Boomslang

[lainevierge]

Snake Oil with cocoa, teakwood, and rice milk.

I don't get what all the fuss is about regarding this scent. Maybe it'll be a knockout once it's well aged, but for now Wulric is my go to chocolate scent. Boomslang is just too foody for me. (My decant is 6 months old). Edited June 10, 2008 by lainevierge

[motdakasha]

In the bottle:

Rating: 5

Notes: cocoa, rice milk

Comment: Smells so delicious! I think this is one worthy of hoarding. I love gourmand scents.

Wet on skin:

Rating: 5

Notes: cocoa, rice milk, vanilla, teakwood

Comment: Still smells very cocoa delicious!

Dry on skin:

Rating: 5

Notes: cocoa, rice milk, vanilla

Scent Intensity: 5

Comment: I was surprised that this combination of notes works so well because I thought I would amp a really woody teakwood scent, but that is far in the background. It turns out smelling very creamy (rice milk & vanilla) and chocolatey.

Misc:

Duration: +5 Hrs.

Keyword(s): cocoa, gourmand

Color: Cocoa puff brown

Smells like: Chocolate rice krispy treats, or tootsie roll pops

Edited July 2, 2008 by Akasha Tsang

[greenranger]

On me, snake oil and chocolate. Yum.

 

I'm looking forward to what it will smell like later, after it has had a chance to settle some. =)

[mybrainhurts]

Yeah. I knew I'd like this one. Cocoa and a nice wood? Heck yeah!

 

Lucky for me, it reminds me a ~LOT~ of Velvet which means that I don't need to be buying bottles of this Limited Edition scent. I do love it a lot, though. It's chocolate and spice, a sultry woman in a slinky red dress with metal-tipped stilettos.

[QueenFae]

Wow, I knew I would have to have a bottle of this once I sniffed it, and I was right!

 

Snake Oil with pure, sinful cocoa. It doesn't get much better than this. The only thing I can think of better than aged Snake Oil, is snake oil with chocolate in it!! It's rich, deep, strong, decadent and delicious. My mouth actually started watering after I sniffed my wrist for awhile! I love the lab's cocoa note; it's so in your face and long lasting.

 

I LOVE this, I definitely need a 5ml!!!

[nekogrrl]

This is the first Snake I have picked to try, mostly because I promised to test and then send on its way to a friend of mine.

 

For some reason, I smell sage in this. It's probably the teakwood and rice milk mixing wierdly. On my skin, it has a sweet green note, which throws me. I figured the teakwood would dominate, like it does in Glowing Vulva. I forgot this is Snake Oil, which is where I'm getting that almost sickly-sweet smell from.

 

Once it's dried, the OMGsweet! scent has faded a bit, and the teakwood and rice milk are blending nicely. I don't smell the cocoa at all. It's still a little sweet, but I like it.

[lostluckkitten]

Boomslang is all rich, powdered cocoa and sweet creaminess to me. It's unobtrusive and lays close to my skin, enveloping me in warm chocolate. The teak doesn't amp; I barely notice it. It perhaps makes this snake feel a bit "dusty," but that's all I get. A very snuggly scent. It makes me feel like a truffle (which I'm not opposed to).

[nightbiscuit]

It's like the Candy Butcher let one of her chocolate snakes melt in Faiza's snake pit! It's really good chocolate, too, maybe even the kind that has chili bits to give it a kick! Ahhhh....very dark, sweet, and smooth. The snake oil is recognizable in this blend, and it feels like it's moisturizing the dry teak note.

[darharper]

Thanks for the decant, nekogrrl!!

 

In the bottle: That is a lot of sweet. I don't like most sweet things.

 

Wet: The oil stains my skin and instantly, there is this sickly sweet smell wafting about me. I am definitely smelling the chocolate and nothing else.

 

Drydown: As it dries, the overwhelming sweetness morphs into a dark chocolate (almost coffee bean) flavored spicy vanilla. It still smells a bit strange to me, but, it is growing on me.

 

Dry: It took about 20 minutes to dry, but, once dry, it is a musky spiced vanilla coco. It sits VERY close to my skin, which I like. However, I don't think it is a snuggle scent as my husband really doesn't like it. I think that I like it, but, I am not quite sure. I think that I will try it again in a couple of weeks and see what I think.

