Cockaigne

[Gale]

“The weather is always mild, the wine flows freely, sex is readily available, and all people enjoy eternal youth.” The Land of Plenty, also called Luilekkerland – the Lazy, Luscious Land: milk and honey, sweet cakes and wine.

I was very excited about Cockaigne when it was released, and bought 5ml right away. Here's what it does on me.

Wet: Rich, heavy, buttery, honey--with a little smokiness. I love honey scents, but it's SO strong.

Never mind the other phases, because this doesn't change at all. It lasts for a long time, though.

I am putting this away for a few months and will check on it again around Thanksgiving. I have a year-old bottle of Jack that is absolutely gorgeous on me now, so I remain optimistic that Cockaigne might do the same.

For now, it's off to the aging cubby... Edited September 16, 2006 by Shollin

[lovelyza]

Its gingerbread cookies, hot and fresh and dripping with gooey sweet sugar glaze with candied cherries for buttons. Its all I can do not to stuff the whole imp in my mouth like cookie monster!!! It has pretty decent staying power as well, so I can bask in the yumminess for a good long time.

[em_h]

Wet: Woah sweet! Honey and butter and spice and -- smells like apple, but I think that's the wine note. Not unlike Gluttony, but less nutty and more apple-spicy.

 

Drying: As it dries, the apple-wine and spice become the strongest notes on my skin, with the buttery-honey notes more in the background.

 

Dry: For me, once it dries, it's a kind of warm spicy apple tart scent, a bit different from the way it seems to come out on most people. It's nice, though.

[gaai]

Spicy cookies with sweet honey......I've never had gingerbread cookies, but I can imagine they smell like this

I'm not getting any wine though.......but that's okay, I'm just glad it wasn't as buttery on my skin as it was in the imp.

A little too foody for me to wear, but I'll definitely use this imp as a room scent come wintertime and I might replace it with another after it's all gone.

[buzz23666]

ick.

 

I am definitely not a foody scent person (with the exception of anything that smells like creme brulee) so this one was really awful for me.

 

Wet and dry this was a sweet bakery scent with whiffs of yeast and something sour that I cannot place.

 

I couldn't get it off my wrist fast enough.

[oakmoss]

Opening this one in the car in the post office parking lot -- I couldn't remember what the description was, other than I had been looking forward to it. First sniff and my head is blasted backwards from the STRONG caramel-foody smell, wowzer! But since I know better than to buy scents that have nuts or butter listed, I figure this must morph into something I like, so.... dab dab in the closed warm car and WOWZER, it's a nuts and butter extravaganza. Waving my wrist out the car window on the drive home, hoping it will drydown into a scent I can love, but alas, on my skin Cockaigne is like being dipped in a big vat of butter, with some nutty bitterness for good measure. If you like Jack and Gingerbread Poppet, this may be for you.

[midnight_aeval]

This is the scent of fresh baking cinnamon rolls... at least to my nose! Super foody, super spicey! You'd think this would be a perfect scent for a foody lover (uh me) but it's too buttery and the cinnamon is just too strong on me.

 

On the drydown I think I get a slight boozy smell- the wine possibly. I wish it was more prominent in the wet stage! It smells pretty good now.

 

What? I read the description again.. No cinnamon.. honey and cake?

[PurringPulsar]

Cockaigne

 

In the imp: whoa, foody! This is a mix of buttery, sugary and spicy notes which gives the impression of gingerbread cake batter. Mmm.

Wet on skin: the wine comes out of the spicy cake batter, as does the honey…

Dry on skin: holy crap. Fuck, yeah, this is good. Ohh Beth, thank you so much. I know, I'm gushing incomprehensibly…simply because this smells like home-made mince pies! Yes! I've been looking for a BPAL that captures the smell of mince pies-that rich, spicy, fruity, boozy filling surrounded by buttery pastry, and this is it. Mince pies and mulled wine. The smell of blissful Christmas memories. Ohhh. MINCE PIES!

