The Candy Butcher 2006

[DarthArwen]

Dark chocolate with a heavy cream undertone.

I got Bliss and love it, but wished it was more a pure chocolate scent and less candy-ish. I finally located an imp of Candy Butcher and couldn't wait (in fact I very nearly bought a bottle unsniffed)

Turns out it's good I waited for an imp. From the imp I get that lovely dark chocolate smell, and my heart rejoiced. Then I applied it, and for about 20 seconds I was soooo pleased and thinking "I will DEFINITELY get a bottle of this wonderful stuff" and then... there's a sweet note that completely overpowers it. It's rather cloying and reminds me a little bit of Milk Moon and Beaver Moon. Might be the cream? Though it reminds me slightly of berries. Gone is the lovely dark chocolate scent. *wail*

[angelicruin]

Very rich....like hot chocolate made from scratch with real milk. Yummmmm

[Champagne]

I waited months and reapplied constantly Candy Butcher cause I wanted to love it, being chocolate my favourite note, but.. The heavy cream undertone is really heavy, it`s a plastic and clyoing note that clings to my arms and get stronger and stronger with time

But the first minute is heaven, I will use my imp to enjoy that moment being discontinued today.

[Juushika]

I got a sniffie of this just before it was discontinued, so I almost hope I don't love it...

 

In the vial: Bitter dark chocolate which almost smells like coffee.

 

On me: The chocolate disappears upon application, but returns within a few more minutes—but returns only as a ghost of itself. The chocolate is dark but only moderately strong, not nearly as heavy or melted as I expected; it's lightly sweetened, but not sugary. In fact, it reminds me of the cocoa in Velvet, but mixed with cream rather than dried on sandalwood. The cream doesn't go rancid (yay!); it's thicker and silkier than milk, but not by much—this is half-and-half. Strangely, despite being chocolate and cream, this scent doesn't strike me as foody. It has an unusual edge, non-chocolate and non-foody edge which I can't quite pin down. It's the scent of a box of medium darkness, moderate quality bar chocolate, a person eating a chocolate bar, a room full of chocolate bars—not the chocolate bars themselves.

 

Verdict: If this were a general catalog scent or still available, I'd be tempted to hunt down more. It is a lovely scent, smooth and delicious, and much better behaved than I expected from heavy cream. But it's not my favorite chocolate (that would be Velvet for wearing, and Boomslang for a room scent), and I haven't fallen in love. It's a little too tame for me, a little too creamy with not enough emphasis on the chocolate, too foody for perfumey chocolate, too light for chocolate decadence. If this scent remains difficult to aquire, I can live without it.

[inurbanus]

In the bottle this smells like chocolate frosting. On me, there are about two seconds of chocolate, then I get the melting plastic smell. Once that's over, there's a soft creamy dry down that I really like. Someone mentioned that it's similar to Snow White, and I would agree with that. Anyway, it's really pretty. Chocolate usually doesn't do so well on me, so I'm not really surprised that this turned out the way it did. Maybe aging will improve...

 

2.5/5

[Astarial]

I don't get along with foody scents, especially not before I've eaten. They tend to get too strong or spicy and make me queasy. Even so, I wanted to give Candy Butcher a shot.

 

In the bottle, it's delicious chocolate. Holy crap, this is making me swoon. I want to smell like this for ever and ever!!

 

Wet: OH YUM. A creamy, rich, delicious chocolate. I can't stop huffing at my wrists. And I'm not queasy at all! It's just making my tummy growl with desire for yummy chocolates.

 

Drydown: Oh no... oh no no no! Not the fake banana smell!! Don't do this to me, Candy Butcher!

 

Dry: Still plasticky fake banana. I kept hoping it would morph back into chocolate, but nooo... I eventually had to wash it off in the afternoon, as I couldn't stand the stench anymore.

 

I think I'm going to let this sit for a while - maybe a couple months of aging will help it? I'm not overly optimistic, as Dragon's Milk does the exact same thing on me (where the heck do those share a note??) new or aged. If that doesn't work, I'll look into getting a scent locket. This really is a gorgeous scent, it just doesn't work with my chemistry.

[Tanniver]

My bottle of this is at least a year old.

 

On my skin it smells of chocolate Midway. So. effing. good.

[Schmoozy]

Rich dark cocoa with a creamy undertone.