[fairnymph]

In the bottle: Gourmet deliciousness; dark, velvety chocolate (dutch process cocoa, maybe?) and a hint of sweet, delicate rice milk, much like rice pudding, over a light but deep woody teak base.

 

Wet: Err, this separates into a clear and a dark brown oil. Must shake before use! Even so, it begins to separate again on my skin. It's a deep milk chocolate colour, thick and opaque prior to dividing. It smells just as it does in the bottle. It's foody, but not absurdly; the wood and extremely faint Snake Oil components ground the scent.

 

Dry: Slow to dry, as all the Snakes are. The teak amps majorly in this, and it's absolutely gorgeous, quickly taking command, but not overpoweringly. The rice milk has amped too and adds an incredibly natural and gauzy sweetness, perfectly balancing the rich, warm cocoa note. Barely any of the spicy-boozy SO.

 

Later: The SO has amped to match the teak and cocoa and now-fainter rice milk, and they all blend quite seamlessly together. I detect the sharply spicy clove, slightly boozy bourbon vanilla, and somewhat harsh red musk, while the earthy patchouli, less dirty-rooty than usual here, seems to merge with the woody teak.

 

Summary: Dominating Snake Oil - the fresh, sharper sort with a strong clove note and lighter vanilla, patchouli, and musk - blended with smooth, deep teak. Softer notes of warm cocoa delicately sweet rice milk temper the harshness of the unaged SO so I imagine this would age wonderfully. Unisex to feminine. Good throw, great lasting power.

 

I find this quite delectable despite my dislike for Snake Oil (particularly fresh), because the teak note is just so gorgeous, and the cocoa and rice milk nearly equally delicious. And yet, this is not really a foody blend as it blooms on my skin. It's just rich, inviting, and sexy. Without the clove, I might even wear this.

[Champagne]

The snake sits near to the cocoa and it does a very wise thing indeed, vanilla, choco spices, who needs more than this? A strong and balanced snake for all gourmet around!

EDA It became my signature scent, I love it and slather it many times a week. It`s fabulous fresh and aged and it `s comforting and sexy like nothing else. I `m totally sold

Edited November 11, 2008 by Champagne

[Kabooki]

I have tried 5 snakes now and I could honestly just copy and paste this review here for all of them, just changing the top notes around to fit each one. Anyway here is what happened

 

In the imp: Smells like a Minty Chocolate Bar, oh yeah this is also super chocolate brown as well, I thought it was going to stain my skin it was so brown

 

On Skin: Still smells like a Minty Chocolate bar, nice and creamy.

 

15 Mins Later: It does what every other snake does, gets my hopes up, and then turns into Snake Oil. I haven't tried snake oil, nothing of the chocolate or anything else, just snake oil. Which tends to cling close to my skin, and while wonderful, its nothing different.

 

May keep around but not something I need a big bottle of

[Ohmaude]

Boomslang, you were my chocolate hope. I wanted you to be the heady, spicy chocolate I have sipped in a small cafe down a cobblestone street, in a mile-high mountain town in a small Central American country. I wanted you and Snake Oil to roll in rich and sexy goodness, the way chocolate can be.

 

I wanted you to be different than the other BPAL chocolates, who left me feeling like a plastic toy ice-cream cone. I finally get my hands on an imp of you and alas, Boomslang. You smell like chocolate scented diet pills. You even damper the snake oil's goodness. You may say "chocolate" to my mind, but my heart knows better. To the swap pile with you.

[diamondstars]

I expected this to be very chocolate-y, on the same level of Candy Butcher maybe.

 

It certainly is chocolate-y but the Snake Oil stands out very much. That's not a bad thing though, 'cause I like Snake Oil anyway.

 

It's a keeper!

 

*I've just tried it on skin and all of the chocolate fades, leaving me with pure Snake Oil! Nevermind! Just means that even though it's a keeper it isn't hoard-worthy, therefore saving me pennies!*

Edited August 3, 2008 by saracakes

[galahad]

In The Bottle

Rich cocoa and teak

 

On Application

Sweet, rich and dark cocoa

 

Dry Down

Unlike some of the other snakes I have tried, the snake oil is obvious from the start giving the cocoa a nice spiciness and sweetness. This is creamy and rich but the teak adds an element of balance. I got this bottle as a mistake (was supposed to be 2 banded sea snake bottles but I got 2 of these instead) but I really like this blend. Reminds me of Wulric the Wolfman without the mintiness.

