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.

I am NEVER gonna use this perfume!! THAT is how good it smells. I want to both live in this smell and for the bottle to last forever!! For me, it opens up with a sweet, creamy, delectable, coconut. If you check the perfume’s notes you’ll see that coconut isn’t listed. I don’t mind. I just call it like I perceive it. There’s def a little woodiness in the dry down, which crafts this perfume into something more complex than your run-of-the-mill delicious smelling suntan lotion.

This one is beautiful, mellow, creamy, and does give a lactonic, beach vibe, but still suitable for the fall due to it’s thickness, if that makes sense. I love it and think it will make a great year-round scent for when I want something that sweet, but still noticeable.

this reminds me of Rebecca Mincoff by Rebecca Mincoff. Although not listed, it seems to have a hint tobacco note. Great summer/fallfragrance! I don't smell coconut to my nose.

The initial scent is medicinal on me but the dry down is warm and slightly sweet, with the tonka bean coming through strongly. Lovely for summer nights.

Cote du Paradise smells like the original carmex in the pot and I love it.

Opening smells just like freshly shaved coconut, but a bit sweeter. Exceptionally similar to a coconut macaroon. The almond/heliotrope, vanilla/tonka bean/whipped cream, and guaiac wood are all noticeable but all combine to really help sell the idea of a light browned, freshly baked macaroon. Really quite nice. Dry down becomes a bit powdery and a little bit beach-sandy. There's still obviously coconut, but more dry, flaky, floral, and a little dusty. Still pretty good, but not nearly as captivating as the opening was. Just a memory of what it once was. The better part of the fragrance, the front half, lasts about 2ish hours. Then it becomes quite a bit less interesting. Too powdery for my liking, but I’ll wear it again purely for the first half.

Ummm I have to say I’m a bit shocked at the reviews below, I don’t get any of those weird smells. This opens with a gorgeous palo santo (gaiac wood) it’s a tart kind of woody that’s almost smoky but not quite ( I can’t stand smoke). The vanilla stays in the background for the first few hours, but then comes out more as the palo santo fades away. This is a bonfire on the beach kind of fragrance, which is a nice change of pace from the zesty coconut beach fragrances that are good but overdone. Overall I’m really impressed with Lake and Skye, but this was the only one worth a full bottle for me.

Upon the first sniff, this reminded me of the Native coconut & vanilla conditioner I use. Coconut isn't a listed note but this smells exactly like that, perhaps it's the almond & tonka bean acting together that brings out that creamy/nutty smell? Regardless it's a cute perfume. Not sure where everyone is getting Play-Doh from. On me, it's a light and warm vanilla that dries down more woody. Nothing special, but nothing bad either.

Smells like vaporub.. weirdly enough, I like it.

The immediate smell is almond extract, which I like. It quickly transitions to the whipped cream. I get some of the wood smell at the end but more so this smells fancy dessert like. I do not think it smells like Play-Doh as others have said. I like it, but I don’t think it is something I would want to wear as a fragrance. More like eat in an almond cookie.

Sweet, fresh, milky coconut (although coconut isn't listed as a note)––sunny and thick, like your favorite expensive sunscreen!! Big downside is that it doesn't last long at all, but perfect to reapply throughout a summer day outside. Reminds me tons of the Not Your Mother's Beach Babe sea salt texturizing hair spray I used back in middle school

Initially a sweet and light vanilla with some almond. As it dries, it gets even more almond-y and eventually, at least to my nose, smells just like play-doh. Sweet gourmands aren't my thing but the front half was so nice and the back end is so unpleasant :(

Eventually this fragrance settles into a creamy coconut but the opening is hard to make it through. The opening smell has the synthetic Almond/Play-Doh going on.

It's honestly a bit sickly sweet on initial spray. It's better after dry down, but there's something about it that just doesn't really work and it remains quite powdery and sweet over time. It's like a mix between something a teenage girl would wear and something an old lady would wear (like a cheap almond and vanilla body spray mixed with a floral perfume) . The scent became a bit nauseating to me the longer I smelled it. This is the first Lake & Skye scent I've disliked of the 4 I have tried so far.

This is a pretty puff pastry of a fragrance. The almond, cream, and vanilla in this fragrance make it distinctly dessert-like. Technically I can smell the woody notes, but in this composition, they read as more nutty than woody. The powdery heliotrope keeps it from reading as a true gourmand, but only just. I'm not very familiar with this scent family so I can't speak to how well it holds up against similarly bakery-fresh scents, but it's dainty and feminine and smells like the kind of thing that is usually a crowd-pleaser. For what it's worth, I tend to be sensitive to notes evocative of play-doh in fragrances, but I don't get that here.