The Candy Butcher (2015)

[stellamaris]

Bittersweet chocolate with a heavy cream undertone.

 

omgosh this is so beautiful...I had to stop myself from running to the machine and ordering 57 bottles but oh my. Lovely. Starts out candy and morphs into something smokey and dark, but still lovely.

[tinyvulture]

Candy Butcher '06 was straight up foodie paradise, chocolate and cream. This reformulations has more depth which, as Ina said, makes it more of an actual "perfume." The raw, unsweetened cacao has a dark earthiness to it that reminds me of patchouli. Don't get me wrong it's still quite foodie, with plenty of sweet vanilla cream. Love it even more than the original for its added complexity!

Edited December 20, 2015 by tinyvulture

[lexyOZ]

I am not really a foodie fan at all, but there's something about this that is just so lush and wonderful.

Wet, it's pretty much straight milk chocolate on me with an undertone of something odd that I'd expect from the CD. It really comes alive on the drydown though. I get an earthy, musky scent backing up a dry cocoa that is just lovely. It's sweet, but it's not cloying. I was really surprised that a two note scent managed to have such depth. I can see this appealing to foodie and non-foodie fans alike.

[spookygrrrly]

I *LOVE* this! Dark chocolate and cream undertones. When I first put it on I just something a little floral or sharp underneath. It reminds me of fresh mint but fades into the background. Then it is just a wonderfully rich bittersweet chocolate mixed with rich cream. Not a sweet scent though...more robust. I can see me wearing this a lot.

[cherrycherry]

Pure milk chocolate and double cream on me.

 

A touch drier than Bliss, but that's okay. The staying power is immense and so is the throw.

 

A brilliant, perfect chocolate perfume.

[Cali]

I was really surprised when I just got the bottle and sniffed it right there and then all I got was smoke... which... wasn't good. But, the good, or rather the GREAT thing is it only had to settle for a couple of days.

Now it's just a beautiful, smooth, dark chocolate backed up by a thick cream, and just a sliiight touch of smoke which is so damn sexyI swear I could sniff my arm all day long.

 

Longevity on me is unfortunately not really long, but not too short that it pisses me off.

Edited August 4, 2016 by Cali

[Candice Chen]

Took awhile to get used to but this has quickly become one of my favorite BPAL chocolate scents.

 

It's a dark, lush and dangerous chocolate, and despite the notes being just bittersweet cocoa and cream, I agree with all the reviewers who mention a faint suggestion of a floral note. It's a little tangy and cold, and gives me an impression of metal or blood, which is perfect for something from the Carnaval Diabolique line.

I know a few people think this is a "fake" chocolate smell but I beg to differ. This is the smell of bitter, unsweetened cacao absolute, which is raw, pungent and deep, and which throws some people off because they expect something more moreish and obviously pleasant. My bottles of Candy Butcher have that layer of dark brown sediment at the bottom which I get when working with cacao absolute and oils.

 

This is how dark chocolate smells, not how it tastes.

And that’s exactly why I like it. Bliss is the good-girl chocolate, and Candy Butcher is very definitely a bad-girl one.

Edited May 20, 2016 by Nightphlox

[Casablanca]

I absolutely love this scent. It's an evil sort of chocolate. It is, as advertised, bittersweet with a thick but understated creamy note. But there's also something else, possibly a few something elses. I get a resinous note that reminds me strongly of myrrh. Possibly opoponax. I also smell a little something woody. I don't know if it's separate, or a wood tone to another component. It reminds me of teak.

Whatever it is, I smell this blend and my brain turns to a drifty, serotonin-rich fog. A friend smelled this and said, "Urrhhhh..." and winced away. (I know I love myrrh and she hates it, so maybe that's the cause.)

The longevity is great on me. I need more bottles of this pleasey.

[theredkilt]

I get dark chocolate with undertone of cream, which smells a bit sharpish and sour, but the bitterness of chocolate keeps it in check. Overall it settles into dark chocolate powder with a distant sweet undertone.

[thekittenkat]

I never got to try the original, but when a friend included this in a joint order, I had to test it!

 

In the bottle: dark chocolate and some cream and something like incense

 

Wet: much the same as the cold sniff

 

The dry-down: in the end, I get more of the incense note than either the chocolate or cream

 

I'm glad I got to try this, but that's abt it. Oh yes, it smelt better on my friend. I must admit that I was a bit disappointed, as I love chocolate scents.

