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Thanks!
I am a TOTAL sucker for pitch cards.
Favorite GCs:
Anne Bonny
Golden Priapus
Snake Oil
Antikythera Mechanism
Sin
Violens
TKO
Emma
Would like to try, in no particular order:
Imps
Dana O'Shee
Veritas
London
Hell's Belle
Hermia
Intrigue
Love's Torments
Casanova
Miskatonic University
Goblin
Villain
Velvet
Thanatos
Death Cap
Queen Alice
Sea of Glass
Baron Samedi
Death Adder
Sachs
Horror Sympathique
Regan
Door
LE
Krampus (to scare my kids with )
Rivet.goth (hey, I have to try!)
Bottles
Dorian
Anne Bonny
EMPTY Tokyo Stomp (for display!)
This is just for personal reference!
Note Love:
Vanilla
Lilac
Lavender
Honey
Violet
Olive Blossom
Mint
White Musk
Chamomile
Pine
Ambergris
Fig
Maple
Note Like:
Bergamot
Lily of the Valley
Sandalwood
Plum
Carnation
Pineapple
Grapefruit
Coconut
Honeysuckle
Water
Bamboo
Apple
Sugar (especially brown)
Patchouli
Amber (in small doses)
Most Spices
Anise
Vetiver
Neroli
Cinnamon
Clove
Date
Guava
Lime/Lemon
Molasses
Nutmeg
Oak
Pumpkin
Rum
Tea (all)
Moss
Peach
Pear
Note Dislike/Hate:
Freesia
Jasmine
Melon
Almond
My top ten keeps changing, I will attempt to track it here
June 2010
Banshee Beat , so perfect, I wish this was available, I would wear it everywhere.
Glowing vulva- - close second-love the teak and vanilla mix
Liz- a floral I can wear
CC female - scented powder, the leather stops it being too girly
Okayaki- not sure why, but I can't stop sniffing this
Mme Moriarty- evening wear, perfect musk
Chrysanthemum moon-sweet, overpowering but beautiful
Raven Moon- dark and perfect (can't wait for Panther moon to arrive, hope it's similar)
Crumpet Rebellion- best foody
Boneshaking Antique Velocipede- squirting cucumber with teak
But I've missed so many favourites, not even started on the GCs Coxcomb and Snow White missed out and I have multiples of these, may need to rethink or have a top 50
SPICEBUSH SWALLOWTAIL TRAIPSING THROUGH THE CROP CIRCLES TEATIME IN ROSWELL Brusque violet high strung daisies Twinkle twinkle little bat Alice's evidence 'tis the voice of the lobster how doth the little crocodile BREAD-AND-BUTTERFLY SUE’S GREAT OLD PUPPET SHOW THE SNACK HUT SILVER PHOENIX SPOOKY TIN PHOENIX MELIAI CANDLES MOON SIGNIOR DILDO Two Loves Black Heart DARK CHOCOLATE AND KEY LIME TRUFFLE DARK CHOCOLATE, WHISKEY, AND COGNAC TRUFFLE MILK CHOCOLATE AND MATCHA GREEN TEA GANACHE TRUFFLE MILK CHOCOLATE, COCONUT, CARDAMOM, RUM, AND GINGER TRUFFLE WHITE CHOCOLATE, BLACK RASPBERRY, AND APRICOT CORDIAL TRUFFLE WHITE CHOCOLATE, STRAWBERRY, AND WHITE PEPPER TRUFFLE ENCHANTED WOOD FLORIST Blackberry Jam & Scones CBLDF: Who Killed Amanda Palmer? Planting moon Moon of the Terrible Thalassa, The Galapagos Mermaid CHAOS THEORY V: RECURSIVE SELF-SIMILARITY V1 The Dorian Series Any of the "Box of Chocolates" Pepper Fairy Wine Bearded lady Xanthe Huesos de Santo Hel Green Party Eggnog Latte Wulric, the Wolfman Miller vs California