A Honest Kayali Yum Pistachio Gelato 33 Perfume Review
My review of Kayali Yum Pistachio Gelato Perfume is going to be more of a case study into how beauty products can go viral, get crazily overhyped, and fall completely flat. I’m not putting down Kayali Perfumes by any means possible in this review. I happen to have purchased every single Kayali launch and have loved 99.9% of what I’ve purchased from the brand. I’ve even defended the brand at the start when people were saying how it wasn’t a niche house and the they couldn’t justify the prices. I think the brand makes some quality fragrances and do deserve a spot in the niche world. However, I don’t entirely love the fact that the PR that has gone out has created this really overhyped buzz on Tiktok that feels very dishonest, overhyped, and almost borderline silly sometimes. I saw a lot of that with the Lovefest Burning Cherry launch which was crazily overhyped as a Tom Ford Lost Cherry dupe. It’s not. It’s actually a unique cherry scent but Tiktokers were going pretty wild with the YOU NEED THIS IT’S TOM FORD LOST CHERRY!
When Kayali Yum Pistachio Gelato 33 launched it was the same frenzy and the claims had me in a chokehold. “It smells like an ice cream shop!” “It’s the best gourmand I ever tried!” “It smells exactly like cotton candy!” “It smells like ice cream!” I got way excited about it seeing all these TikToks about it being the most incredible gourmand on the planet.
90% or more of the reviews of Yum Pistachio Gelato 33 on Tiktoks are all about calling this a gourmand fragrance. It is not. This is my opinion and also, I’m no fragrance expert so, I could be very wrong. But I stand by my right to say, this isn’t a gourmand. I actually don’t even know what I’d classify this as! Perhaps a light, fresh floral?
The notes sound amazing that’s for sure! The notes are Pistachio, Bergamot, Ice cream, Hazelnut, Rum, Cardamom, Lily-of-the-Valley, Peony, Pear, Geranium, Jasmine, White Peach, Raspberry, Whipped Cream, Marshmallow, Cotton Candy, Loukhoum, Tonka Bean, Sandalwood, Cedar, and Cacao.
I somehow resisted all the incredible reviews and I made a smart choice to purchase a small travel spray during the Sephora Spring Savings Event versus a full-bottle. This is pretty amazing for me as I typically blindly buy Kayali fragrances at full-size since they rarely fail me. Also, it was very tempting to get a big bottle since I had 20% off during the sale. My stores didn’t have the fragrance and I was really waffling between going for the full-size or just grabbing the travel spray. In the end, I made a solid choice of getting the travel spray as I didn’t love the fragrance. This is the first time I wasn’t in love with a Kayali fragrance. It just isn’t doing it for me. Some of that stems from the fact I kept being told it smelled like an ice cream shop and cotton candy and yum yum yum and I was expecting all that when I received it and my inexperienced nose just isn’t picking up any of those notes. I did read someone saying this needs to macerate and I’m going to take that person’s advice and re-visit this in a month or two after it settles to see if the scent morphs and the gourmand notes become more evident. But so far, I’m just not into it as a gourmand.
What does it smell like? I dunno. I’m not understanding what I’m smelling. It smells like a warm floral to my nose. I don’t get the pistachio element at all (try Pistache Pistachio Body Butter if you want a real pistachio experience). I also, don’t get the ice cream nor the cotton candy. I do get warmth from the bergamot and a bit of nuttiness but not hazelnut just a general nuttiness that adds warmth to the scent. There’s a soft floral note in the background with some woodiness as well. As it settles and dries down more I do get a bit of sugarness but nothing too dramatic.
Shrug. It smells nice enough but I think the overhyped reviews killed the fragrance for me. I think if I went into this blindly not seeing those reviews I’d like it a bit more but I’d still definitely be disappointed by the marketing showcasing it as this gorgeous gourmand. It’s just not a gourmand for me sadly.
The scent is labeled as “intense” but it creates more of a smaller scent bubble that people need to step close to smell. It does seem to linger and last a few hours on my skin but isn’t intense and does have a huge throw.
Sadly, Kayali Yum Pistachio Gelato 33’s overhyped and dramatic reviews made this a very disappointing try for me. It’s an ok fragrance but not deserving of all the unusual attention it got as “the best gourmand” many reviewers have claimed. This is something I’d recommend misting on in store and perhaps walking around the mall for a while in and seeing what you think. It’s not a safe blind buy fragrance nor is it something that will have gourmand lovers rolling around in fits of joy.
Have you smelled it?
Do share your thoughts!
Kayali Yum Pistachio Gelato 33 is available now!