 

Rating (0-5)

5

[innocent]

Soooo... I'm indifferent to chocolate scents and Snake Oil is only okay on my skin (I only get dry, almost dirty spices once it's on my skin). So why did I try Boomslang? Honestly, I just wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

 

And really, Boomslang is quite yummy. It's sweeter on me than regular Snake Oil (yay!) and the spices don't seem as dirty-smelling. I'm not getting the deep, rich cocoa that many reviewers are - to me the chocolate in Boomslang smells almost like Hersey's syrup. This is not really ideal, but it also fades fairly qickly on me.

 

The drydown is all yummy soft vanilla - but it seems to have a sort of artificial undertone (the dreaded plastic smell!). Fortunately the undertone is very faint indeed.

 

I haven't decided yet if I'll get a bigger bottle of Boomslang. The DH likes it, which is a plus, but it's certainly not my Holy Grail scent. I'll try it a few more times, see how finances stand, and then decide.

[milo]

Wet and on, I smell a chalky cocoa and snake oil. This is nice, but I'm not keen on the chocolate right now, I think it's just too fresh. I can see the potential of this, however, with age and will probably get a back-up.

[quigza]

Snake oil & the snake pit in the past have both turned to evil on my skin. But, against all common sense, I have put aged snake oil on one wrist & boomslang on the other. These are the results for Boomslang.

 

In the bottle: Snake oil & chocolate. More the snake oil than the chocolate. & very "exotic oil" snake oil at that. It's sharp.

 

Wet: OMG, this oil is DARK!! I'm glad I read previous reviews & knew to shake it up. See above for the scent. The chocolate is a little more pronounced

 

Dry down: The powder that comes up for me in snake oil is coming up here, but it makes the chocolate smell like... dark chocolate nesquik- if that makes any sense at all. Too sweet to be cocoa. Too dry to be candy.

 

After an hour or two: It smells like snake oil. Maybe a tad sharper (probably because it's new), and a bit heavier due to the chocolate.

 

I could see it being good (but not great) after aging it a while. So, I'm going to try that.

[persianmouse]

Imagine you go to visit a candy factory.

 

The Head Candyman takes you on a tour of said factory. You wear a little pink hard hat.

 

He points out the Marshmallow Puffing Mechanism, the Cotton Candy Gin, the Pop-Rock Fizzierfier, the Peppermint Chipper. He shows you a small, gun-like gun that shoots out nonpareils. He shows you the football stadium-sized warehouse where they store the candy corn during summer, spring and winter, and tells you that no new candy corn has been made since 1965, they just collect the old candy corn from the dumpsters (because no on ever eats it), wash it off and resell it.

 

And then he brings you to the Chocolate Boilers. It's hot, and you begin to sweat slightly. Huge iron vats, with decades of chocolate patina on the sides, boil with lava-hot chocolate, as skilled choconeers dangle above the vats, away from the scalding, delicious steam, and wind the clockwork stirring arms. Its far too dangerous to manually stir it. Pipes run from boiler to boiler, in Suessian tangles, all the way outside to their sources, four huge wooden silos, tall enough to rival any tower in New York City. Written on the sides of the silos, in huge army lettering, are 'MILK', 'SUGAR', 'COCOA BUTTER' and 'COCOA POWDER'.

 

As if pulled by some unseen force, you are drawn to the Cocoa Powder Tower. With shaky, uncertain steps, you climb the side the creaking tower. Even from out here, you can smell a tantalizing tang of its contents. Higher and higher on the slippery rungs you climb, as your tour guide watches with a wicked, knowing grin. He's seen this many times before, he knows how this play ends. He lights up a candy cigarette and waits.

 

At the top of what should barely qualify as a ladder, there is a tiny platform barely big enough to kneel on, and a small round door with a wheel on it, in the manner of a submarine door. The wheel is rusty, ancient, eldritch, and all but screams not to come inside anything with that as a doorknob. You grasp it anyway, and push with all your might. It turns out despite its appearance, it can open with little effort, and you nearly push yourself off the platform in you over-exertion. The little round submarine door swings open, and the most fantastically terrifying effluvium smacks you in the face, and wraps around you like a murderous blankie. Cocoa powder, deep, rich and intense. And great. Godlike in size. God Cocoa.

