How Doth the Little Crocodile

[ElectraV]

Chocolate peppermint, mint-soaked vanilla, pistachio, oakmoss, and green cedar.

In the imp: Cocoa and mint

Wet: Mint chocolate. Kind of powdery, like it's mint flavour drinking chocolate

Dry: Mint chocolate biscuits. For those in the UK, it's just like Viscount biscuits. I guess that's what the combination of oakmoss and cedar turns into on me.

I keep sniffing my wrist thanks to this. I wasn't too sure about the mint to start with as it's not something I was sure I wanted to smell of, but it's a good combination and didn't turn into vanilla the way chocolate scents often do on me. I'm going to have to put in an order for a bottle when I get my yules.

[tartchef]

Oo. NYOM. I usually avoid the foody scents, but this is delicious - sweet but not cloying at all, very much dark chocolate & bitter mint with a puddle of pistachio anglaise.... Oakmoss likes to smell a bit like coconut on me sometimes, and is a very quiet player here. There's the barest hint of freshly-sharpened pencils, the cedar making itself known...

 

I still don't think I want to smell like this, but it's given me an incredible idea for a plated dessert....

[gingiemay]

So this is a really interesting scent--in the imp it is definitely a chocolate-y, vanilla, mint cookie scent. On my skin, it turns a kind of sweet, brown musky scent with vanilla and pistachio. I can't decide if it smells a little funky on me or if it's yummy. There just feels like something is slight off and I can't put my finger on why.

[tajana]

In the bottle: Chocolate mint. Nom nom nom...

 

Wet: I get the impression of moss covered tree bark... but the tree bark is fairy tale tree bark that's part way through the process of metamorphosing into chocolate. After it dries down, it's mossy wood with an open tin of peppermint hot cocoa mix off to the side. It sounds strange, but it's oddly pleasing. It's also very cohesive: it's an odd combo of notes in a way, but it doesn't read as "complex" on the skin, it just melds into one brown and green smell.

 

The chocolate reads to me as milk chocolate, but it's not too sweet. The vanilla is a subtle sweetening aspect, but it's not sticky or creamy, as it's very much held in check by the dryness of cedar and the wonderful foresty green of oakmoss. If I wasn't looking for it, I would have missed the nutty twist of pistachio. The cedar and oakmoss harmonize beautifully with the cocoa vanilla. The mint is very light on me, just a slightly cool edge that blends well with the oakmoss, pistachio, and green cedar to create a decidedly green feel. Given the crocodile theme, that makes me smile. It's not green in the way I'd usually apply the word to a perfume... it's more of a cool, velvety soft, dark kelly green moss in the woods kind of thing.

 

Dry: It doesn't change much from start to finish... the chocolate note gets weaker, but that's about it. Lasting power seems about average.

 

Overall: Little Crocodile has a tasty chocolate element, but it's balanced and outweighed by green and woody notes. It's not nearly as foody/nauseating as Boomslang, smells more intriguing than Velvet (both are woodsy chocolates) and bears a passing resemblance to Wulric. I can't pull this off as a "perfume" because it's just a bit too foody at the outset, but as a comfort scent, it works for me. I've adored mint chocolate flavored things since early childhood, and I'm a total cedar fiend, so Little Crocodile feels like a cozy blanket.

Edited December 8, 2009 by tajana

[Janegodzilla]

This smells so good in the bottle. It's all creamy chocolate and minty goodness, with just the barest hint of cedar and moss. It smells the way you'd think an enchanted forest would smell. To my complete and utter dismay, however, the cedar completely overtakes it once it gets on my skin, and after about twenty minutes you'd never even know there was supposed to be mint or chocolate there in the first place. As forest scents go, it's quite pretty, but I wanted to smell like an enchanted mint chocolate forest and not, you know, the regular boring sort. Alas. I've noticed that cedar is kind of a jerk on my skin and likes to take over everything, so maybe a scent locket will be a little kinder to this one.

[kattharia]

So so so BIZARE! I am not a fan of foodie scents, but I absolutely love this! In the bottle and on wet I can smell the chocomint, but as it dries it is all wood! I wish someone else was here to tell me if they smell anything else.

