Sticky Toffee Pudding

Sticky Toffee Pudding sets out to smell like the dessert and, by one buyer's account, it does. The maker calls it the gourmand of gourmands, as intense and heavenly as the pudding itself. The opening is lactonic: cream, ice cream and custard notes with milk, like the cold sauce poured over something hot. The heart is the pudding. Medjool dates, caramel and toffee lead, with cinnamon and honey for spice and sweetness. The base is burnt toffee and vanilla on a little wood, so the sweetness is warmed and slightly caramelised rather than clean sugar. A fragrance database also lists pastry and vanilla pudding, which fits the idea. Because it leans so heavily on sweetness, opinion divides. One buyer finds it smells exactly like sticky toffee pudding; another calls it lovely but not for them. A wearer comparing the house's gourmands calls the sticky toffee pudding and the creme brulee heavier ones, and says anyone cautious about cloying gourmands should start with the lighter toffee-caramel blend. No wearer reports hours or sillage yet, so treat the maker's word on intensity as the guide. It is a cold-weather scent, best for evenings and cosy days rather than the office. It sits among the sweeter handmade indie gourmands, and a 3 ml sample is a sensible first step.