kenzo Amour My Love Review: A Modern Gourmand for the Hopeless Romantic
Is this sweet, creamy floral worth the hype? We break down the performance, price, and perfect occasions.
Launched in 2022, kenzo Amour My Love is the latest chapter in the brand's long-running Amour saga. The original kenzo Amour, created by perfumer Daphné Bugey, debuted in 2006 as an ode to a journey of love across Asia, capturing the scent of steamed rice and cherry blossom. Amour My Love represents a contemporary evolution, shifting the narrative from a travelogue to a more intimate, personal declaration. It arrives in a market saturated with sweet, crowd-pleasing scents, aiming to carve its niche with a distinct, creamy, and comforting gourmand profile.
Positioned within kenzo's fragrance portfolio, Amour My Love sits as a flanker to the beloved original, yet it stands as a fully independent scent. The brand, known for its playful yet sophisticated aesthetic under the creative direction of Humberto Leon and Carol Lim, uses this fragrance to target a younger, modern audience who appreciates both designer quality and a unique scent story. It's not a powerhouse beast-mode fragrance; instead, it's a skin scent with an emotional pull, designed for close encounters and personal enjoyment.
The inspiration behind Amour My Love is unabashedly romantic. The concept revolves around the intoxicating, comforting feeling of being enveloped in love. The scent is meant to evoke the warmth of a hug, the sweetness of a shared secret, and the creamy, soft texture of a cherished memory. The bottle design reinforces this, featuring the iconic Kenzo poppy transformed into a heart shape, cradled by two hands—a literal and visual representation of love being held and protected.
Within the fragrance community, Amour My Love has garnered a reputation as a "safe" but delightful gourmand-floral. It's praised for its wearability and unique rice pudding-like drydown, often described as a comforting, edible scent. It hasn't sparked the polarizing debates of more challenging fragrances, instead settling into a role as a reliable, pleasing option for daily wear, particularly for those who find typical vanilla or caramel gourmands too cloying. Its cultural impact lies in its accessibility and its successful translation of a warm, fuzzy emotion into a bottled scent.
The Nose Behind the Scent
Daphné Bugey. A master perfumer for Firmenich, Bugey is renowned for her ability to create evocative, often gourmand or floral, compositions with a modern twist. Her notable creations include the original kenzo Amour (2006), Ariana Grande Cloud, several scents for L'Artisan Parfumeur (including Mémoire de Roses), and numerous works for niche and designer houses. She has a particular talent for blending unexpected edible notes with classic floral structures.
Accords
Notes Pyramid
Scent Journey
The fragrance opens with a surprisingly airy and steamy impression of rice, not dry or grainy, but like the comforting scent of warm, steamed jasmine rice. This is immediately wrapped in a soft, dewy cherry blossom and a tropical hint of frangipani. It's soft, slightly sweet, and incredibly inviting, avoiding any sharp or alcoholic blast.
After 30-60 minutes, the heart reveals itself. The heliotrope and vanilla orchid take center stage, bringing a powdery, almond-like sweetness that merges seamlessly with a distinct creamy, milky accord. The rice note evolves, becoming less 'steamed' and more like a warm rice pudding. The floral aspects become smoother and more blended, creating a cozy, edible bouquet.
In the final drydown, which emerges around the 4-hour mark and lingers for hours, the scent becomes a skin-hugging whisper of creamy sandalwood, clean white musk, and soft blond woods. The gourmand quality remains but is tempered by the woody-musky base. It smells like the ghost of a delicious dessert on warm, clean skin—intimate, comforting, and subtly sweet.
Performance Dashboard
Lasts a solid 7-9 hours on skin, transitioning to a close-wearing skin scent after the first 3-4 hours. On clothing, it can be detected for 12+ hours.
Low to moderate projection. It creates a personal scent bubble of about an arm's length for the first 2 hours before settling very close to the skin. It is not a room-filler.
Light sillage. It leaves a very faint trail and is primarily designed for personal enjoyment or for someone to discover when they are very close to you.
