Sweetly Known

Oh my gooooooood. This is the best blind buy I have ever made. I had been meaning to try Kerosene for a few years now and as samples aren’t quite available where I am from, I decided to jump the gun and blind buy this one. Boy oh boy did I make the right choice ! This is genuinely one of the most beautiful, wonderfully crafted fragrances I have ever laid my nose upon. The opening is full blown realistic cardamom pods, fresh and citrusy. I was a bit uncertain I made the right choice at first as I am not used to actually realistic spices in fragrances but I now cannot stop spraying it just to experience the opening again. After a while, the cardamom goes into the background and leaves the spotlight to the freshly strung, still warm cotton candy and caramel. There is definitely coffee. A mystical , lingering incense note is also present and gives the fragrance depth. This is the Ghost Train at the funfair. Your mouth is full of candy and your nose of the smell of the smoke they blow at your face as a zombie animatronic screams at you. Like someone in the comments said, I do also feel that Sweetly Known is to Type O Negative what Unknown Pleasures is to Joy Division. Performance wise, it’s a beast that stays on your clothes and skin for days on end. It fills the room and has a magnificent trail. I sprayed some before sleep; woke up in a gorgeous cloud of caramel & gooey white chocolate which lingered on my skin until I washed it off. The bottle is splendid and has a very Steampunk edge to it, the spray is really nice and allows you to do half sprays (if that’s your thing). The pouch it comes in is very soft and velvety, a good change from the usual fragile cardboard. Season wise, I think it would be appropriate all year due to the fresh opening and the fact it is a light gourmand that is quite far from being heavy and cloying. Overall, an absolute masterpiece of a fragrance that takes a while to get the hang of. Do sample first as the opening might disturb you. Update : Unfortunately, this has started making me sick due to its potency. Oh well !

Luuuuuuv this. Stunningly unique, undeniably complex, and still curiously charming. A rare delight as very few fragrances are so strange, yet comforting. Cardamon blasts you at the beginning and the smoke is a brisk slap to wake you up, just hang in there though because the sweet caramel is a smooth caress that will keep you coming back for more. Perfectly unisex. Completely addictive. It's quite dark at stages, very warm and welcoming at others. Beautiful as it transforms through the wear, telling a story at every step. I love sweetness with an edge, this was made for me. SWEETLY KNOWN speaks directly to my soul. John Pegg is a true artist. While I don't understand or even like all his work, I respect the talent and surprising details that transform these smells into magical scent journeys. He creates fragrances for unconventional lives, adventurers, and those few breaking-trail out on the frontier. I have finally found my fragrance house, it's Kerosene. UPDATE I had put on my heaviest coat right after applying this uncommonly well-crafted gem and OVER TWO WEEKS LATER I am still welcomed by it's cozy comforting scent when I wear that coat! Beautiful! P.S. I think Kerosene is an underrated house because people do not expect fragrances to transform throughout the wear. Mass produced, generic scents that remain "stable" with only a brief hint of top notes that quickly burn off, have conditioned consumers to have a short attention span and limited understanding of how a carefully crafted fragrance can perform. Kerosene brings an entire scent story in a bottle. Each one is a journey that lasts hours. Just as you can't accurately judge a book by its cover, you can't judge a Kerosene scent in a few moments by spritzing on a card. You must spray on skin and give them at least 4 hours to fully develop.

This has made me love gourmands. I really don't know where to start with this review. There have been very few times where I have gotten a sample set and worn only ONE of the scent's to the end of the sample, and still want more. This is one of those fragrances. Starting with this fiery and fresh cardamom, instantly making it sexy and alluring and playing into the "lit match" note. Then the cardamom slowly takes a back seat to the a burnt sugar, caramel, vanilla and slight wisp of smoke (again playing into the match dying). This is the main bulk of the fragrance as the caramel, burnt sugar, and vanilla wrestle for control, one never truly overtaking another. This is all backed with probably my favorite musk note to date and a dark and dry cacao. I also get a faint woody-ness like an old Victorian nobles chair. It sinks deeper and deeper into my skin and becomes something truly beautiful. I am in love. As I stated above, this scent and "Winter of 99" by Kerosene have made me into a gourmand enjoyer. I really and truly ask that if you are at all interested or intrigued by gourmand fragrances, or like me and are often turned off by them: try this fragrance. John, you have easily jumped to my second favorite perfumer of all time, and I cannot wait to smell what you make in the future. Longevity on me is crazy, I get a good 10ish hours on skin and multiple days on clothes. Trail and sillage are excellent but can be overbearing if you have an itchy trigger finger, keep it to 2-5 sprays max; trust me, people will smell you. Compliment MAGNET on me. Fall and winter are perfect, but I can see this as a summer's night fragrance if you go easy on the sprays (1-2?) Price is amazing too, I ordered the collectors edition and it was only $8 more than the OG bottle. 10/10

