A few “gentle gourmands” for autumn

My latest post on Now Smell This reviews three fragrances that spin vanilla notes in more interesting directions than “marshmallow fluff” or “funfetti cake.” I love an actual dessert as much as anyone. However, I’ve wearied of the ongoing gourmand-mania that’s been dominating nouveau niche perfumery for the past year and more. So many of these fragrances are just SO sweet, and SO loud in their sweetness, that I feel olfactory fatigue even when I’m just near someone who’s wearing the latest caramelliccino creamberry extrait. But when my aromasphere pal Tracey Wan (who goes as @theinvisiblestories on Instagram) recently declared this autumn a moment for “gentle gourmands,” I found myself nodding and scanning my desktop for something that would fit that description—with the emphasis on gentle. Here are five recommendations for gourmand or gourmand-adjacent perfumes that go beyond sweetness, with quietly surprising results. Anood Sunny 7 (2025, Gustavo Romero). Did you succumb to the…

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