The Candy Butcher 2006

[gravedigger]

Dark chocolate with a heavy cream undertone.

In the bottle, The Candy Butcher is gorgeous, seductive, wonderful dark chocolate. I seriously contemplated drinking it.
Wet on my skin, it's still pretty chocolatey, but the "creaminess" bit is quite obvious.
After it dries, I get a vague chocolate smell, but it's mostly this onion scent that I associate with ground beef for tacos.

mmm... Onions and chocolate. I may have to age this one for a while.

[beachbabealways]

The lab says this is chocolate & heavy cream but in the drydown I detect something else ... something very sophisticated!! I just love this and plan on buying more before it disappears. By far the best chocolate scent I have tried.

[Laurel the Woodfairy]

Out of all the CD scents, this one elicited the most mixed reaction from me *prior* to sniffing--chocolate and cream sounds divine; the word "butcher" makes me go, "eww, I don't want to see that written on a bottle". However, I do not have mixed feelings at all about the scent, which is all kinds of yum! This is a lot more complex than just cocoa and cream, although I can smell both--there's an undertone of vanilla-floral-musk. (Flowers and chocolates? This one would be at home in the V-Day update!). As demented as it sounds, "chocolate-covered Snow White" is a darn good description. I doubt I'd use up a bottle, but I'll use my imp to layer with my Dark Chocolate Solstice bubble bath and lotion from Tickled Pink.

[LittleGreyKitten]

My favorite of CD, I'm thinking.... it's scent reminds me strongly of aged Midway, with a chocolate base. YUM! Need more for sure. The boy really liked it too, and it is long lasting and has good throw. Hoard-able.

 

5 out of 5.

[mountainwitch]

I asked for this one as part of a decant circle, mostly because a good friend had asked to try it . . . Now, however, she might not get the chance! As others have pointed out, this is a dark chocolate, rich with cocoa.

 

Sometimes creamy and milky notes can turn a little sour on me, but that doesn't happen with Candy Butcher. It remains velvety and rich for hours; I caught hints of it all night, even after washing. (I had tried all my decants at once, of course, and smelling like flowery-chocolate-Antonino-Constantine was a little much.) Of the chocolate scents I've tried, this has to be my new favorite--unless 13 counts, of course.

[kraken]

I love the Lab's chocolate scents, so I jumped on the chance to get a bottle of this.

 

In the Bottle: It smells like hot cocoa. Not the premade add hot water powdered stuff, but the real, genuine heated whole milk with sugar, vanilla, and unsweetened chocolate shavings.

 

Initial Wet: Oh, no! It's gone sour on me! It smells like... the sour part of sour cream. Where'd the chocolate go?

 

Initial Dry: Oh, there's the chocolate. It's come back slowly. The sour cream is slowly turning into more of a sweet cream cheese scent. The chocolate is definitely a milk chocolate, hovering somewhere between cocoa and brownies.

 

Drier Dry: My skin really eats this one up, unlike Bliss which lasts almost all day on me. I applied it two hours ago and it's already become very faint. It reminds me of cream cheese chocolate muffins.

 

Though I like this scent, I think I rank it below my beloved Velvet and Bliss. It's more of a playful chocolate scent, less sexy and more let's go to the amusement park (or circus or carnival ).

 

ETA: After a second application, I get the Nutella scent that others have been talking about on the drydown. It goes from cream cheese chocolate muffins to Nutella.

Edited September 22, 2006 by kraken

[QueenFae]

Yay!! A new chocolate scent, this one has my name all over it. It's a delicious, dark cocoa scent, shot through with a gorgeous creamy undertone. The creaminess reminds me of the inside of a Cadbury cream egg. The cocoa note in this blend is very similar to the one in Mosterbait Underbed, one of my other BPAL obesessions. This is very much like Underbed, it just has a creamy edge instead of a coffeeish edge. I love this one, of course, and will wear it frequently! A+++!!!

[Iceblink]

Those who have dubbed this "Chocolate Snow White" are dead on. They both have a distinct aroma of the play dough on me (What causes that?).

However, now that I've had CB on for a couple of hours, the cocoa is coming out more. I'll give it some time and see how the oil ages.

[Blood onmy hands]

I am now well acquainted with The Candy Butcher. It butchered itself while it was en route to me and leaked all over my package . Bad Candy Butcher.

 

In the umm... bottle... and mostly leaked all over my other bottles... this smells like dark cocoa powder, hazelnut, and rubber balloons.