At times I get whiffs of just plain old milk chocolate, other times, I find it smells nutty. Hazelnuts to be exact.

Simply delicious.

[ljaylh]

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!!

[Lycanthrope]

So, I have had my bottle since the original release, but never reviewed it. In short, the drydown is like Love's Philosophy but with less sharp saffron, and more chocolate. So, it's a deep cocoa layered over a neutral-sweet cream note. It's ok. The curious thing about my bottle is that it also smells like alcohol, and on my skin it is thinner than most of my BPAL, and has a cooling sensation. I have no idea if what I have is pure CB, or if there was a cleansing snafu. Regardless, I got this direct from the Lab, so I'm wondering if the very strong alcohol note is expected.

[Gael]

This is the one oil I have reordered the most. I adore it. I am a chocoholic, that that enters into it. But it just suits me and when I run out, I mourn for it.

 

Warm, taffy, nutty choccie...and it lingers.

[meatcake]

I love chocolate scents, so I had to have this one. Paid premium price on ebay...

 

In bottle: dark chocolate with hazelnuts, similar to Nutella. Delicious!

 

On skin wet: More sensuous chocolate with a nutty undertone.

 

Dry down: nutty, delicious chocolate.

 

It's not exactly what I was expecting, I was thinking the Candy Butcher would be more like Gelt. They are very different and I love both. The Candy Butcher is more of a "day" scent and Gelt is more of an "evening" scent. Warm, toasted hazelnuts and chocolate. I don't get any cream notes, but I've been smelling a lot of BPAL today.

 

4.5/5! Yay!

[hellomoonglow]

I had tried CB when I first got in to BPAL in 2007. Back then I didn't like it. But now that I've developed my nose, it's fabulous! Smells like Bliss and Antique Lace. Yum!

[TheOneTheyCallLuna]

I've only just regained smelling power in one nostril (bad head cold) and when I realized that I could smell again I knew the first thing I wanted to smell was this decant which just came in the mail. Smells like chocolate buttercream frosting on moist chocolate cake...almost exactly like these Amy's vegan chocolate cakes that my boyfriend and I buy from the frozen section of our grocery store that are really amazingly decadent and delicious. This is a lovely, wearable foody scent which never goes cloying and stays smooth and creamy and chocolatey throughout. Very wearable. Wish I could still get more, but I'll cherish the decant.

 

ETA: This has quickly skyrocketed up my top ten list and become probably my favorite chocolate scent of all time next to Lump of Coal. Creamy chocoliciousness! Nom nom nom.

Edited March 22, 2009 by OneTheyCallLuna

[MisterShrapnel]

Of course I had to jump on this one within my first week of discovering the Lab, and of course it had to become unavailable soon afterward. D:

This blend seems to be composed more of that delectable heavy cream than of dark chocolate, as the latter tends to smell burnt on my skin, and this seems lighter than that.

Like with many chocolate scents, CB has a tinge of nuttiness.

There's also a light, vaguely perfumey quality about this (cream?) and unlike many rich and buttery/caramel food blends I get a very smooth, smooth texture (it feels almost "cool" instead of warm, if that makes any sense). Not sickeningly sweet, and because of it's level of intensity(/subtlety?) it would be great to wear (so many foodies feel more like in-bottle delights in my book). It does match the description--the skin of pretty lady in the illustration probably would smell this way! Admirers will think your very pores leak a creamy chocolate-ish scent.

Unfortunately, my skin gives this a slight bitter/plastic edge, and these days I don't have as much interest in smelling like food.

Despite enjoying this lovely lady's company in my home for several months, I've NEVER really felt like wearing her, so tomorrow I'm sending her to someone who'll pay her more attention.

Edited April 10, 2009 by MisterShrapnel

[ShadowsDance]

In the bottle: Creamy chocolate, although a bit fake smelling..

On my skin that bit of fake plastic sort of scent is no longer there. It smells much like a mug of hot cocoa. Occasionally a bit of bitter burnt plastic still shows through.. I love it when it's being good on my skin, however. I wish would would act better more often.

[thewondersmith]

Okay, I have two bottles of the Candy Butcher- and though they're both seriously gorgeous, there is a marked difference in the way they smell.

