Golden Vanilla

Athena Golden Vanilla is delightful: a sweet vanilla with a gourmand touch, but nicely blended, and without any spiky woods sometimes present in vanilla compositions. It smells equally lovely sprayed on body, hair, at pulse points, or just generally in the air around me, and is extremely versatile. I find the marketing claim of having double the fragrance oil to be accurate, though I wouldn't say this has extreme longevity, just a little more presence. What a clever (and needed) answer to a gap in the market- love it! I particularly love to use Golden Vanilla as a layering base, with Kilian Princess on top, which boosts Princess's projection and longevity significantly, without muddying the lovely "Princess cloud" I know and love. So for that outcome alone, it's well worth the price. But I enjoy spraying it here, there and everywhere. Golden Vanilla is fun, and a mood boost too!

God, I am completely obsessed with this vanilla. I’m on a GLP-1 and have been chasing the gourmands — this one lights up all the good brain chemicals, more than any other vanilla I’ve tried. If you’re looking for a vanilla body mist on a budget, this is it. Far, far superior to the other competing vanillas at similar price points. I have the lotion and body wash as well. I love to layer this on at bedtime and deeply inhale it when I’m falling asleep. I need this exact fragrance in a stronger EDP!! I fear it’s becoming my white whale. Hopefully Athena Club will make EDPs — I’ve really been enjoying all of their fragrances that I’ve tried.

I got the travel size as a blind buy trying to find vanilla scents that are less sickeningly sweet, and this one hits just right! Strong contender for a signature scent, amazing for layering and adding variety to a collection. I'll buy the full size as soon as this one runs out. Plus I love being able to pair a scent with shower products and the body wash smells absolutely divine!

On my skin this honestly lasts a very long time. I sprayed it about 5 hours ago and it's still very present. It lasts even longer on my clothes. It smells like vanilla ice cream, like walking into an ice cream shop and smelling the aroma in the air. This is by no means a strong fragrance. It stays very close to your personal bubble but others will still be able to smell you.

So, the whole lineup was marketed as having a higher fragrance oil percentage than majority of body mists in the market. My question is, where is that here? I also own After Hours and Salted Sunset, no issues there. A shame because the scent is everything. It smells like vanilla bean icecream after you let it melt completely. Less musk and more vanilla/tonka please.