Valaya Exclusif

I am HAUNTED by this perfume. It has me in its clutches and it will not let me go. I went to Nordstrom at lunch time to spray myself with Delina, but before I could ask, the store associate offered to show me the two recent PDMs, Valaya and Valaya Exclusif. Valaya was okay, pretty and light with lots of orange blossoms, but the moment I smelled Valaya Exclusif, it was like the clouds parted and time slowed down. It had a brief orange blossom opening like Valaya, and then it bloomed into a sweet almond note I wanted to bathe in. I chose to wear Valaya Exclusif instead of Delina, and the store associate spritzed me twice. I was enveloped in a sweet almond, lightly floral cloud for the rest of the day, which dried down to the most intoxicating spicy laundry smell (and this is from someone who hates soapy clean-girl scents as being boring at best and screechy at worst). When I got back to work I put my lab coat on and went about my day as usual, but I could smell this heavenly scent with every breath. Ladies and gentlemen, every day for the rest of the week whenever I put that lab coat on, I could still smell this perfume! I tried it on a Tuesday, and I could still smell it on Friday (on a coat that didn’t even get sprayed itself, was just worn on top of a shirt that had been sprayed!!). This perfume has rewired my brain. I feel like an addict. After trying it in the store, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I would keep catching whiffs of it days after. "Spicy clean laundry" sounds like such a boring scent, I don't know why I'm so obsessed with it, but I can't get it out of my head. The prices for a full bottle are astronomical, so I bought a 5ml decant. I try not to wear it too often because I would be crushed if I ever went nose blind to it, but every day I crave smelling it (I smell the test strip I left in my car like an addict every time I get in). If I’m not wearing it, I want to be; and if I am wearing it, I want to put more on because I want to drown in this scent. If I read “sweet almond and spicy laundry detergent” on a profile for a perfume I wouldn’t even give it a try in store, but somehow here I am, completely hung up on this perfume. This perfume gets a lot of hate here, people saying it’s overpriced and unoriginal. I can’t argue that it’s absurdly expensive, but please, for anyone saying it’s unoriginal, tell me what other perfumes smell like this!! I’ve looked through every other perfume that shares the main scent notes (orange blossom, sweet almond, etc) and tried the recommended perfumes looking for something similar with a lower price tag, and nothing smells remotely similar. I don’t even think Valaya (the original) smells like Valaya Exclusif, so I doubt any of the Valaya dupes would either. Longevity: I have the paper test strip in my car (which sits outside in the hot sun all day) and I can still smell Valaya Exclusif when I hold it up to my nose four weeks later. When I spray this on my chest and then rub my hair over the area, I can smell it in my hair for days after. I wore it on a wool sweater 3 weeks ago and can still smell it. The longevity on this is unreal. (Thank goodness, at this price point) Sillage: I don’t think the sillage is as strong as Delina - my husband could smell Valaya Exclusif when he was sitting next to me in the car after I sprayed one spray, but said it wasn’t overpowering. One spray of Delina an HOUR before we went on a road trip gave him a headache. I’m a habitual single-sprayer though, I would imagine if you sprayed more you could get decent sillage. When the sales associate sprayed me twice, I felt like the scent was rolling off me in waves for an hour or two after (to the point where I was actually nervous about overwhelming people nearby). Not sure who could afford to spray themselves multiple times with this though at $430 a bottle! Edit: I went back to the mall and tested two sprays of this again...about 5 hours later, my husband got a headache from being in the car with me for 10 minutes. So I would say the sillage is pretty beast mode. I promised him I would only ever do one spray at a time...I would be heartbroken if he hated this perfume because I chemical warfare-d him! It'll also help my supply last longer :) I'm going to have to track this perfume down on the grey market because I can't live without it.

