DevilsCandyCane

Favorite pastime: stealing candles from children. Such a scamp! Beeswax, strawberries, and bits of hard candy. Oooh, scary, I'm first! ...and I'm having to edit this review, because much as this scent is still very, very sticky-sweet, for some reason I found myself reaching for it again today, and I think it's growing on me! Previously I said: "Anything with beeswax in is an automatic buy for me, and strawberries too - hell yes! Sadly though, the 'hard candy' is the killer here for me. The strawberry note is very similar to Strawberry Moon '12 - which I love - that same sweet/tart effervescent pink, fresh zingy strawberry, but whereas in 'Moon it's got the grasses and sap to balance out the sweetness and keep it really fresh and mouthwatering, in this the additional sugar-hit of the candy, plus the richness of the beeswax, tilt it wayyy over the sweetness edge, and it's just toooo strongly candied and cloying for me I think a lot of people will like this though - it's definitely very fun, very childlike (kinda reminds me of a toy in the 80s that was strawberry scented...I forget what toy it was, but it smells a lot like that!), and it's got great throw and long wear time, but for me it's sadly a nope :ghost:" ...but now, today, I'm quite liking it! Beeswax does always seem to need ageing, and today it's just a little more deeper and golden smelling with that beeswax note, less honey-sticky-candified. It's such a happy smell! Nose, you are incredibly indecisive, but I guess I'll be keeping this guy for a while, and see whether he continues to grow on me!

A honeyed lilac fougere with a drop of lime. Another epic win for me from the Purple Snails collection! I've had this bottle a week now, and after settling, it's become a little more complex - initially it was aaaaaall honey, and the best sort of honey there is, very similar to my coveted Pussy Moth (first comment on trying it, "Damn, this smells like pussy!", followed by much immature sniggering ), and also quite close to White Bees Swarming, minus the frostiness of the latter. Now it's settled though, I didn't think this would be possible but it's actually even frickin' better. EVEN FRICKIN' BETTER!! It has become a fougere now, there's a clean elegance to the honey, and just the teeniest smidge of lime - I would never say lime without seeing the notes, it's so subtle, but it just adds a hint of citrusy coolness to that gorgeous soft honey. For a fougere, I would still say this is 90% feminine, as a scent, it's not particularly gender neutral, but damn, is it gorgeous. As it dries down on me, the lime does become more prominent, but the honey is still centre-stage. At this point it edges a little closer to gender neutral, that citrusy cleanness coming out more. In the main though, it stays fairly true - softest, softest honey, snuggly and light and beautiful, that same cloud of angelic, radiant honey that floats around me when I wear White Bees in my extensions . In short, if you appreciate a bit of Pussy or you adore White Bees Swarming, you need dis scent!!

When this first arrived, I was very unsure - the tobacco smelled soggy and squidgy, and it was a bit weird, but now I've had the bottle for a week, it's settled down big time, becoming absolutely lovely, and I can imagine it's just gonna get better and better! Vetiver is a note I'm dubious about, and it was the Gamble Note in this blend, for me, but here it behaves perfectly - it's smoky, wonderfully smoky, but it doesn't go to BBQ sauce town, which is always my fear! Not a single smoked sausage in this one! The tobacco is no longer soggy, and has now become rich, brown, and sexy-masculine, which is exactly what I hoped for. The dark chocolate is barely there, just a perfectly blended hint in the background, a dark, bittersweet richness, but this certainly isn't a foodie blend. Overall it's smoky as hell - I always want more smoky blends from BPAL, so this is seriously my happy place, it's a proper campfire smokiness, beautiful, beautiful woodsmoke, with a hint of sexy, dusky dark chocolate in the background, and the rugged motorcycle jacket wearing badassness of the tobacco. ...I'm actually getting a little nervous as to whether one bottle will be enough Very, very glad I hung onto it to give it time to settle - if the tobacco smells a little whack on arrival, definitely don't make a snap judgement, it gets gooooood!