June Gloom Strawberry moon Velvet nudie Velvet pink kitty Velvet unicorn The Sailing Stones of Death Valley The Phantom Cow of Yerba Buena Island STINKY Lawn gnome B340 Spinning multicolored metallic pinwheel Plastic pink flamingo Tomoe Gozen Under the harvest moon Bite Me Boo Creepy Lambs-wool Pomona Trick or Treat PUMPKIN V Detestable Putrescence IN WINTER IN MY ROOM SLEIPNIR PINK SNOWBALLS THE SEASON OF GHOSTS MOTHER SHUB'S TOOTHSOME BANKETSTAAF MOTHER SHUB'S SPICED LAIT DE CHÈVRE MASON & JENKIN'S PORT JELLY JOSIE THE WITCH'S REPAST HARIMISE AUTUMN MOON OF THE MIRROR STAND
2-5-7 Centzon Totochtin Blood Bordello Bruised Violet Compound Darkness Dragon's Milk Dragon's Tears Gluttony Hellcat La Petite Mort Le Serpent Qui Danse Les Bijoux Kill Devil Masabakes Sloth Stimulating Sassafras Strengthener Tweedledum Nostrum Remedium The Unicorn Vice
Not that I'll likely ever get a custom scent, but I've been thinking about one in the last few days. It's kind of like a song I can't get out of my head.
It would be like a more masculine version of Snow White. I'm imagining a pure white mixture of rice cream (is there such a thing?) and coconut milk, infused with ginger, with a dash of nutmeg and cardamom on top, possibly a hint of clove. It's in a wooden bowl with a scattering of pine boughs around it. All of this is outside on a blustery, snowy day. Snow, rice cream, coconut, almond, ginger, spices, turbinado sugar, balsam fir. Maybe some woodsmoke, or frankincense, just a hint of something to give it a bit of a rugged edge. Ooh, maybe some cherry too? Just a little bit, not enough to stand out a whole lot. It's possible some kind of floral would be good, but I don't know florals well enough to say which one.
It would be something between Snow White, Jolasveinar, and Cloister Graveyard In The Snow.
Updated FEBRARY 2012
Bolded = really really really want!
Bolded = really want!
Italics = pending/ on the way
Strikethrough = received
Would Love Decants of these TALs: Abundance Oil
Anthelion - Thank you, Frolic!
Bastet's Laughter
Love Oil 7
Milk & Honey
Senelion Oil
White Light
Would Love Bottles of:
Alice 10ml only (any fill level)
ANTIQUE LACE!
A.ntiq.ue Lac.e! (even an empty 5ml) THANK YOU DARK ALICE! Antique Lace 10ml (any fill level)
Ara.bian Da.nce (partial)
B.eaver M.oon 2005 (good label)
Blackbear Moon (empty/ partial)
Blue Pumpkin Floss proto (partial)
Boo 2010 (empty, partial)
Bow & Crown of Conquest
Candy Corn Coated Candy Apple (empty/ partial)
Clockwork Couture Male (partial)
Confectionary proto!!!
Devil's Night 2006 (partial)
D.orian
Egg Nog 2010 (partial)
Fenris Wolf v2
Golletes (empty)
Halloween L.A. (empty)
Halloween SF (empty)
Holiday Stress Relief bath oil (1-3oz.)
L'Eau de L'Engouement Bath Oil
L'Essence de L'Engouement Perfume Oil
Marquis de Carabas (partial ok)
Mourning Lace
Panther Moon (empty/ partial)
Parker Lily* (empty/ partial/ any! - don't I know how to dream?)
