Kai Eau de Parfum

This is an ideal summer gardenia, actually, scratch that, its my perfect gardenia full stop! I had zero idea that this existed until I started looking for gardenia suggestions to try and I'd seen this suggested a few times and I also noticed that some think it smells similar to White Gardenia Petals by Illuminum London, except its quite a fair bit more affordable than White Gardenia Petals which usually retails for £125 (though, at the time of writing its currently reduced to £90). Kai hasn't got a super wide presence in the UK but Cult Beauty and a one or two other places stock it, after consulting reviews I decided to blind buy this and I am SO glad I did! The initial opening is very sharp and smells a little like hairspray but within seconds that subsides and a fresh, airy, ozonic gardenia and some non discript white florals and greenery burst out and bloom on my skin. This isn't, at least to my nose, a lactonic, creamy gardenia, this is more a fresh gardenia with its stems still attached, its fairly linear but I absolutely love it, it actually to my nose is the olfactive equivalent of a white t-shirt; its clean, soft and easy to wear. It makes me think of a warm sunny morning, popping on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt post shower and heading out but still looking and feeling put together and effortlessly elegant despite having a casual "just rolled out of bed" type of day. Longevity is moderate at about 7hours on my skin with a soft bordering on moderate silage, I can see this working really well year round but its definately more suited to the warmer months, totally office and casual wear safe, in fact, I think you could even dress this fragrance up, its really versatile in all honesty, I had no idea about this scent or its celebrity cult following, so that didn't sway my decision to buy a bottle but I would easily repurchase this, it has its place in my fragrance wardrobe and its a totally signature worthy scent too. Also, my review is for the EdP, not the perfume oil

I’ve always been curious about this one due to its cult celebrity following. I think everyone from Khloe K to Jennifer Anniston and Lauren Conrad have name dropped this one. It’s hard to get in the U.K. (although I noticed Kai ships to the U.K., albeit at a hefty cost) but I search for this in eBay from time to time as it does pop up. Managed to get the oil and the spray. Wow this is gorgeous! Yes, it is very similar to JLo Glow. However this is how Glow would smell if it was available at a higher price point. If you are curious about what Kai smells like and it isn’t stocked in your country Glow is a reasonable point of reference. It is pure gardenia and beautifully blended. The oil is slightly smoother than the spray, but i am used to that having used a lot of oil perfumes and their spray counterparts. I layer the two to amp up the sillage. It is soapy but not screechingly so, it simply smells clean and very white floral. I can see why it is a celeb favourite particularly in the warm climate of California. This is so effortless, I think it will be my day to day perfume. Maybe it is sacrilege to compare this to Glow and I don’t know what perfume came first but this gives me what I wanted from Glow, and does remind me of how Glow smelled when it first came out. It will be stunning in spring and summer. i can’t imagine anyone finding this offensive, it would be perfect for work. I work from home a lot now and find my usual spicy and/or sillage bomb perfumes give me headaches indoors, so I was looking for a beautiful, clean white floral. Think this is it. Sillage is moderate. I accidentally layered this with Fracas today as I was already wearing that when this arrived in the post and I couldn’t resist a try, and this combo does work well together. Think I will save Kai for the warmer weather and occasional use until then as I don’t want to run out and pay that exorbitant shipping fee more than I need to! Really beautiful, totally get the cult status.

Finally, this has come through the mail, after waiting impatiently for 3 1/2 weeks (I live in Australia, but UPS sent it to Alaska!). The fragrance is heavenly, and despite the debarckle with shipping, I am so glad I bought it. I love gardenia... It is my favourite flower (equal with osmanthus). IMO there is nothing better than Kai if you love gardenia. It is so natural and similar to the real flower; a real homage to nature. Contrary to some of these reviews, I don't smell Hawaii (although I admitt I've never been there); there might be the faintest hint of frangipani or honeysuckle, but nothing more. When you first spray it there is quite a blast of gardenia and white flowers (though I don't really consider white flowers to be part of the composition, because they only feature in the first few minutes before it settles down). Soon it becomes more tamed and creamy. Later, as the composition matures, it turns more characteristically gardenia - at least what I consider to be characteristically gardenia. That is, a luscious, luxurious white flower, with intoxicating presence, sprinkled with rain and containing a hint of green. I enjoy this fragrance more as it develops. You don't need to worry about sillage or staying power at all. It is very pungent and people in the room notice (but not in the way of it being offensive, rather the fragrance is doing what it should - being smelled by others!). It lasts and lasts. I find three sprays more than enough. For anyone balking at the price, it depends where you get it. A lot of internet sites sell 50mL for $75 (NB: this is for the EDP, not the perfume oil). I grabbed a bottle for less, and they offered international shipping too!

I don't know how it is that I can love the perfume oil but dislike the eau de parfum and body lotion of this scent. Both of the latter almost have a mildewy smell to me, that really grosses me out and no, they are not turned or old either. The perfume oil on the other hand is gorgeous. A transparent tropical white floral of mainly milky gardenia with other white, almost aquatic florals giving support. It has a very sheer, dewy aspect that is clean and fresh yet seductive at the same time. While my favorite time to wear it is in the warmer seasons because of the way it beautifully expands in the heat, it is so addictive that I keep getting drawn to it even in the depths of winter. I had purchased the lotion and the edp in the hope that it would increase the silage as the oil sits very close to the skin, but both are a disappointment not just in scent, but in performance too. Maybe there was a change in formula, or the number of essential oils decreased because the edp lacks the heady floral notes so prevalent in the oil. I'm considering purchasing another oil and mixing it with perfumer's alcohol to see if I can get a better approximation of how the oil should smell in edp form because what they are selling now as the edp really doesn't smell much like the oil to me. I'd recommend the oil even as a blind buy to white floral lovers but can't say the same about the eau de parfum. And to those who already love the oil but are interested in the edp too, I advise testing before buying to avoid disappointment.

I just bought this (2 of them, since Mecca will soon no longer stock this perfume anymore at any of their stores or online) at Mecca Fortitude Valley today. I have to say that this scent is amazing and is such a well-priced steal! I was surprised at how cheap it was for a perfume. The scent is very true to what a gardenia smells like, as other people on this site have already said. It is sweet but not suffocatingly sweet, with slight green and vegetal notes to it, just like a gardenia. There is that slightly latex and rubber smell that gardenias have too and a slightly mushroomy quality. I also detect the jasmine in this, but I can't really smell the lily or the tiare. I read here on Fragrantica that tiare is similar smelling to jasmine anyway, so maybe that's why I can't smell this note here? I voted that this perfume is of moderate sillage since it isn't a skin scent and has some strength to it, but I was torn on whether or not to say it has intimate sillage or moderate sillage, since it stays quite close to the skin and doesn't leave much of a trail on me. The lasting power of this fragrance is fairly good too and lasts on me for about 4 and a half hours. I'd wear this scent to either the office or the beach and I can imagine wearing it to lunch as well. I couldn't imagine this offending anyone and I don't find it suffocating in the least. It's just a lovely and natural smelling white floral perfume at its finest :)