In the ninth century a scholar in Baghdad named al-Kindi wrote the Book of the Chemistry of Perfume, more than a hundred recipes for fragrant oils, salves and aromatic waters, plus formulas for stand-ins for rare ingredients. One recipe, a perfume called ghaliya, called for musk and amber. Perfume in that part of the world has been serious chemistry for a very long time, and it has never been shy about sweetness.

Yara perfume comes from Lattafa Perfumes, a fragrance house based in the UAE, and the original launched in 2020. Fragrantica lists orchid, heliotrope and tangerine on top, a gourmand accord with tropical fruits in the heart, and vanilla, musk and sandalwood at the base. It files it as an amber vanilla scent. There is no strawberry anywhere in that list, which is the funny part, because the TikTok reputation says it smells like a strawberry milkshake. Reviewers on Fragrantica and Parfumo dispute that outright, and many read it instead as a creamy, powdery orchid and vanilla. Fragrantica gives it about 3.95 out of 5 from more than 11,000 votes, a lot of people arguing over one pink bottle.

The trick is to shop the first grid as a set of moods on one theme. Yara is the original. Yara Moi, Yara Tous and Yara Candy are the flankers, and Lattafa's own listing gives Tous coconut, mango and passionfruit on top, and gives Candy a strawberry fizz candy note in the heart, which is the only strawberry in the family. Elixir sits alongside them in the same family. The Pure Concentrated Perfume Oil is the close-to-skin option, and the My Yara Collection 4 Piece Gift Set and the 4 Piece Mini Spray Collection let you compare before committing.

The note list. Lattafa lists tangerine, heliotrope and orchid on top, tropical notes and a gourmand accord in the heart, and vanilla, sandalwood and musk at the base. Scent Critic describes it as a creamy flower dusted in icing sugar, closer to a powder compact than a dessert. That reads right to me.

 

Strawberry milkshake or not. Not by the notes, since none of them is strawberry. Reviewers on Fragrantica disagree with one another, and describe it as a pink marshmallow, a tropical smoothie or even sparkling cherries. Smell it on skin before you decide, because the heliotrope reads differently on everyone.

 

Telling the bottles apart. The original is the pink bottle with a ribbon collar. Yara Moi is white, Yara Tous is yellow and Yara Candy is hot pink, and Yara Elixir is a deeper rose-brown. All five are listed at Ulta.

 

Where to look. Sephora does not carry Lattafa. Ulta lists the original, Moi, Tous, Candy and Elixir, plus the Yara perfume oils.

Start with one question: do you want more warmth or more sweetness than Yara has. The second grid is the answer, and it is easier to see that way than by reading notes.

Khamrah leans into a spiced, warmer direction than the amber vanilla of the pink bottle, and it is the one I would try for autumn. Eclaire and Victoria sit closer to the brand's sweeter, more mainstream register, so if the original feels big, they are the gentler step. Her Confession and Habik round out the women's side with their own gourmand and floral leanings, and Angham is another way in. Haya is sold for women, and Ana Abiyedh is sold for everyone, which is worth noticing if you are shopping for a partner or a friend.

None of these were built to copy Yara. They come from the same house and the same instinct for a big, sweet, long-projecting spray, and that is the thread.

A pairing I like: wear the sweeter one on your wrists and a spicier one like Khamrah on a scarf, and the room will smell like two people who both have good taste.

What I would skip: testing three Lattafa bottles on one arm in a single afternoon. Sweet, long-lasting scents pile up fast, and by the third you will not be able to tell any of them apart.

A habit worth borrowing for dessert perfumes: name the dessert before you buy. If you cannot say what it smells like in one word, you will not know when to wear it.

Lattafa's Give Me Gourmand line makes that easy, because the names do half the work. Whipped Pleasure and Mallow Madness are the soft, airy ones. Cookie Crave and Choco Overdose are the ones that push the bakery to the front, the kind you wear on a cold walk to a coffee shop. Vanilla Freak is the plainest and probably the easiest to wear to work, and Berry on Top adds the fruit. The Eclaire family gets its own flankers: Eclaire Banoffi goes in a banana toffee direction, and Eclaire Pistache goes nutty and green.

Together they show what a perfume can do when a brand commits fully to smelling like food instead of referencing it. If you loved the sweetness of the pink bottle but wanted something more literal, this is the shelf. If you wanted more sophistication, walk back to the previous grid.

What I would skip: any of these for a job interview, a hospital visit or a dinner party where everyone is sitting close. Dessert scents are for the walk, the movie and the friend who asks what you are wearing.

Here is how I would choose outside Lattafa: decide whether you want your sweetness to smell like vanilla, like marshmallow or like milk. Those are three separate wishes, and the grid splits them neatly.

Vanilla first. Ariana Grande's MOD Vanilla and PHLUR's Vanilla Canyon keep vanilla as the headline, the simplest place to start. Marshmallow is KAYALI: Yum Boujee Marshmallow 81 and Vanilla Candy Rock Sugar 42 both push the dessert idea further, and they do not apologise for it.

Then milk. DedCool's Mochi Milk and Miu Miu's Fleur de Lait, the latter with coconut milk, lean into an actual milky accord rather than plain vanilla, and Commodity's Milk Orchid pairs that milkiness with a floral note instead of a food one, which sounds odd and works. LoveShackFancy's Secret Crush is the softest and least dessert-like of the group, a good daily wear.

A pairing I like: something milky on the skin and a plain vanilla on your hair or clothes. You get a soft cloud rather than a bakery.

What I would skip: layering three sugary perfumes in the hope of a signature scent. Choose one leading note and let the others sit quietly behind it.

I think the pink bottle deserves to be bought for what is in it: an amber vanilla with orchid and musk, not a strawberry milkshake. If that is what you want, it does the job, and you will have joined a very large and very opinionated club.

If the sweetness works but the projection is too big, try Eclaire or Victoria. If you want the dessert taken further, walk to the Give Me Gourmand shelf. If it turns out the milk is what you love, Mochi Milk and Fleur de Lait do it more directly.

Al-Kindi would have recognised the impulse. People have been trying to bottle a sweet thing for a thousand years, and they are still arguing about what it smells like. If you want to keep browsing, I also put together Spicebomb Extreme, the Grenade Bottle That Smells Like Tobacco and Vanilla and Why Sì Perfume Still Smells Like Saying Yes.

If a scent caught you here, these are its closest cousins.

The Boozy Gourmand

Tom Ford Perfume Dupe

Strawberry Perfume Is Mostly a Lab Trick, and I Love It Anyway

Smoky Perfumes for Sweater Weather

Flowerbomb Perfume and the Diamond Grenade That Made Florals Loud

Mugler Alien Goddess, Angel and the Vanilla and Jasmine Perfumes Around Them

Vanilla Bourbon Perfume for Cold Nights and Low Lighting

YSL Perfume