The Candy Butcher 2006

[fireflower]

Dark chocolate with a heavy cream undertone.

In the bottle it's like opening up a packet of powdered cocoa and taking a sniff. It's dry, but definitely a pleasant smell. Or it could also be chocolate icing that's been cooling. It's like that wet on the skin, too. Instead of being rich and deep like chocolate syrup or melted chocolate chips, this is dryer, more subdued. There's a plastic component trying to take over as it dries, but it's not proving to be entirely successful. I can still smell the yummy chocolate. I love this wet, but I'm going to have to see if it goes totally plastic after a while before I decide whether or not to get a bottle.

A little while later and after a shower where I was careful not to wash my left arm, it's morphed a lot after being under light water. It's deeper and the plastic note has gone. Really like this one for when I'm feeling foody but don't want to smell like cake.

[alsatia]

Expectations: I'm wary. I don't really care for chocolate to eat, so why would I want to smell like it? The only thing that makes me less hesitant is that it's dark chocolate, and thus might not be as sickly sweet as I fear.

 

In vial: How odd. It actually smells like peanut butter cookies to me. I could live with that if it doesn't change on my skin!

 

On skin, wet: Darn, definitely changed. It doesn't even smell foody, it's slightly burnt plastic. I think. I don't really know how to describe it, but I've heard people use that description for some scents and I think it's a close approximation.

 

On skin, dry: Hmm. Sniffing my wrist makes me turn up my nose at this, but a second ago I got a faint whiff of something sweet while I was typing, and it wasn't too bad.

 

After time: After 30 minutes, the scent when directly sniffing my wrist actually smells a bit like chocolate. That's progress.

 

Conclusion: I imagine that, if applied for normal wear, this would give occasional wafts of a light, chocolate nature. I can see why people who like chocolate would want that, but it doesn't do anything special for me. I might like to try this in a scent locket (you know, if I owned one) and see if the initial peanut butter cookie scent stayed.

[iiinterstate]

I'm confused.

 

When *I* sniff this, I get primarily soap with a little chocolate in the background.

When my fiance sniffs my wrist, he says I smell like delicious fudge.

 

I don't know what to think. I wish I could smell it.

[glass_cat]

Thankfully I get nothing of the plastic phase some people are reporting with the Candy Butcher, although I did get a brief hint of something that reminded me of Crayola crayons at first before it had a chance to dry down. It wasn't unpleasant though, hard as that might be to believe. Once this blend does settle down, it is predominantly rich dark chocolate paired with something creamy that smells a bit like vanilla. I also get a hint of something nutty hanging around in the background... maybe almond. (Perhaps that's where someone else's peanut butter cookie impression came from.)

 

I find I'm reminded of that sinfully rich Chantico chocolate drink that Starbucks used to have in the winter time ages ago. I loved that drink, and I miss it... the scent and the warmth of it just as much as the actual flavor. However, I'm also picking up something almost floral in this as well. It helps it feel less like I just happened to have had a cocoa recently and more like I'm wearing some very heady and elegant perfume that just happens to smell a lot like chocolate, which is my overall impression of this.

 

Candy Butcher is so heavy and rich that I almost think of it as a winter scent though. I don't know how much wear I'm going to be able to get out of it now that the warm weather is here. It will be wonderful for bedtime, and to wear when I'm hiding inside during the thunderstorms we get in the summer though. This is too beautiful a scent for me to not look for some kind of excuse to wear it at least semi-frequently. It's absolutely beautiful... at least on me. Definitely a must-try for those of you who love chocolate/candy scents!

Edited April 26, 2008 by glass_cat

[bookofblues]

I've had my unloved imp of the Candy Butcher sitting around for about a year now. Initially, it smelled like very artificial chocolate on my skin, similiar to a scratch and sniff sticker or the old hot cocoa scented lip balms that came out around Xmas. Not bad, just not what I was hoping would happen there. It's definitely better in the imp than on me; sort of a sweet almost nutty chocolate. I wanted to try it again now after it's been aging. The latest review I read made me reaaaally wish again that this scent would work on me. It still smells good in the imp, so here goes...

Damn.

I still get an artificial, almost plasticy smell from it. It's not unpleasant though. Just not for me.

[gypsysingleton]

I read plastic and feared the worst - When I see it, I usually get it. I did here too, but that phase literally only lasted 3 minutes while it was wet (yaayyy!)

 

after 10 min it smells like a delicious bakery - I love Bloomslang and now this and will be needing backup bottles of both!!!

[donnatron]

Bottle: Cake batter. This is DELICIOUS!

 

Wet: The bakery quality smoothes out a bit and this starts to smell like that initial scent when you walk into a chocolate shop that makes all their product in the back. I don't get a plastic phase, but the cream warms to my skin and I smell like the cream is my natural skin scent and the chocolate note is my perfume.

 

Dry: Man oh man. There's a light citrus/floral quality now, floating over a heavy dark base of chocolate and that creamy skin scent. This is fully edible, but refined somehow. I don't smell like I stole a preteen's Bonne Bell products; I smell like a grown ass woman who has phenomenal taste in perfume. It's like Angel done right.

