Kayali
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
Black cherry spiked with cinnamon hits first, immediately tempered by tobacco leaf's dry greenness and the burnished warmth of roasted hazelnut. There's a fleeting chocolate note that smells properly dark and botanical, whilst honey adds viscosity without overt sweetness. The overall impression is dense, spiced fruit wrapped in smoke.
The roses emerge with their petals slightly bruised, damascena's jammy tartness mingling with centifolia's powdery depth, both softened by that persistent vanilla-amber glow. Citrus leaf provides a verdant, almost tea-like astringency that lifts the composition just enough to let it breathe. The gourmand elements recede but never disappear, creating a tension between floral refinement and confected warmth.
What remains is classic ambered skin: benzoin's caramelised resin fused with sandalwood's creamy woodiness, whilst cypriol and patchouli add a rooty, earthy foundation. The oud registers as smooth woody leather rather than funk, and musk wraps everything in intimacy. It's sweet, yes, but anchored by enough wood and balsam to feel substantial rather than cloying.
Ilias Ermenidis has composed an unapologetically maximal amber that reads like a Levantine patisserie colliding with a vintage apothecary. The opening is an exercise in indulgence: black cherry macerated in Provençal honey and dusted with cinnamon, whilst roasted hazelnut and tobacco leaf add a savoury counterweight that prevents the composition from tipping into confectionery territory. There's chocolate here, but it's the bitter, ceremonial kind—earthy and astringent rather than milky. This is the rare gourmand that acknowledges the woody, almost medicinal facets of cacao.
The damascena and centifolia pairing feels deliberately opulent, two expressions of rose layered for depth rather than delicacy. That citrus leaf accord cuts through the sweetness with a green, slightly resinous brightness, though it's more punctuation than pivot. What anchors this entire spectacle is a base that takes amber seriously: benzoin's vanillic balsam meeting proper oud (rendered smooth rather than barnyard), whilst cypriol lends its peculiar rooty-woody texture and patchouli adds heft. The bourbon vanilla and sandalwood round everything into a skin-clinging haze.
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3.6/5 (1.1k)