Eclaire Banoffi

Banana is the first thing you smell and there is no ambiguity about it: ripe, creamy, slightly caramelised banana, with dulce de leche pouring in underneath within seconds. The heart of vanilla and whipped cream thickens the picture rather than changing it, and the base of biscuit, praline and musk delivers precisely what the name promises, which is banoffee pie in a bottle. This is a literal fragrance. There is no clever twist, no smoky counterpoint, no dry-down that reframes the opening. What you smell in the first thirty seconds is the entire proposition.

Whether that appeals is genuinely a matter of taste and the ratings reflect it. Fragrantica users have it at 3.87 out of 5 from around 1,150 votes, which is decent but the lowest of Lattafa's recent gourmand launches, and the split in opinion is real. Banana is a difficult note: on some skin it reads as fresh fruit and toffee, on others it tips toward sunscreen or banana-flavoured sweets. Sample before buying if you have the option.

It is not a clone of anything. Banana-led gourmands remain rare in mainstream perfumery, and Lattafa released this in 2025 alongside Eclaire Pistache as a two-bottle dessert concept rather than as an interpretation of an existing fragrance.

Performance is moderate to good at six to eight hours, with the sweetest projection in the first two and a soft, milky skin scent afterwards. Heat amplifies it considerably, so a light hand makes sense in Durban humidity where a gourmand this rich can quickly become overwhelming.

Best worn casually and in cooler weather: coffee dates, cinema, evenings in, the sort of occasions where smelling delicious matters more than smelling appropriate. It is listed as unisex but sits far more comfortably in a sweet-gourmand wardrobe than a formal one. As a gift it works best for someone who already owns and enjoys dessert fragrances, since it is a specific taste rather than a safe crowd-pleaser, and it is not the bottle to hand someone whose collection is all fresh and citrus.