The Candy Butcher 2006

[Venneh]

Dark chocolate with a heavy cream undertone.

 

I got a partial decant of this as a Santa gift from sunshinedaisybliss; thanks again! In the decant, this smells delicious; dark chocolate with a creamy undernote, just like the scent description, with maybe a hint of fruit in there? On my skin, it's an almost fruity chocolate that's bordering on plastic. Uh oh. This ends up being a chocolateish note with a strong component of paint on me. Sadly, just not for me; PSX54 works far better, and in the meantime, someone else will appreciate this far more.

[brwnpaperhag]

Crazy!

 

I'm getting XCDL13 from this on the drydown. So weird...this was a scent I as least expecting. Dark Chocolate initially, sort of dusty, but delicious, and then...XCDL13. There's something else that makes it...odd; maybe it's the cream, I don't know, but it isn't all boozy vanilla.

 

But I'm definitely not getting chocolate anymore.

[whisperstilled]

My first review! How fun.

 

Musky chocolate in imp. Bittersweet and dusty, like cocao baking powder.

 

Wet: I get more of the cream, less of the chocolate.

 

Dry: Sweet but not too sweet. Goes soapy and plasticky, but still smells basically the same as it did in the imp. Not bottle material, I'm more fond of gluttony if we're going to talk chocolate. Unfortunately, this one just didn't live up to the hype.

[Deiicide]

Well Most Chocolate Scents tend to either get very powdery or just smell like a candle. You know the real fake chocolate candles, oh yea. Those. So I picked up a bottle of this just to test it out, and this kicks it out of the park. Sexy deep dark chocolate that has been subdued by cream. Cream doesn't work on me usually, like chocolate so this was my anti scent! Two wrongs definitely make a right in my book. This one has also been aged for about 4 years, so the chocolate cream smell have gone darker almost visceral. I don't wear it as often but when I need a sweet pick me up, I reach for it!

[benthic]

I managed to find a decant of this at a very fair price, so I grabbed it because I've been dying to try it, despite chocolate blends being very it or miss on me. Thankfully for my wallet, Candy Butcher is a miss, but it's not because of the chocolate. Wet on my skin I actually was enjoying it, but as it dries, it smooths into this . . . creamy cocoa-y scent. That doesn't sound bad, and I suspect to/on a lot of people it would be REALLY good, but on me I get this weird chapstick-esque note that makes me feel a little sick. It's like chocolate cream lip balm. This same thing happens to me with Bordello, but they don't have any notes in common that I see, so I'm not sure what the deal is; either way, I'm not liking it, sadly. (Or happily!)

 

Like myoubi, though, I keep sniffing myself anyway, even though I'm not really registering it as "this smells good." I just keep huffing it, maybe trying to figure it out. So obviously it doesn't make me sick enough to be a scrubber. I can't imagine being surrounded by this blend, though, so either way I will never wear it, and I'll have to swap it off to someone who will love it.

[kunoichi]

This is a very strong, in-your-face slightly sweet yet bitter dark cocoa scent, like you're up close and personal with a mug of hot cocoa - the scent really isn't tempered by the cream, but enhanced by it! On my skin a more creamy note starts to appear through the dark bitter-sweet chocolate, and the scent becomes more rounded, and it becomes a more delicious, yet still strong, hot chocolate scent. After a few hours it has faded to a soft, sweet and creamy scent with a metallic edge coming through - the candy butcher has to have a set of knives, after all!

[thebirdofhermes]

In Bottle: Thick, rich, fudge like scent. Like the fudge we put on our sundaes where I work. Reminds me of El Dia de los Reyes, actually, although... not as spiced, I would say.

 

Wet: Chocolate, mostly, with a vanillary edge. Still quite simple, I would say. I'm not getting any of the complexities others have mentioned. However, the cream has yet to go sour, so that's a plus.

 

Dry: I... am reminded strongly of Hunger. More chocolate, I would say, but otherwise it feels the same. There's a soft, floral sweet something hiding underneath the sweet vanilla chocolate. I really am having a hard time shaking the similarity to review this properly.

 

Okay, side by side against Hunger, now... The chocolate is coming across far stronger; a rich, high quality milk chocolate. Very gourmet; the sort of chocolate mixed with unusual flavours such as flowers for a luxury experience. The floral quality is very subtle, but present, making this a mature chocolate scent. Still very creamy. Not overtly foody, which is nice because I am not much of a foody.