When to Wear
Community Verdict
Receives gentle, curious compliments rather than loud ones. People close to you will comment on how nice, cozy, or subtly sweet you smell. It's a 'lean-in' compliment getter.
Pros & Cons
- ✅ Unique and comforting rice pudding/steamed milk gourmand profile
- ✅ Exceptionally wearable and inoffensive for daily use
- ✅ Beautiful, romantic bottle design
- ✅ Good longevity as a skin scent
- ❌ Very low projection and sillage – too intimate for some
- ❌ The milky note can sometimes read as slightly sour on certain skin chemistries
- ❌ Not a versatile all-season fragrance; can feel too heavy in extreme heat
Price & Value
“Fairly priced for a designer EDP with a unique scent profile. You are paying for the concept and quality ingredients, not monstrous performance.”
📜 Reformulation History
No significant batch variation or reformulation history reported since its 2022 launch. As a relatively new fragrance, the composition has remained consistent.
Who It's For
✅ Ideal For
- Women and men who enjoy gourmands but want something less sugary
- Hopeless romantics and sentimental wearers
- Young adults to middle-aged individuals (20-45)
- Those seeking a comforting, non-offensive daily scent
⚠️ Not Recommended For
- People who love beast-mode performance and huge projection
- Those averse to powdery or milky notes
- Individuals seeking a fresh, citrusy, or aquatic fragrance
The Family
The original 2006 fragrance with a more pronounced rice and cherry blossom theme, less creamy.
A brighter, more explicitly floral interpretation of the Amour DNA.
A richer, more intense and vanilla-heavy version of the original Amour.
Explore More
🔍 Similar Fragrances
Shares a similar warm, milky, and comforting vibe, though Philosophy is simpler and more linear.
Explores a more avant-garde, photorealistic 'milk' accord, often compared for its creamy lactonic character.
A far more luxurious and potent citrus-gourmand, but shares that 'edible dessert' feeling, swapping rice pudding for caramelized lemon cake.
A more sophisticated, lavender and vanilla-based gourmand-floral that occupies a similar 'comforting, feminine' space.
💡 Clone Alternatives
An inspired-by fragrance that captures the creamy, vanilla-heliotrope heart of Amour My Love at a lower price point.
Listed as a dupe for Philosophy Fresh Cream, it offers a comparable milky, soft gourmand experience similar to Amour My Love's drydown.
❤️ You May Also Enjoy
Shares a similar crowd-pleasing, sweet, and creamy aura, though Cloud is more coconut-lactonic and musky.
Another comforting, slightly lactonic scent perfect for cozy, intimate moments.
For those who love the edible, caramelized, creamy aspect of Amour My Love's drydown.
A more sensual, plum-and-musk take on the comforting, feminine floral genre.
More from kenzo
🧪 Layering Ideas
- A light, clean musk (like Escentric Molecules Molecule 01) to enhance longevity and skin-scent quality.
- A bright citrus (like Atelier Cologne Orange Sanguine) in the summer to cut through the creaminess.
- A deeper vanilla or sandalwood solinote (like Kayali Vanilla 28) to amplify the gourmand base for evening.
🏆 Final Verdict
kenzo Amour My Love is not a fragrance for the performance chaser or the loud statement-maker. It is a purchase for the individual who values scent as a form of personal comfort and emotional expression. You should buy it if you are drawn to unique gourmands that stray from the typical vanilla-caramel path, favoring instead the subtle, creamy sweetness of steamed rice and heliotrope.
It represents excellent value as a designer scent that dares to be different, offering a truly distinctive profile in a sea of similar sweet florals. Its beautiful bottle is a bonus, making it a lovely addition to any vanity. While its intimate sillage may be a drawback for some, it is precisely this quality that makes it perfect for office settings, close-quarter dates, or simply as a scent to enjoy for yourself. In a world of shouty fragrances, Amour My Love is a tender, whispered promise of comfort—and for the right wearer, that is exactly its strength.