Ein Kuss von Krampus

[lamenteuse]

EIN KUSS VON KRAMPUS
A kiss from Krampus! Willow and beechwood branches, Austrian chocolate, fresh Alpine milk, with paprika, horseradish, black pepper, juniper, mustard seed, and caraway. Goes on like candy, but morphs into a reedy, bittersweet spiced cocoa.

Oh! I'm first! I hope I do this oil justice.

In the bottle: Reminds me a bit of the notes from the 13 series. Sweet, milk chocolate and light spices. Warm and pleasant
On the skin: it's like wearing a milk chocolate sweater of happiness!
A few hours later: Let's pretend you're making pfeffernüsse cookies. You've just taking out all the spices for it, and you've got a craving for hot chocolate. So you whip up a batch, going all out with real chocolate and real milk. Just as you go to pour the cocoa into a mug, your hand slips, spilling cocoa all over your spices and your brand new wood chopping block. Now, lean over and give it a sniff. THAT'S what Ein Kuss Von Krampus smells like.

FInal thoughts: Love it! I bought it the day it went live on the Dark Delicacies site and I might have to buy another bottle. I used it in a scent locket yesterday and kept getting wonderful whiffs of chocolate, pepper, and light woodsy spices.

[Auri]

This is my first post ever so I hope I'm doing this right:)

 

I bought this as soon as it went up on the site!!! it sounds amazing!

 

In the bottle: when it first arrived I couldn't wait! I got dark chocolate and a strong spicy smell, to me it was the horseradish and pepper.

after a couple of weeks it now smells like yummy dark chocolate and the horseradish and pepper has really toned down.

 

on the skin: at first it was just dark chocolate but almost a minute later the horseradish came out and gave me this burn to the nose feeling...that sharp smell when the horseradish is just fresh. Again since I've had the bottle for a couple of weeks the horseradish as toned down. I LOVE this scent! and don't take the horseradish and pepper as a bad thing, I actually REALLY like it!! it gave it a more masculine tone to it, so it's not tooo sweet! I love how this scent is blended together!

I'm actually thinking of getting a second bottle!!!-this is also my first bpal bottle ever:) and I'm so impressed! I have to say I'm hooked!

Any chocolate lovers will love this!

 

Hope I did okay:)

[sunshinedaisybliss]

This one reminds me of The Malignant Dreams of Cthulhu in Love - it has that same uber-rich chocolate mixed with madness thing going on. But where Cthulhu was all about the ocean, Ein Kuss von Krampus is all about the spices and wood. And I agree with lamenteuse that this could easily have passed as one of the Thirteen blends - it's kinda like the March '09 version, but most reminiscent of the 13 from August this year with its similar pepper/paprika vibe.

 

The cocoa here is definitely tinged with spices - the most obvious ones I find are the paprika and black pepper, but there's also something a bit like nutmeg or cinnamon behind it. It's not really sweet, and I don't think it smells like milky cocoa at all, this isn't a wimpy hot chocolate for sissies - it's a kick ass cocoa - it has a 'red' feel to it.. like a Mexican or Brazilian cocoa. I do like the wood-y undertones, they are quite subtle but very nice and earthy.

 

It didn't 'go on like candy' for me - it started out a reedy, bittersweet spiced cocoa and stayed that way. And this guy has some throw! I only dabbed a little bit on, and I could smell it wafting all around me for quite a while.

 

I'm just not sure about this one - the notes are somehow a little clamorous together for me, the spices are interfering with the cocoa and the cocoa is interfering with the spices - they just don't seem to find a time when they blend in harmony on my skin. It's quite fresh and brash, and a little bit assaulting - much like a kiss from Krampus would probably be

 

I'm reserving my verdict on this one, I'll give it another try in a week or so.. and I'm tempted to put it aside for a bit and see what a few months of aging would do - it might mellow the spices and help out with the balance issue for me. But if you love your cocoa hot and spicy and with a little kick - go grab a kiss from Krampus - it's certainly an experience

 

ETA

PS Auri - you did great for your first review!

.

Edited December 16, 2010 by sunshinedaisybliss

[Xanon]

I agree with Sunshinedaisybliss on this one - it is very much like Cthulhu in Love, but replace aquatic with spice.

 

In the bottle this smells like you mix tootsie rolls with frosty forest notes. Very reminiscent of a few of my 13 blends in terms of what type of chocolate note it has.

 

Wet I get intense blasts of the caraway, pepper and chocolate. Very intense. I put the smallest of drops of oil on my skin, and could smell it in my face from a foot away. (Wrist held out from body)

 

Dry this is better. Not slapping me in the face anymore. I am getting some of the wood notes and juniper in the background now, but this is still predominately caraway, chocolate and pepper. In that order.

 

This is not bad, and I think that with the right skin chemistry this would be amazing. If you find that the 13 blends are frequent winners for you, than Ein Kuss von Krampus should not be missed.

