Fugazzi Vanilla Haze vs Toskovat Last Birthday Cake

Both fragrances lean on vanilla and both count as sweet, but they're not interchangeable. Vanilla Haze stays with cream, nuts and coconut. Last Birthday Cake starts as a cake and ends with incense and gunpowder — which is unusual for a sweet fragrance.

Property	Vanilla Haze	Last Birthday Cake
House	Fugazzi	Toskovat
Concentration	EDP	Extrait
Top notes	almond, hazelnut, coconut milk, mandarin	Bitter almond, milk, hazelnut cocoa spread, cork, malt, calla lily
Heart notes	vanilla pod, tonka, jasmine	Cake, brandy, vanilla, brown sugar, cream, tonka, benzoin, clover
Base notes	caramel, cashmere wood, musk, amber	Incense, gunpowder, skin, styrax, bran, tolu balsam, papyrus
Longevity (community rating)	8–14 hours	8–12 hours
Sillage (community rating)	Moderate	Moderate, sweet trail
Full bottle	€205 / 100 ml	€195 / 100 ml
Price per millilitre	€2.05	€1.95
Decant 5 ml	€14	€32
Decant 10 ml	€26	€54

Vanilla Haze is simpler and friendlier: almond, hazelnut and coconut milk up top, vanilla pod and tonka in the heart, caramel and cashmere wood in the base. It smells exactly as you'd expect, and that's why it works. Last Birthday Cake takes a detour — bitter almond and milk up top, cake with brandy and brown sugar in the heart, and incense, gunpowder and leather underneath. Its accords include smoke, which Vanilla Haze doesn't have, and that's what pulls it out of the pastry shop. They're close in price: Vanilla Haze €205 for 100 ml, Last Birthday Cake €195 for 100 ml. With decants Vanilla Haze is noticeably cheaper — €14 against €32 for 5 ml.

Which is more wearable every day?

Vanilla Haze. It's creamy and holds no surprises, so you can wear it to work too. Last Birthday Cake, with smoke and gunpowder, is more distinctive and more of an evening fragrance.

Does Last Birthday Cake really smell of gunpowder?

Gunpowder is listed among the base notes, which in perfumery means a dry, smoky and slightly metallic note, not the literal smell of explosives. The effect is more smoky than dramatic.

Which is sweeter?

Vanilla Haze in the first hour, Last Birthday Cake in the heart. The difference is that the sweetness in Vanilla Haze lasts to the end, while in Last Birthday Cake it gives way to smoke.

Are both unisex?

In our database Vanilla Haze is listed as feminine and Last Birthday Cake as masculine. In composition both are neutral enough that the labels don't mean much in practice.

Which one as a gift?

Vanilla Haze, if you don't know the recipient well. Last Birthday Cake is a fragrance people are better off choosing themselves — or at least testing with a decant before buying.