2019: Top 5 Comfort Scents for the Gourmand Lover

For the end of an amazing year with indie perfumes, and to give a final goodbye to 2019, here's a slightly belated post to celebrate some favorites I've found since I've started getting into these amazing indie brands!

Personally, I'm not someone who really sticks to 'signature scents', I'll love something, but scents are very much like the desserts I love - you can have something a few times if you love it, but a few months of the same scent without change, I can't help but itch for the next new thing to try.

With my comfort scents, these are days when I'm not testing any new scents, and scents that fit right into my gentle calming OST playlists, that are soft and sweet enough to keep me going. I have a tendency to reach for scents that aren't too loud, and aren't too bright, and indies are the only brands which have really done nuanced, realistic renditions of foodie scents that I can't help falling in love with.

I've picked my favorites across a few brands and most of these are part of the general collection for their brands (sans Sixteen92, who don't really include any gourmands in their GCs, but currently have on a pre-order for their resurrection event which includes this scent!) so if you're a gourmand lover and you've been looking for something new to try, maybe this list will point you in the right direction. So in no particular order...

 Madar (Poesie) - Creamy Basmati rice pudding flavored with orange flower water, saffron, cinnamon, cardamom, dried rose petals, sugared pistachios.

A best seller on Poesie's website, this is one of the scents I never expected myself to fall in love. The rice note is a rarity among indie scents, but it reminds me of a gourmand rendition of the ever nostalgic scent of rice cooking away in the cooker. As much as you might expect from the indulgently rich ingredients in this blend, it's a surprisingly wearable scent, the spices are never overwhelming, the pistachio isn't sharp, and the rice pudding stays familiar and comforting.
This scent has definitely kick started a love for rice notes, and there's something delicate and sweet about this, especially with the lovely aroma of rice that's nostalgic in just the right way, and the rest of the lovely soft spices that just blend and soften into an elegant scent that I'm oddly charmed by.

One of my absolute favorites from Poesie's amazing catalogue, would highly recommend (and it is now being offered in EDP form domestically as well!) I also love layering this with Sucre Vanille (a close runner up for this list!) and also Wouldst Thou like the Taste of Butter (Hexennacht).

Note: After having upsized this scent, I've noticed some inconsistencies in formula between the sample vial and my FS 5ml roller - notably that visually there is less of the settling darker oil in my full size, and that in terms of the fragrance, it's a little less sweet rice (my favorite part of this scent) and lighter on the cardamom in the FS as well. Poesie has not reformulated the scent at all, so this is most likely a difference owing to natural components, or perhaps stirring and pouring inconsistencies during production, so keep this in mind!

Blackburn's Parlor (Solstice Scents) - Vanilla Waffle Bowl, Vanilla & Chocolate Ice Creams, Sliced Bananas Smothered In Caramel Sauce & Topped With Whipped Cream.

The first ever indie purchase that I needed to repurchase, this is one of Solstice Scent's best sellers, and, as I found out, for a very good reason.

This is divine, and possibly, one of the best banana split scents I've ever tried, in an amazing EDP format. Banana splits for me are an indulgent affair, I love ice cream and have a killer sweet tooth, but it's very rare for me to have a banana split, although I confess, I love them.
The last time I had a banana split, I was in Boston city on Valentine's, sharing a banana split at
Ghirardelli's on a cold wintery day, and I managed to get the trifecta of Neapolitan ice creams, bundles of whipped cream and a measly sliver of banana and some shards of cone stuck haphazardly, but I devoured that ice cream with frankly, aggressive and concerning passion.
I love this scent precisely because it does everything a banana split is supposed to do, a decent full bodied burst of banana, topped with an indulgent drizzle of chocolate over a lovely cloud of vanilla ice cream and whipped cream. It's not an overly complicated scent with twists and turns, but this scent make me happy in its wonderful simplicity. I've finished two sample EDPs of this, and frankly, as one of the first gourmand I'd ever fallen in love with, this is a first love I'm unlikely to forget anytime soon, and will look back on with cherished, fond memories.

If you have the chance, I wholly recommend trying this, and would suggest the EDP over the perfume oil as much as possible, as I find the banana and chocolate sauce really come to life in EDP form, whereas the oil renders the scent a little more flat. Additionally, since Solstice Scents have partnered with DHL, and are able to ship their amazing 60ml EDPs, it's now possible for international buyers to get a hold of the huge bottles - although I've never finished a 60ml EDP before, and personally I would love if they offered smaller sizes, like a 20ml or 30ml.

Magical Girl (LuvMilk) - Sweet toasted marshmallow.