After a while: this one has impressive throw-the scent that is being wafted is like treacle and caramel with a little bit of cooked honey and spice. But the scent close to my wrist is still mince pies and mulled wine, thank goodness. I also smell a hint of brown sugar, apple crumble, and gingerbread. This does smell very similar to Gluttony (though not as rich) and Gingerbread Poppet at times, but with that wine note adding a welcoming fruity-boozy feel to it, and there's honey as well as sugar. This stays consistent on me although the treacle/maple syrup scent I get from it does increase. The wine note stops the sugary/buttery notes from smelling burnt, actually.

The drydown isn't as gorgeous as the mince pie phase but it's very pretty…smells like maple syrup, roast chestnuts, a hint of peppery smoke and caramelised brown sugar. It reminds me of Hearth 05 now. I never got milk in here at all.

Verdict: this is a dessert lover's dream come true…this smells like some of my favourite winter desserts all in one. Mince pies, mulled wine, apple crumble, gingerbread, Christmas cake/pudding…you name it, I smell it here. This is a rich, sugary, toasted, foody and spicy scent with a splash of wine. The milk is hardly there and the honey mixes into the sugary mayhem nicely-but the best thing about the scent is that it smells like mince pies on me! And I've been on the lookout for a mince pie scent-this is the one. And there's some mulled wine with it too. This smells like the best Christmas memories in a bottle. And it's GC! The drydown is a dizzy mix of maple syrup and caramel washed down with booze and with a little hint of peppered smoke. I will need to stock up on this for the winter months, this is the perfect festive foody scent!

Emoticon rating:

If you like this, try: Gluttony, Sugar Skull, Hearth 05, Drink Me, Gingerbread Poppet

Edited September 28, 2006 by yeahbutnobut

[birdiefu]

I'm not really a foody person and Cockaigne crossed my foody threshold, but it's not as overpowering as some others I've tried (I'm talking to you, Gluttony!). I get milk and honey- the honey note in here is gorgeous! I also smell sweet spiced cake. Thank goodness no butter or caramel or other sticky sweetness, but the overall blend was still too sweet for my taste and made my teeth hurt.

 

This goes through virtually no morphing and is quite a powerful scent- just a tiny dab was all I needed. Although this is too sweet and foody for me to wear on it's own, it might work well with layering. If I could get this honey note in a few other blends I would be quite happy.

[maijasu]

I like foody scents, but this one may be too strong even for me! At the very least, I'd have to be in just the right mood to wear it. It is a very sweet, rich, honeyed cake, and I think I smell just a hint of molasses too. No spiciness that others have detected, which is a shame, as I think spice would improve it. When I want to smell like cake, I reach for Beaver Moon, so I really don't see a need for this one and will probably swap away my imp. That said, it's a pleasant aroma, and it's nice to have a super foody GC scent, just in case!

[gypsybaby1]

WOW!!! YES!! cake, cake, and ah, uhm, oh, yes, CAKE!! Buttery, sweet, gentle spiced edge to it. It's sweet, delicious, "C'mon ya know ya wanna take a bite" cake.

 

Bottle Worthy? Absolutely.

[LittleGreyKitten]

Dammit! It annoys me so much that this is horrible on me. Foody blends are almost always gorgeous on me. Monster Baits, Candy Butcher, Eat Me, Drink Me... favorites, all. Then, there was Cockaigne. I was so sure this would work! Instead there was this evil, awful reek. It's foody, yeah. It's overpowering, it's so sweet it's unbelievable. I don't know why this was so Not Good on me, but oh boy was it.

 

1 out of 5 on me. Stomach turning. One of the very few BPALs I've ever raced to wash off (Brimstone!)

[Shannihilation]

In the bottle the first thing I thought was chocolate almond bark. But then I sniffed again. And my next thought was HEARTH!! Which thrilled me because I adore Hearth 05. On my skin this is spicy and smooth and sweet and rich. It still reminds me alot of Hearth. But foodier and with less smoke. This is really fabulous. I was excited about this one the first time I read the description and I was not disappointed. The sweet cakes and wine are definitely the dominant notes but the milk and honey are definitely there softening the edge and making this a very rich, seductive, and very sexy scent.

[Little Bird]

I want to drink Cockaigne right out of the bottle. It smells like buttery brown sugar strudel crumbles, perhaps with a touch of something nutty like there is in Hearth 05 (only nothing like Hearth 05 exactly, because the wood smoke, pine, and butter in that blend made me ill). This is definitely a warm, sweet pastry scent.