This scent seems to be reeeeally unpredictable on my skin, and I'm not quite sure what to make of it! The good bits - the rose note is gorgeous, in my collection so far I only have pink and white rose scents, which are beautiful, but it's a very fresh, light, innocent rose. This rose is much muskier, darker, sexier and more mature. There's a smokiness to it, and it is genuinely incensey - when most scents are described as 'incensey' here, I never get it, most people seem to mean frankincensey churchy smells, whereas when I say incense I mean pagan shops burning nag champa, and this nails it - it smells like a goth's bedroom, and I adore it - there's the dark romance of the blood red rose, the velvety gloom of the indigo musk, and a gorgeous waft of freshly lit incense. Now, on the bad side, occasionally the musk here goes way too animalistic and smells a bit like a dog's bottom, which naturally, I can do without , and it's bloody devastating mixed in with such a gorgeous scent! Last week when I was testing it though, and repeatedly getting the poopy dog note, I was on my period, and now I'm not, and my skin's being its normal self, thank Cthulu there's not a poop to be found! I can see it being a serious skin chemistry gamble though, this scent - I really need to test it in my scent locket and see what happens there - if it's a raving success I'll come back and update this review! Overall - gorgeous incensey goth roses...but with occasional unwanted visitations from Poop Musk. For me, never to be worn while period-ing!

And a third from the Purple Snails that I adore!! The lavender is centre stage, to begin with, and I actually thought I hated lavender, but in this it's just beautiful, it's so natural - we have it growing in our garden and it's just like the scent of it freshly crushed between your fingers on a summer's day - no artificial old lady knicker drawers here! The strawberry candyfloss is coming out more and more as the bottle settles, which makes me very happy indeed, and again it's so real, just the soft, melting sugar strands of candyfloss, not overly sugary or sticky, as light and gentle as candyfloss itself, with just the subtlest hint of strawberry. The hay remains in the background, surprisingly - my skin generally amps hay to hell and back, but here it just gives it this gorgeous hint of outdoorsyness, and it somehow smells nostalgic, old fashioned, like a vintage country fair. I cannot put into words how beautiful this scent is - it smells very innocent, and very happy, and very summery, like a perfect rose-tinted memory of a long ago summer's day. Huge round of applause for Beth, with this one, seriously - just wow! You've converted me to lavender, and cured my phobia of hay notes! I can see this getting a loooot of wear on chilled out, stoned summer days at the park. Big love

I absolutely love this, it was an instant 'I NEED A BACKUP BOTTLE!' scent! I first tested it blind, and weirdly my impression was peppery, heady wildflowers - it smelled like my Gran's overgrown, beautiful Twickenham garden in summer. I'm not a florals person at all, but this is just beautiful, it's bright and happy, but spiced and sexy all at once. When I looked up the notes I realised I could identify it as dark chocolate (I agree with the above, it's similar to the new Candy Butcher, but a lot less in your face - it's barely foodie or chocolatey at all, in overall vibe), with just a subtle hint of sweet clove, and I'm pretty sure it's the pink pepper with the vanilla tar that somehow gives the wildflower impression. I wish I was better at naming flowers, because it is, it's exactly like sticking your nose into the most gorgeous, fresh flower - heady and deep and sexy without any artificial perfuminess, and I find it so amazing that it has this impression from such totally unexpected notes! I see myself wearing this a lot - it smells like sexy summer nights, I could wear it clubbing, I could wear it at bedtime - I like variety too much to have a 'signature scent', but this is just, wow, if I was a signature scent person I would need far more than two bottles! The Purple Snails collection has been blowing me away left right and centre, but this is my favourite of all so far!

First again! Didn't have much luck with the single notes this time around, but this one, is awesome! I wasn't sure on initial bottle opening - first impression was a little too eucalyptusy-mentholy, where I've been a much bigger fan of the really true to life pine in The Jersey Devil, but actually, on skin this rapidly calms down, and turns into a perfect frickin' Christmas tree scent! Gives me weird memories of crawling under the boughs of the Christmas tree as a little kid, lying there on my back staring up at the lights, and if I found fallen needles I'd snap them in half and sniff them, and this scent is exactly that - freshly snapped Christmas tree needles - that blast of distilled childhood Christmas-scent you get, and it's so lovely It definitely is a single note - there's no creative extras with this one, but it does its thing perfectly, and I'm definitely intrigued for the layering possibilities! I (stupidly, arghh!) didn't go for the Snowdrift scent, but I'd bet that one + this one makes a really fabulous White Christmas layering cocktail! Think I'll be wearing this a fair bit over the holidays - much as I love sweet n sticky Yuley scents, on a day when I'm surrounded by family members and stuffed with chocolate, sometimes it's nice to have a scent that's quite crisp and clean, but still seasonal, and this is perfect (and oh, crap, I have GOT to try this layered with Lick It, holy balls - maybe that'll make for a snowy tree-thing! ) Tl;dr - THUMBS UP!

