Gateau de Carnaval is a gourmand fragrance that launched in 2018 and was created by Terri Bozzo. It is a gently-sweet buttercream cake with delicate traces of apricot and vanilla. A delicious, super comforting, must-have scent with notes of funnel cake, vanilla latte, toasted brown sugar and apricot. It is an eau de parfum, edp.
Kyse Perfumes is a small batch indie perfumer.
Fragrantica: Let me tell you this, one of my all time favorite treats is funnel fries dipped in strawberry sauce, so obviously I had to sample it right away. I'm just blown away by the realistic scent of a funnel cake with a little fruitiness in the back, I love this! It sits close to my skin but I put this on after a shower with lots of moisturizer and the scent really shines! So I think this in a summer night is going to be heavenly because combined with your body heat is going to bomb!
Fragrantica: How light and subdued Gateau de Carnavale is compared to other Kyse Perfumes offerings I've sampled recently, especially the incomparable and addictive Oui Plus! (see my review). For me this one is a moist vanilla and butter-cream cake from start to finish with the faintest trace of apricot. A pleasant, anytime eau de parfum, gently sweet and unobtrusive.
Fragrantica: So photorealistic! Smells like sweet breading and has that fried toastiness that a funnel cake has. Super nostalgic.
Fragrantica: I smell carnival treats, fried waffle cone, warm cupcake a tiny bit of the apricot. You are gonna strait up smell like a bakery. I love these kind of gourmand scents. It’s not overbearing, just warm and comforting. With the dry down, I get the vanilla and apricot, which bumps it up to more of a candy scent.
Fragrantica: This smells like a carnival. You get sweet, candied apple notes (I know it says apricot but it smells like apple to me). Fried dough. All of Kyse evokes a specific, delicious memory for me. This is one of my favorites.
Fragrantica: My favorite Kyse fragrance. The runner-ups are Fumee Vanille and Delizia di Marshmallow. Carnavale is so amazing. It’s delicious. It’s chewy yet not sickeningly sweet. Strong yet airy. This will permanently be in my collection and if it ever gets discontinued, I will stock up. Best part about Terri’s fragrances are the sillage and longevity. How does one single person make higher quality fragrances than designer brands that have money at their disposal?! Crazy.. But I’m glad for it. Get yourself a sample set if you’re new to Kyse!
Fragrantica: Another realistic gourmand from Kyse. This one smells like walking by a baked goods stall on a fair, so the name Gateau de Carnavale is very fitting. Extremely sweet. It actually reminds me of a deep-fried dough treat, maybe a donut, but with whipped cream, powdered sugar and sprinkles on it. Or just dipped in pure sugar syrup. Really hard to pinpoint what exactly this smells like, but it's delicious despite being a little sticky. The apricot adds a lactonic fruity note that lifts the fragrance, and there is also something almost minty in the opening. So it's not too heavily doughy overall. I still find it too literal to wear for me personally, maybe I would enjoy it more as a body care product. But it is yummy and I could also imagine that it would be good for layering with fresher or darker fragrances, because it's a relatively simple scent.
Fragrantica: An instant love! (Literally, I applied from the sample vial, sniffed my wrist, and "oh yum!" came out of my mouth without even consiously realizing I was saying it out loud. My 7 year old came running wondering what he was missing out on.) Now I am a big fan of pretty literal, straightforward, gourmand scents, but I also don't like them too cloyingly sweet. Homemade baked goods, yes. Syrupy soft drinks and store bought frosting, no. This one is the perfect sweet level. Incredibly cozy and warm, with a really wonderful toasted grain quality, I am obsessed with grain notes! It actually reminds me a bit of Armani Sensi with that toasty grain note mixed with a warm-sweet vanilla with just a touch of a light fruit to brighten the top notes (I do get the apricot, but only right at first. It fades away completely within 30 minutes). Not a smell alike per se, but a close cousin. I will absolutely be upgrading my sample to a bottle!
Fragrantica: Gâteau de Carnaval lives up to its name: it undeniably smells like fried dough with a big dollop of cream and lots of powdered sugar on top (but not a hint of apricot for me, unfortunately). The result is delicious, obviously, and the greasy aspect of the confection is thankfully played down, but I'm still not entirely sure whether it's succesful as a perfume. Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying it quite a lot, but it's realistic to the point of being conspicuous, and I usually prefer this kind of all-out true gourmand scent coming from the kitchen rather than my skin. Although it can be just what the doctor ordered on a couple of cold, bleak, comfortless days a year... So I think my big sample is all I'll ever need; I'll treasure it for those rare occasions when it'll feel just right.
