The Candy Butcher 2006

[Jenesis]

An exquisite, enigmatic woman sidles up to you, bearing a tray of strange, dusty curios, chocolate creatures, serpentine taffy, and candied skulls. Her skin is dusky, her eyes are heavy-lidded and sensual, her hair is the fine, soft white of spun sugar, and her skin is softly scented with cocoa. She holds a shrunken head aloft, and beckons.

 

Dark chocolate with a heavy cream undertone.

 

Bottle: Smells exactly like Velvet - sharp, bitter cocoa with no other discernible notes. (My nose sucks )

 

Wet: A big WHOOF of chocolate! Again, dark, rich, slightly bitter chocolate, the kind you get in some posh chocolate boxes.

 

Drydown: Where did that come from? A whiff of nail polish remover is assaulting my sinuses underneath the chocolate. No cream still.

 

Dry: The nail polish remover has gone (thankfully!), going back to the bitter chocolate. Still no cream. Nice but not a very complex scent.

 

Dry (after 20 mins): Getting more interesting. The sweet cream comes out to play a bit, balancing the bitterness. Still not outstanding, but since my skin is very very picky it's a keeper.

 

Dry (after an hour): Wowee this is nice! After about 45 minutes this morphed to a gorgeous chocolate cream smell - like hot chocolate with whipped cream and marshmallows on top (who wouldn't want to get a whiff of that every so often?). Still a little bit "basic" with not much else to it, but definitely a keeper, and can be gorgeous layered with other foody scents - I tried Vice (rich cherry liqueur chocolates) and Jack (an, um, "interesting" combination - nice but a bit weird!). I'll update this if/when I try layering with other things - for some reason Xanthe keeps popping to mind as a good layering one with this...

 

Final Verdict: Mellow, warm hot chocolate scent after drydown. Could be showstopping with tactful layering. Lovely!

 

4/5

 

(By the way, when I was sitting in this for the review and letting it mellow, I was writing a Laboratory Report on Radiation Shielding . The Candy Butcher kept me company with lovely whiffs of a cup of hot cocoa with cream, keeping me all nice and warm and rather less bored/suicidal than I usually am when writing reports. Well done! Speaking of which, I'd better go and finish that... )

Edited May 14, 2007 by Jenesis

[crain]

Chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate. A creamy chocolate that smells consistent in the bottle and on the skin and gently fades away. The chocolate note reminds me of Love-Lies-Bleeding, but this is much creamier and less bold than Love. A great one for straight chocolate lovers, especially because it is not too foody!

[asciident]

Wet: Dark cocoa. Mmmm. It reminds me of Bliss, but it's definitely different.

 

First on: Lighter than I expected; maybe my skin soaked it all up. The cream starts coming out more.

 

Dry: Ugh. The cream has gone plastic. It's not strong enough to be offensive, but pretty much all the gorgeous chocolate smell has gone. I suppose I'll stick with Bliss and Boomslang for my chocolate scents.

[Akurarei]

Carnaval Diabolique: The Candy Butcher

 

The only BPAL chocolate scent I've had any kind of good fortune with has been the 13 series.

I tried Vice for the chocolate and cherries primarily, but got thwarted by the orange blossom

 

In the Bottle:

This smells like Vice did.

But since there doesn't seem to be a citrusy note, I'll give it a whirl.

 

On my Skin, Wet:

This smells really dry somehow.

It does smell like cocoa, not chocolate though.

nor is it turning plastic-y on me so far.

I can vaguely smell somethink like sour milk, which I suppose is the cream note.

 

On my Skin, Dry:

Well, there is no plastic transformation, so that's very good news

The Candy Butcher doesn't ever turn chocolate on me, but remains a dusty cocoa with a thin line of something sweet.

So, the good news is that the cream note does not stay 'sour milk' either.

 

Verdict:

I am glad I have a bottle, but I'm still on the hunt for a BPAL chocolate scent that I can wear that doesn't turn dusty on me.

Overall The Candy Butcher did live up to her description though, and she faded into the background some so that I wasn't surrounded by dusty sweet cocoa.

I would rate the Butcher as a 4 of 10.

[Laz]

In the bottle:

Mostly cream, but the chocolate is very dominant, too.

 

On skin wet:

It smells almost exactly the same as in the bottle! It's slightly more "mixed" in scent, though. Neither chocolate or cream is coming through strongly, they're both just "there".

 

Dried down:

It's mostly cream, but with a hint of chocolate and, somehow, vanilla. It's absolutely lovely! It's my favourite BPAL scent right now of the few I've tried, and I've been complemented whilst wearing it, too- always nice for a girl's self-image

[everanything]

In the imp, ZOMG this smells exactly like Amaretto to me. The same sort of hazelnutty cocoa smell, rich, but not overpowering.

 

Wet on my skin, the cream undertone did something funny for a minute or so, going to a sort of chocolate whipped cream scent, which was sort of blech.

 

Once it dried and settled down, it became a soft, very rich dark chocolate scent.

