Jailia
by Profumi di Pantelleria

A brilliant alternative to people who want "Angel" with a bit more of a refined attitude.
Top-notes are fruity and indredibly lush...to me, it's like a can of over-ripe, yellow peaches and mangoes in heavy syrup. I don't know which of the fragrances came first, Angel or Jailia, but the latter seems to be made of superior ingredients and doesn't have any of the harsh, chemical notes to it which I don't like in Angel. Nevertheless, I don't find this fragrance very innovative and the genre itself is not my cup of tea either.

5th December, 2010.

The rich, gorgeous tropical fruit top notes that introduce Jailia put most of the other fruity fragrances I’ve tried to shame. They are joined almost immediately by creamy vanilla and a smooth, very faintly animalic honey, which together establish a palm-lined beach accord of hallucinatory accuracy and substance. Close your eyes and you can feel the sun on your face and the sand on your back. Jailia’s voluptuous fruit is neither mango, guava, nor papaya. It’s not jackfruit and it’s not passion fruit. If anything concrete at all, it suggests a blend of cherimoya, coconut, and over-ripe pineapple, but in truth it is a complete abstraction, the distilled essence of some idealized, archetypical exotic fruit.

Much has been made of Jailia’s resemblance to Angel, which is in fact quite striking in the intensely sweet, fruity top notes. Thirty minutes into their respective developments however, Angel and Jailia part ways decisively. Where Angel casts off much of its fruit to juxtapose a very loud, angular, vaguely sweaty patchouli with chocolate and vanilla in a famously shocking discord, Jailia keeps its fruit forward and its patchouli in the background, envelops both in the translucent glow of honey, and thereby retains a smooth, sumptuous tropical fruit custard character. Where Angel’s heart is brash, Jailia’s is comfortably soft and sunny. Where Angel belts out a tune, Jailia hums seductively.

Jailia sashays down the beach, hips swaying, hair stirring in the breeze, and gentle sillage trailing behind it for three or four hours before relaxing into its plush drydown of bright patchouli and vanilla, with the animal warmth of the honey still resonating in the background. Having worn Jailia often, I see it less as an Angel alternative than as the apotheosis of the “tropical” scent: the Ipanema fragrance that Nicolaï’s Cococabana, Ormonde Jayne’s Frangipani Absolute, Creed’s Virgin Island Water, and all their lesser kin want to be, but aren’t. It’s a masterpiece in a genre that I don’t even particularly like. Delightful!

11th December, 2009.

What Vibert and Moss said, except that I find it to be very patchouli-prominent as well.

24th August, 2009.

Vibert's review is spot on. Not a genre that I like or wear, but there is something gorgeous about this. Rich tropical fruits, honey, vanilla, and chocolate. Not overly sweet though. It is much more sophisticated than it's counterparts on the market. Though I won't buy this for myself, I would highly recommend to those that like this type of scent.

16th July, 2009.