Another one from the Best Sellers list, and anyone looking into LuvMilk's catalogue are most likely to have stumbled upon Magical Girl once or twice.

This isn't really a complex scent, it's basically what's written on the box, but again, this scent charmed the pants off me. Although I don't really consider this a 'sweet toasted marshmallow' scent, it reminds me of this mall that I frequent a lot, which has this amazing scent throughout the whole mall, of just soft pillows of marshmallow sugar, warm vanilla with a touch of coconut. This scent for me is lovely, inoffensive and very much a room spray, and I'll often use this to scent my car as well, because LuvMilk's amazing body spray has amazing staying power and concentration, so a few spritz of this and you'll smell this for quite a while regardless of where it is, and because this scent leans towards a more blessedly, inoffensive and not too cloying angle (which other of Luvmilk's scents tend to fall towards), this is a winner for me,

I love this scent, and it definitely has a lovely sense of familiarity and it's a cozy haze of sugar that I just can't get enough of, for rooms, on the skin, or anywhere else I need a little pick me up, and upsized this from a 1oz to a 2oz bottle. I also own this scent in Luvmilk's dusting powder format, which is lovely, although for the scent and lasting power, I highly recommend the body spray.

Yellow Cake Batter (Sixteen92) - Rich & buttery birthday cake batter with rainbow sprinkles.

This is limited edition, and it's a right shame because this is honestly, one of the most delicious scents I've ever tried.
It is yellow cake, the way it tastes when it's been baked from cake mix in the box - it's sugar and sprinkles. This scent, reminds me of salted caramel muffins that I get from my university's cafeteria, its lovely airy cupcake body, with the delicious dollop of thickened caramel, cream and vanilla, warmed in the oven so the caramel is running off all on the lovely crisp edges of the cupcake. In AURA spray format, imagine a delicious fog of caramel, cake and birthday cake, which you can spray just about anywhere, and I douse myself, my hair and my entire room all in this scent and just marinate in it all day. In fact, I once wore this to a birthday party, and my friend turned to me and said to me, "oh I didn't need to turn around to see who came into the room, because I could just smell cake and knew it was definitely you."

I don't know how else to explain this scent, except to tell you that this is literally one of the best scents of my collection. Hands down. Sixteen92 do a smashing gourmand (Marshmallow Cake Pops and Vanilla Egg Cream to name a few) and that's already kickstarted an aggressive purchase from both the Black Friday sales and the current Resurrection event, and I've picked this scent up in an EDP format, because I'm already halfway through my 2oz AURA spray of this scent, and can't wait to get more (and keeping my fingers crossed that this scent comes up again next Res!)

Wouldst Thou Like the Taste of Butter (Hexennacht) - Hot buttered popcorn, marshmallow fluff, kettle corn, vanilla bean, dulce de leche.

Have you ever had a Buttered Popcorn JellyBelly? I ate this flavor with almost obsessive delight (shout out to peach, juicy pear and chocolate pudding), and this is pretty much exactly what it smells like, a good chunk of caramel-y sugary sweetness, with the touch of butter and that lovely nutty popcorn taste. This scent is like a haze of nostalgia, speckled with those lovely Jelly BellyTM jelly beans. On top of that, this scent boosts an amazing flourish of dulce de leche, poured on a bed of sweet marshmallow ice cream. Basically when I wear this, I'm know I'm going straight to flavortown.

Now listen. Dulce de leche, is like the unsung hero of the dessert world. Everyone natters on about, in my opinion, the vastly overrated SALTED CARAMEL, but look. Dulce de Leche, gets it every time. The main difference is that caramel typically uses normal milk/thickened cream, whereas dulce de leche uses condensed milk, and literally anyone who's tried condensed milk knows that it is the milk of the gods. For me, a little ice cream place down the road, called Messina, does this incredible Super Dulce de Leche special which has a lovely rich dulce de leche ice cream base, rippled with dulce de leche sauce, flecked with chunks of caramel. It is delicious, sinful and chock full of sugar, but a real treat, and this scent is actually how I realized my love for dulce de leche, because it's more decadent and luxurious than normal caramel, and tasting this amazing ice cream literally just solidified how much more I like this scent. I also vastly prefer this dulce de leche note over Tres Leches Cake (Sixteen92), because this has a richness and depth that Tres Leches just doesn't quite have (also it is intended as a layering scent so that might be why.)

I have this scent in extrait and oil form, but personally I actually prefer the oil formula of this, because there's something a little more decadent and richer in oil form, whereas the extrait feels a little sharper and a little less full bodied.