I was in two minds whether to review this as part of the British Niche & Indie series. I decided I should do a stand alone review as Lush is now a multinational organisation. The named perfumer of Cardamom Coffee is Simon Constantine.
I’m still trying to put my wedding outfit together & today went to the nearest big Mall looking for shoes, bag & lippy. Didn’t find anything perfect but there is time.
Passing LUSH I popped in & had a spray of Cardamom Coffee as I’d never tried it before & several people whose taste I admire enjoy it.
Notes from Fragrantica:- Coffee, cardamom, olive wood, rose oil & oud
Initially I get black coffee, thick & viscous, this soon becomes spiced with a strong cardamom note. In turn this joins hands with a wood note that I immediately recognise as being from LUSH. This wood note is what billows from LUSH shops so noticeable when passing. On my skin this lasts hours & hours after the spiced coffee has sold out & the coffee shop has closed for the day. There is something like floor polish lurking in the background. I suspect this comes from the rose oil. As for oud? Nope not to my nose
The verdict? I’m pleased I tried Cardamom Coffee on skin. It has a richness many minimally adorned coffee fragrances lack. Despite this, it is a LUSH fragrance & true to its roots, Cardamom Coffee is not smooth. It is a coffee fragrance done in a 70’s headshop style.
Now to the bit I find difficult to swallow. Cardamom Coffee is only available in 100ml bottles & costs £150. Yep, that is not a typo, it is £150!!!
Other Lush fragrances come in 30ml & 100ml bottles but Cardamom Coffee is not available in the 30ml. Obviously, as the SA tells me this is a big seller the price isn’t putting people off but would I pay that much for it? No