I nearly didn't order this because I thought weinerbrot meant sausage bread and I was like...fucking SAUSAGE BREAD? I want to smell like a sausage?! Not really! I'm so glad I mentioned this by chance to someone who corrected me, and I realised I had to have it! This scent is very strong, and lasts a long while on me. Initially it's almost like maple syrup, but thicker and darker, and spiced - I'm not keen on wearing maple syrup as a scent but this is gorgeous, it's far more complex, and probably the most realistic freshly baked foodie-cake scent I've ever encountered - it's actually helping my diet along because I find it satisfying to sniff (other people might find it makes them hungry, I'm a bit odd with food scents!). There's something in there that smells like oven fresh raisin cookies, the caramelized pecan I think is what gives that rich, dark maple syrup note, and the 'pearl sugar and soft cinnamon' is a perfect description - the cinnamon in this is perfect - it's not fake and burning, it smells just like the gooey melted cinnamon-sugar atop a gleaming cinnabun. Really warm, cosy, comforting and realistic, yet that damn cinnamon is actually sexy - I would go out wearing this scent, it's not too cutesy foodie, I can genuinely see people actually liking it in an 'I'm not sure if I wanna eat you or fuck you' kind of way In conclusion, gorgeous - so SO glad I wasn't thrown off by the sausage bread thing, and that I got a whole bottle!

Only the second of the Laces I've tried, and I quite like this! On initial application there's a lot of effervescent champagne, and almost a hint of lime, which combined with the vanilla smells a bit like cream soda with limeade in it, which is a little peculiar if not unpleasant. After maybe 10 minutes of drying though, the fizz has died down, and it's much smoother and softer, the vanilla is really sweet and creamy, there's a hint of cognac, and it's quite a sweet, simple, happy little scent that I think I'll wear a lot in summer. A bit sad that I'm getting no opium, or smokiness with the vanilla, but maybe those will emerge as it settles, since it only arrived today. As it is though, it's clean and sweet, with an intriguing mixture of creamy vanilla and slightly fizzy champagne, and it definitely smells like a really fun, happy summer scent. Glad I got a bottle!

I really like this, and am in an agony of indecision over whether I need more than the half-bottle I bought! I feel like this scent should've been in the VILF collection - I messed around layering a few of the VILFs with Graveyard Dirt SN, to make more of a grave-rising vampire, and Cicuta's combo was quite similar to this, so it's lovely to have it pre-bottled! Usually I do not like florals with dirt - I don't like Zombi, or Deep In Earth, but this just has a hint of dry, crumbling rose with equally dry, crumbly dirt - it's not the rich loam of Graveyard Dirt, it smells much older and more peaceful, a sort of half-forgotten graveyard on a summer's day kind of scent, and I really love it It smells of peaceful, dusty death, like a cemetery full of fallen war dead who've been sleeping too long to be pissed off anymore, and they don't mind the kids playing around their tombstones. It's very pretty, with just the tiniest edge of strange creepiness, and I think it's perfect. Will have to see how I feel in a few more days, as to whether I need to hunt down more!

I'm glad somebody said poop before me! I have no idea what note is to blame for this, I've found it in other BPALs before (possibly Darkness?), but it's this perfumey stench that really, literally smells like poop or a dog's ass, and it just never gets any better. The perfuminess is a little similar to Opium Poppy, but that one stays in the 'dark and sexy' area without falling over into asshole-town, whereas this one, sadly, goes right to asshole-town and crawls inside it. Scrubbed off, thank god I didn't go for a full bottle!

