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.

A musky, slightly woody vanilla. Not too complex, but sometimes that's what you want when you're a vanilla lover. It's the perfect vanilla for when you don't want something too heavy or sweet, since it has this air of fluffiness. I personally think this scent is best executed in their all-over deo spray and that has pretty impressive longevity fragrance wise.

I finally was able to sample Narcotica Happy Dust and I can confirm that this does smell nearly identical. 😍 I'm kind of surprised that neither of them has a marshmallow note listed. They smell marshmallowy to me in the drydown. Both are light, sugary sweet vanillas. The vanilla in this scent is so rich too. It's very addicting.

Smells just like the lotion which should be obvious to assume but most lotion companies that make perfumes or body mists after their lotions don't do it right. I truly wished it lasted longer sense it's such a beautiful vanilla and pairs so well with my other perfumes.

I’m surprised this isn’t more popular! For $15 this is a great performing body spray. It’s a cozy fluffy vanilla. I personally don’t get any plastic from this. A few sprays are enough for me, so this bottle will last me a long time. I like to wear it to bed.

Absolutely obsessed. This vanilla is so good. With a higher perfume oil content it actually stays put. It’s your basic warm sugar vanilla but not overly sweet. Soft and creamy. Layers well with everything. Have used it on many colors of clothing no issues. Stays on skin 4+ hours and clothing 6+. For the price though I over spray and hardly make a dent. The sprayer is even good. Love the whole brand and their stance on no animal testing. Most likely will end up with the entire line of Athena Club.

Smells almost exactly like VS Bare Vanilla Daydream. I’m disappointed because the deodorant is the best smelling version of this scent, it is more woody and complex/mature. Deodorant > body wash > lotion > body spray. Also somehow the lotion smells better and better as it dries. I’ve never owned a lotion with such a different drydown as opposed to fresh application.

I have never smelled Tihota, but this is a really nice vanilla! Sticks on clothes better than skin. Honestly, it's pretty light. You will have to spray quite a few times, and even then it won't last long. This is a very warm, cozy scent. Lightly woody, vanilla ice cream like fragrance. You do pick up a little on the amber as well. Again, very light tho. 😏

This is Vanilla skin by Phlur if you removed pink pepper and agar wood. No “pencil shavings” accord here. Sounds good to you? The caveat is that Golden Vanilla has minimal lasting power :( I wish Athena Club made this in a higher concentration perfume version.

I just got the vanilla lotion and spray and yess this smells like happy dust!!! Lotion scent is very soft and the body spray barely lasts long. If it lasted and projected more this would be my go to.

When layered with the lotion this creates a powdery, caramelized sugar scent on my skin. Super cozy and versatile for layering with other fragrances. You cannot go wrong with this scent profile.

I like the smell but it’s sooooooo weak. If they quadrupled the projection and longevity I’d love it

I have been loving the Athena body wash and the lotion for a while, this is one of my favorite warm vanilla scents, so I finally got the vanilla spray. It's not super strong, just got it so not sure how long it will last on me. There is a hint of something I can't quite identify, it's sort of plastic-y. Once it dries down a bit the weird plastic note seems to abate. I'm a little disappointed but at $15 bucks I didn't expect too much. I also just picked up some Gulf Orchid Vanilla Addiction, and it smells almost the same to me, only the Vanilla Addiction is 100 times stronger, and only a few bucks more at TJ Maxx or Marshalls. It's just ok for me, I won't rebuy it but I will use it up. It smells nice if you love warm, sweet (but not too sweet), close to the skin vanilla. EDIT: This really grew on me. I like it more than Vanilla Addiction (which I find is too strong for me). Even though Golden Vanilla doesn't last long on me, I do enjoy it. I may repurchase.

Smells like rum cake left out in a dusty old wooden cabin... the vanilla tried really hard but the cheap woody vibes took over and turned it into straight up boozy lumberjack vanilla on my skin. I wanted to love it. I really did. Cute for someone else's skin chemistry tho. Not mine. Yasss... but next.

A pleasant linear creamy vanilla. It smells a little plastic-ey to me but I like how it’s not sickeningly sweet like other vanillas on the market.

I know I'm in the minority here but I really don't like this mist... to me it smells so plasticy and flat. It's not the worst scent ever or anything but as a vanilla lover it's so disappointing. It's like a worse Warm Vanilla Sugar. Edit: I sprayed this again today. For me this is just one of those scents that smells nice in the air, but the second it hits my skin or clothes it turns into PlayDoh. It's as if the vanilla and sweetness disappear completely. Sad

Smells overly synthetic, more like melted plastic than perfume. Artificial and lacking the natural richness you'd expect from a quality fragrance like Happy Dust.

When first sprayed this smells kind of cotton candyish but once that settles it's a super nice not extremely sweet vanilla. I have tried and own lots of vanillas but I felt like this was unique enough to catch my attention. It's unique enough, not revolutionary but doesn't smell exactly like any of my other vanillas. However, it is SO NOT WORTH full price. It doesn't even last, it performs like your average body mist. Maybe a hot take but $17 for a body spray is insane to me (in a bad way). I think a body mist shouldn't exceed like $15 at most and even that is kind of a lot for a spray made mostly of water. Especially in a day and age where the Arab perfume houses are cranking out extraits for just a little bit more money. Put in 10-15 more and you can get a really great Arab vanilla perfume that actually lasts. I think as a collective we shouldn't just accept these outrageous prices or, even worse, act like they are reasonable. I sprayed this at Target and liked it, then saw the price (it was $17) and was oh like hell no. However while scrolling on tiktok I randomly got a half off offer on it w/ free shipping so ended up paying like 8 bucks for it and to me that's worth it!! Lol.

I can’t believe i haven’t seen anyone mention this and idk if it’s just me but this smells like a body spray version of narcoticas happy dust! Happy Dust was my signature scent for a really long time and as soon as i smelled this it instantly reminded me of it. Sweet and fluffy and airy and i swear i smell even the hint of matcha! I don’t know if the lotion and body care products have the same scent but i really hope so because i think it could layer so well!

this smells like Happy dust!!! its crazy bc happy dust is so expensive! if i were to nit pick on a difference i'd say Athena club is just a bit more sweeter than happy dust. love wearing it to bed. it's sweet, warm, and cozy! layer it using the body wash and matching lotion and you will wake up still smelling like it.

Like $15 for 6oz. Amazing. Body wash is even better. Great for layering with other vanillas or if you want to add vanilla to something. Also extremely versatile, can be worn all year because it’s not a heavy gourmand. I recommend this to everyone! I still need to try the other Athena club scents.

The most perfect vanilla body mist. I like this even more than Bare Vanilla from VS which says a lot. Layered with the matching lotion this creates a comforting vanilla scent bubble. I have zero complaints about this. It's affordable and lasts long enough!

Super synthetic dry down on skin which for the price and it being a cheap body mist I’m not surprised about. Dry down smells a little like princess by Killian to me but cheap and synthetic

where are the vanilla and the tonka? because this was straight up sweaty musk. I was appalled