Elphame's Feast

[Seajewel]

An ethereal frenzy of diaphanous, otherworldly blooms cascading over cardamom-dusted cream cakes.

[Little Bird]

Beautiful, cool, green opening that smells like dark green ivy climbing over cold stones and a milky freshness that reminds me of dandelion sap.  It starts off very green and then, after 5 or 10 minutes, makes room for the creamy floral and gourmand components, though the green thankfully never fades entirely on me.

The cakes are wonderful, like a honeyed, sugar glazed donut stuffed with some sort of white floral cream (realistic gardenia and lily to my nose) and flavored with a hint of warm spice.  The gourmand, sweet parts are strong, but they don't overwhelm the floral and green for me.  This is very well blended and stays complex and interesting over hours of wear.

Cakes fit for a fairy, served up deep in the forest in a secret garden where the stone walls and tables are covered in ivy and milky, green sap.

[Madonna Lily]

The first impression I get (sniffed right out of the bottle and unrested) is quite syrupy golden vanilla cake. I was kind of scared to put it on because it smelled a bit sour, green, and cake-y. Oh boy, does this change. So I let it sit a few minutes before putting some on my skin and the initial blast is of strong (specifically crusty and golden) creamy cake with some well balanced cardamom.The description really nails what you smell. Then after the first cake blast there is a creeping floral that is turning the cakes a little strange. The cakes reveal a bouquet of...funeral lilies? That's exactly what I'm smelling. If you've ever stuff your head into a big white bushel of funeral lilies and the stagnant and creamy smell hits you in the face...The florals in here are definitely spot on for funeral lilies. I'm very familiar with the smell of real lilies because I have a garden full of them right now and they happen to be one of my favorite flowers. The drydown of this is just beautiful because the lilies start to come to the forefront and the vanilla dries to a whisper that really compliments the creamy spiced lily. Then you smell like a bouquet of big white lilies with vanilla.

 

Edit: the cake in here reminds me of Knave of Hearts(I have both to test) but I prefer this to KoH

Edited June 6, 2022 by Madonna Lily

[doomsday_disco]

This starts off with lots of greenery (like the stems and leaves of the flowers) accompanied by a dry cake, lightly dusted with cardamom. I'm somewhat reminded of Queen of May from last year's Hexennacht scents, but this is much greener and without the floral sweetness at first. After a while, it really blooms and morphs from greenery and cake to a bouquet of lilies on top of a floral musk (which I think may contain some freesia -- there's a strong perfume-y quality to it) with some greenery and hints of cardamom. I think I am getting less cake than other reviewers once this veers out of the wet stage (come back, cake, and hang out with the lilies!).

 

I really enjoy the lily note in this and will be keeping my decant, but I don't think this is something I need to hunt down more of (thankfully!).

 

[roseus]

I get a light not super buttery cardamom cake with a layer of white florals. As it dries I distinctly get lily, with a cool green quality. There's other florals but I can't quite pin them. 

[RoseThornAndOak]

I get those green notes too + some spice cake. The green is grassy, maybe ivy. It's an interesting mix, unexpected and unique. Not sure it gels on me well, but I'll hold on to it for a while. 

[Viiinylflowers]

This is almost a perfect scent for me - like it starts out incredibly beautiful, it basically smells like a beautiful faerie banquet table covered in overgrown greenery of various sorts in the middle of a silvery green misty ethereal forest.  
 

So that translates scent wise to - basically a soft ethereal foggy multi cool greenish blend with bits of a soft vanillic buttery tea cake peeking through, maybe a very subtle sprinkle of a yellowy white floral idk.  Like the table has some minimal tiny wildflowers here and there.  
 

The problem is as soon as this sits on my skin for like ten mins, it starts amping a “taste in the back of your throat” metallic clanging aquatic white amber that just smashes through that diorama like a wrecking ball.  Something in this definitely hates my skin.  And that is what persists until I have to wash it off.  
 

I am keeping my imp just to experience that beautiful opening now and then, but it’s not something I would do unless I was going to take a shower soon or if I was feeling minimally migrainey that day and could tolerate a longer wear.  I want this so badly to return in some iteration without whatever that note/s are.  

(now that I’m thinking about it, I wonder if it’s green cardamom… I remember experiencing that having this clangy aspect to it in other blends) 

Edited March 4, 2023 by Viiinylflowers

[zankoku_zen]

Soft baked goods and an overlay of flowers and cardamom. Fairy cakes! Yep. Eat one and get taken by fairies. Medium throw and wear length.