Regardless I think I need a bottle!

[Mousesong]

My brother who is awesome* picked me up a bottle of this at Whole Foods. Some time after my nose shut down when I was trying scents there earlier this year I was torn between Morocco and Crocodile and ended up with the former, and Crocodile has been HAUNTING ME ever since.

 

I was slightly worried that what I got from Crocodile wouldn't be what I remembered (which was "chocolate trees**"), and sure enough, there's more mint and less sweetness than I recall. This is not a problem, though--it's every bit as rich and fantasy-world as I remembered.

 

This scent is heavy on the chocolate and woody notes for me, and light-handed on the mint and pistachio. As other reviewers have mentioned, it's so well-blended it gets hard to pick out individual notes and you're left with the same general impression of "chocolate trees," at least on my skin.

 

Weirdly, Crocodile is almost a bit raunchy, in a way. It's incredibly earthy and brown and rich and on me it treads a delicate line between earthy and unwashed. It treads it successfully, though; I've gotten a couple of positive comments and I definitely can't stop snorfing where it's rubbed off on my scarf.

 

Overall if you're like me and woods adore your skin chemistry, you'd do well to try Crocodile. I've found that if you want to kick the sweetness up and get more Andes Mint and less tree, layering it with Morocco is... really, really good. REALLY, really good. Try it.

 

Overall:

 

Main notes hitting my nose are woodsy, mossy smells tempered with a little bittersweet cocoa.

Underlying (put your nose on your wrist) notes are almost entirely mint.

Staying power is proving to be below-average on me, as is throw, but my skin is incredibly dry right now.

"Clothes cling" factor (my favourite aspect of BPAL, I'm learning) is very high.

 

* He said he was embarrassed because he took the tester up to the counter. Haha, poor guy.

** Mental picture too... awesome... to stand...

[KesHiro]

Of all the Mad Tea Party scents, this is the one I wanted to try the most. Someone in the lab must have sensed this because I was lucky enough to receive a frimp of it in my last order and I'm so glad to have finally had a chance to smell it.

 

In the vial, I get a nice, smooth minty chocolate, with just the faintest hint of something nutty. It's very much like the Andes mints I used to eat when I was a child. Wet, this is a sweet minty vanilla chocolate with a bit of the wood starting to come forward. As it dries down, it remains a minty chocolate, but now the cedar note becomes stronger and a cool, mossy note begins to emerge as well. Once dry, I'm left a lovely chocolate - cedar wood - moss scent that stays close to my skin.

 

I love this. It's not foody at all; if you haven't tried it because you're not a foody fan, don't let the sweet notes scare you off. The chocolate, wood, and moss create a nice, smooth mix and compliment each other very well. I like how the previous reviewer called it an earthy scent and I would agree. There's something about it that conjures up images of eating a chocolate mint while walking through a rainy, primordial forest.

 

Definitely getting a bottle of this in my next order. I can't stop sniffing my wrist.

[TrailerTrashPrincess]

to begin: i hate mint, and i don't especially like chocolate. cedar generally makes me feel like i'm in a hamster cage, and oakmoss tends to overwhelm many things for me....pistachios taste icky but i can't really remember what they smell like.

 

but, all mixed together, it isn't as awful as i expected. maybe pistachios smell yummy?

the chocolate is more Gelt-y and cocoa-y than Hersheys, and the mint is more sweet than biting. green cedar must smell slightly different from standard because it only slightly smells like the inside of my gramma's cedar chest, but the oakmoss still adds the old bottle of mostly evaporated perfume sort of smell. i'm frimping this along to someone who might enjoy it more... but it certainly was an interesting scent experience!

[meatcake]

Creamy mint chocolate with woody/mossy undertones. It's lovely. The throw is incredible and is long-lasting. (8+ hours!) I got this as a frimp with my last older; I need a whole bottle. Yay for general catalogue scents that I love!

[moosue]

Imp: Om nom nom, YES!! Minty chocolate, delicious!

On, wet: Minty chocolate with an odd undertone of something. Something earthy. Oh dear.

Dry: Where the hell are the mint and chocolate? This turned into sweet wood and moss. I love oakmoss, but not like this! Not when I was loving the foodiness!