 

Throw: Good.

 

Overall: I bought this with about an imp and a half left in the bottle. I know what I need to stock up on before the Carnival rolls out of town.

[maribouquet]

Cream notes are the antichrist for my skin, apparently. Candy butcher smells like a bad taxi cab air freshener on me. Wah.

[Scanmike]

This is what sticking your face in an ice cream sundae with chocolate, caramel and whipped cream would smell like. Too sweet or just maybe too artificial for me. I don't do well with caramel as I am finding out.

 

edit: It reminds me of Bath and Body Works Whipped Cream, which I didn't like. Smelled like that whipped cream in the aerosol can.

I have had worse though and I can see people who love sweet things, really going for this. It's just not my thing.

Edited June 3, 2008 by DeniseScan

[DARKBEAUTY28]

This smells so good! At first it is deep cocoa and a touch of cream. Then it morphs into straight cream. Next it goes into a floral cream stage that is so sweet and sugary. In the final stage it is a sweeter "Snow White". It is like the Everlasting Gobstopper of BPALs! Yummm!

[CordeliaSeduced]

This is not at all what I expected...but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

 

In the bottle and wet on my skin, this is a dry, dark, unsweetened cocoa. It almost smells like coffee to me. It's rich, thick, and yet not really foody. After being on my skin for a while, I swear, I get whiffs of peanut butter. Could it be the heavy cream note coming out to play?

After this dried completely, it became a kind of powdery, dark musk with absolutely no trace of chocolate or cream (or peanut butter!) in sight. I do like this fragrance a good deal, but I'll need to keep it close at hand to ensure the powder-headache does not follow.

[Delirium1009]

In bottle/imp: Soft, creamy chocolate.

 

Immediately on skin: This smells like whipped, white cream with a dash of cocoa powder added in and white confectioner’s sugar sifted on top. This is light on the chocolate, but creamy and almost perfume-y vanilla cream with a hint of powder.

 

After a little while: This really doesn’t have any chocolate in it at all anymore. Now it’s this spun and powdered sugar and cream scent. It smells almost like cotton candy, but not really as sweet and has a definite creamy vanilla perfume type of feel to it.

 

Overall Impressions: I was really expecting more chocolate from this, but instead I got something soft, vanilla-laced, and sugary. It’s a nice, soft fragrance… it just feels poofy and light, like spun sugar. It has a light breath of vanilla to it, and something perfume-y about it. It’s almost like Antique Lace light, without any musk. I don’t dislike it, but it’s not what I was expecting.

 

I had a really bad headache when I tested this, and a couple days later I sniffed this one again and got an almost instant headache from it So even though I kind of liked this one, it looks like I won't be able to wear it after all.

[motdakasha]

In the bottle:

Rating: 5

Notes: dark chocolate

Comment: Smells very delicious.

 

Wet on skin:

Rating: 3

Notes: plastic, chocolate

Comment: Smells slightly chemical-y with chocolate

 

Dry on skin:

Rating: 5

Notes: heavy cream, dark chocolate

Scent Intensity: 4

Comment: Many people who smell this on me think this scent is vanilla-based. I think they're confusing the cream for vanilla and not noticing the chocolate.

 

Misc:

Duration: 5+ Hrs.

Keyword(s): chocolate

Color: Taupe

Smells like: A dark chocolate candybar, or a chocolate chupa chup lollipop.

Edited July 2, 2008 by Akasha Tsang

[LadyLuckDoubt]

In the Bottle

Sweet, syrupy chocolate, making me think of chocolate icecream topping mixed with brown sugar.

 

On Me

Pretty much the same thing. It doesn't smell as "wet" after awhile, but slightly more powdery, has a great throw and a decent life on my skin. My partner thinks I smell "yummy" and liked it. I think I smell yummy, too, even though chocolate tends to be iffy on me.

 

It actually reminds me of Regan, with the same sort of intensity and charming-without-being-cloying sweetness. And like I said about Regan, "This smells like the chocolate note Theirry Muegler tried to do with Angel. Only it worked this time." Though this is sweeter and softer and far more childlike than Regan.

 

It's adorable, and I need fun things to do where I can turn up smelling yummy.

[ElinaMakropulos]

This is a gorgeous creamy chocolate in the imp and when I first apply, but it goes the way of so many others, ie it develops this weird dirt-like scent on my skin. It's not totally unpleasant but it's not really what I want to smell like, either.

[Casey08]

I really like this one a little bit better than Bliss. It smells like Dark Chocolate and Cocoa. I used it in my bath a few times. I really like it.

[Andrea912]

Bottle: Yes! Exactly as promised...dark chocolate with heavy cream note.

 

Wet: Delicious...my mouth is watering. Sensual and sweet...heaven.

 

Dry: Still chocolate and cream; divine. My only complaint: it wears away quickly.

