Blossom) | 24 - This was my least favourite scent from this collection. I disliked this fragrance quite a lot even in comparison to Kayali’s other fragrances outside the collection. This fragrance is also quite poorly rated out of this collection according to other online sources also such as Fragrantica. There is this a fizz which is actually a spice from the pink pepper and a fresh citrus kick which is also floral given the nature of the top note of bergamot which is potent. It is aromatic but very floral with an overpowering rose scent to it. It is fresh and citrussy with a slight green woodiness but it was too rosy and reminded me too much of a fragrance better suited to a diffuser or a candle for a log cabin in the forest atmosphere then a ‘summer fragrance’ which is what it was intended for. It feels very far apart from the other fragrances in this collection also.

Stay tuned for future blogs where we will see more Kayali fragrances and other viral brands. Also, more poetry will be involved in the vlog also in a more consistent pace. Thank you for your patience while I break into this new space and learn along the way also. See you next week :)