 

About 6 hours later, the smell is BARELY there. I think I'm almost just imagining this dry cocoa smell. Not much staying power, but I'll try it on my hair or an oil burner. Too much yum.

[taramarie]

In the bottle and wet on my skin, The Candy Butcher smells like dark chocolate and very yummy. But before it even dries, my body chemistry turns it to coconut and amps it. Coconut isn't a bad scent, really, but it's not what I wanted. But I'm sure The Candy Butcher will make someone else very happy.

[brit_brat100]

Rich and heavy chocolate with a hazy purfume note in the background. I get the cream sense here too. Very nice, but I'm not a big enough chocolate fan to wear this all the time.

[porcelina]

this is not dark chocolate to me- it's very much like cocoa butter, to be honest. it also has an almost toasty smell... it's hard to describe, but this is not at all what i expected. definitely not super chocolatey, more like a chocolate perfume.

[modernsaints]

A very natural, sweet, cocoa-butter type of chocolate on me. Somehow it's REALLY faint though; I am torn, as I don't need a whole bottle, by any means, but I'd have to really slather it off the imp to get anything. Hm! I suppose that means it's time to try Bliss & Vice, huh.

 

EDIT: I lied. I need a bottle. With only a mild bit of slathering, this gets a decent throw and the BEST staying power of any BPAL I've tried yet. It's pure, natural, gentle-but-not-quite-sweet chocolate: cocoa-y, like Godiva hot chocolate. Wore it through a long day at work and while it wasn't... cheering, or soothing, it just sort of grounded me in a way. Absolutely stunning.

Edited June 17, 2007 by modernsaints

[cinderfallen]

I don't smell chocolate at all! If you've ever had cotton candy ice cream with the pink and blue swirls? This is exactly like that--creamy, sweet, and sugary with almost a floral overtone.

[Esatres]

In the imp: faint...chocolately and creamy, but faint.

 

On skin, wet: Unsweetened cocoa, dead on. Very dry and dusty-like, but absolutely chocolicious.

 

Dry: Stays true to the beautiful cocoa scent in the wet stage. Unfortunately, if I slather tooo much, a strange metal-like note creeps in there. I suspect this is the cream going wrong on my skin, as Dana O'Shee does this as well. Other than that...absolutely lovely.

 

Loving this little imp, may end up buying a bottle.

 

edit: Boyfriend says it smells like ether. He's dead wrong, but it is unfortunate that I can't wear it with reckless abandon around him. =\

Edited July 6, 2007 by Esatres

[Wildchild453]

Sweet, sweet glorious chocolate with something bitter behind it. Its kinda faint on my skin but that might be cause I used just a lil bit in this test. The cream emerges slowly which is a delight and adds a really nice sweetness

 

45 mins later, Ive decided that I love this scent..love, love, love. It turns into something soo beautiful

 

ETA: this has the best staying power out of all the BPAL i've tried, I can put this on in the morning and still smell it faintly the next morning

Edited July 31, 2007 by Wildchild453

[Lina]

I don't get the plastic at all...

 

Wet: Reminds me of chocolate liquor with a bit of chocolate added!

 

On me: I get the ruch of the liquor smell and a little of maybe something sweet and floral? This could be vanilla. Rich, dark, chocolate that dries to a soft and creamy sent that lasts for hours.

 

I like it!

[funkmoppet]

Holy candy Jesus that's some cocoa!

 

Yep, it's all cocoa wet, with a sharp woodiness underneath. Almost makes me reel. Punchy, loud cocoa - I'm not a big foodie fan, so at this stage I'm a little wary. I need chocolate to...do something else for me to really like it.

 

But the dry down makes it worthwhile. The creamy, vanilla-touched note comes out and tempers the cocoa and after a while, it all mellows into a lovely lightly-whipped chocolate cream that's got enough of a perfumey feel to make me enjoy it.

 

Really lovely! Not sure yet if it's going to tempt me into buying a bottle - I'll see how this decant goes.

[n3m3sis42]

I got an imp of this today from another forumite (thanks).

 

In the bottle:

 

All I can smell is a very faint sweet smell.

 

Wet:

 

For a second when I'm putting it on, this smells just like Bliss to me--strong chocolate scent, almost nutty. However, almost immediately I start to notice an almost floral undertone. After about 5 minutes, florals are all I smell. I haven't read anyone else's reviews yet, so I have no idea if I'm the only one to get florals from this, but the description definitely did not mention flowers. It's not unpleasant, it's just sort of odd because I was expecting chocolate and cream.

 

This blend seems to stay wet for a longer time than most other ones do on me, but it's also that time of month so maybe I'm wonky. Also, this has way more throw on me than anything else I've tried so far, but I think that might also be due to the aforementioned circumstances.

 

After about 10 or 15 minutes, the floral has backed down a bit and it's now sort of a mixture of florals and some kind of candy. It has a chocolatey scent to it, and I can smell a little creaminess to it, but it's not really all foody. It's pretty, though.