 

You stick your head inside, trying to get closer to the scent, as it quickly becomes not enough to merely sit outside and enjoy it. You need more. You need it so badly, you think you just might die. There is little light inside the silo, whatever can get past your trembling frame in the doorway. It dimly illuminates a few feet, leaving the rest of the vasty space in tantalizing shadows. But what you can see are hills and valleys of soft powdery brown delight. You push your shoulders through, blocking out more light, feeding the hungry shadows. You reach out with a trembling arm, but no! the rolling knolls of cocoa are just out of your reach! Damn it.

 

You scuttle closer to the edge of the doorway, half your body now consumed by the silo, all light, save a few lonely shafts pushing desperately around you, now blocked out. You stretch out with both arms, like a child to its mother, and your fingertips barely brush the mounds of powdered heaven. Quickly you bring them to your mouth, heart racing, adrenaline coursing through you, and lick your hands in a most unbecoming manner. The cocoa is quickly consumed, but you need more, and you begin to gnaw at your own fingers. Sweat drips from your brow, your eyes widen and dilates, your mouth opens, lips trembling, panting, your chest heaves, your gut twists, your body twitches, needing. One last, lonely little neuron in your brain warns you to pull back, that there is danger ahead, but that is a whisper in a hurricane. Desperately, needfully, heedlessly, lustfully, you fling yourself forward, into the shadowy, chocolate-scented void. And, for a moment, as you lay in the soft, delicate powder, mouth open, body joyfully spasming, eyes rolled back in divine ecstasy, everything is heaven. And then you sink, consumed by cocoa, gently suffocating while everything goes dark, but you really just can't bring yourself to give a fuck.

 

This is Boomslang.

[birdiefu]

I've had this bottle for a year and a half, so it's pretty well aged. I know when I tried this when it was new, it was chocolate that faded to regular SO, so I let it be for a while.

 

In the bottle- Very dark brown oil that I had to roll for a long time since the bottom was very thick, and a stubborn chunk took a while to mix back in. Smells like a very rich and yummy high-end chocolate over a bit of nicely aged Snake Oil. Yummy! Makes my teeth ache in anticipation.

 

Wet- As soon as I apply it, it smells divine like in the bottle. However, over a matter of seconds, the chocolate morphs to a weird acrid, burnt smell .

 

Initial dry- The burning is gone, thank all that is holy, leaving.....regular old Snake Oil.

 

Late dry- Snake Oil. Nicely aged Snake Oil, that is.

 

Overall- I will love the bottle to sniff from, but wearing it as perfume is useless unless I run out of Snake Oil. Maybe a pendant will work better.

[CreamyJade]

In the bottle: Delicious cocoa! The scent somehow reminds me of a chocolate cake mix

Wet on skin: This oil is dark! The two scents that I can detect are still the cocoa and the particular smell of Snake Oil.

Dry on skin: Still the same as the wet stage. I don't get any rice milk or teak...but it's still delicious!

Final thoughts: Snake Oil stuffed itself with dark chocolate! I'm usually not a foody scent kind of person, but this one is really nummy. It must be because I love Snake Oil Boomslang is a nice alternative to Snake Oil, and I think I'll get another bottle to see how it ages.

[hespera4523]

I'll preface this by saying that any scent with a cocoa or chocolate note in it promptly turns to Tootsie-Roll on my skin, without passing Go or giving me $200. That said, I was most anxious to try Boomslang since it apparently moves people to rapturous states as a general rule. I was hoping that this would be the chocolate scent that didn't leave me smelling like the sticky brown goo that invariably collects in my niece's trick or treat bag. No such luck. It is lovely in the imp to smell, being very dustysweet cocoa, reminiscent of the Special Dark chocolate bars which see me through the five darkest days of the month. But I see potential here, as a oil-burner ambiance scent for inducing the Bow-chika-boom-bow atmosphere. Not sorry I got the imp at all.

 

10/19 ETA: So I revisited this today, after enjoying the lava-lamp effect before I swished it up so it was blended back together. Where before it had a tootsie-roll smell, I dotted it on and sniffed...and instead smelled Hershey's Syrup and Snake Oil. No tootsie roll in sight! Huzzah! After awhile it fades to just Snake Oil with a little extra milky sweetness, but that's no bad thing. Heaven! Maybe the first day I tried it my skin chemistry was all wonked, or maybe it was today. But now I can't get enough, so Boomslang may work out better than expected! Will finish up the imp and make a decision then.