 

Verdict: Lovely in the imp, total dud on. Smells musty, like an attic. No thanks.

 

ETA: Months later- It turns out that in nearly every blend, I amp cedar like crazy. It's wood. Wood, wood, wood. What begins as absolutely delicious milk chocolate with a kiss of mint becomes Eau de Second Grade Pencil Case.

Edited June 19, 2010 by moosue

[Eemia]

This is one of my favorite Tea Party scents, and it's in my top ten list too. I've been a fan of minty vanilla fragrances ever since Tokyo Stomp was released. The mint is much more understated and gentle in this and just adds a beautiful crispness that makes this feel like more of a year round scent. It might otherwise be too heavy for me to wear in anything but cold weather because of the strength of the vanilla and chocolate.

 

But together everything seems very fresh and unexpected, alot of which is thanks to the cedar. Cedar tends to jump out on my skin but it's just perfect in here. I always try to pick out the pistachio but I really never notice it (or think I notice it) until I've been wearing it at least an hour. Then it has this sort of vaguely green/nutty vibe coming out. It's all very sweet and subdued in the dry down, a jumble of faded vanilla. This is fabulous and I love my bottle!

[abyluv]

chocolate cardboard. o.O Yuck. This one is finding a new home.

[mari4212]

Thin mints.

 

In the imp, and wet on both me and my mother, this was so totally thin mint cookies. Which, you know, I'm not objecting to at all. It's like getting a girl scout cookie fix without having to pay out the wazoo for a box that'll last maybe three days in my family's house. And that's only if my dad isn't aware that the box has been opened for the first two days.

 

As it settles down, there's a bit more woody undertone that serves to ground the scent. Hello there, cedar, make yourself comfortable. It takes the scent out of the straightforward foodie place that it was to start, but keeps it low and comforting.

 

After an hour or so, the mint is gone completely, and the chocolate has faded back into an undertone. The cedar and a sweetness that is probably the vanilla kicking in take center stage. Still lovely, but a complete 180 from the original presentation of the scent.

[voorishsign]

I got a sniffie of this - always wanted to try it but wasn't sure if this would work on me at all. Thankfully there's just enough in here for a wee skin test

 

In the imp - mint, pistachio and wood.

 

On wet - pistachio, vanilla and just a hint of mint. Very light.

 

Drydown - even lighter, but a frankly delicious, creamy, vanilla-accented pistachio with just a brush of foody mint. There's also a dusting of dry chocolate that's very yummy. One of the few foody scents that don't give me a headache, very good.

[Dharklady]

In bottle: Mint, pistachio and chocolate in a lovely creamy mixture.

 

Wet: Pistachio, oakmoss and cedar with a hint of minty milk chocolate underneath.

 

Dry: The chocolate fades to a light sweetness underlying the wonderful combination of pistachio and oakmoss/cedar.

 

Notes: A gentle and inviting scent, perfect for putting unsuspecting fishies at their ease! If you are a fan of less foody chocolate notes and woodland/green scents this would probably be a good choice for you to try.

 

[MissVulpecula]

In the imp: Mint, powdery chocolate and strong moss

 

Drying on my skin: A very complexe scent. There's the sweet note of powdery milk chocolate, a sweet mint, strong wet moss, "rainforest" woods and a hint of creamy vanilla. Sounds weird but the notes go together very well.

 

Throw and staying power: Strong throw, about 6 hours

 

Colour impression: Deep, wet mossy green with hints of powdery brown

 

Verdict: Very interesting and individual blend! Like a chocolate frog in the rainforest sitting on a tuft of dripping wet moss.

Great, but unfortunately not me at all...

[dawndie]

Wet: peppy minty cocoa

 

On skin: lots of chocolate and mint, creamy melted ice cream

 

Half-hour later: the creamy sweetness has mellowed, but the combo of chocolate and cedar is smelling funky

 

In conclusion: I liked the beginning, but the end result was too discordant. I think it's the cedar, it just won't play nice on my skin.

[moon_lemming]

Wow, I did not expect to like this one! Usually BPAL's chocolate notes turn to pencil shavings on me, so add in the fact that there is cedar in this blend, and I figured my notes would just be "blecccch." But it is better than that.