 

Edt. for spelling failure

Edited January 15, 2011 by Xanon

[midnight_aeval]

Instead of Ein Kuss von Krampus smelling spicy with all those hot herbs/spices, this is totally booze to me. Like a chocolate martini! I used to get this Tiramisu martini from Macaroni Grill and it reminds me of it. It does dry down to a tootsie roll scent which is very pleasant. This is a really interesting and super morphing blend. It does not remind me of the 13 series... more like the box of chocolate scents.

[zankoku_zen]

Spicy chocolate. To me, Ein Kuss Von Krampus (EKVK) on wet, smells almost like a combination of pomegranate and chococolate. As it dries, I get a hint of pepper, mustard and other spices. It dries to a much 'spicier' chocolate.

 

The morphing of it reminds me a little to certain 13 blends.

 

Interesting.

[Little Bird]

I was excited to try this, because I love cocoa/chocolate scents, milk, and unusual spices. Unfortunately, I don't get much chocolate from this and the spice is very strong, but not all that unique or exciting. I don't get the woods that other people have mentioned either.

 

For a while when I first put this on, it reminded me of Possets' Haute Love (chocolate covered ginger scent), but the spice was sharper and the chocolate not as pronounced. I don't get anything like horseradish, black pepper, mustard, or the listed notes. This is like sharp, hot ginger and a bit of cinnamon on me.

 

After about fifteen minutes, I don't smell any chocolate and there's nothing candy-like about this scent. It's actually slightly off and soured on me, and reminds me of bpal's pukey champagne notes, oddly. It's strong and unpleasantly soured and sharply spicy on my skin.

 

The only thing I really like about this scent is the bottle label

[angelicruin]

This goes on me as spicy bittersweet cocoa. I think I can pick out a bit of the black pepper note, but I'm not getting any of the caraway, mustard, or paprika notes.

[komakat]

I want so badly to love this.

 

Freshly opened and in the bottle I get an insanely boozy chocolate overpowering everything else.

 

Wet on skin It's as if I splashed about in a pan of spiced rum and melted tootsie rolls.

 

Dry I'm starting to find some of the other notes that I'm longing for. Was so excited for the caraway.

 

 

I've left it sitting for a few months and I'm liking it a little more. The chocolate is settling down. Maybe by fall I'll have just what I want. I can tell those other notes are in there but I have to sit and sniff and sniff and try my hardest to pick them out.

 

No matter what I'm keeping it. Gotta wear it on my birthday. Gotta wear it with my miss monster krampus shirt.

[filigree_shadow]

It smells very sweet at first, with a chocolate undertone, and then it turns spicy. The various spices really take over. It doesn't smell at all like when I usually say something smells "spicy" -- generally I mean hot. Like cinnamon or cassia. This is a much more exotic smelling spice. It kind of reminds me of chocolate oranges with spices over the top.

[Numanoid]

Ok... I can describe this on one word: Lebkuchen!!! Although it isn't an English word, this is exactly as it smells! I got to live in Germany for 3 years, and around Christmas time, we would buy some lebkuchen and this scent, in the bottle and on, brings back very fond memories of Germany... I really miss it there!!! Oh Du Meine Gute!!!

[bellumed]

I’m getting chocolate powder and something unpleasantly sour. Those bitter notes have to struggle to get out, just buried under sourness, but eventually they get there. That’s much nicer already; not as awesome as I’d like, though. At last, hours later, it fades to a barely-there cocoa powder. I think I’ll keep my decant, but I definitely don’t need a bottle.

[BuxomM]

This reminds me of a 13. it starts off powdery chocolate with a spicy woody herbiness. I can't place it. As it dries it's a rich sweet chocolate.

Edited March 10, 2013 by BuxomM

[JazzieCazzie]

Received this as lagniappe in a swap, kindly added since I had it on my wish list.

 

IN THE IMP: Chocolate, of course ... like a single gourmet truffle.

 

Dabbed on one wrist and in the crook of my arm.

 

WET: The chocolate is prevalent but enveloped by an array of other odd notes. Had I not had the list in front of me, I would have thought fruits and booze. Or boozy fruit. And maybe hazelnut. Not really loving it. I usually love the BPAL chocolate note but am not loving the other notes that overwhelm it here. There's just too much. While wet, I don't NOT like it, I just don't like it.

 

DRYDOWN: Now I start to NOT like it. The more it dries, the stronger and more in-your-face it gets on me, to the point of nauseatingly cloying. It's too too too to put a finger on. (Sorry, Tom Verlaine). And ... oh, no ... the LONGTERM drydown is really rough on me. My study, my clothes, my desk smells like this for almost a whole day. And it's not a good smell. And I can't escape it.

 

OVERALL: I give this big props for creativity and complexity. I can see the 13 comps, but for the same reason I've never found a 13 that was a keeper for me, this doesn't work. It's just TOO busy.

 

On a scale of 1-5, a 1.5