Côte du Paradis

This is by far my favorite Lake and Skye scent of the 4 I've sampled. It's a love for me; I just keep wanting to sniff my wrist with this. Their most popular scent, 11:11, just doesn't do it for me - I "get" why people call it ethereal, but it just smells like ozone and powder to me. Similarly, I actually do "get" why people DON'T like this one. I have a lot of scent memory for this. Right off the bat, it's a praline mousse. Dead ringer for a dessert I used to get at a fancy Italian restaurant by my home town. A cool (as opposed to warm) gourmand. Very airy, whipped, which ultimately keeps it from cloying and hanging like a stink, almost makes it a "clean" smelling gourmand. I don't think it's correct to describe this as a vanilla scent - the tonka bean and heliotrope really pull this just to the left of vanilla, but it predominately gives me hazelnut. Due to my associations with Italian desserts, it gives me Mediterranean lux, which could be similar to how L&S describes it. But...a "warm, woody" gourmand? Reminiscent of "endless summers"? I actually thought this must be a flight of fancy in L&S's copy, since this gives me really no wood or summer vibes. (Granted, gun to my head I couldn't tell you what palo santo smells like.) After a few weeks of wear, I checked out the reviews - and this must be a real body chemistry type scent. Sunscreen is one people say a lot. I thought this was bonkers at first - but after reading that and smelling again, I kind of get where people are coming from. It's not coconut, but that nut smell can definitely tug on a sunscreen memory (or maybe a pina colada?) if it's brought out the wrong way, especially if you don't like it. The Play-doh comments intrigued me enough to look up what Play-doh smells like (apparently it's scented with vanilla??) but I've either deleted that scent memory or just don't get that smell, so we'll mark that up to body chemistry. So, who would like this scent? I think if you like gourmands but find scents that are too warm or vanilla-y embarrassing to wear to work, this is a good option to try out. It's easy breezy, light and airy, but still overtly edible. It both feels like a winter and summer smell simultaneously.

This scent makes me think of beachy, warm summer nights, but also feels like a warm second skin scent. I keep going back to sniff my wrist when wearing it. It smells like vanilla, but not quite vanilla - perhaps it's the tonka bean? (I'm not certain what tonka smells like). Almost like a sibling to vanilla but with hints of powder and the lightest touch of something woody/aquatic. It's not an overtly sunscreen-y, beachy scent but definitely approaches that family. It makes me think of summer days as a teenager, putting some generic vanilla/coconut lotion on and smelling my skin hours later, after the scent had mostly faded. The woody notes don't come through very strongly to me, they sit in the background and balance out the sweetness from the other notes. I typically prefer fresher scents and woody citruses, as gourmands tend to be sickeningly sweet and nauseating to me, but cote du paradis is different. If you like the essence/smell of vanilla but struggle with it in fragrances, I'd definitely recommend trying this out. The scent is unisex, perhaps leaning slightly feminine. Oddly enough, my boyfriend had a cologne that I think this smells very similar to. I adore 11 11 and echo lake, but have been reaching for this scent on cool rainy days when I want something warmer on the skin. I can see myself wearing this year round, especially in cooler months, despite it being a summery scent. I agree with below reviews that this is likely a skin chemistry scent. If you're unsure about this one, I highly recommend getting the Lake & Skye discovery set and trying it out!

This is my favorite coconut scent despite coconut not being a named ingredient. LOL. It's that same coconut smell you get from a Raffaello Ferrero Coconut candy. There's an "expensive sunscreen" day at the carnival vibe going on. This might border on "childish" because of that vibe... but because it's more powdery than sweet, it stays adult. (There was a reviewer below who mentioned it both smelled like a teenager and also an old lady. That's not inaccurate, and it's the basic dynamic I just described. It's not a violet/floral powdery scent though, so I wouldn't accuse it of being that dusty sort of powdery. It's hard to describe.) Which is all to say, if you hear coconut and beach/carnival and think HECK YEAH! This is a very safe blind buy. If even mild powdery scents bug you, try before you buy because it does get powdery on the dry down. Not dusty/wax lipstick powder... but powdery nevertheless.

i absolutely love love this. immediately it’s veryy almondy and really reminds me of that coconut almond shea butter lotion, which actually really excited me. i LOVE that lotion and a while back i thought how cool it’d be to have a perfume like that. and then this came along! it dries down to a more sweet, woody, gourmand vanilla with lasting wood notes and whipped cream. the tonka bean isn’t too obvious to me which i’m grateful for because i am Not a tonka bean girl. i AM an almond girl tho!!! if u dont like almond fragrances theres absolutely no chance you’ll like this. but if you do, highly recommend!!!

I had been eyeing this perfume for a good year before I bit the bullet and ordered it blindly. I’m so glad I did. Let me first say it’s summer, which is limiting as far as versatility but I love it. It’s nostalgic because there’s a plastic pool float element- like a freshly unpacked new ridiculous zebra or banana float you are bursting at the seams to try. That’s just upon initial spray, it does settle to a more approachable creamy milky almond and coconut. Almost like a summer body oil. I have a ton of fragrances. And beach scents- this one just hits different.