 

The first bottle I bought was pretty much a dark chocolate single note. I was kind of surprised, because I was expecting cream to come stomping all over my nose like it usually does, but nope! Nothing but gooey, wonderful dark chocolate. I love it to bits but I can't handle wearing it all the time as it's just so darn rich. It stays exactly the same on me as it does in the bottle, and it lasts for HOURS.

 

The second bottle I bought is creamy, and much more of what I'd been expecting the Candy Butcher to smell like originally. In the bottle, the chocolate is a lot fainter than my first bottle, but creamier and easier on the nose and stomach. On me, it goes a little plasticky, which is a bummer (but hey, at least it doesn't morph to straight-up blue cheese on me like the entirety of Box of Chocolates did :grumble: ). Wet, the chocolate is nowhere to be seen. Alas. What's left is an oddly floral, sugary cream. I think I detect citrus? It's nice enough, but I really do prefer my original bottle. Maybe layering the two will have better results.

Edited May 10, 2009 by downloadstone

[aquazoo]

The chocolate and cream are there, and also a bit of alcohol.

 

 

[spiresinthesnow]

Candy Butcher smells AwEsOmE! It smells like fried chocolate doughnuts and coconut, drowned by a river of perfumed buttery cream, and gourmand dark chocolate liqour, then mixed with Midway and vanilla sugar then dusted with chocolate cocoa powder. Initially you smell the dusty cocoa, then the perfumed cream, (which is the heart of the scent) lastly you end up with a salty sweet chocolate Midway! Edited June 10, 2009 by glasspillars

[BuxomM]

This smells like peanut marzipan to me, nothing like chocolate or cream. It smells good but not what I hoped and not what I wnat to smell like.

Edited March 16, 2010 by BuxomM

[milo]

I got a testable sniffie of this, so excited! In the imp and on wet, this a wonderful musky, creamy chocolate. I know it's just supposed to be cream and chocolate, but there is a lovely perfumey scent blended in with it. After a few minutes, it is the chocolate cream scent, though pretty powdery on me, with a touch of the perfume. I like this, but I think Gelt can satisfy my chocolate cravings.

[satinworship]

I woe the fact that I only have a small amount of this. Hands down this is one of the best things I have ever smelled in my life. In the beginning it does smell kind of like the "after-chocolate" smell a candy bar wrapper or something might have, not full on chocolate bar, but a hint of creamy chocolate left over in a glass. It's very mellow, and yet very strong, throw wise.

 

After a while it goes very creamy. I get mainly sweetened, slightly spiced, chocolate cream. I cannot figure out what in this makes it smell spiced, not hot spice, but more like the spicy smell in some exotic chocolate bar. The cream smell is very soft and decadent, it does smell like warm half and half! At this point I'm lucky if I can drag my nose away from my wrist to function, this is so drop dead gorgeous. I don't get any nuttiness, and no plasticy breakdown.

 

Overall, on me, this has great lasting power, and is pretty strong compared to some other BPAL I've tried. I'll always be on the hunt for this one, I suppose, it's so very lovely.

[Olerica]

I just bought this off of a BPALer on ebay. And On my skin it smells of chocolate and sex. As if chocolate had mindblowing, orgasmic, fantastic sex with me. Oh, please, please do this one as a limited release so that I can have MORE!

[myoubi]

Again, no long review for this one because I just slapped it on and then went about my day. But impressions:

 

This scent is strange on me. First the oil is light -- I expected it to be dark and viscous like Boomslang [which I should probably get more of...] It doesn't smell like dark chocolate on me. It smells like *chocolate* but it doesn't have that thick dark feeling. After I've worn it for a few hours, it's dried down to... sweet cream. Just sweet cream. Sweet, heavy, slightly plastic-vanilla-y cream.

 

But here's the weird thing. I thought I really didn't like the drydown but I can't stop huffing my wrists. What is with this scent?!?

 

I really am not sure what I am going to do with this one. Either way, it's definitely addictive.

Edited November 2, 2009 by myoubi

[Siberia]

I really wish I had discovered this scent before it sold out. I got an imp of this recently, and it is amazing! To me, it is deep, dark chocolate, but it has this really rich, fruity or floral background that reminds me that chocolate comes from a plant. I used to live in West Africa, and I'd see cocoa pods lying out to dry in the sun. Candy Butcher reminds me of a big, fruity, fresh cocoa pod. I love it.