Phyllocrania Paradoxa v1 (partial/ full)
Pink Lace
Pumpkin IV '09 (low level partial, 1-2ml)
Pumpkin Latte
Pumpkin Stout bath oil (partial/ 1-2oz decant)
Sky City Before (partial)
Snow White 2003 perfume oil
Sno.w Wh.ite 2004 perfume oil
Snow White 2005 perfume oil
The Solder (partial)
Tat.tered La.ce
Time Does Not Bring Relief (partial)
Treatsy bath oil
Ticksy bath oil
XCDL13
Would Love Decants - LE/ Rares:
(Not in a rush to obtain; only interested in swapping for some of these)
Alana Patel
Anactoria '10
Angeronalia
Arachnina, The Spider Girl (CD)
Atrocious Attic
Autumn Moon of the Mirror Stand
B340
Bakeneko
Banned in Boston
Beanman & Beanwoman Prepare to Attack the Vagina
Beaver Moon 2005
Berenice
Bette Noir
Bijoux Y'ha-Nthlei
Blackbear Moon Blossoms in Springtime
Body, Remember
But Men Loved Darkness Rather Than Light
Candles Moon
The Changeling Chaste Moon '05 (orig.)
Cheshire Moon
Clarimonde vamp. '09
Cloister Graveyard in the Snow
Corazon (ha!) Thank you Dark Alice!!!
Crumpet Rebellion
Dancing Koi
Daya (Nov. '09 Will Call frimp)
Dark Chocolate, Whiskey, and Cognac Truffle
Ded Moroz Yule '09
Devil's Night '09
Dia (Aphrodite/ Lupercalia '09) shouldn't have gotten rid of mine
Door
Dreamland '05
Dreamland '07
Egg Moon
The Elephantine Colossus (would swap for)
Enlightenment of the Courtesan Jigokudayu
Enkhespalos
Eshe, A Vision of Life-in-Death (CD)
The Fairies
Forbidding Foyer
Formula 54 (I know, I know, ha!)
Gods of Intercourse
The Gorrobble
Gun Moll
Haunted Palace '05
Haunted Palace '07
Harigata II
Harikata
Harimise
Hunter
Ichabod Crane ('08 Weenie)
II No Hayata Kills the Nue at the Imperial Palace
In the Forest
The Infernal Lover (creamy, non-red musk version)
The Infernal Lover (red musk version)
Jólasveinar
Kusunoki Tamonmaru Masatsura Surprising a Fox Ghost
Lair of Nefarious Misdeeds Atmosphere Spray
Lamia v3 (ha!)
Lenore '05
Lenore '07
Lick It '05
Lick It Again '06
Lick It Like You Mean It '08
Looking Glass bath oil
Loosening of the Obi
Lord Ruthven vamp. '09
Lump of Coal (ha!)
Lust v7
MVJBA: Spring Training
MVJBA Summer Summoning Spectacular
Maiden v2 (ha!)
Maltese Cross (CD)
Marcilla (CD)
Marquis de Carabas (would swap for)
Melainis
Menacing Ionospheric Research Instrument
Minamoto No Yorimitsu Cuts At the Earth Spider
Miskatonic University v3 (ha!)
Moana
Mourning Lace
Nanny Ashtoreth
Needlework
Nig.ht's Brid.ge
Nightmarchers v5
Olis.bos
Op.uhi
Ov.al Po.rtrait
P0.13
PX79
Parker Lily (would swap for)
Pink Lace
Phyllocrania Paradoxa v1
Perchta
Pe.rilous Pa.rlor, The
Poe
Pi.nk Mo.od
Pumpkin II 2007 (tobacco, champa flower, carnation, and tonka)
S.amhain '04
Samhain '07
Sa.ra Pe.zzini
S.et v3
Se.verin (discon'd GC)
Shivering Boy, The '09 Yule
*SINGLE NOTES (listed at bottom)*
Sky City Before
Snow Angel (either year)
Snow Bunny '05
Snow Bunny '08
Snow White 2003 perfume oil
Sno.w W.hite 2004 perfume oil
Snow White 2005 perfume oil
The Sorrow of Love
Staged Moon Landing
Story Time at Dark Delicacies
Storyville (I know, I know)
Street Festival
Summer Summoning Spectacular MVJBA
The Ta-Ta Tattered Lace
Theodosius, The Legerdemain (CD)
Tiki Queen
Time Does Not Bring Relief
Under the Harvest Moon
Unveiled
Vasakasajja
The Velvets
Variety of Pleasing Amusements
The Vine
White Phoenix
Witchblade
Wulric, the Wolfman (CD)
XCDL13
Yule Cat '09
Yürei
Would Love Imps - GCs/ GC Unimpables:
Against Idleness and Mischief (Mad Tea Party)
Anne Bonny (Bewitching Brews)
Aperotos Eros (Ars Amatoria)
Aremata-Popoa (Atomic Luau Lounge)
Aureus (Bewitching Brews)
Beer From the Marsh Woman's Brewery (Marchen)
Bread-and-Butter-Fly (Mad Tea Party)
Carnal (Ars Amatoria)
Cloister Graveyard in the Snow (Salon)
Coyote (Excolo)
Crib Girls (The District) - tester is fine!