 

Verdict: I want more...and since it wears down so quick I'll have to stock up and carry imps for touchups!

[quigza]

in the bottle: Dark chocolate, like godiva dark chocolate, but with something else

 

wet: the chocolate gets a little darker, like the 72% cocoa kind, and waffle cone!!!

 

dry: Happy yay, the waffle cone is predominant, with the chocolate turning into the baking kind, and a hint of candy floss. I can practically taste it.

 

hours later: faint amounts of the above. It's a more muddled sweetness after a couple of hours.

 

I think this is something that has to be reapplied every couple of hours. But, it's worth it. I'm going to get another before the circus leaves town

[fairnymph]

In the bottle: Colourless oil. Sweet, rich, slightly buttery dark chocolate. VERY much like ganache, and also the LE Dark Chocolate SN. Rich, gourmand, foody. Unisex, I'd say.

 

Wet: A slightly sweeter and creamier version of Dark Chocolate, but only barely. Definitely the same note that's in DC and in Kali, but with smidgens of crystallized sugar and heavy cream. Very much fitting the description at this point - precisely.

 

Dry: Very little morphing. This stays true and rich and natural. It's really only BARELY off from DC from what I can recall. The cream touch is barely there, but the sweetness seems a bit more apparent, and an increasingly strong note of vanilla which on me adds its own creamy sweetness too.

 

Later: Over time, I smell some of the components more distinctly - deep cocoa powder, waxy-earthy, almost shea-like cocoa butter, amped vanilla, dark bar chocolate, boozy chocolate liqueur. The shea-like cocoa butter and vanilla notes are becoming cloying, verging on plastic.

 

Summary: Earthy (almost like oakmoss or patchouli!), waxy cocoa butter and cloying, slightly fake vanilla over a lovely pure dark chocolate note. Possibly the cream is merging with the waxy or vanillic notes, but it doesn't smell like the cream in other blends, so it's different or has dissipated. Very strong throw, good last power.

 

At first, this was a ton like SN Dark Chocolate, but the waxy/creamy/cloying notes which emerged are unique to this blend, and sadly took over on my skin. It's pretty foody, but in a way that is so specialized it's more gourmand. I don't think I'd wear DC even if I had a ton of it, and I wouldn't wear this, but it's by far the closest approximation, and comes very close indeed.

 

If you like this, try: Kali, Bliss, Dark Chocolate SN

[twilighteyes]

There really isn't much to say about Candy Butcher that hasn't been said. Chocolate. CHOCOLATE.

 

 

My other half doesn't like the foody scents, so not something that I can wear unless he's out of town.

[Mordath]

I don't like chocolate scents - been burned too many times by icky fake-smelling chocolate scratch-and-sniff scents. At least, I didn't...until I tried this one. In the bottle it didn't wow me, but once it dried on my skin...OM NOM NOM NOM. It's like warm dark chocolate - the way hot fondue smells. No cream at all - nothing but straight chocolate. This has become my craving scent - when I want something comforting, or when I WANT SOME DAMN CHOCOLATE ALREADY, I put this on to make everything better. Maybe there's something to this foody thing...

[Stephanie]

I'm so sad about this one.

 

It's chocolate band-aids, on me.

 

I put it away, when I first got it. But the aging hasn't improved it...yet.

[brsis]

Initial thoughts: Chocolate isn't always my best friend, but foodie lover that I am, how could I pass this up?

 

In the bottle: Bitter dark chocolate and lots of double cream.

 

On the wrist, wet: I get less chocolate because my skin tends to drink it, but there's this delicious, almost bitter, cream that is left. The sugared cream note in Diary of a Lovestruck Teenage Cannibal is one of my favourite notes, and this is even better - dark and sultry instead of giggly and sensual.

 

Drydown: This remains pretty much unchanged, except for the fact that I slowly lose all but the slightest hint of chocolate. A single note double cream - dark, evil double cream, that will make you gain five pounds just by thinking about it - is pretty high on my list of dream scents, however. I need a full bottle of this, I think!

[ravenrigan]

In the bottle

Soft creamy chocolate

 

Wet on skin

Chocolate fudge

Drydown

Chocolate cake mix

 

Wearlength

Good

 

Throw

Good

 

Mood

Did I mention Chocolate.? Milky chocolate, cakey and mild. It's nice, but don't skip breakfast and then wear it to the supermarket and or you will buy way too many yummy things.

 

Finish

Creamy hot chocolate with lots of milk and a hint of malt

 

Verdict

I'm not big on massively foody scents, but will keep the imp unless someone who has something I really want covets it.

[MeiLin]

n the bottle: Nutella! or--what is that hazelnut liqueur the monks make? Frangelico? That one!

 

Wet: The cocoa and cream start to come out, but I still smell the Nutella. Very sweet.

 

Dry: Cream, and not as sweet, but that's not saying much. The cocoa and hazelnut are still there. I think No1 and No2 are going to argue over the right to wear this one.

 

The next morning: Still faintly there, mostly cream with a little cocoa.