[Soupy Twist]

Unsweetened cocoa powder in the bottle. Goes on as an amazing dark chocolate. Definitely the cocoa/chocolate note from El Dia de los Reyes. Sadly, as it dries, it smells like the chocolate solids bloom, and it finishes as a stale milk chocolate. This has so much promise wet.

[tansy19]

So far I'm on the fence about this. It's definitely dark chocolate and cream but like other reviews stated there must be lilies are another floral in this and here's why. Certain florals smell like strait up diapers to and on me. Sometimes this goes away with age sometimes it doesn't so I'm gonna hold on to her for at least a year to see.

 

Oddly enough the diaper smell isn't completely off putting and not everyone can seem to smell it like I can. So don't let my review completely turn you off. I suggest trying to find a decant on sales or swaps and giving her a try. Chemistry is everything!

[highgarden]

Here goes my first review!

 

In the bottle, it smells true to the description, all dark chocolate with a tinge of cream, but there's a spicy, almost floral note. On wet, it's much the same.

 

As it dries, though, the spicy note comes out further. I'm not sure what it is, but even for someone who hates florals as much as I do, I don't mind this one. It's perfume-y and not a foodie chocolate, definitely evil.

[follis]

I am reviewing a decant that is not labelled with a date, and based on how it smells I assume it is the updated release.

 

Wet: Chocolate, cream, hint of medicinal cherry for some reason. (Other people mentioned lillies but in any case it's a dislike).

On: Similar to wet but less foody. My skin chemistry is not as kind to this blend, especially the chocolate which was better wet.

Drydown: urgh more cherry. Hint of milk chocolate. This unfortunately ended up plastic.

[jojocialist]

in the bottle, chocolate chocolate chocolate. on the skin it picks up a slight peppery undertone and something persuasively soft, like cream. highly aggressive tootsie rolls. i don't think this scent will last very long on me but it's delightful.

5 hours in: this is hot chocolate and marshmallows, can't detect anything else but i'm 100% cool with that. i'm a big ol' tart for sweet gourmand scents.
verdict: YES LORD

[donkehpoo]

Wet: Dark chocolate fudge!

 

Dry: Still very much a fudge-y dark chocolate scent, but there's a little bit of a cocoa powder scent now as well. 

 

If you're seeking out a chocolate scent that isn't very sweet, you should check this out. 

[bellumed]

Well, someone likes their hot chocolate on the bitter side! Starts off as barely-sweetened cocoa powder. There's also this thick layer of something else. I suppose that would be the cream... only it smells vaguely sinister? Not how I normally think of cream...

 

On skin: Oh, did I say barely sweetened? Any hint of sugar has fled. There's still some cocoa present, but it's gone sour.  It gets softer on drydown, but S L O W L Y, so slowly, at a goddamn snail's pace The Candy Butcher becomes less bitter. And as it does, it's a little more wearable... but I'm also getting the dreaded plastic undertone. It's all just dull. As someone who unrepentantly adores foodie scents, this one is a bit of a bust.  I'll have to see if I can get my hands on the original version at some point.

[fairybites]

Burnt smelling creamy milk chocolate. It's definitely sweet, but I'm mostly smelling a burnt note. I think it's really just the bittersweetness of the chocolate, but to me it smells like the chocolate was overcooked by The Candy Butcher.

 

Reminds me a little of Burnt Cocoa Bombs actually, but creamier.

[dancingchair]

Perfumed bitter dark chocolate. The heavy cream is, in fact, an undertone. It's not super prominent but I can catch hints of it adding sweetness and bringing down the bitterness of the chocolate.

[Elspethdixon]

I got a partial bottle of this back in 2015 when it was newly re-issued and it didn’t wow me, possibly because I was expecting a sweeter and more candy-bar-like chocolate.

 

Either my nose/taste has improved, my skin chemistry has changed, or six years worth of aging have worked magic, because now it’s the perfect rich, slightly bitter dark chocolate base scent to layer literally any chocolate or cacao blend with.

 

My chocolate-eating skin chemistry zaps the dark chocolate notes after a couple of hours, but the very late drydown at the end of the day (we’re talking the 8-12 hour mark) is this amazing sweet/rich vanilla-like scent that will last on my hair until the next morning.

[MolyH]

I swear to god I am catching an alcohol note in this, like a booze-centred chocolate. Something cognac-y. While it does smell good, as time goes on, the boozy-ness starts overwhelming the chocolate, and I smell like I spilled some kind of sweet cocktail all over myself. I think I need to hunt for a more true chocolate scent.