 

All in all? I do not regret getting this bottle, and will enjoy it... but I don't need more than the bottle.

[killerklown]

I am so happy I managed to grab a half decant of this. Thick chocolate smothered with cream is what I get out of this. Hunting down a bottle of this is gonna be both fun and terrifying.

[Polly]

In bottle: Fudge. Creamy yummy fudge.

 

On wet: Same. Lovely fudgy goodness.

 

On Drydown: I get a slight vanilla undertone here. I am a chocolate lover full stop and this one is one of my favorite chocolate blends.

[Gold Dust Kitten]

I never searched for this because I was afraid the cream note would go sour milk (aka baby vomit)and/or it would be disgustingly sweet like Gluttony or Velvet. When I saw a decant on LJ I sprung for it though.

 

In the imp, this smells like a dusty bittersweet chocolate fudge. On my skin, I get the same chocolate with a dollop of heavy cream. The cream gives this a bit of sourness but it works so well in this blend. As it dries down, I smell a bit of vanilla extract booziness that gives this scent a 'perfume' feel. I love that it's not pure foodie, and while it's best phase doesn't last long, my skin still has a lovely vanilla-chocolate-sugar dusted scent, like one of those chocolate dusting powders from Urban Decay.

 

I think this is my holy grail chocolate scent. I definitely need to hunt down a bottle.

[angelamaria]

In tester: wow, yes, dark chocolate! Creamy dark chocolate. So much yum.

 

Wet on skin: creamier, and lighter than the tester smell. It's very chocolatey still, and very creamy. Oh oh--no hint of the plastickiness yet...maybe this will work on my skin?!!! OMFG. So. Good.

 

Dry: no plastickiness! OMG. And I even slathered my little tester to be sure. IT IS FABULOUS. Not so "dark", but oh so good. Chocolate AND cream. Sweet, but not super sweet and super foody. Low throw on me though--it's light and almost faint. As it "ages" on my skin, the plastickiness does not appear, but it's all gone after an hour. After three hours, I catch a whiff of it, but then the plastickiness has come up.

 

Verdict: I don't know whether I was happy or sad that this didn't work on me. I'm glad to have dodged a super rare bullet, but also sad because it was just so nommy and fabulous (as I don't like super sweet foodies).

[Honey]

Oh, darn, why did I have to test this?

 

I love the Lab's cream note, and, apparently, it loves me right back! Like Love's Philospohy, this is awesome on me, and I get wafts of greatness every few seconds. Must get when resurrected!

This is just.. awesome rich cocoa (not the waxy chocolate note I sometimes get from Lab blends) and the sweetest cream. It always has this "fresh linen" quality on me. Heavenly!

[KittyHawk]

Many, many to the fantastic orata for the sniffie of this!

 

Oh, this totally lives up to the hype! I'm surprised at how multifaceted Candy Butcher is given its simplicity; I get rich, deep, dark chocolate with a big glug of heavy cream, but there's another note I can't quite place lurking down in the depths of the chocolate. It's got a very slight resinous floral (I think?) edge that propels it out of the "delicious foodie" category into the "DEAR GOD WHAT IS THIS I'M GOING TO EAT MY ARM AND THROW ALL PUNCTUATION RULES TO THE WIND!" realm, which is reserved for only the cream of the crop. Intoxicating. Brilliant. Unusual.

 

I am so, so excited that this is being reformulated! It takes a very special blend for me to seek backups, but Candy Butcher will surely be one of them.

[ModderRhu]

This is a salty chocolate truffle on me. It also smells kind of aquatic. A bit like the sweet cream plus salt water of The Sea Foams Milk, but with chocolate. I like this more than I thought I would.

[turtlecookie]

This smells wonderful and deep/dark/sweet on me... for about 20 minutes. I lost this wonderfulness too soon

[titania]

It works, it works, thank the gods of ice cream and hot fudge it works. I don't really get the cream distinctly, more like it softens the cocoa smell. The cocoa is so nice, not too much, and it's really just dark chocolate/cocoa as opposed to sugary milk chocolate (which doesn't work on my skin). For some reason I also get this very light floral honey vibe, but it's not being obnoxious in any way. This one is so welcoming. It would make people around the wearer be more amiable, I think. It's not too strong and it lasts a long time. Love this one.