 

In my attempt to clean up the leaky mess, I got this all over me. And I mean ALL over me. Like a whole bottle of leakage. And this is still incredibly light on me, to the point where it has almost disappeared after only a half hour. I got that rubbery cocoa smell for a while, then it dried down to a faint creaminess that actually reminds me of butterscotch or caramel. But that strange rubber balloon smell is really off-putting.

 

Candy Butcher is more creme brulee than cocoa on me, with a weird rubbery undertone. Staying power is awful on me too. At least I don't have to deeply mourn the loss of my bottle now, lol. There has to be a bright side.

 

ETA: I usually do well with BPAL's chocolate scents (I LOVE Lump of Coal, Bliss, 13, Cerberus) and the creamy, milky, vanilla scents... so The Candy Butcher is an odd exception for me.

 

ETAA: I aged my replacement bottle for a bit over a year and this still smells off on me. The rubber tone isn't as strong and has morphed a bit, but now I get a faintly burnt scent from this. It's like loads of creamy vanilla added into a bit of milk chocolate with a background of burnt rubber. *Why?*

Edited October 9, 2007 by Tania

[delicate_fangs]

(catching up on transcribing reviews from my review diary, here)

 

 

Oh, Candy Butcher, I wanted so much for us to be sympatico. Unfortunately, you have some kind of jasmine thing or other sweet thing going on under all that chocolate, and all I can think of is soapy soapy floral soap. It's not you, dear, it's me -- or at least my skin chemistry. I send you forth to find someone who can love you properly.

 

(Bliss didn't work on me either. I think the chocolates and I are maybe not meant to be. Oh, well. Can't complain a bit, as there are so many other scents that do work.)

[kwsix]

In the bottle: Deep chocolate, with a creamy undertone

 

Wet on my skin: The chocolate blooms, and it's very very deep and rich. This seems much darker than the lab's other chocolate scents. But as it starts to dry, it lightens up and other notes come out to play.

 

Drydown: This smells delicious. I want to lick my wrist! The chocolate is getting very faint now, and the creamy notes are coming to the forefront. It's smelling less and less foody as time goes on. It's sweet and creamy, and it's not an overly sugary scent. It reminds me of something I've smelled before . . .

 

OMG, this IS chocolate-covered Snow White!

 

Summary: The Candy Butcher is lovely and delicious, but not as innocent and sticky-sweet as some of the lab's other chocolate blends. This will be a good stand-in for Snow White. After it dries, the chocolate recedes and it becomes practically indistinguishable from Snow White on my skin. I'm definitely going to need a bottle of this, especially if Snow White doesn't come back this year.

[smallvoice]

I loved Bliss at first, but grew tired of it quickly. Pure chocolate scents don't see a lot of wear from me, but I had to try this one. There was something familiar early on, which reminds me very much of Monster Bait: Underbed... then I picked up on the rubbery scent, and then it was deep cocoa again.... and then it went poof. Seriously. Like, within 15 minutes, all gone. So wierd. I love the early chocolate scent, though. I love how clear the oil is, too. Don't ask me why, it just strikes me as particularly lovely with a deep chocolate scent coming from it.

[Capriquarius]

I have to be the "ditto" reviewer here, and say "Chocolate Snow White" is quite the accurate description to my nose...but also it reminds me of Midway somehow. Either way, it's delightful and very wearable on my skin, with much more complexity than a straight chocolate scent. I LOVE IT.

[Shannihilation]

In the bottle this is thick, rich cocoa with cream floating on the top. It's so yummy.

 

On my skin it's not so great. It dries down to a sweet plastic smell. Kind of like a candy bar wrapper or something. I can still smell the chocolate and cream, but there's also a very definite "plastic" tone. I love Bliss so much and I was really excited about this one. Thinking it would be a richer version of Bliss... But it's not. Not for me.

 

 

*cries*

[absinthetics]

This vein of chocolate is like powdered cocoa. But there is something plasticy about it that off sets it to my nose. Maybe it's meant to be a note of 'dangerousness' ad described in the artwork. There is also something a bit woody about it, something that I have found in common with everything in the carnaval.

[Dinerdulcinea]

imp:dark chocolate and cream with sugar.

 

wet: Nutter Butter peanut butter cookies (2 people PLUS me smelled this ---without ANY suggestion)

 

dry: cocoa powder. Gets a little metallic note but that is not noticible to anyone else but me (nothing like Lump of Coal and Midway do on me). Mostly, I just smell cocoa. MMMMMMMM...

