My Little Grotesque

[aiobhan]

Lilith expressing herself at the V&A: cardamom-dusted cupcakes.

In the bottle: It's the lab's yellow cake note. That's aaaaaaaaaaaalllllllll I can smell.
Warm on skin: Yellow cake and the tiniest bit of cardamom.
After a while: Foody, buttery yellow cake and dry, sweet-ish cardamom.

[suki]

In The Bottle: Yellow cake and cardamom! Woo hoo!

 

Wet On Skin: Hey cardamom, heeeeeeyyyy!

 

In All: I have been waiting for what seems like for-ev-er for a real, true, cardamom scent, and this is it.

Many years ago, when I first found out I had a gluten allergy, there was one tiny bakery in Seattle, where I lived at the time, and they made a gluten free cardamom cake with a rich frosting and I got a slice once a week to remind myself that the world wasn't *totally* conspiring against me.

 

This scent is that cake.

 

[vanilla323]

This scent is the perfect yellow cake cupcake with delicious frosting and it's all topped off with a little cardamon. When I smell the bottle I get cardamon. When I wear it the cupcake takes over a bit but that's ok! I love it! So yummy!

[foxroses]

Cardamom! It's not as sweet as I thought it might be, nor as spicy and intense as some other spice/food blends. Kind of carefree and light actually. Love.

[Lycanthrope]

It's interesting what our skin chemistries do to this scent, apparently mine eats cake.

This is like a very true cardamom seed essential oil - so for me tons of cardamom all the time with a teeeeeensy bit of cake.

[cherrycherry]

Hello cardamom! Mmm. This is such a gorgeously spicy gourmand perfume! Cake, cardamom and buttercream frosting.

 

Delicious <3

Edited October 4, 2016 by cherrycherry

[Stacy Rollins]

Exactly as described, and I love it intensely. However, I wish its throw were as intense as my adoration. It's quite light. My skin devoured Love's Philosophy--another simple, sweet scent on the vanilla/yellow cake range--too, even when I lacquered up my skin with jojoba oil as a base. I'm keeping my bottle, but I betcha I use it all up precipitously.

[Catcircus]

This is amazing! Just right, not to sweet cupcake with a delightful cardamom topping. The cake part doesn't last forever on me. It ends up smelling like the rice pudding at my favorite Indian restaurant. Yummy sweet cardamom!!

[LizziesLuck]

I am not as big a fan of cake notes as I used to be, but I adore cardamom and so could not pass this up!

 

Wet: Nummy vanilla cake, with LOTS of cardamom, yay! I always find it gets lost in scents, but this cardamom is not lost at all it is OUT THERE. Yum. The cake is sweet, but not buttery, which is great. I don't get any frosting, and I am ok with that too. The cardamom has a perfumey quality that keeps this from being too gourmand. It's different, and a bit sophisticated, for something that smells like cake.

 

Dry: As this dries down, it becomes more balanced - the cake and cardamom are about equal. I like this a lot. I struggle to find scents that will be ok for work, and I have found bakery scents the best for that purpose, though they aren't necessarily my absolute favourite. People at the office just smell baked goods and get hungry, they never suspect it's my perfume. Anyway, considering getting a bottle, even though there's not as much cardamom in the dry down as I would have liked. I think it'll wear really well to work.

[miss_rynn]

Super cardamom right off the bat, but certainly a more bakery style than a savoury scent. Not at all stabby or intrusive, just very clear and true. The cake note comes through softly with wear, but it starts to turn ashy on me like many of the cakey Liliths do before I could get a real feel for it. Certainly worth trying if more cakey-scents work on you!

[Blood onmy hands]

This smells like heaven. I don't know how to describe cardamom, other than to say it smells like cardamom. Wonderful spiciness. Baked into a moist yellow cupcake and dotted through the best vanilla buttercream frosting ever. Some of bpal's gourmand scents smell dry to me, but this is moist, sweet cake and tons of vanilla frosting. Uncomplicated and perfect.
I want to hoard a million bottles of this.

[mollison]

Wet: This actually smells a lot like the lab's red velvet cake note, à la Cake Smash! With spiciness in the background.

 

Drying down: This is a cardamom-dusted yellow cupcake!!!! The cupcake does not have frosting, which is fine. There is not much sweetness here, which makes it a lot more wearable and sophisticated. The cardamom is very present. I want to eat my wrist!

 

What's great about this scent is it is a cake scent that doesn't smell like you've literally smeared cake on your arm, as some of the lab's cake scents sometimes do on me. GREAT for certain times and moods, but when you go to work or go be an adult, you sometimes don't want to smell overwhelmingly of sugar. So this is something I would even wear on a date or to the office or whatever.

 

Dry: There is a tiiiiiiiny hint of a plasticky note that has come out--some foodie scents do that on me, sadly. The lab's white cake note does not do that on me, nor does the red velvet cake note, so this must be a yellow cake note. Just enough that this is probably not one I can have a bottle of. Well, that is heartbreaking, because this is such a great scent otherwise!