Sweetly Known, king of my heart, crown jewel of my collection. I didn’t choose Sweetly Known, Sweetly Known chose me. The first time I smelled it, I wrote it off entirely. I’d just been dazzled by Unknown Pleasures and the intense cardamom opening of SK felt like an assault to the senses. I literally recoiled, stuffed the blotter in my pocket, and bought a bottle of UP. But I couldn’t stop thinking about SK. Even though it unsettled me, I couldn’t keep my nose away from the blotter, and I purchased a bottle shortly thereafter. When my boyfriend smelled it for the first time, his face lit up. “It smells like a record store!” he proclaimed, beaming. Not exactly what I was going for, but I see it - it’s the earthiness of the cardamom that’s reminiscent of incense or old paper. Don’t be scared, though: the real magic of Sweetly Known is in the dry down. After about 20 minutes, our cardamom overture settles into a deep, radiant caramel. It’s ambrosial. Truly, this stuff is the nectar of the gods. It lasts days and garners more compliments than any other fragrance I’ve ever worn, but I’d wear it even if everyone else hated it. I didn’t think SK would become my signature, but it crept up on me and now I can’t imagine life without it. John Pegg, I hope your coffee is always exactly the right temperature, I hope you have a perfect unobstructed view of the stage at every concert you attend, I hope the Lions win the Super Bowl every year from now until forever. You’re an artist.

My first Kerosene experience and all I can say is wow. I blind bought this because I really wanted to try Kerosene and I love cardamom and was feeling a bit spicy (pun intended) in the moment so I pulled the trigger and went with this one, and I’m not disappointed at all. The first spray is definitely a huge blast of cardamom, maybe a bit too much to handle, and I can see why some are turned off by this. But then let it dry down and it becomes something so amazing. I’m certainly getting whiffs of cotton candy that others are talking about. It’s so fun. The dry down is a burnt sugary caramel with cardamom when smelled up close. I don’t know if I would equate it to the smell of baked goods unless these baked goods were loaded with spices but it’s definitely some kind of confectionary smell with the caramel and sugar and cardamom. No burnt match notes at all, it’s just burnt sweetness. Speaking on longevity, this stuff is an absolute nuclear BOMB. I sprayed my arm at around 8pm and when I woke up the next morning I could still smell it very strongly. This is the strongest fragrance I’ve ever encountered along with megamare. It’s so god damn strong. Worth every penny -and this is very fairly priced compared to other frags out there. I love it and I’m so happy I went with this one from the Kerosene line up. I got a sample of blackmail too along with my purchase and I really loved that one too. Really can’t wait to try other Kerosene frags out there! 9/10

Coming back to review this gem: When I first started sampling this brand, I saw the notes of Sweetly Known - which are different from what is now shown on Fragrantica, but it had burnt match, caramel, and cardamom. When I saw this, I knew it was love at first sight. And then when I sampled it.. yeah, everything changed. I sampled Sweetly Known and Summer of 84 and I started SWEATING what I was gonna get. I started with ‘84 as it was the dead of Maryland summer - 105F° heat everyday. Fast forward several months, now I am glad to say I own a bottle of the best fragrance of all time, To this day ‘84 is still my top 2 of all time This fragrance just immediately envelopes me into a weighted plaid blanket, laying on the cozy leather couch near the fireplace in a lightly illuminated living room, during the dead of a blizzard on Christmas Eve, with the spices of gingerbread cookies coming out of the oven and filling the air with the aroma, and the burnt incense smell from the fireplace mixing with the spices in the air to create the godliest olfactory hybrid ever. The opening is caramel and burnt match, that will slowly simmer down into a more Xerjoff Starlight type cardamom that is just so cozy, warm, intoxicating, inviting, and mysterious. When you walk on the streets with this on people will walk by you and look behind and look in mystery as to who you are. 10/10 - the only fragrance I can rate a 10