A comforting hug, with deceitful marketing. Parfums De Marly - Valaya Exclusif, a fragrance built for a gentleman. Valaya opens up like a fresh madeleine - warm and inviting with a hint of zest. The almond opening invites you to a gourmand fragrance, but the mandarin and bergamot kills it almost instantly, almost like it’s trying to contradict itself from the first moment. Powdery notes and white flowers follow suit, giving the scent a feminine power and elegance that feels welcome again, but the zesty opening cannot be forgotten. Ambroxan and vanilla lay the base, giving it warmth and a gourmand undertone, which grounds it and helps it feel well-rounded. On paper, it seems like it would be all but pleasant, maybe even a tad boring, but that’s where the culprit lies. There are similarities between Valaya and the sisters of this scent, Angel Dust by Fugazzi, I Don’t Know What by DS & Durga, creating an envelope for the body to be cocooned by. Yet, Valaya proves to be the older and more sophisticated sister of the bunch. With a twist that the bottle does not display in typical PDM fashion - it works perfectly for a gentleman. Clean, soft and warm, almost like a fresh shirt in the morning, with the coffee still steeping in the caf etière, the pastries brought fresh from the bakery and the crisp draft of a summer’s friday morning. A smell that you want to experience, a smell that brings warmth and comfort to the soul. And that’s what my experience of Valaya is - a crowd-pleaser, with strangers stopping me in the street, colleagues asking what I’m wearing and lovers being enticed by the dry down on my skin. It’s comforting to everyone, and yet when people start looking into the fragrance, they cannot believe it’s a feminine one. That’s why I hope anyone having second thoughts about this, goes out to smell it and envisions someone else wearing it, and just maybe you’ll want to be that someone else who gives a hug and brings warmth and comfort with them.

I had never smelled anything quite like Valaya before: A deep freshie that manages to be interesting and long lasting! Less airy than Fleur Narcotique, but still airy, and not as sweet and girly. Love them both. I did not have particularly high hopes for this one since reading comments on ”just Valaya but softer and with no aldehydes”. Whereas I love aldehydes it is true that they are not here. This one, however, is all the way as gorgeous as the original with a smooth, green-ish almond note and much more powdery aspects. It doesn’t smell as strong at first, but believe me it is. And it lasts the whole day. Of course outrageously expensive. I could not stop thinking about it after trying it three days ago. So I must get it. Even though I hate these prices I still must say that it is different enough as to get even if you own Valaya. The Exclusif is a dream in perfume creating. Truly exquisite. It is not at all choking the way otherwise powdery and almond laden fragrances can be. Also, it is not ”laden” but a very gentle almond note.

This smells like Valaya but has undertone of warmth, vanilla coziness. It has a dry down of warm vanilla but very faint. If a woman sat next to me smelling like this I would think that she smells quite nice Valaya is refreshing like you have just opened a bag of mandarins. Valaya Exclusif had the same smell of mandarins but on the dry down has a newborn baby powdery, soft musk, vanilla, fresh and calming smell to it. It is very warm, cozy but so delicately done to enjoy just a touch of gourmand without being too sweet, sickening or florally. I hate gourmand scents but wish I could wear them without getting sick. this gives you the slightest taste of gourmand but pulls back before it makes you feel sick. Honestly the best fragrance ive ever smelt. it is the softest most sweet and feminine scent I have ever smelt in my life but in the cleanest way possible. Its a very soft powdery feminine scent. I can only imagine that this is what an angel would smell like

I love this perfume a lot! It's elegant, sophisticated, polished, refined, and luxurious. It feels beautifully balanced and it works wonderfully on my skin. I love the powdery dry-down, and I find the entire progression addictive. I experienced the fragrance moving from the opening, through the heart, and into the base, and every stage is delicious in its own way. The longevity is excellent, and the projection is strong without becoming overwhelming. One spray is usually enough for me, which helps justify the price. Interestingly, I did not like it very much when I first tested it. I kept returning to it, and the more I wore it, the more I liked it, until I eventually bought a full bottle. Now it is one of my absolute favorite perfumes and one I could wear all the time. I would strongly recommend sampling it before buying. It seems to inspire very strong love-or-hate reactions, and it really needs to work with both your taste and your skin chemistry.