[Duck Mountain]

Oh, cripes.

 

Well, I was digging around in my imp box--more like imp suitcase--and found a decant of Candy Butcher that I must've picked up on one of my buying sprees (yes, I have a problem). Now I sort of wish I hadn't.

 

Because this is very, very beautiful and now of course, very rare. It's a sort of perfumey chocolate that reminds me of what B&BW tried to accomplish with their Tutti Dolci Chocolate Fondue, but better.

 

It stays more or less the same from wet to dry to faded, but that's not a bad thing in this case; all it means is that you get to savor it for longer. This is just about the perfect blend that doesn't give the impression you've just rubbed a chocolate bar all over your skin. Gorgeous.

Edited September 21, 2013 by Rem

[Cali]

I got a sniffie in a swap a while ago and accidentally mixed up this one with the old one, oops. There is quite a difference, but both are lovely.

Gotta be honest I just had a sniff of drink me and it reminds me a little of this. However while that's more in the tarty-sweet area, this is definately more chocolate-y sweet. It's delicious. I'm afraid it goes a little plastic on me but I might get a bottle later on anyway, deliciousss....

[fundercat55]

2015 Version- From the description, I was hoping that this would be a straight up foodie scent, but alas, that is not what I got. Even when well warmed and rolled, both in the bottle and on my skin I get a very sharp "commercial perfume" scent with just the slightest undertone of chocolate. It's as though I'm walking by the perfume counter in a department store and someone two steps behind me is eating a chocolate bar. Not what I was expecting and the floral, stridently perfumey notes give me a headache. Eventually (like 2+ hours later), it does settle down into a soft, vaguely sweet note on my skin. I recently received a decant of Baby's First Krampuslauf and it's everything I hoped Candy Butcher would be. Skin chemistry, man.

[galahad]

In the Bottle:

Bitter chocolate with a floral note

On the Skin:

Rich, creamy chocolate. Delicious. That strange floral note flits in and out. This becomes creamier and sweeter as it warms up.

On the Drydown:

Basically a grown up dark, sweet chocolate. I don't have a lot of gourmand scents and this one is perfectly comforting without being cloying.

[littleflight]

I just don't know about this one. I'm a full on foodie/chocolate/sweet things all around lady, and I had such high hopes that this would become my new holy grail. I'm so sad it didn't deliver, especially because I just ADORE all of the other chocolate scents from the lab.

 

In the bottle it's chocolately, but theres something behind that chocolate that keeps it from being CHOCOLATE. No cream or sweetness to my nose.

 

On my skin, it turns to burnt plastic. Maybe burnt plastic that has melted over a piece of fudge, but still, burnt plastic.

 

I'll be passing this one on to someone who will appreciate it. I've got Bliss and Sue's Great Old Puppet Show to satisfy my chocolate desires.

[torischroeder9]

In the bottle: Good chocolate frosting, maybe buttercream or ganache.

 

On my skin:

 

The chocolate rises to the surface first. This is the chocolate of something sweet and decadent. It's chocolate and sugar and cream -- hence the thought of chocolate buttercream frosting.

 

As the blend settles, the chocolate note fades, leaving the cream note more prominent. I won't lie -- a decade ago, I pretty much hated this blend because of this note. Now, it's far from terrible, but still not anything to brag about. It's faded from chocolate buttercream to something more like cream with some chocolate added (not even chocolate cream). Quite nice for subtlety -- but subtlety isn't why I wear chocolate BPAL. 

 

At some point, the cream too dies down and the almost bitter chocolate regains dominance. However, by this point, the scent overall is much more subtle, with much less throw. 

 

 

[Lucchesa]

A fellow reviewer generously shared a decant from a well-aged bottle of The Candy Butcher with me, and it is lovely if unexpected on my skin.  Wet, I get the big, rich, deep dark chocolate note I love.  Then I sat back and waited for the cream note to appear and ruin everything. And waited.  And while there is a creamy undertone to this scent, the note that emerged was not cream but a rich perfume note, making this feel expensive -- more glamorous and less foodie than it did at first.  My overall impression was of that little gold box of Godiva chocolate that my French teacher gave me as a Christmas present when I was her TA in 9th grade, my introduction to upscale chocolate.  And this stuff lasts.  I swear I could smell it on my wrist not just the next morning, but the morning after that!