I really couldn't make my mind up about this the first time I tried it, but now it's had a week or two to settle, I'm absolutely in love with it! It's perfectly gender-neutral, almost masculine leaning, very dark and badass, but sweet at the same time - a similar vibe to Interfector, which I also love. The spiced rum and clove with the birch tar almost give it a slightly Christmassy feel, like an evil, boozy pomander On the first day this arrived, the leather was very dominant, and almost a bit nauseating with the boozy sweetness, but now it's settled the leather's barely there, right in the background, and the overall impression's much more harmonious. With the tobacco and birch tar it's very thick, dark, and smoky, overlaid with the spice of the clove and the sweet booziness of the rum. Love, love love!! It's just so badass smelling, but at the same time really comforting - I will be wearing this a lot, and may well have to hunt down a second bottle if my infatuation continues!

Arrived yesterday from the Etsy site! This is definitely up there in the top three most Christmas-tastic BPAL scents I've ever tried, it's just got everything! The main drydown scent on me is all wood-smoke, a hint of pine, and a splash of something warm and spiced, like mulled cider, in the most soft, fuzzy, realistic way - it really smells like a laid back, cuddly Christmas in some movie-set-perfect log cabin out in the snow, it's so gorgeous! Applying more, when it's fresh it's sweeter and juicier, the apple cider hasn't gotten so spiced yet, and there's almost a hint of big fat squidgy cranberries, and also piney Christmas tree, but very soft and true, not remotely eucalyptus-y menthol-pine. Then it dries down, and out comes the lovely woodsmoke, and the spice - the spice is almost like sniffing a year-old pomander, that sort of dusty-soft comforting clove and cinnamon with a hint of orange, which is what I so wanted from this year's Pomander SN but was let down by - this scent has all that and more, and I adore it! Cocoa Pink do a scent called Cozy Cabin in the Woods which is similar to this, in terms of the notes, but I found that one really became plasticky and nauseating after a while, whereas this definitely doesn't - it's much softer and more realistic, and the final drydown of clinging woodsmoke, pomander-spice and a hint of mulled cider never becomes sickly and obnoxious, it just stays comforting and Christmassy and beautiful. Big love!

A melancholy, deep scent, poignant and brimming with nostalgia. The perfume of sugared plums over a breeze of winter flowers. 2007 version, freshly acquired from Etsy This is sweeter and more candy-berry-like than I'd expected, but I really like it! It reminds me a little of a plum version of Strawberry Moon, that same zingy fresh berryness, but...plum. I'm on a big plum rampage recently, and this is a lovely addition - the other plum scents I own are quite sexy musky plum, whereas this is a more cuddly, comforting plum. There is a tiny hint of wintery coldness there, but only a hint, and only the slightest of florals, perhaps a little similar to the vague, non-offensive, barely-there florals in Snow White? Overall, pretty, candied, cuddly plum, fairly non-specific in terms of season - doesn't feel a definitively Christmassy sort of scent, would probably be nice in summer too

For me, this is a huge hell no! I didn't try the perfume oil in this scent, purely the bath oil, and I don't think I will even try it in the bath, because...just...eww, god no - it smells like an old school lunchbox that's been left to go stale over the weekend, like squashed, sweaty cheese sandwiches. If I tolerate that stench and stiff a little closer, I can smell a faint hint of frosting in there, but the over-riding pong is sweaty, stale, borderline mouldy cheese sandwiches No pumpkin, no cupcake, just rotten cheese. I don't often meet BPAL bath oils I dislike, so this one is an unpleasantly stinky surprise - minus 50 out of 10!!