 

On my skin... Buttery danish with brown sugar, sugar, and a hint of warm spice like cinnamon. This is such a warm and pleasant foodie blend. I worried that it would be too sickeningly sweet or buttery or foodie, but this is a comforting and non-overwhelming pastry smell on me. After an hour or so, a drizzle of sticky honey finds its way into the mix.

 

Delicious. I love this one. I'm so glad that I sprung for the 10 ml unsniffed, because Cockaigne will be wonderful for wearing during the chilly winter.

[empi girl]

Intensly sweet in the imp. On, it remains really sweet-like honey and cake, with a hint of cinnamon. It becomes snickerdoodles, then after 45 minutes, becomes sweet rum raisins. Over hours, the rum raisin develops a sour note. This is not for me.

[crescentmoon]

I wish this one were buttery and cakey on me. I was SUPER excited about it because I love foody especially buttery ... *sigh* It did not turn out that way. This one turned really spicy on me instantly and then as it dried down it turned into spicey sour...really sour. I had to go scrub it off my elbow because it made me sick to my stomach. I've never had to do that before.

 

I'm so sad that Cockaigne and I were not meant to be!

[harmonyfb]

BPAL's food notes are total hit-or-miss propositions for me; either they're divine or they smell abysmal on me.

 

This is the latter. It went on like rancid butter (no joke), and dried to an acrid, weirdly spiced scent. It was horrific. Obviously, not for me. ::sigh::

[ND¢]

It smelled like an 'Autumn Spice' gel air freshener on me. Sigh.

[gingersnapp]

This is spiced cakes on me... little to no milk or honey and definitely no wine at this point. It definitely reminds me of other foody cake scents, much like the Monster Baits.

 

I bought it for the honey note, so I'm definitely going to hold onto it and see how it ages. It's very delicious, nonetheless.

 

ETA: This morning, I could still smell it on my skin. It turned into a maple syrup like blend, similar to Sugar Skull. Very interesting.

Edited October 2, 2006 by gingersnapp

[Eros]

This is gorgeous! In the imp it's Jack with a touch of Sugar Skull('05).

On skin it's more Sugar Skull, smoky burnt sugar with a touch of maple syrup. In fact, this is almost a clone of my CTlll bottle =) A bit of Jack with heavier doses of Sugar Skull and Al Azif(w/o the acrid smoke). On me, all the above end up a beautiful, sweet almost syrupy, smoky incense blend.

Mostly I'm thrilled to find such a close resemblance to my CTlll bottle

Obviously, I'll be getting a bottle asap!

[Iceblink]

I had high hopes for this one but it smelled to me like nothing so much as bread. Yeasty bread. Which is a great smell in and of itself but I don't want to smell like it. Maybe I'll use it to scent the kitchen.

Interestingly, I ended up testing this and MB: Underbed on the same day and the similarities are indeed striking. Underbed's got a little something extra in it that I can't identify, but otherwise they're almost identical on me.

[prunesnprisms]

My fiance and I agreed on this one--from the bottle, it smells like a cinnabon. Buttery, sugary, bit of cinnamon/nutmeg-like spice. However, on my arm it's cinnamon, 24/7. Not for me, but if you love foody, spicy and buttery, it might be for you.

[Melantha]

A lot like Eat Me, only better. I don't get the wine, but the cake part is luscious. Unfortunately, my imp cap broke! Guess I'll just have to wear it a lot....

[tinyvulture]

i make these 7-layer cookies, and the bottom layer is graham cracker crumbs mixed with melted butter, and that’s exactly what cockaigne smells like when i apply it. rich, buttery, delicious. as it dries, i can smell the honey and spiced wine. amazing, i love it. must get a bottle.

[LiberAmoris]

This should be called Cocaine. I smell the buttery note from Jack with ginger and pastry dough. It's like a happy union between Eat Me, Jack, Gingerbread Poppet, and Underpants. Yum! And I have to agree with tinyvulture---it does smell like a buttery graham cracker crust!

 

Very foody, and if you're into that kind of thing, quite wonderful. This is something I may only need the imp of because I'm already up to my pulse points in BPAL, but I'll definitely enjoy it.