Edited October 15, 2016 by mollison

[velvet]

In the wet stage this is beautiful Lemony(?) cardamom and cake. I love all things cardamom so my hopes are flying a little too high.

In the middle stage the cardamom is toned down but still present and I continue to hope that there isn't a pesky vanilla note hanging around with the yellow cake note.

As soon as it's dry.... there it is. That plastic note that ruins every single scent with vanilla in it for me. </3

The lab's vanilla won't work on me. It's a lesson I'm not often tempted into remind myself of, but the promise of a prominent cardamom scent was too tempting.

[astarinel]

Gorgeous cake note, reminds me of the red velvet in Monster Bait: Closet which is one of my favorite cake notes! Vanilla buttercream icing, though, instead of the berry buttercream in that scent. The cardamom is spicy and warm without adding a too-heavy spice note.

 

Intensely delicious; I would eat so many cupcakes that tasted like this smells. One of the best straightforward foodie scents I've tried from the lab in a while. Fairly strong throw, good lasting power.

[Haltija]

SOOOO GOOD!

 

Buttercream icing, yellow cake and the smoothest cardamom I have ever smelled. I smell a little hint of vanilla the longer it sits on my skin and each time I take a sniff I love it more and more. This is a grown up gourmand scent and I need it forever.

Edited October 17, 2016 by Haltija

[creepy]

at first it was too strong but then it turned into a rich cardamom cake- nice!

[zankoku_zen]

Sweet yellow cake, cheesecake frosting, cardamom. At a point during the drydown, the vanilla started to go plasticky, but then it bounced back and cardamom asserted dominance. So now I smell like a spice cake. If you ever wanted to smell like a spice cake, this one is it folks. Good throw and wear length.

[lookingglass]

This is the Lil I HAD to have. It really wasn't even on my radar until I just happened to smell it at Will Call. It's deliciously sweet and spicy...a sophisticated, gourmet confection. On my skin, it does not read as "foody". The cardamom is distinct, forward, fresh, and bright on application, but soon dries down, warming with the skin, and combining with complex vanilla notes that are both creamy and dry. I love the cake note...it's similar to the one in Eat Me. This cake becomes like sweet incense on my skin, not plasticy or sophomoric like other brands' It's not as heavily spiced as say, Shub or other pumpkin spiced Weens. It has good sillage and better than average wear length on me, but it's not at all cloying or heavy like you might imagine a cupcake to be. I love it and plan to rip through the bottle!

[AmyO'Shields]

Holy cardamom! Woo it is strong! Nice cake underneath. Yum.

[Jenjin]

i'm in love with cardamom, tea, cakes, bread you name it I adore whatever it's in. Not sure why I hesitated to pick this up, but I firmly believe that anyone that doesn't like Grotesque, doesn't like cardamom for whatever reason. The spice punch at the beginning is lovely, soft and perfect. Not too sweet or overpowering, with a cake note that sits firmly beneath it and give it a certain creaminess. This is GORGEOUS! I've been looking for something different for fall that doesn't scream pumpkin spice, clove or cinnamon. It never goes plastic or artificial, is perfectly balanced and blended to perfection HOWL~

[Gale]

This is such a beautiful cardamom and cake blend, the only question I have is how many backup bottles should I get? It's worth hoarding.

[milo]

OK, I'm not a foody, but I love cardamon, so I had to try this. Yup, cardamon, and delicious cake. Damn, I may need to update my preferences, as this is GOOD! It does remind me of Gypsy Moth, somewhat, but this is more foody. Simple and quite lovely. I may have to upgrade to a bottle...

[sprout]

Quintessential cupcakes blend. The only way to hate this is if you dislike buttercream, Vanilla, or Cardamom.

 

This blend be truth in advertising, my hearties. Truth with a capital "T"

 

It smells like delicious, freshly baked but cooled, Yellow cupcakes with vanilla buttercream icing then dusted with Cardamom. I am not sure if there are spice ampers, batch variations, or my skin turns things sweet (probably that), but I am getting 30/30/30 Yellow Cake/buttercream/Cardamom.

 

Full bottle acquired, hoard mode activated!!! Throw is average, dry down a little better (longer) than average. I think I can actually let go of things like Cake Smash and Sprinkle cake...

Edited November 26, 2016 by sprout

[missnix]

Foodie blends, especially cake, can often be too rich for my tastes and upset my stomach. The cardamom is actually a great counter-balance for me in My Little Grotesque; it's spicy, a tad dry, and really helps reel back in the sweet cake note. The cake is still very much present - and I am continually amazed by how realistic the lab's cake note is - it's moist, sweet, and definitely a yellow cake as others have noted.

 

This blend has made me realize that cardamom is one of (if not the) trademark note that I associate with the smell of chai tea. So, to me at least, this basically smells like a glorious chai-spiced cake

Edited December 18, 2016 by missnix

[twilighteyes]

In the bottle: A little too bakery/foodie. I was dubious.

 

Wet on skin: Pretty much SN Cardamom on me.

 

Dry down: Vanilla is coming out with the cardamom yet it is managing to NOT be a gourmand scent. Yum!