De Sade (discon'd GC) will ALWAYS gladly accept more!!!
Desdemona (Illyria)
Dorian (Sin & Salvation) will ALWAYS gladly accept more!!!
Ehecatl (Excolo)
Emma (The District)
Fallen (Sin & Salvation)
Flora (The District)
Golden Wave (Atomic Luau Lounge)
High-Strung Daisies (Mad Tea Party)
Hunter
Incantation (Bewitching Brews)
Josie (The District)
Lilith (Excolo)
Lulu (The District)
Marquis de Carabas (would swap for)
Moonshine and Mist (Marchen)
The Night-Raven (Marchen)
Oblivion (Sin & Salvation)
Old Demons of the First Class (Marchen)
Pahoehoe (Atomic Luau Lounge)
Paramatman (Sin & Salvation)
Pollution (Good Omens)
Polynesian Pop (Atomic Luau Lounge)
Prurience (Ars Amatoria)
Prunella (Marchen)
Nanny Ashtoreth
Red Tide (Atomic Luau Lounge)
Sed Non Satiata (Ars Amatoria)
Severin - AGED for comparison (discon'd GC)
Screeching Parrot (Atomic Luau Lounge)
Sybaris (Wanderlust)
Trevor Bruttenholm (Hellboy)
Whoso List to Hunt (Ars Amatoria)
Wolf's Heart (Bewitching Brews)
BPTP Goods I Covet:
Bath Oils: Treat | Tricksy | Pumpkin Stout
Claw Polish: Croquet | Maiden | Robotic Scarab | Sed Non Satiata | Smokestack
Soaps!: ANY! Snake Oil | Snow Glass Apples
Goblin Squirts: Cathouse | Down the Rabbit Hole | Okiya | Saloon #10 | Boot Hill
Atmo Sprays: Boot Hill | Citadel of Awesome | L'Estate | The Path of Dreams
Apparel:
Carnaval Noir: Babydoll V-Neck - small
Carnaval Diabolique: Babydoll V-Neck - small
Drink Me Eat Me: Girlie Crew Neck - small
*** Hunter Moon heather green ringer tee- small ***
White Rabbit scent locket
Would Love Decants/Testers of these SINGLE NOTES:
Single Note: Ambergris
Single Note: Anise
Single Note: Bergamot
Single Note: Black Amber
Single Note: Blood Orange
Single Note: Blue Lilac
Single Note: Calamus
Single Note: Carnation
Single Note: Cherry Blossom
Single Note: Coffee Bean
Single Note: Daffodil
Single Note: Dandelion
Single Note: D'Anjou Pear
Single Note: Dark Myrrh
Single Note: East African Black Patchouli
Single Note: Egyptian Amber
Single Note: Egyptian Musk
Single Note: Fig
Single Note: Frangipani
Single Note: Frankincense
Single Note: Heliotrope
Single Note: Hyssop
Single Note: Indonesian Red Patchouli
Single Note: Light Myrrh
Single Note: Lotus
Single Note: Mimosa
Single Note: Neroli
Single Note: Orange Blossom
Single Note: Peony
Single Note: Pikaki
Single Note: Plumeria
Single Note: Red Ginger
Single Note: Red Mysor(e) Sandalwood
Single Note: Roman Chamomile
Single Note: Rose Geranium
Single Note: Saffron
Single Note: Siberian Musk
Single Note: Stargazer Lily
Single Note: Tonka Bean
Single Note: Tuberose
Single Note: Vanilla Bean
Single Note: Violet
Single Note: White Musk
Single Note: White Sandalwood
Single Note: Ylang Ylang
Bolded = really really really want!