When I bought this, I was told by the previous owner that it needs mixing, since the oils separate, and I've found this to be true - if it's given a vigorous rolling first, the oil turns cloudy, and it smells great, but if I forget to roll it, it smells of almost nothing. It starts out very similar to Cleric - that dusty, frankincensey church scent, with a hint of almost rose incense. As it dries down it becomes more incensey, and morphs from church into a pagan shop with dusty velvet curtains. This is the first 'incense' blend that has ever to me truly smelled like incense! I've buying so many scents with 'incense' as a listed note over the past decade, and I've almost always found them either too fruity smelling, or too frankincensey-churchy, but this, finally, smells absolutely like incense! At the end of the drydown, on my skin it almost turns to raspberry, like an incense stick somewhere between raspberry and opium, and since my stupid allergies have seriously limited the amount of incense I can burn, I really, really love this scent! Throw and longevity are low-medium, but not too shabby

This is really, really lovely, and I'm wondering if my half bottle's gonna be enough! Freshly sprayed it reminds me so much of The Witches, which is another Weenie this year I've fallen utterly in love with - the beeswax gives off a similar, soft vanilla-pumpkin with a hint of smokiness, utterly gorgeous As it fades down, the pumpkin seeds become more prominent, but they're definitely not slimy raw ones, they smell roasted and delicious. The beeswax remains lovely and smoky-soft, and I adore it! This lasts a lot longer and has far better throw than the Pumpkin Spice Everything linen spray, as an added bonus, and I can definitely see myself drenching my bed sheets and pyjamas in this stuff - it's such a comforting scent Big, big love for this!!

This is so much fun! For me it begins almost identical to Strawberry Sufganiyot, that thick, red, sugary jelly note, but as it dries the complexity comes out - I can almost taste those soft, bright red marshmallowy-chewy strawberry sweets with the fizzy sugar on the outside, the best sort of candied strawberry note, and the mint just adds a hint of wintery, frosty sparkle to it. Further on into the drydown it becomes softer and more cotton candy-ish, and the vanilla icing almost lends a hint of milky cocoa. It is fabulous, such a happy, comforting, joyful childhood scent, perfectly balanced between manic sugar rush, and comforting bedtimey vanilla cocoa I current have a half bottle, and am undergoing intense internal debate over whether I need to grab a full one too!

Two words - Velvet Bandito! Very, very similar, but I actually like this a lot better - it still smells like a wooden box holding clove cigarettes, but this is a lot less harsh. Much as I love Velvet Bandito it often makes me a bit nauseous with the clove being so strong and tickly, whereas in Alan the cloves are a little softer and the wood is a much smoother backdrop. Definitely not what I was expecting from the notes, bay rum is such a weird one, it really seems to vary from the soft, sexy, contemporary boysmell of Medicine Show, to the happy boozy party vibe of Mr Nancy, to the dry spice in this, but I think it's a keeper regardless - very gender neutral and comforting, just a little sexy. As a comparison to Thomas, in terms of the vibe of both scents, Alan is definitely more down-to-earth and rugged smelling, this smells like a guy you're comfortable with, as opposed to the aristocratic, elegant aloofness of Thomas. All the same, this still has quite a Victorian vibe to it, particularly in the drydown, I can definitely picture a cigars-and-leather-sofas gentlemen's club! Very glad I bought both of them

Yussss, Thomas is another winner from the CP collection! First wonderful thing is the colour of the oil - I apply from the lid of my bottles, and with this it looked like blood on my hand, which seemed perfect for all the blood-red themes in the movie, and also wonderful that I still like the scent, since most red oils are not my friends! This reminds me a little of Dorian, the fougere is vaguely similar, but whereas Dorian is overlaid by the sweet fuzziness of vanilla tea, this smells much more...hard to find a word for it - reserved? Aloof? Almost subtly intimidating? It's definitely sexy, and sexy in a way that sums up his character perfectly - this smells like an aristocratic, elegant guy, but one you've only just met, and you're still trying to impress, and there's all the nervous excitement tingles of trying to work him out - he's not someone comfortable, yet. Very smooth and sophisticated, and even so, strangely a little comforting at the same time. Scent-wise, rather than vague impressions, it's almost delicately woodsy, with the soft fougere, and it smells very clean, but not in a detergent way, just in an elegantly simplistic way. I loves it - feels like a wonderful cousin of Dorian, and that is fabulous in my book!