Edited October 20, 2008 by hespera4523

[Juushika]

In the bottle: Pure, rich, melted chocolate—but it's backed by a trace of something which is slight off and smells vaguely like chemicals or alcohol (perhaps the Snake Oil base?).

 

On me: Five minutes of rich, pure, melted, very dark chocolate and then poof! nothing. The scent disappears entirely, and I don't even get a whiff of Snake Oil left behind.

 

On the bedding: (A few drops on a piece of fabric [which the oil will stain, but the stain doesn't transfer], stuck in the dryer with the clean dry bedding for about five minutes) When it first comes out, it's rich melted dark chocolate with a high, wide, exuberant throw, surrounded by a heady, slightly bitter alcohol note which is closer to rubbing alcohol than booze. By the next day, the alcohol wears off, leaving rich chocolate with a slightly non-foody, Snake Oil edge. It's deep dark chocolate, as rich as the oil itself; it's melted (perhaps the rice milk?) and thick; it has bit of non-foody spice and a Snake Oil medicinal edge. The Snake Oil aspects fade and the throw decreases with time, but the scent lingers for a week, easy. It transfers to my hair and skin during the night.

 

Verdict: The first time that Boomslang disappeared on my skin, I was heartbroken—a rich, pure, dark chocolate would be my perfect scent if it lasted. Using it to scent my laundry changed everything: what disappears so swiftly on my skin stays around forever on my bedding, and sleeping cocooned in rich chocolate is indulgent and divine. It only takes a few drops to scent an entire load of laundry, but I'm still glad to have a bottle—I'll want chocolate-scented sheets for years to come.

[MaidMirawyn]

This is my first Snake Oil fragrance; I don't even own the original Snake Oil. (I can't believe I've gotten one as a frimp yet, based on what everyone says!)

 

And...I love it!

 

It's cocoa, yes, but (repeat after me...) NOT FOODY! It's rich, warm, and thick, with a touch of musky spice and a hint of sweetness. (Thank you, Snake Oil!)

 

I think it's interesting that it's so richly cocoa in the bottle, then immediately so much more as soon as it touches your skin. (It always seems like magic, the way scents react with the skin!) The deep, dark oil seems somehow to match the fragrance, even though Boomslang isn't dark in the way we usually use the term with fragrances. I have very fair skin, too, fair enough that people keep telling me to get out in the sun...and my skin is already about four shades darker than usual after the summer! But as long as I rub the oil in while it's wet, there's no stain that I can see. Yay!

[AlarmAgent]

In Bottle - Cocoa, cocoa, cocoa. This is deep cocoa, with absolutely no milk powder or sugar. This is dutch-processed, throat burning cocoa. As dark a cocoa can get. Speaking of dark, this oil is about the same color as any old cocoa powder. I have to rub it in pretty well, or else I end up with some unsightly and hard to explain wrist-and-neck stains.

 

Wet on Skin, First Applied - Cocoa, powder, and mint? Amber (if there is any in here, that is) almost always falls to powder on me, but as it so happens, I'm one of the few that like powder, or at it's very worst, I can stand it. Still, not exactly the sexy, slinky scent I pictured. That's the one thing about powder, it pretty much sucks all possible sexy out of a fragrance, and renders it only "pretty", or "pleasant". So far, not a hot date, but a comfortable evening at home, all twinsetted up and drinking cocoa.

 

Dry, on Skin - Hm, powder is dying down, but at it's sexiest, you've just taken off the cardigan. That slight hint of mint is completely gone. Pretty, but hardly sexy. With my Boomslang purchase, I also got some regular Snake Oil. I think the Snake Oil was fairly well aged, because it is as thick as maple syrup and smells gorgeous. Meanwhile, the Boomslang is more regular oil-consistency and smells, "feh". Don't get me wrong, it doesn't smell bad in any sense of the word, it's just very much a pleasant, unobtrusive scent. Me, I generally like my fragrance to stomp it's feet and command respect.

 

So, I think I'll be letting my Boomslang age for awhile, because the comparatively older Snake Oil is great and quite slinky. As it stands, I smell hardly any SO in the Boomslang, and from what I'm reading, it comes out more with age. I'll revisit this review in a few months/years, however long it takes for this good girl in the twinset to start driving a Mustang and putting out on the first date.

Edited September 17, 2008 by AlarmAgent