This is an adventure. First spray reminds me so much of McDonalds pancakes smothered in syrup and butter - I used to love these as a kid so it's a lovely association to have. There's a distinct incense smell behind the sweet pancakey smell, one that really reminds me of walking around a temple. Incense and pancakes isn't something I would typically want to smell like, but these balance each other out quite nicely. Upon dry down on my skin the caramel note comes through massively, and the incense changes into more of a burnt note. Spices start coming through, with an almost apple pie smell. Like you've taken the burnt sugar off the top of an apple pie and are smelling that. After a few hours, I get what I think the other reviewers are saying is similar to MM By The Fireplace - a toasted hazelnut, burnt embers, sweet smell. It's not very strong, but very lovely. It's really beautiful - surprisingly so really. The dry down is much less full-on than the initial ride, but I quite like that. If a perfume performs really strongly for a long time, I start to get a bit sick of it. This transforms into a much more subtle, cozy smell, which is quite a contrast to the in-your-face sweet and smoky start to this. I don't think I'd buy a full bottle because it's not what I'd typically wear, but oh man this was worth a sniff!

Kerosene has done it again. This house is known for their gourmands, and this fragrance is just stunning. Upon initial spray, the burnt match accord is the first thing I smell, as well as some spicy, zingy cardamom and smoldering vanilla. The intriguing burnt match note dissipates somewhat quickly unfortunately, but there is a smokiness present throughout the entire weartime. This dries down to a spicy caramel over a bed of a cake-like vanilla and sugar note. It has a light and airy sillage with a deep, dense base. I will say that I hardly smell the cacao, and the musk really only adds a diffusive aspect to the formulation. This is absolutely perfect for fall and winter and is a huge attention grabber. This does not have the same level of strength as some of Kerosene's other fragrances such as Followed or Blackmail, but performs very well nonetheless. I think this is much more wearable than Blackmail or Followed, the latter of which has almost unbearably strong performance. I get about 12 hours of weartime for this with excellent sillage. Kerosene really hit this one out of the ballpark, and their reputation for high-quality gourmand masterpieces is carried through in every aspect of this fragrance. No notes at all, 10/10. One of my top 3 gourmands and cold-weather fragrances.

My boyfriend got Sweetly Known for me out of a batch of samples he selected based on scents I told him I liked, so this has sentimental value for me (has the perfect name and perfect fragrance to sum up our wonderful relationship), but it's also the only fragrance I loved out of the 4 kerosene samples from Ministry of Scent. This perfume is Christmas in a Bottle although it smells so delectable I'm rocking throughout in this Midwestern summer, too. It's been rainy and relatively cool here and this fragrance warms me up and puts a smile on my face. Think Christmas tree sap and spice cookies with hints of bread pudding and chai tea. Maybe a little toasted marshmallow is also present, however this is nothing like another favorite of mine, Maison Margiela By the Fireplace that has a marshmallow note. I don't get tired of Sweetly Known like I do MM Fireplace. I can literally drench myself in Sweetly Known and it still doesn't sting my nostrils. I like it more every time I wear it. I'm gonna wear it out come December even my collection is almost entirely gourmands that I enjoy rotating to keep things fresh. This is one of the few full bottles I'll purchase after finishing the sample.

