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This has been on my wishlist for ages.. and then guess what I find in my magic box of goodies just received from the lab - a frimp of Eat Me!! It's all been said before. This is very yummy... yes, cake - but not in a sugar sickly sweet kind of way, more in a dark purple grape-y velvet kind of way. At first the vanilla is not typically sweet - the blackcurrant holds it back from taking over but blending in beautifully with the vanilla giving it a luxurious creaminess.

After about half an hour on my skin, it's gone very soft and powdery - definitely a feminine fragrance, but the vanilla is now the most prominent note. Hmm.. it's almost got a Snake Oil kind of thing going on. I'm definitely not getting the caramel or butter or spices that some people have mentioned. This is what I would smell like if I were a princess who lives in the top turret of a Bavarian castle where rainbows fill the sky and butterflies dance around my long flowing locks as I watch purple unicorns dance in the fields of vanilla beans down below in the castle grounds.

This could be the perfect "cake" blend.. I wouldn't put it in the foody group in the same way as Beaver Moon/Beaver'versary or I Fell In Love With A Floating Brain belong in the foody group.. to me, the cake factor is less prominent and really only showed up in the wet stage. I'm so glad I finally got to try this, and I think a bottle is required.

Was anyone hoping this would be a substitute for The Candy Butcher?

*PUTS UP HAND*

Yes! Meeeee!! I was!!!!!!!

And praises be to the Lab.. IT IS!! Well, I wouldn't say "substitute", because CB is really (imo) superior in its creaminess and subtlety, but it's a good second best Oh how I love The Candy Butcher, with his creamy chocolate voluptuousness, but oh how he taunts me by having disappeared off the face of the earth. Now I can stop searching the galaxy for it, because I have Milk Chocolate Buttercream and quite frankly, that smart-ass "ner ner nee ner ner I'm discontinued" Mr Candy Butcher should be peeing his pants with jealousy right about now because this is sublime.

I get the Bliss comparison, but to me Bliss is pretty much straight-up rich dark chocolate. Milk Chocolate Buttercream is definitely more in the Candy Butcher/Midway family of chocolates with its lovely smooth creaminess. I'm not finding this super-sweet in a sickly way - I'm guessing that's because it's a butter cream rather than a sugary cream, it has a golden warmth about its sweetness. And it's definitely milk chocolate, not dark chocolate.

Bonus - it stays on my skin for ages! I'm very very happy with this!

If you're not sure about the whole "do I really want to smell like chocolate" thing.. I'd really encourage you to give it a chance, it's much more than just a chocolate smell. Oh, and the label's pretty too, as are all the Box of Chocolates labels.

Mr Candy Butcher - if you're reading this - you'll always have a special place in my heart, but for now I have a new love. Just sit quietly in your bottle and I'll come back to you one day.

When my bottle arrived, the bottom half of the oil was all thick and dark - I immediately thought of Boomslang, with its thick chocolate sludge, and I knew this was going to be a bit special. After gently rolling it to mix up the sludge, my first whiff from the open bottle made me go "unnnnngh" - lovely buttery, spicy, slightly boozy chocolate.

On my skin, this reminds me of Butter Rum Cookie - if you switched the rum for kahlua, I reckon you'd get something like this. I got a very slight tingle on my skin at first - almost hot, which I guess is the pepper, but that quickly passed. Now I have this gorgeous spicy warm buttery caramel chocolate thing going on - I feel like I should be roasting chestnuts over an open fire with a very fine Scotch whiskey in a crystal tumbler by my side.

I'm finding this has a big throw, and it's still very strong on my skin after an hour, so I don't think this is one to slather.. just a drop or two in your warmest crevices should do the trick. Do I want to smell like this all the time? Hmm.. not sure, probably not. Will I keep it? Mayyyyyyybeeeeee....

My final thought.. this does to chocolate what El Dia de Reyes did to coffee.

Uh huh... dark chocolate and cherry it is. No messin' about.. no other smarty pants little notes lurking around - it is what it is, and it's absolutely spot on.

The cherry in this reminds me a bit of Candy Phoenix, which I know is strange since CP had no cherry in it, but to me it's a similar kind of 'red' fruitiness with the syrupy velvet thing going on but without that super sweetness of Candy Phoenix. The dark chocolate is definitely present in this.. it's not just *all* cherry.. I think it's more of a warm melted dark chocolate, with a kind of 'hot' feel about it. I did find that the chocolate note fades after a little while though, leaving mostly just the cherry behind, but even then it's still warm and luscious.

