Shay & Blue
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
The caramel hits with full force—sticky, darkly sweet, verging on burnt sugar territory. Sea salt cuts through almost immediately, creating that addictive sweet-savoury tension you'd find in a proper salted caramel, granules still visible on top.
The tonka bean emerges with its characteristic hay-and-almond richness, introducing an earthy, almost tobacco-like warmth that adds complexity beyond simple dessert mimicry. The sweetness becomes rounder, less sharp-edged, as vanilla begins its slow creep from the base.
What remains is soft, skin-close sweetness—bourbon vanilla and sandalwood melding into a creamy, slightly woody murmur. The caramel has largely vanished, leaving behind something cosier and less literal, like the memory of sweetness rather than the thing itself.
Julie Massé's Salt Caramel walks a tightrope between patisserie and perfumery, and somehow—mostly—avoids plummeting into pure confection. The opening salvo is immediate and unapologetic: burnt sugar caramelised to the edge of bitterness, shot through with crystalline sea salt that acts less like a flavour enhancer and more like a structural necessity, tempering what could easily veer into cloying territory. This isn't the clean, blonde caramel of luxury chocolates; there's something darker here, a touch of molasses depth that suggests brown butter and demerara.
What rescues this from novelty territory is the Caribbean tonka bean at its heart—rich, hay-like, almost tobacco-esque in its complexity. It introduces a subtle spice element, that characteristic coumarin warmth threading through the sweetness like a spine. The bourbon vanilla and sandalwood base provide creamy ballast without feeling heavy, though the sandalwood reads more as textural softness than distinct woodiness. There's an intelligent restraint here; Massé knows when to pull back, allowing the composition to feel surprisingly wearable rather than purely edible.
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3.6/5 (96)