Playing with Dangerous Toys

[Geminirubyshoes]

PLAYING WITH DANGEROUS TOYS
When George's Grandmamma was told
That George had been as good as gold,
She promised in the afternoon
To buy him an Immense BALLOON.
And so she did; but when it came,
It got into the candle flame,
And being of a dangerous sort
Exploded with a loud report!
The lights went out! The windows broke!
The room was filled with reeking smoke.
And in the darkness shrieks and yells
Were mingled with electric bells,
And falling masonry and groans,
And crunching, as of broken bones,
And dreadful shrieks, when, worst of all,
The house itself began to fall!
It tottered, shuddering to and fro,
Then crashed into the street below-
Which happened to be Savile Row.
When help arrived, among the dead
Were Cousin Mary, Little Fred,
The Footmen (both of them), the Groom,
The man that cleaned the Billiard-Room,
The Chaplain, and the Still-Room Maid.
And I am dreadfully afraid
That Monsieur Champignon, the Chef,
Will now be permanently deaf-
And both his aides are much the same;
While George, who was in part to blame,
Received, you will regret to hear,
A nasty lump behind the ear.
The moral is that little boys
Should not be given dangerous toys.

The aftermath: dirt-smeared cocoa, with a Spanish moss, coconut, tobacco absolute, charred wooden beams, and blistered resins.

First?!?!? this has never happened to me before!

Well I was sure that I would love this and I do!
In the bottle: sharp cocoa mixed with smokey wood
Wet: Patchoulish mixed with dirt. This is a dirt note like the dirt in Banana Peel in a Graveyard, heavy deep soil.
Dry: Moss covered chocolate that has been smushed into the dirt. The smokeyness is faint. The throw is medium.
I do not detect the coconut whatsoever. But this is great because usually my skin eats up dirt notes and I cant smell them after 10 minutes or so. I deem this as a good one to put in my scent locket and will probably be able to smell more when the rest of me is slathered with Comforting Plush Companion (see other review)

[iiinterstate]

This is fresh out of the mailbox so my review might not be spot on.

 

In the bottle it smells like cocoa and patchouli which is interesting, because there's no patch in here.

I think I can pick out every note listed... the cocoa is really downplayed after a moment on my skin (which in my case is a good thing). What I smell most is the charred beams and blistered resins. It smells hot... the same way Sunbird does, but with a hint of sweetness from the other notes. I don't get much coconut at all.

 

As it dries, I get a little more tobacco and a lot less cocoa. The overall effect is kind of sweet and smoky.

 

I REALLY like this! I think a guy could pull it off as well.

[IronMollyBlack]

Oh lord, when the goblins chose this for me, I thought it was off to swaps because I hate coconut. I was wrong. Trust the goblins...

 

Dirty cocoa, definitely not dry, more like cocoa mud pies, with just a hint of not too foody, NOT suntan-oil, coconut, backed up by the resins. As it drys, the scent gets drier, too. It sweetens up for a bit, and the coconut comes out. Then it becomes smoky-sweet, with the "charred woods and resins." The cocoa and coconut slowly fade out into the background. I'm thinking there's some vetiver hanging out back there somewhere. And I'm getting a bit of cedar, and is that a smidge of pine? Maybe that terebinth type? Anyhow, it's very well blended, it's a morpher, and all the stages are lovely.

[Blood onmy hands]

I expected to love this, and it's not so great on me. It reminds me of Dark Chocolate and Pepper-Smoked Caramel in the bottle. There's a lot of thick, dark, cocoa absolute oil in here.

 

On my skin, I was hoping for a complex, earthy, resinous scent, but this smells a lot like Monster Bait: Ventroliquist Dummy, which is one of my least favorite bpal blends. I get tons of really dry wood (pencil shavings :/) and a hint of chocolate.

 

And that's how this stays on my skin - pencil shavings and a hint of sweet cocoa. The wood notes are just unbearably dry and sort of bitter smelling on me. I'm hoping that this improves with age.

[FandF]

coconut and tobacco blast…definitely weird resinous scent. Smells like dirt with the lab's tobacco scent. It's pretty strong. Lots of dirt...almost manly...maybe a bit sinister?? I thought this would not be so pencil shavings but that's what i read...with a bit of dusty cocoa powder. This will definitely work on some people who can pull off the deeper more complex scents....but not me unfortunately.

 

On super dry down....almost bordering on BO and definitely in the wash it off range on drydown for me.

 

[Lycanthrope]

Thick, gloppy oil, with a definite separation of oil at the base. Cocoa absolute... I love thee.

 

On the skin, starts off a very thick loamy scent, not Graveyard Dirt-esque, but adds a touch of depth. This is followed by cocoa absolute, which on me is a very pretty, but quite single dimensional aroma. It's tasty, but also over time it starts turning a bit more... 'charred and burned,' with very thick, gloopy resins and a hint of scruffy sandalwood. Veers away from foody cocoa, and more into 'cocoa touched with something,' and that something is smooth, woodsy, but altogether not my skin's favorite plaything.

[angelicruin]

Wet on my skin, smoky chocolate & tobacco. As it dries more, I get the wood note as well.