I’m a gourmand girlie and I could spend hours scouring the internet for new perfumes to buy, and this lead me down the path of Xerjoff Lira —> Ex Idolo Love and Crime —> Kerosene Unknown Pleasures pipeline. However, something specifically intrigued me when I stumbled on Sweetly Known by Kerosene when I was reading the reviews because people were giving it lower ratings based on how well it performed because it was 24 hour+ wear and I thought “why is that a negative”? So my chaotic self blind bought it and no joke, it is a beast of a fragrance. It scared me initially because upon first spray, it reminded me of incense; but the more it settled it was like I came home to my mom baking cookies. It is my most complimented fragrance to this date - I have people stopping me mostly to say I smell like either cotton candy or caramel (I even had someone in my apartment elevator say “you’re the girl who always smells good! What is your perfume called?) This perfume is a game changer with a reasonable price tag and I suggest you take the plunge if you were curious and on the fence about giving it a chance

This perfume is what made me finally make a fragrantica account. There quite literally has been nothing like it for me, I had a sample and finally got my hands on a full bottle, and when I tell you this thing is beast mode, it’s not an understatement. My partner can’t stop smelling me, and I have been wearing it 16+ hours and it’s still on my skin and smellable the next morning. I sprayed it on bare skin and it transferred to my clothes! Even when I had the sample, if it was sprayed on clothes, it stayed there until two washes later. The actual scent itself is so welcoming in my eyes, though the initial spray is a bit of a ‘oh my god I think I over did and am dying’ it quickly transforms into something sweeter, smokier, spicier. If you love Gourmands and your favorite time of year to buy a candle is September/October, this is the scent for you. It smells like (in memory, I have synesthesia) going to your local county fair at the end of summer and walking down the area where all the sweets are as the sun goes down and all the lights start to light up.

A beautiful scent that smells like Christmas. No ginger in the notes, but I'm getting Gingerbread cookies vibe, that is mostly coming from the spiciness of the Cardamom mixed with the Caramel and Sugar. This is a Gourmand Lover's dream! I sampled all the current scents from Kerosene, and I thought I wouldn't love this, but after wearing it one night, dabbed on the sleeves of my sweater, I knew that I needed a full-size bottle of this for Fall and Winter. I am so in love, and this is also giving me nostalgia, because one thing this reminds me of is going with my mom to crafts stores and to Aromatic herbs and oils stores to buy her ingredients for soap and candle making. There was this specific store in Old San Juan that I used to go with her that smelled just like this. I no longer live in my Hometown, and I am far away from her, but this scent takes me back to those happy, simple moments with her and makes me feel like I'm at home for a couple of hours. :) <3

I first tested this along with a bunch of other scents, and initially wrote it off as smelling like a coffee-scented candle with a hint of cardamom. However, as the other scents I was sampling faded, I kept getting this amazing hint of something that smelled like a campfire, and eventually realized it was this. Although it starts off a little fake and syrupy, once it settles, it's an uncannily realistic charted wood matchstick scent, toned down with some warm cardamom and caramel. It's delicious. If I had to compare it to another perfume, I'd say it's a bit like By The Fireplace, but with a more realistic burnt wood smell, and more gourmand. I normally don't like gourmands, but it just adds depth here. I'm currently testing from a dabber, and I'm curious about how this would change when sprayed more generously. It's not my usual kind of scent, and I could see it being weirdly too realistic in higher concentrations... but I still want to try. Yum.

This fragrance is so perfect to me. I am a staunch lover of smoky gourmands and this absolutely hits the mark.I like to call them edgy gourmands because there's just something a little badass to these types of fragrances. It starts off with a blast of burnt caramel and cardamom with the overhanging scent of just having blown out a match and the smoke is swirling around. It turns into a bit of an incense smell in the mid and over time, settles into the most lovely blend of vanilla sugar - I also pick up cinnamon even though that's not listed as a note but it's totally there. Lune Feline is another one of my favorites in this realm and Sweetly Known will scratch the itch for scents like these. It's so beautiful and I can't wait to have a full bottle. Projection is crazy - I walked into work and walked past someone's office and they yelled down the hall "what smells so good?! Are you baking something??". Longevity is nuclear at 8+ hours! 10000/10!!

Amazing, amazing, amazing! What a beautiful smell – I can’t stop sniffing my wrist. Yes, there's a hint of burnt match, but it’s so cleverly wrapped with caramel and cardamom. Awesome work by John Pegg – well done, sir! The dry down is reminiscent of an indescribable scent, akin to the sweet undertone you get when Diptyque Tempo dries down. It's a little on the sweeter side, but so far, this is the best cardamom fragrance I’ve encountered. I don't care about sillage or what others will say about this. I’m going to buy a full bottle, apply this, and meditate. This scent is perfect for a spring walk, relaxing under the sun, or even winding down for sleep. So far, I’ve applied tiny dabs four times in the last two hours and I just can't get enough of it. All the positive reviews are totally correct. This is one of the most beautiful gourmand scents. If you like this kind of fragrance DNA, go for it and buy a bottle before it gets reformulated!