If this were a lip gloss, you'd have people lining up at your kissing booth. It's abso-freakin-lutely delicious. However, I'm not sure whether this is how I want to smell.. as yummy as it is, I'm just a bit iffy on that point.

Ok.. my bottle finally arrived today so of course I went for the dab straight away.. hoping for vanilla honey beeswax goodness. So where's this floral thing coming from? On my skin, it's almost gardenia or jasmine-like in its intensity.. what IS that?!? Is it the copal?

This is really disappointing.. I've had it on for 2 hours now, and it's very very faint now on my skin, but I'm still getting a very strong white floral fragrance, no musky incense or beeswax creaminess at all. I'm not sure that I'm going to love this

EDIT: two days later, I give it another try. It's like a whole different perfume!! Now it's all honey and beeswax, creamy and soft.. that 'white floral' thing is still there, but in the background. So I just wanted to come back and edit my first review in case other people have the same experience as I did - if that's you.. give it another try on another day and maybe you'll see it differently. I guess this must be sensitive to skin/body vibes, or at least it must be with me. Maybe I will love this!

Like many others have said, I had no idea what many of the notes in No. 93 Engine smell like on their own.. it was the beeswax and frankincense that enticed me to want a bottle, which found its way to me via the sales page of the lovely SavageRose.

Now that I have it on my skin, I still have no idea what many of the notes in No. 93 Engine smell like on their own, but I don't care. I'm getting a beautiful warm and golden honey luxurious loveliness.. like novak69 said - this is sunshine in a bottle. It stays very close to my skin - I don't think it has a strong throw but I know it's there because every now and then I catch a waft of it.

A lovely soft and subtle blend that's so natural and non-perfumey.. I could wear it all day every day and people wouldn't realise I have perfume on.. they'd just think I have been gifted with extraordinarily nice smelling skin.

Reading the previous reviews has been interesting.. it seems most people were tentative about Penumbra due to its unusual mix of notes.. me too, most of all I was worried about the lavender (a known traitor to my skin).. but everything else sounded so good that I just had to give it a try. And like others, I'm sooooooooooo glad I did.

Yep, it's PURPLE. It really should be actually coloured purple - it's very smooth, rich, warm and velvety and on me it drys down to a beautiful blackcurrant-ish fruity smokey musk. I love how no single note dominates - it's beautifully blended and a stunning mix of sweet and dry. It fades fairly quickly on my skin though, which is a shame because I'd like this bottle to last for ever and it won't if I have to re-apply frequently. Definitely a keeper.. actually I think it's worthy of hoarding.

Note to self: find more blends with purple musk!!

Starts off with a strong and rich incensey cocoa when it first goes on, but that didn't last long.. I got a lovely dry powdery leather thing going on for about 10 minutes, and then it turned into an incensey-floral. After about half an hour, it's very much melded right into my skin and it's just a nice, warm and slightly honey-ish (even a bit nutty?!) leather - the floral is still there in the background, but it's not a "bright" floral, and the patchouli is very warm and golden rather than harsh like it sometimes can be.

This is what to wear while laying naked on a big fluffy rug in front of the fire at your log cabin hideaway.

ETA: I agree.. I think this would smell sensational on a man. Note to self: must test that theory.

Mmmm.. this is lovely, like a rich musky purple velvet. The carnation is behaving itself nicely, not overpowering at all - I get a hint of something almost violet but not quite. This is definitely musk rather than sweet.. "exotic" is a good description.

I think Bathsheba would be a lovely scent to wear whilst flirting in a dimly lit wine bar.

Some reviewers mentioned a lime 'feeling' from That! The Terror From Over There!.. I didn't get liiiiiiiiime as such, and it's note a listed note, but it's definitely got a lime kinda vibe going on.. very fresh and cool green.

Maybe hunt down a decant of that and see how you go

My first experience with wasabi was many years ago when there was a big glob of it in the corner of my take-away Japanese food. Being somewhat uneducated in the ways of Japanese food at the time, I thought it was avocado, and since I love avocado I scooped up the whole big glob and put it in my mouth. I soon found out it wasn't avocado...

So, after having nearly blown my head off in that encounter, I am very wary of wasabi these days. Also, the "green" side of BPAL is an area I have never ventured into, but the "chittering greens" and "smooshy kiwi" sounded so delectable that I just had to give That! a try. And I'm so glad I did!!

This is a beautiful blend, clean and fresh - definitely green, and slightly sweet (I get that 'melon' hint that others have mentioned, but definitely not lemon or lime), really bright and lovely. The weird thing is, when I wear it during the day it's not as sweet and I can really smell (or sense) the wasabi.. but at night, it's all about the greens and kiwi fruit. It stays on my skin for ages, and I've also discovered that this lingers on my clothing for ages too - it smells absolutely beautiful on fabric. I think it would also make a gorgeous room and/or linen spray.