 

In the imp, I can barely smell anything but a tame chocolate -- maybe a little mint, but not like York patty-strength stuff. Fresh on, I do get the pencil shaving effect from the chocolate, PLUS the cedar in the blend, but it evens out as it dries.

 

After it's dry, this is what I get from the Little Crocodile: chocolate, mint, cedar, and a vanilla that strengthens as time goes on. The wood grounds the foody stuff nicely, and the vanilla . . . omg, this may be heresy, but the vanilla reminds me of Antique Lace. It's pretty much half vanilla/half chocolate-mint-cedar combo after an hour.

 

I really like this oil a lot. I might tack a bottle onto an order later in the year, it seems like something I'd wear when the weather's cooling down.

Edited April 24, 2010 by karen

[steelgossamer]

This one is a huge disappointment. I love woodsy scents, nutty scents, and mint. Tokyo Stomp was delicious smelling (though in the end, not one I wore enough to keep around), and I hoped that this would remind me of it a little while being more grounded by the cedar. Not so.

 

Wet: Chocolate and cedar with a touch of mint.

Drydown: Chocolate and sawdust

Dry: Chocolate sawdust

 

This one lasted all day long (10+ hours), but the throw was a bit weak, thankfully. It smells like I rubbed my wrist on a chocolate scented candle and then through a pile of sawdust. It's not horrible, but not what I wanted at all. I've tried this out a few times, and have been disappointed every time. Into the swap pile it goes!

[girasol]

Mad Tea Party is now officially my favourite BPAL scent collection - so much win in this series!

 

How Doth the Little Crocodile, while foody, is more complex than just that. It's warm and and faintly spicy, and the chocolate ain't no Hershey's - it's the real deal 70% cocoa stuff, dark and rich. The mint and vanilla are quite soft, so you don't end up smelling like a choc-mint ice cream cone gone wrong. I really like this scent, it's both delicious and comforting and I need a bottle!

[Klepz]

In the bottle this is all chocolate and mint and vanilla and more chocolate. The melty, milky variety. There's a hint of something earthier far in the background, but at this point I can't tell what it is.

 

Wet this is so much dark chocolate / cocoa powder with a ribbon of vanilla-peppermint. And yet it's not just HAI CHOCOLATE MINT! because of the oakmoss. I can't say I smell the cedar or pistachio, though. I generally seem to dislike chocolate blends but this is so seriously awesome.

 

As it dries, the cedar comes out a bit making this lightly woody chocolate+vanilla with a kick of mint. This is a very fun, but beautiful, blend!

Edited May 21, 2010 by Klepz

[kikithepirate]

This is really lovely, but really faint. It's a pleasant, non-offensive scent, and neither the mint nor the chocolate is nearly as strong as in other BPAL perfumes in which they appear. The other notes play back-up, but all in all, I could barely smell the perfume on my wrists when slathered, and after an hour or so, it was gone completely.

[wendyb1063]

This is nice! It smells like a dusty sweet cocoa to me. I don't get much mint at all, and it is a little foody but not over the top. The cedar is fairly restrained, although if I think about pencil shavings, I can smell them in this. I'm glad I got to try this one.

[filigree_shadow]

On me, this smells like creamy chocolate-mint combination (not unlike mint chocolate chip ice cream -- the mint is not nearly loud enough on me for this to smell like Thin Mints), plus an intriguing base of oakmoss. I'm not a huge fan of cedar, and thankfully it's not coming out in this.

 

I don't wear perfumes that I suspect other people might find possibly offensive -- no dirt, no loud heady florals, no strong musks -- because I'm around lots of people all day long at school, and often in fairly close quarters (crammed together in a classroom where someone might be stuck next to me for an hour). During the day, I choose scents that I think other people might enjoy. This is one of them. It's soft, exceedingly pleasant, and borderline yummy. I honestly cannot imagine anyone objecting to this. On the contrary, it's one of those sure-fire compliment winners.

 

I'm working on my second imp of the Crocodile now, and I'm probably going to tack on a bottle to my next order because I don't think this wee ickle imp is going to last much longer.