Note: I was in Ulta yesterday and the manager RAN ME DOWN to ask what I was wearing btw and then had me spell it for her so she could look it up on her phone to buy. This has happened to me before, a guy at Circle K wanted to know who smelled like Maple Syrup and also looked this up on his phone for his girlfriend lol. So, so good. This stuff is nuclear, it lasts on skin like no other perfume I’ve tried before. And projects like a beast. It definitely has that campfirey or burnt smell note dominating at first but it quickly dissipates bringing its spicy caramel, like buttery almost maple sap, to center stage. It’s the most beautiful, potent unisex gourmand fragrance I‘ve ever smelt. House of Kerosene is greatly underrated and I am amazed by this! Tried Unknown Pleasures and R’oud Elements as well and if you like lemon it’s a crime not to sample either of these two. Next, I really wanna try Follow/Followed.

This is intoxicating. A complete blind buy of a full bottle but I read so many good things about Sweetly Known so since I found a way to buy it (big shout out to Smallflower for offering shipping to Australia), I thought I'd take a shot. There's definitely cardamom first up, but nothing outrageous to me. It's the amount you'd expect to smell if someone was baking with cardamom. The smokiness was interesting. John Pegg somehow produced burnt matchstick indeed. It's not smoke you're smelling but something that was lit on fire. If it was any stronger, I might not be able to wear Sweetly Known at all, but it's just right. Once it settles, I am noticing the caramel the most. Combined with the smokiness, I occasionally smell burnt caramel. The performance is good. The bottle can be smelt as you approach it. It's something I want to spray again. I look forward to going to bed with it on the skin.

It opens with a very apparent burnt match accord. Throughout the life of the fragrance, it smells like slightly burnt caramelized sugar, which seems to be what reminds other people of cotton candy. Behind that, it is mostly a thick, creamy, and salty blend of caramel, cardamom, cacao, and vanilla. I get a compliment almost every time that I wear this with monstrous performance. It lasts over 12 hours with over an arm's length of sillage. I only ever use 1-2 sprays on my neck. The statements that @Goze stated 2 reviews below are some of the most common remarks other people say. I had a coworker ask me "Do you have a girlfriend?" then after responding with "no" they responded back saying "you would need to be careful around them if you did" (implying they wouldn't be able to keep themselves off of me).

this was very chai imo when I smelled it in store on a sample paper, I loved it and bought a few samples. when I then wore it later, on my clothes and skin it smells almost exactly like nag champa incense. SO GOOD. definitely on the sweeter side as the name lets you know but this is so perfectly smokey to me. not at all medicinal in my opinion and very nostalgic as the smell of incense always makes me think of my childhood hahah. will definitely be purchasing a full size soon 🤭 this for most is probably a winter/fall scent, but personally I like wearing smokey fragrances during summer and the day as well because it makes me feel like i’m at a bonfire at the beach lolll, again that’s just me personally, if you’re someone who is very sensitive to fragrances when it’s hot outside maybe don’t do that

Sweetly Known is a BIG LOVE for me. About a year (or more) ago, I got a sample from Lucky Scent. I knew I loved it right away, and while I have spent much more on other brands (Tom Ford, Guerlain, Creed, Chanel, etc...) I was just hesitant to spend so much on a brand I knew nothing about. But, I knew I loved it and it is one of the few scents that my spouse said: "Wow, you smell really great" when I got in the car. My full size bottle arrived this week and I am living for it! I smell tons of sweet, smooth cardamom & deep vanilla. My son smells chocolate and cinnamon! Sweetly Known is warm, sweet, comforting and just kind of amazing. Longevity is spectacular and Sillage strong, but not overwhelming. I do smell some caramel and maybe burnt sugar, but there is NO burnt match smell at all!