 

I'd like a bottle of this...but I don't covet it like I do Snake Charmer.

[krystyn]

Even though I've lurked in the forums for ages, and been a fan of the oils for over a year now, this is my very first review!

 

In the bottle, the Candy Butcher is that first breath of dark, bitter chocolate that you smell when you fold back the fancy foil wrapper of some small square of the expensive stuff. Like baking chocolate, but more refined, with that almost fruit-like tang that nice dark chocolate can have.

 

I am very sure that my cycle is doing CRAZY things to scents, because on my skin, this one's pure permanent marker. Not really plasticky, as others have mentioned, nor Play Doh-y, either. It is a chemical wet ink smell of addressing boxes with a big ol' marker.

 

Fortunately for me and my co workers, this phase was short-lived.

 

After about 20 minutes, it fades down, but I am totally confused now: what I thought was the bitter heaven of dark chocolate (the cream is hiding, apparently) is now almost exactly like Monster Bait: Underbed -- screaming cassia and all. Cassia? What the?

 

If I sniff really, really closely, I can just about imagine the creamy undertones, but they're just not there in the throw at all.

 

I'm gonna try again in a week or so, and then again once the bottle has settled a bit. I shan't give up on you, Candy Butcher! You seem like you might age awesomely!

[maijasu]

I really have nothing new to add to all the reviews above:

 

CHOCOLATE SNOW WHITE

 

In the imp, it's all chocolate, but once applied, it is gorgeous sweet cream and dries down to a very chilly, creamy floral that is remarkable in its resemblance to SW. But I like the Candy Butcher better because: 1) Yay chocolate! and 2) much less plasticky, at least on my skin. This is another one I'll be hoarding for sure.

[steffanina]

The Candy Butcher-

 

In Bottle: Sweetly lightly chocolate. Smells delicious. Unfortunately I know chocolate has invariably gone musty on me. We'll see.

 

Wet: Oh, that's lovely. Such a light chocolate, and with huge amounts of vanilla in it! It's like vanilla and chocolate ice creams in the same dish. I would so love it if this scent didn't go musty on me.

 

Dry: It's not going musty. IT'S NOT GOING MUSTY. It's like vanilla and milk now, and sweet and delicious and I'm almost fainting with happiness.

 

Overall: I'm ecstatic. Will have to get a larger bottle of this for keeps.

[jewelbug]

 

Imp: This smells so chocolately delish!

 

Wet: Very chocolate, but immediately I get other notes from this--almost hazelnutty, actually. And something vaguely underpantsish--that kinda complex vanilla smell.

 

Drying: The chocolate all but disappears when this is dry, and I get a beautiful sexy cream that really does remind me of underpants. Sadly, I start to get wiffs of rubbery/plasticy/syntheticy smell. This happens to me with quite a few super foody blends (underbed and closet come to mind, and underpants does it sometimes too). Kinda like smelling candy AND its wrapper.

Verdict: Doesn't agree with my skin chemistry, but oh my god, is it delicious when its not on me. Great foody treat for those of you lucky enough to have friendly skin!

Edited November 10, 2006 by jewelbug

[batsy]

In the bottle: heavy heavy dark chocolate, with a shot of cream. Just like the description, really!

 

On the skin: Where as Bliss was very much the smell of milk chocolate, CB is pretty much how I'd imagine a chocolate scent to be. Rich and velvety. It's pretty much a foodie's dream in a bottle.

[tasty]

MMMMM! This smells like chocolate cake batter. Has anyone tried the Cocoa scrub from B&BW? This is almost exactly that smell to me.

 

Lucious and enticing, I MUST own a bottle of this.

[Lorencita]

This is so strange! At first when this hits my skin its reeses pieces cereal... I mean exactly the cereal!!! Then it does dry down to something that is very much like chocolate covered Snow white. This really is a nice blend, but I doubt I will use more than this bottle

[nightbird]

this smells like gorgeous chocolate in the bottle, and once it's on my skin it continues to smell wonderful until it settles down. 10 or 15 minutes later there's a plastic undertone to it. I don't know if I'd want to smell like chocolate all day (I'd end up making myself very hungry), but this is delicious when it's not on me!

[Carolyn]

I get the Monsterbait Underbed association too. Very close, but not too close. Underbed is one of my all time favorites, so this is a good thing. FBW.