 

Dry, it's much the same, although the strong initial chocolate note has faded a little.

[ljaylh]

 

Mmm... when this first goes on, it's all lovely woody cocoa - a very earthy feel with a slight smoky edge. Where most of the other Naughty oils I've tried so far have been quite rich and strong, this is more subtle.. verging on powdery when dry.. but it still has a quiet intensity to it.

 

After about an hour on my skin, the tobacco has come out on top with the wood and resins just behind. The cocoa, unfortunately, has pretty much disappeared although its essence still kinda lingers - when wet, it reminded me a bit of the chocolate/cocoa in Cupcake Spatter Analysis, so I guess that's the "dirt-smeared" aspect. Can't say I ever really found the coconut.

 

I'm a bit undecided on this one.. it hasn't got quite enough oomph for me. I'm going to hang on to it for a while because the resins and wood might get more rich with age, but ultimately I'm a bit disappointed that the cocoa wasn't more prominent because I do love a good cocoa/wood/smoke/resin mix.

[tarotgirl99]

Chocolate and something almost tobacco-like. But not in a good way, on me. This is a dark, flat scent and it neither excites nor repels me. Swaps.

 

[Dark Alice]

As the previous poster said...chocolate, resin, hint of wood and tobacco absolute. Not a big fan. This really is kind of flat.

[ami226]

On the skin: Cocoa with hint of woods and smoke.

 

After a bit, the smoke takes over on my skin and it is difficult for me to smell anything else. Sadly, this one is heading to swaps.

[edenssixthday]

Playing with Dangerous Toys - I had the impression this was one of the big-time hits from the Inquisition, but I have to say I just don't understand why. It doesn't do anything for me. It smells okay, but nothing to write home about. It's mostly a chocolate-wood scent that's bolstered by the tobacco and a hint of coconut. A couple of previous reviewers used the term "flat" to describe this, and I definitely echo that sentiment. It has no pizzazz. It also doesn't last long on my skin at all and once it dries down, has virtually no throw.

[zankoku_zen]

This starts out as dirt and cocoa, with a hit of coconut. And dries to a basically, dusty coconut and woods blend.

 

Meh.

[heathercaley]

Once I applied this, I smell an incensy cocoa.

 

I walked away and let it dry for a good twenty minutes and the cocoa has faded. It left behind a fantastic dark and sweet scent on my arm.

 

 

There's tobacco for sure mingling its way around the dirty moss. This is a resin lovers dream! The cocoa is still present, but just enough to lend itself to sweetening up all the many manly notes. The coconut isn't a juicy coconut. It's different from many other coconut notes that the lab releases. It's also lending the blend a sweetening aspect.

 

The throw is medium and it's so nice. I love this one too!!

 

 

Verdict? Sometimes you feel like a nut.

[milo]

I love non-foody cocoa blends, and this one does not disappoint! Wet, I do get foody coconut and cocoa. As it dries, it is quite unpleasant and medicinal. Very raw and animalistic, actually. When fully dry, this is kind of hard to describe, a bit of dusty cocoa, and dirty incense. I really like this, and will probably try to hunt down a bottle.

[crebbsgirl]

This actually turns much softer on my skin during the drydown than I was expecting. The tobacco and smoke are very smooth here, and the cocoa is almost impossible for me to detect outside of the wet stage. I'm actually a little surprised that it faded quite so quickly on me.

[lilacea]

For something that had the word dirt in the description, I was a little afraid. However, it is not the full on dirt note that often takes over, if infact it is that dirt note at all. It's more of a warm note than anything, like a good earthy patchouli. This has thick boozy cocoa absolute, evident by the lovely dark thick oil you can see when you put it on. It's not sweet cocoa, it's gorgeous and whole. For the rest of the listed notes, I was expecting a very heavy and hard scent, but this is not. It's a nice clean unobtrusive moss, slightly sweet grounding resins, and hints of wood. I was really expecting an acrid twist from the description of blistered woods and charred resins, but it's not a very smokey or burnt scent at all, I'd barely describe it as smokey. The tobacco gives it a smoothness and a lovely masculine skin scent, and as for coconut, I'm not picking up any.

 

All in all, it is fairly low key, clean, smooth, masculine, wears close to the skin. It is quite lovely and dare I say, evocatively sexy, mainly I suspect from the usual voluptous notes of coaoa absolute, tobacco and the woods and resins. It doesn't last long though, and the throw is poor. It is nice, but is needs more oomph, and is nowhere near as full on as the scent description makes it out to be.

[fairnymph]

Golden oil. Sweet, woody, foody, but sort of bitter and earthy too - and definitely a bit smoky, as well. I can see how I interpreted this as 'peanut butter' in the prototype. I definitely get a fair bit of coconut, the dirt and a sort of dry Gelt-like cocoa powder, some richly foody tobacco, and some gritty vetiver and rooty patchouli.

 

Dirtier, darker, smokier, woodier, more resinous - much more slightly sweet soil, patchouli and VETIVER on my skin. But more cocoa too, more sweetness from a very food, almost candy or sweetened coconut note and the almost chocolatey tobacco note, which is the one thing here I DO like. There's a dry woody note that I think might be mahogany, and I think there's some benzoin or tonka here because of how much sweeter it is on my skin.