For something so scary sounding, this isn't scary at all. If you're a bit on-the-fence about That!, I'd say give it a go - hopefully you'll be as pleasantly surprised as I was.

OK.. I'll just join the fan club! I was frimped The Hanging Gardens.. I don't think I ever would have gone for it myself because of the gardenia and rose combo, although I am a fan of other blends with the pomegranate/pear partnership.

This is absolutely beautiful - as others have mentioned.. it's definitely sweet and fruity, but not in a candy way, and I agree a little with the 'tropical' thing. This actually reminds me of when I was in Bali and there was one particular street with massive frangipani trees in full flower.. and on hot nights when the warm wind was blowing around, that street was the best smelling thing ever.

This melds beautifully with my skin, and goes all soft and warm. Such an eclectic mix of notes, but they all work together immaculately. I think I'll use up all my imp and see whether this is something I'd want to wear often.. as lovely as it is, I'm not sure a bottle of it would get much attention from me.. but I could be wrong

Oh.. I was so excited to get my bottle of Screeching Parrot - I'm a big fan of several others from the Luau Lounge and this sounded like it was going to smell something like a big tall multi-coloured drinks that you'd buy at a beachfront bar in Jamaica (with the umbrella cocktail stick, of course).

Damn and blast it, all I get is grapefruit. The other notes are there, but the grapefruit is just smothering them with its sharp tang. Grapefruit is the demon child of the fruit salad family, it just can't behave itself - it has to be all LOUD and overpowering. I reckon that's why this parrot is screeching - the poor thing accidentally ate some grapefruit.

If only I could somehow separate all the ingredients, and then remove the grapefruit, I could really really love this. But as it is, my bottle will get no love from me. I'm going to put it in the naughty corner of the box, and hope that the grapefruit goes away over time.

Ok.. anything involving apples has to be good. Poisoned Apple is one of the first BPALs I ever bought, and I still love it.

So yeah - obviously this is apples.. big green fresh crunchy and slightly sour apples. But wait, there's more! There's a kind of chill feel to it, so that's the snow.. and it's also got a sharp edge, so that's the glass. Snow.Glass.Apples. - the name is absolutely perfect.

This stayed on my skin for about an hour at good strength but then faded fairly quickly, leaving just a very faint reminder of where it had been. Since I got only a few drops given graciously to me by a forum buddy, I can't be slathering it on (although I'd love to). I would love this as a room spray, I think it would hang beautifully in the air and smell gorgeous on towels and linen.

So I'll hunt for a bottle.. in the meantime, Poisoned Apple will satisfy me when I need apple-y goodness but Snow Glass Apples just has an extra edge to it that makes it very interesting indeed.

Mine is Smut '08...

and WOWSERS, this goes on strong at first. A little bit *too* strong, perhaps.. I had an "uh oh" moment there where I thought this was just too boozy for me. But then it settles in, and goes all musky powdery sugary sexy yumminess.. I think the name is entirely appropriate.

I'm glad I fund a dark sugar/booze blend that powders down nicely - I find Smut to be similar to others I've tried with that same kinda feel (it reminds me of Sugar Skull mostly) but they all stayed really rum/booze/sugar on me. This mellows out really nicely for me, in a very similar way to how the cocoa in Gelt goes all soft and dreamy.

Smut indeed.. very nice for nights involving lots of snuggling

Mmm... I bought this quite a while back, from here on the forum. At the time, I had a dab.. thought "oh that's nice" and then put it in the box.

Fast forward to now.. and I open the bottle up to a blast of blueberry and red musk - those two must have been brewing up a storm while the bottle's been aging, I guess this is about 6 months old now if it came out in July '08. Once on my skin, it's all vanilla and blueberry.. and - weird - chocolate kinda smelling. But then I pay a little more attention, and hiding under there is the tang of the tea and ginger.

Over the last couple of hours, this has changed a few times on my skin.. fruity, then musky. Vanilla then coriander. But the blueberry is definitely dominant. I love blends like this - very multi-layered and sneaky

I was scared to try this, because of the rose, but a dear forum friend said she thought I would like it and sent me a half-imp.. and I'm so glad she did!

I can't really describe this any better than those who have posted before me.. but I know many people like myself find rose a difficult note to wear - on me, it just amps up and drowns out everything else (like with Alice, which really upset me because I sooooo wanted that to work but it was ALL rose) - but this is a lovely creamy musky rose, as others have said - very powdery and soft and a good stayer.

