Lovefest Burning Cherry 48
Kayali (2022)

Lovefest Burning Cherry 48 is (after having tested the fruity-creamy-musky Yum Pistacchio Gelato 33 yet) my second olfactory experience with the (by the Middle Eastern heritage and its sacred ritual inspired) house of Kayali which was founded in 2018 by the passionate Mona Kattan and developed in collaboration with some of the world’s most renowned perfumers. Lovefest Burning Cherry 48 is a somewhat lactonic fruity fragrance (with the typically cosmetical warm-cold Kayali's balmy vibe) based on the landmark almondy-heliotropic balmy Kayali's accord as combined with cherry note (in a sort of fleeting black cherry-like liquorous nutty-creamy accord), a notable soapy rose and powdery woody notes. This fragrance is powdery-chic, sophisticated, bright and radiant. Definitely well blended with a good calibration of notes-dosage. It is drier, less sweet and more wearable than Yum Pistacchio Gelato 33. Creamy and fruity notes are more balanced and restrained in here. Heliotrope, cherry and rose play a role of absolute protagonists over a bed of ambrette, balsams and powdery woods. The balsams finally elicit a sort of sensual organic (tanned salty skin at beach like) effect which is really erotic chic and kind of glamour in vibes. Likewise Pistacchio 33 a sort of holidays-like (in the Amalfi coast) joyful dandy atmosphere dominates the scene. The dominant powder is cool, chic and poudrée. In the final phase of the trip a patchouli note emerges gracefully combined with cherry, heliotrope and rose in order to unfold an heavenly soft embrace. The smell is everything but original (vaguely a la Elie Saab le Parfum plus the balmy sherry) but is confortable, joyful and pleasant. Performances are really impressive on my skin (endless duration and more than good projection).

Admission: I got this out of morbid curiosity as I returned to the designer/niche game after years of wearing only indie oils.

Cherry scents trended in 2023 and I was morbidly curious to see whether Lovefest Burning Cherry managed to avoid the dreaded American public restroom bathroom deodorizer accord found in your better rest stops on the interstate.

By itself - Lovefest Burning Cherry is a perfectly pleasant cherry juice note laced with light woods, some balsams, and a hint of pipe tobacco-like sweetness. It's not going to whack you in the head with CHERRIES or fill a room.

As a layering scent, it gives a pleasant cherry-laced sweetness and woody quality to scents that felt like they needed these notes to balance them out. It also nicely masked more sour fruity top notes in other fragrances. The Kayali line is (generally) designed to layer and the cherry scent does so beautifully.

Linear, predictable, short wearing (about 4-6 hours), and an easy mindless reach in the summer of 2023.
So easy that I quickly drained a 10mL in 4 months.

Have I missed it enough to purchase a larger bottle or a replacement 10mL?
No.
But if I find myself craving a woody cherry scent, I'll go back to this one.

I struggle to enjoy cherry scents since they often remind me of the artificial cherry scent/flavor used for medicine. Lovefest is a cherry that I can enjoy. It’s a deeper cherry that doesn’t pull syrupy sweet, and it pairs well with the smoky woody notes. I find that it performs best in fall and winter since it feels cozy and perfumes generally tend to pull sweeter on me in warm weather. I usually get about 6-8 hours of wear.

When I sprayed this on paper, the most prominent note was patchouli. And to my nose, it was very specifically the scent that was entirely reminiscent of Head Shops from my youth. For me, this was late 90s/early 00s. Not necessarily something I want to smell like. And it was very strong smelling.

I almost chose not to spray it on my skin. Well, I thought better of this and I’m glad I did. I’ve been completely entranced by this scent for over a week now. I even had to submit the info on here so I could review it because it wasn’t in the database.

The cherry in this is deep, dark, and rich. It’s not bright, syrupy, or medicinal. To me, it smells like there is also tobacco in here, and maybe a touch of cinnamon or some other spice even though they aren’t listed. I definitely get the woody notes, and the praline adds sweetness without taking this full on into gourmand territory.

My only complaint is that this doesn’t have the best longevity. It lasts about 3 hrs on me, and it smells so good that I want it to last at least 5 or 6hrs.

To me, this is a perfect scent for fall. It’s deep, dark, sweet, and smoky.

EDIT TO ADD- UPDATE- 10/17/2022:
I am not sure why, but the longevity of the scent has increased to a minimum of 6-7 hours. It’s the same bottle, so I don’t know if it has something to do with natural aging, changes in the weather, or changes in my skin. But I’ve definitely noticed significantly increased longevity and just kept forgetting to update this.