Coffee Bean, Cardamom, & Vanilla Pod

[zankoku_zen]

No scent description provided.

[zankoku_zen]

I get a ton of cardamom and coffee. Did I mention the cardamom? It's mainly a cardamom + coffee blend on me. No vanilla. Good throw and wear length.

[torikitty]

Sweet cardamom, light coffee, hint of vanilla to round things out. It's surprisingly not overpowering, and the cardamom stays as cardamom with my chemistry. Oddly enough, this ends up smelling a bit perfumey from far away. I guess designer perfumes use cardamom? It's pretty, and I can see this being a gateway perfume for getting people into BPAL.

 

ETA: a year later, the coffee is not really there. On me, it's a pretty cardamom. It sticks around for a few hours.

Edited January 4, 2021 by torikitty

[Missanneshirleyofgg]

I stuffed my arm, literally my entire forearm, into everyone’s face tonight at the dirty south lunacy because WHOA I LOVE THIS. I have this unusual issue with absolutely thinking coffee is the best scent ever (including haunting a local Starbucks so much that they gave me the velvet chair I sat in every day when they remodeled, hello I can share a picture) and thinking old coffee smells like my mean old cat Emmett peed somewhere sneaky. All coffee does the cat pee thing about an hour in..... Starbucks. My dads expensive imported Columbia’s.... even decaf in a jar and unfortunately even OMG Yankee coffee candle which I figured someone whipped up out of BS, not actually really used anything related to coffee. But fresh coffee is literally my go to comfort, and reminds me of having two sets of newborn twins and how my husband let me take off every Sunday and said “Take the day, stay away until you miss us”  and me sipping an over priced blend in a velvet chair and reading golden  age detection and parenting like I was single and childless and indulging in SELF CARE..... the smell of Coffee House was comfort food to my *soul* .....but after going home to my lovely babies and husband my clothing smelled like stank. So much yuck. Old coffee yuck. Teachers lounge yuck. But being there when the coffee is fresh brewed.....yes......
 

So, I wanted everyone to sniff my forearm because I got no cat. I got no cat then, I get no cat now (four hours  is the prettiest coffee blend . Everyone is trending Cardamom but this is the most creative use to date, and I love how the vanilla and Cardamom add sweetness and a bit of crunch to the coffee. Yes crunch. It’s desert like, but the Cardamom is slightly nutty (not alone!). The kind of yummy Cardamom adding ambiance and glamour to your Basic Vanilla Latte. 

Yum.

 

I bought full size. 

[Casablanca]

Surprisingly sweet cardamom, with just airy hints of vanilla and coffee.

 

This quickly becomes a scarcely there, sweet cardamom skin scent on me. Really faint vanilla, no coffee.

 

This one seems to have passed right through me, like a coffee-house ghost.

[starbrow]

You know it's all about that card, bout that card, no coffee....okay, it's not THAT far! But certainly this is the most fragrant cardamom with just a little accessorizing from the coffee and vanilla. This one blooms and blooms on my skin, shifting from sweet cardamom coffee (in the bottle/wet) to a very "French lady's fancy perfume" cardamom that's uber smooth, posh, and only slightly sweet and with a perfumed version of coffee as well, rather than an actual cup beside you. I find myself craving more whiffs of vanilla, and I'm going to try layering this with other scents and with vanilla-y hair glosses to get some more of that note complementing the rest.

 

It's really interesting, because I associate cardamom with being an earthy spice that's a little gritty and green. But it's exactly the opposite here, it smells very expensive, elevated, enhanced with some perfumery base note but I have no idea what. Is that the vanilla pod? Some other, unlisted note? Probably! It's quite strong on me and I feel like I definitely will have to be in a certain mood to wear this one, because of how long the cardamom lingers around (like, hours and hours), but I'm looking forward to some layering experiments with my bottle of this!

[torischroeder9]

In the decant: Cardamom and coffee bean. And it really is coffee bean -- like it smells like whole roasted beans, not ground coffee, not brewed coffee. 

 

On my skin:

 

Wet, it's cardamom and coffee bean in about equal amounts. I get a touch of vanilla pod adding just a tiny bit of sweetness. As it dries, the vanilla pod amps up on me -- not to overwhelm, but just to about the same level as the coffee bean and cardamom. 

 

It's a dry but balanced scent, with a hint of sweetness and spice. 

[puellacaerulea]

In the decant and once applied, this is definitely heavy on the cardamom, but it doesn't totally overwhelm the coffee. Agreed with other reviewers that the coffee note is more beans than brewed coffee. (I like to throw a cardamom pod into my French press along with the ground coffee if I have some on hand, and this scent is pretty spot-on for what that smells like.) The vanilla does come out a bit more as it dries down, but it stays pretty subtle, mainly adding a little extra warmth to the cardamom/coffee combo. Overall, this is a warm, spicy-sweet scent; perfect for winter. Considering a full bottle purchase.

[samanare]

Very cardamom heavy on me, a little bit of coffee on the side. Smells more like chai. I don't get any vanilla.

[Lucchesa]

I get vanilla and kind of an airy cardamom, with just a little bit of coffee.  No itching or prickling from the cardamom.  I agree that it's not ridiculously gourmand and has a perfumey vibe which is lovely.  It doesn't last terribly well on my skin, though. 

[doomsday_disco]

This one starts off strong on the cardamom (the good kind!), backed by some coffee bean. Over time, the cardamom softens, and the coffee bean becomes the star on me, sweetened by a bit of the vanilla. There's just a tinge of cardamom left after a few hours if I go looking for it, but it's not nearly as prominent as it was before.

 

This was my favorite of the coffee scents that I tried from the Yules. I'll have to wear this one on its own to see if I need more of it before the Yules disappear. But if I don't upgrade to a bottle, I'll definitely be hanging on to my decant.  

 

 

Edited January 23, 2020 by doomsday_disco

[LizziesLuck]

I have way too many coffee scents already, but I love cardamom SO MUCH and I love cardamom in my coffee, and of course vanilla is pretty much my fave, so I had to have this.

 

Wet: Sugar isn't listed, but to my nose this coffee is sweetened, and it smells delicious. The cardamom is very prominent. I don't really get much vanilla, unless that's the sweetness. This is amazing. I want to eat/drink/lick it. It smells like comfort and warmth and happiness. I sniff it and I feel content.

 

Dry: This is kind of everything. If you love cardamom, it's worth a try. It's sweet, slightly perfumey and very comforting. The coffee reminds me of The Worst Pillow. Fantastic!

Edited February 6, 2020 by LizziesLuck

[Deceitfuldescender]

This is a little too cardamom forward for me until the late dry down, so it is nice enough but the vanilla reads a lot like cream or milk and isn’t quite distinct enough to buy a bottle of yet.

[Rayleigh]

The first time I tested this, it was a dry, strong cardamom. I love cardamom, and keep a jar of it in my desk (along with cinnamon and cayenne pepper -- life needs some spice!) but even for me, it got a little overwhelming to smell pure cardamom for so long. And this did last long. I tucked the decant away for a little bit, and in that time, it's melded together nicely. I actually get the coffee bean and vanilla now. The vanilla is pretty understated, and I agree with reviews that the coffee is more like coffee bean. It's fragrant and toasty with a good dose of spice.

[storme]

I love this; it's like huffing the most delicious cardamom and vanilla latte. It's warm and soft and so so comforting!