The rose is there, but on me it ended up being more of a berry flavour than a rose, but that's very soft underneath the creamy baby powdery feel, so overall I'm really happy with it and will now have to stalk the sales thread until I can find a bottle.

I think "translucent blooms" is exactly right.. as is "ethereal". It's one of those blends that you *think* you know what it smells like, and then it changes.

At first dab, this was very green and citrus-like. I was thinking.. gardenia - definitely a white flower. But after about 5 minutes the green faded, but the citrus was still there - I'm still thinking gardenia but now verging on more of a jasmine or honeysuckle - still definitely white flowers but it's not a real strong floral note.

Alas, after about 15 minutes it's all but gone - granted I only put a dab on my skin.. but it was a reasonable dab, and now I really have to poke my nose around on my arm to tell where it was. But when I find the spot.. it's quite lovely, very soft and light.

So unfortunately for me, this lived up to its name and disappeared into the ether. Even if it hadn't, I'm not sure I would want more than an imp of this - there's so many other white floral/citrus options that I don't need another one, particularly if my skin's just gonna eat this up like it did today. However, if you love those mysterious glowing white clean and crisp floral blends, try it out.

I received this as a frimp with a bottle order - I probably never would have found it or chosen it myself due to the rose, which is not my friend.

But this is quite nice - the rose isn't overpowering everything else like it usually does.. it smells like orange rose (I don't think there's any such thing as orange rose, but that's how this is to me - it's definitely rose, but *orange* rose) - I'm not getting the lemon very much.. it's all orange.

After it's been on my skin for about a half-hour, it smells like baby shampoo.. fresh and clean, and soapy but in a nice way. The imp will do me - there's nothing here that's outstanding enough for me to want a bottle, but if you enjoy those clean and fresh fruity floral type blends, I'd say give this a try - it's very pretty.

If not for me being such a refined young lady, I would use extreme expletives to describe how good this is.

Chocolate and snake oil - what a perfect combination, the rice milk sweetens it up in a creamy way, and the teakwood gives it a lovely depth, this really is divinely sumptuous. It glugs out of the bottle all dark and velvety, if I could find a bath full of this it could double as a fake tan lotion. It's very very thick, and the cocoa had separated in my bottle when it arrived so I had to roll it around to re-combine everything.

My only issue with Boomslang is that my skin eats up the cocoa real fast - can't say that I blame it for doing so, but that's a real bummer - I find that after about half an hour only the snake oil is left. So I have to put more on, because that cocoa is so damn good. I'm just going to have to buy squillions of bottles of this, so I can slather it on regularly.

Full of win!!

This is a forum purchase that I bought unsniffed, the notes just sounded heavenly and I was pretty sure I was going to like it.

I have to say, when I first took the lid off the bottle for a sniff.. I was a bit taken aback - it smelt quite strong, with a bit of a boozy or dark sugar note, which I wasn't expecting at all - I guess I thought it was going to be a lot more sweet.

But I needn't have worried.. on my skin, it's completely different - that booze/sugar note (which I presume is the caramel playing with the teak and amber) only sticks around for about fifteen minutes, but then it totally disappears and the cream and honey and apple come out - I've never had a blend so far change so completely on me. The other thing I've found is that this one is a stayer - another first.. I could still smell it on me in the morning when I woke up, so that was about 14 hours after initial application.

I'm really loving this - I must have just gotten lucky, because this one really works on me. It's one of the few BPALs where I don't have to sniff my arm like a maniac to actually smell it - just every now and then I think "ooh what's that yummy smell" and then I realise it's me. This one's definitely a keeper, I'm really glad I took the chance on it.

(edited to fix pesky tags)

I was so upset when Candy Butcher became discontinued - it was on my list for my next order and then WHAMMO it was gone! So imagine my delight when I received a decant from the lovely GirlinDenial - finally I get to see what it's like!!

Well.. I'm not disappointed, I'm delighted. It's exactly like I hoped it would be.. and more.

When I first put it on, it's absolutely chocolate and cream, but in a velvety way - not HEY CHOCOLATE like Bliss is, but ccchocoooooolaaaateeeee like creamy and luscious.

For the first hour or so, it was all chocolate and cream, and then it started doing the morphing thing that previous reviewers have mentioned.. and that's the part I was worried about. Bah - I shouldn't have been concerned - on me, it mellows out into a lovely soft and nutty kind of creamy chocolate smell that's barely there but every now and then it just catches my nose - it's really quite lovely although different to how it started out, but that chocolate note is definitely still there.

Damn you, Candy Butcher - why'd you have to be so good? Now I will have to hunt the galaxy so I can find bottles to hoard!!