 

Dry:

 

Basically, the floral and candy scents have blended into something that while it was totally not what I expected, is gorgeous on me. I only tried a tiny bit of this on my wrist, which pretty much eats perfume, but this seems to have good throw on me. I plan to wear this to work tomorrow, and if I still like it I will totally be buying a bottle of it.

 

I love this!

[willowtreeling]

I like my imp of Candy Butcher; it smells totally original to me. Sure, at first, you get chocolate--but as it dries, there is this totally different undercurrent. The poster before me mentioned florals, but to me it just seemed really clean and blue...in fact, if this perfume was a color, it would a rich chocolatey brown and a mellow aqua blue--a color combo I personally love:)

I am all about getting me some Candy Butcher!

[evilbee]

This quickly became one of my favourites. I first wore it while I was baking muffins and kept going back into the living room to force my wrist under hubby's nose. He's usually "meh" with scents but loved this one immediately too.

 

This is a dark, but creamy chocolate - the rich kind, like Callebaut, and not cheap at all. The cream doesn't turn sour on me, phew! But what really makes this scent amazing is the sweet, feminine floral background behind the chocolate keeping it from becoming overly foody. This isn't a single note chocolate like Bliss (which, yes, also smelled of hazelnuts), but an ultra-feminine, non-cloying chocolate and floral blend. I can't name the floral - not lily or rose or orchid... maybe a bit like heliotrope, with a touch of musk.

 

This is SERIOUS love. I will be buying several bottles of this before the Carnival goes away.

[mawaridi]

Candy Butcher. Is. Amazing.

 

I am in serious love with this scent. It smells exactly like thick, dark chocolate and cream, like a traditional french hot chocolate made with double cream and pure, melted chocolate of the highest quality. My dentist (!) asked if I was wearing vanilla when she smelled it on me, and it does have that very intense, almost sticky quality of real vanilla essence slathered on the skin (it doesn't smell strongly of vanilla, to my nose, but it's that same real-food, good-quality-ingredients visceral richness). But with chocolate!

 

This is my favourite BPAL, so far. Yum, yum, yum.

[stasha]

A simply lovely fellow board member sent me this as an introduction to foody scents.

 

In the imp: WHOA COCOA There's an almost nutty feel to it as well but it could just be the fact I'm smelling rawer cocoa instead of milk chocolate.

 

West: Oh I can TOTALLY smell the nail polish remover that someone mentioned. Luckily this hits you hard for about five second then quickly fades. This is a really deep scent that seems to get earthier and earthier.

 

Dry: ..where did you go? All I'm left with is dusty remnants of what started off so intense and strong. Like smelling the bottom of a hot cocoa canister.

 

Except for in the imp I'm not really getting the typical "YUMMY WANT TO EAT" response. It's almost like gnawing on cocoa beans in the middle of the jungle? You definitely have the chocolate but with lots of earth tones. If I can convince this to last longer I think it could be a nice winter scent.

[squirrelmonkey]

In the vial: Creamy chocolate, but not at all sweet. Just unprocessed cocoa butter and cream.

 

Wet: Same as in the vial, but it gets bigger and richer -- it just blooms. Cream is coming out more, and there's a hint of sweetness.

 

Dry: Disappeared quickly, and required additional slathering. After slathering, cream stayed but cocoa butter turned into cocoa powder -- it has an almost bitter, dusty undertaste. It's very pleasant and rich. One of my CD faves.

[squintywitch]

Bliss. In a bottle.

 

In the imp, cocoa, vanilla. Reminded me of hellcat. Not as foody as I was expecting.

Wet on skin: cocoa. Whoa, cocoa. Didn't like it much.

 

But ooo, oooh, on the drydown this wonderful rich vanilla chocolate cocoa blend came out, never too sweet, not too foody. I think I might have slathered a bit heavily, as one of my friends as I walked into her hall said that I smelled deliciously of vanilla.

 

Bliss, bliss, bliss in a bottle. I'm hooked.

[Rovylern]

I have been wanting to try this since the moment I read the description. I wore this to work today, untested, and I wasn't disappointed at all. Thick, sweet, dark chocolate while wet, it settled into a lovely, more subtle chocolate swirled with vanilla cream upon drydown. The throw was perfect; I could smell it without lifting my wrist to my nose, but it didn't knock down everyone who came within three feet of me either. The only drawback to this oil is that it makes me crave really good, really expensive chocolates like woah; I think if I wore this every day I would gain a ton and a half of weight.

[hackess]

Imp: The light chocolate of 13 can't stand up to the heavy rich chocolate of The Candy Butcher. Wow. This is what I wanted Bliss to be.

 

Wet: Um, this is no longer what I wanted Bliss to be. I'm certain it's the cream molesting the delicious chocolate note and turning it all into something that smells horrifyingly like moth balls.

 

Dry: Yeah, cocoa moth balls. Stale chocolate. Must pass.

[alicia_stardust]

This smells just like chocolate. The melty kind that you want to dip your fingers into in order to take a taste. The chocolate is not to dark, not too milky. It's just right. Yum!