Vanilla evokes a lot of emotions. Cozy? Yes. Familiar? Absolutely. Comforting? Without a doubt. But it’s been hard to say that vanilla was considered unique or even luxurious — until Kayali’s Vanilla | 28 hit the shelves. (The number 28, as fans of the brand might know, is how many iterations it took to get to the final scent.) Since its release in November 2018, Vanilla 28 has sold out multiple times. It has all the things people love about vanilla — the comfort, the sweetness, the deliciousness — but with a modern, sultry twist, which explains why it’s impossible to scroll your socials without the fragrance popping up. Here’s why it deserves all the hype it gets.
How Vanilla Leveled Up
For the uninitiated, Vanilla | 28 is a cozy gourmand infused with notes of brown sugar, amber woods, and tonka bean in addition to the titular vanilla, and the resulting fragrance defies expectations: Instead of a one-note saccharine feel, it has warmth and depth to it, making for a scent more reminiscent of a dark, intimate restaurant than a sun-drenched bakery. When you first spray it on, it does smell sweet — kind of what you would expect from a gourmand — and a little bit floral. But as it wears over time, the other notes like the patchouli, brown sugar, and musk come through. It still maintains a sugary aspect as it develops on skin, but in a way that’s rich, decadent, and hard to stop sniffing.
Not Just Any (One) Vanilla
Vanilla | 28’s supporting notes do a lot to take the vanilla to the next level — but the vanillas (note the plural) pull their weight, too. That’s because it uses not one but three different forms of vanilla: vanilla orchid, vanilla infusion, and vanilla surabsolute. So the scent has a lot of facets to it: It’s a little floral (thanks to the top notes of vanilla orchid and jasmine) and almost smells like a whiff of vanilla extract. That gives it the best of both worlds: While it might have the broad appeal of a good, old vanilla-based gourmand, the actual dry-down ends up being way more complex, making it a go-to everyday scent.
To Layer Or Not To Layer?
Vanilla 28 is the perfect topper for other scents: Like adding whipped cream to your dessert, it adds a touch of warm sweetness when layered over another scent, be it a body lotion or an eau de parfum. (For instance, the vanilla makes it a natural match for Kayali’s Utopia Vanilla Cocoa | 21, while it lends a sultry, mysterious edge to Kayali Lovefest Burning Cherry | 48.) But Vanilla | 28 has become a signature scent in its own right: when you wear it solo, it delivers a long-lasting warmth that’s toasty and intimate. Like any good vanilla perfume, it’s both easy to love and easy to wear — but incredibly indulgent, too.
In the end, it’s not surprising Vanilla | 28 has earned its fan-favorite status. By reimagining vanilla as rich, refined, and endlessly layerable, it helped spark a modern vanilla movement — and continues to set the standard for the category today.