Oh god, I love this so much! I've been blown away by the CP scents, and for me this is the best of the lot, which really says something! On my skin, it reminds me a lot of London, but with white rose rather than pink - that same sweet, simple, classic elegance. It's very smooth and soft, though has decent throw - I get no champagne fizziness, for which I'm grateful, and the vanilla amber to me almost smells like a glowing underscore of beeswax, which is so perfect considering the candle in the scene. The white rose note is perfectly balanced between fresh, natural rose, and something a little sexier and muskier. It's just beautiful, so sweet, soft, comforting and elegant, and I'm really hoping I can snag a backup bottle, because...yeah, utterly beautiful - it does smell glowing, light and bright, the candle theme is so strongly present for me with this scent, and I freakin' adore it!

I really, really like this! Strangely it reminds me a little of Imaginer, the good stuff, I had two versions, one was all slinky sexy amber and honey, the other was Mum's perfumey perfume. And this has that same slinky sexy vibe to it, the plum brings the sweetness rather than honey, and it's musky and sexy, but not at all overbearing or perfumey - it remains soft, while still being sexy, and I think it's utterly gorgeous! I tried all my CP scents on yesterday, splotches of perfume everywhere, and after an hour or so, this was the one I could predominantly smell, and I had to sniff over all the patches before ascertaining that this was the glorious one! I'm not a huge patchouli person, but the patchouli behaves itself in this, it's very velvety and soft and sexy and musky, without being at all the earthy hippie patchouli that I dislike, and I love it - this was actually what I was expecting from Black Moths, but I like this a lot more...may even have to grab a backup bottle I suspect this will age fabulously...

This was a Weenies afterthought for me, but I'm glad I got a bottle! Wet, to me it's very, very close to Frosted Pumpkin Spice Cookie, that same sugared, doughy, cookie-like pumpkin note, then it rapidly becomes more heavily spiced, and a little bit of beery hoppiness comes out. Further into the drydown it does become more lager-y, there's that wonderful bittersweet beery fuzziness that makes me think of eating my dad's beer froth with one finger as a kid ...but all the way through the doughy cookie-pumpkin remains, and I really like it. It is definitely quite similar to Pumpkin Spice Cookie, but less sweet, and the subtle edge of lager keeps it different enough that I'll definitely be keeping both scents. Somehow this makes me think of Christmas more than Halloween, the combination of beer and spice, smells like Christmas Day! Mmmm, yep, I like this very much, the longer it's on the more beer comes out, so I suspect with ageing it'll get better and better. No regrets on going for this weird sounding Weenie!

This one is such a dilemma for me Freshly applied, it's very close to Nosferatu, which to me just smells like soggy bread bordering on detergent, and my immediate thought is always blehhhh! But if I apply this to my arm and cover it with my sleeve, so that it's cooking on warm skin for a while, the final drydown suddenly turns into this gorgeous beeswaxy-smoky-musky scent. I've had the bottle a couple of days now, and I will say that in the wet stage, the beeswax and the honey are becoming a little more prominent, which is exactly what I wanted from this, so I'm going to hold onto my bottle for a while in the hope that it balances out with age, and the awful Nosferatu wet bread thing goes away. But sadly, I suspect it'll never turn into quite what I wanted it to be

Interestingly, to me this is all about the smoke, and I really love it - it's just what I wanted from last year's Bonfire SN and didn't get - the latter was far too acrid and green and bitter for me, whereas this is a softer campfire smoke, mingling with a hint of leather, and what I suppose must be the wig powder - I've never smelled that, but this has a subtle...something about it, almost a hint of elegant, archaic, mildly masculine cologne, but it's very, very far in the background, so I wouldn't be put off if that's not your thing. I also get no rose from this at all - to me it's all about the leather and the campfire smoke, and I would also swear I smell a hint of beeswax behind the smoke, which I adore! Massive downside though, it has NO wear-time whatsoever. On my skin it fades to nothing within about 15 minutes, and even in my scent locket it needs topping up twice a day, and I can only smell it when I lift the locket to my nose, I don't get lovely wafts like I usually do with locket scents I'll be keeping my bottle anyway, I think, because it is lovely in the locket, but this is a huge drawback - if the scent had more throw and longevity I really think it could become a big favourite, since it's rare for me to find a scent that's as smoky as I like, and this one so is - if it had more oomph I think it would make a great layering scent...