 

This stuff has really strong throw, and it's going very cloying-sickly sweet on my skin, so I'm betting heavily on tonka - and the coconut is definitely contributing, too. Also, it's becoming quickly clear that like Gelt this cocoa is going to rancid nutty powder, that's exacerbated by the musty dusty of the Spanish moss. The dark/resinous/dirty notes are more in the background now but still plenty strong and just not all pleasant.

 

This stuff doesn't really dry, but it does evolve over time regardless. It's balancing out a bit more now, with the sweet and foody notes being on par with the dirty woody smoky notes. The scent is coming together more; blending. As a result the tonka is more bearable, and the coconut seems to have definitely faded, as well as the scary cocoa note. The lovely tobacco however has amped, so I'm no longer eyeing the sink.

 

After a couple hours it settles into a lightly sweetened, dusty, dark woody scent that's actually not bad - the vetiver loses its grit, the patchouli its rootiness, the soil is almost gone and the moss is only a bit musty, and only traces of the sweet foody notes remain, while the tobacco absolute has amped to become the top note, and it's rich and gourmand and delicious. A surprising turnaround. Unisex to masculine; good throw and moderate longevity.

[Penance]

Origin:

 

I originally got a decant of this from Tuesday and was intrigued enough to track down a bottle. So I have both a decant and a bottle now.

 

Preconceived notions:

 

I'm not sure what to expect from this one. It's such a strange combination of notes that I'm having a bit of a hard time wrapping my head around what they'll smell like, aside from expecting chocolate, dirt and...fire?

 

First sniff:

 

Definitely a unique scent. Straight out of the imp, I get cocoa, coconut and something woody and earthy. It's a strange combination, but I tend to like strange combinations, so that's not a bad thing.

 

Wet on skin:

 

Out of the imp: I have a really hard time applying this one from the imp. The cocoa separates from the rest of the oil and doesn't want to reincorporate totally. It looks blended in the vial, but when I try to apply it to my skin, the cocoa slides off the wand and all I'm left with is the other components. When I apply it this way, I get a dirty coconut scent. Like someone ground dried coconut flakes into the dirt, along with an unsmoked cigarette. I know that has to sound unappealing, but, as someone who loves the smell of dirt and tobacco, it's not.

 

Out of the bottle: I had a feeling that applying from the bottle would give me the full effect of PWDT and I was right. The cocoa mixes in just fine in the bottle and I get a very interesting scent. It's definitely cocoa (not like a chocolate bar, more like the cocoa powder you use in baking) mixed with charred-smelling dirt and coconut. I don't really smell the tobacco or resins at this point.

 

Dry down:

 

Out of the imp: Basically the same as the wet stage. It's a dirty coconut (more coconut than dirt, with a sweetness to it that's a bit strange) scent with just a touch of tobacco. I think it's interesting, but I also don't really think I'd wear this too much, mainly because of the strange sweetness (it's turning my stomach just a tiny bit), but also because it's just a really weird scent and, while I'm a fan of weird scents, I'm not sure how well it works for me as a perfume. I enjoy it on its own (for its strangeness and because I enjoy all the notes I'm smelling separately), but as a personal scent, I don't think it's working that well on me.

 

Out of the bottle:[/b] Much better. The key here is definitely to make sure that the cocoa is incorporated. When applied from the bottle (with a wand), I get dirty cocoa (like someone took some dry dirt and mixed it in with the cocoa powder), a hint of spanish moss (if you've never smelled spanish moss, it's a dry, dusty sort of green scent, not fresh and springy), a strong undercurrent of coconut (dried flakes, not fresh fruit) and just a hint of burnt wood. It's a sweet scent (bordering on cloying, but not sugary or foody) but dirty at the same time. The resins never do make an appearance as far as I can tell, but I don't think they'd really make that big a difference here even if they did, honestly.

 

The bottom line:

 

This is definitely a unique scent. Very much what I expect from BPAL. I really do like it and will definitely keep my bottle, though I don't think it's going to be a scent I reach for on a regular basis.

[Cattastroficka]

I love this. I had received an imp a while back and was truly intrigued with the black sludge at the bottom. I almost hate shaking the bottle to combine the sludge with the oil!

The smell reminds me of metal. That stark iron smell that's been charred in a fire.

I was disappointed to learn it was no longer available, so I created a search on ebay so when was listed I'd get an email.

I was rewarded and it was BPAL selling it so of course I got 6 wonderful imps along with the bottle of Dangerous Toys.

This is smoky, calming and so unique. Nothing else out there smells like this. I love smelling unique and this gets me there and then some.

[filigree_shadow]

When I first put this on it was a really dry cocoa scent and I didn't like it much. When it dried, it got smoother, and the coconut came out. It ended up smelling kind of like coconut and wood. It really changed a lot. I can't say that I don't like it, but I don't think it's my sort of scent. I don't know, something feels off about it. But I hardly ever like coconut scents, so maybe that's it.