Bolded = really want!
Italics = pending/ on the way
Strikethrough = received
My current faves: (ideas of scents/notes I love)
*Antique Lace*
A Bachelor's Dog
Beaver'Versary*
Boomslang
Creature Feature
DORIAN!* (fresh or aged) -- Can never get enough Dorian! <3 <3 <3
Flowering Chrysanthemums
Glowing Vulva*
Hanerot Halalu
Hellhound On My Trail*
L'Estate
Le Père Fouettard
Mme. Moriarty
Osiris v4
Sacrifice
Smoky Moon
Snake Charmer Res.
Sugar Moon
Velvet Tiki
*XCDL13*
* = wouldn't mind gettin' more of
Nearly Anything with Dragon or Blood in the title, but additionally:
Serpent's Kiss Diabolus Seething with passion, yet utterly cold-blooded. Dragon's blood, vetivert and spice.
Blood Rose Rappaccini's Garden Sensual, robust, and silken: voluptuous red rose bursting with lascivious red wine and sultry dragon's blood resin.
Wrath Sin & Salvation A scent aflame with rage, swirling in the red haze of hatred: dragon's blood spiked with black pepper, clove, and cinnamon.
Tintagel Wanderlust According to legend, the birthplace of King Arthur. The scent of a castle's great hall in the midst of joyous feasting. Spicy mulled wine flowing through the musky heat, warm leather and bright clash of armor, the damp branches of Cornish hawthorn, blackthorn, juniper, English elm and bayberry, and the magical tingle of dragon's blood resin.
Ladon Ars Draconis The hundred-headed dragon that guards the garden of the Hesperides: dragon’s blood resin, golden apple, apple blossom, white musk and hyacinth.
Surprisingly Okay?
The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed With the Sun The Salon , William Blake.
Daemonorops, vanilla, Indian sandalwood, Mexican copal, hyssop, muguet, sweet pea, amber, hazelwood, galbanum, hiba wood, and orchid.
<b><!--coloro:teal--><span style="color:teal"><!--/coloro--><u>Notes of FAIL </u><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--></b> <img src="http://www.bpal.org/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/00000020.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="00000020.gif" /> <!--sizeo:1--><span style="font-size:8pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo-->
<b>bamboo:</b> horrific soap
<b>cedar:</b> amp amp amp
<b>champagne:</b> BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD
<b>cloves:</b> while I like it, my skin CRAZY AMPS cloves, must be barely there to work for me
<b>honey:</b> Hony Mone is all wrong, ALL wrong on me
<b>jasmine:</b> something about the lab's jasmine note rubs me the wrong way, and it doesn't help that I amp it
<b>Jazz Funeral (Ars Moriendi):</b> goes sour on me
<b>patchouli:</b> my skin über-amps patchouli to the point it obscures most other notes
<b>rose:</b> usually sour on me, but not always
<b>vetiver:</b> unless it's barely there
<b><i>certain</i> WINE notes:</b> Delphi, Glühwein, Kali SOUR on me (LadyMacB & Fairy Wine are good, though!) <!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec-->
<b><!--coloro:teal--><span style="color:teal"><!--/coloro--><u>Notes of WIN! </u><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--></b> <!--sizeo:1--><span style="font-size:8pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo-->
<b>amber:</b> some work, some turn bad powdery
<b>carnation:</b>
<b>leather:</b> love it well-blended (but I <i>amp</i> it like whoa)
<b>musk:</b> red, Creature Feature musks, Dorian, Ivanushka, Hunter Moon '07 etc., haven't found one that hasn't worked so far! (White musk isn't always great, but doable)
<b>sandalwood:</b>
<b>tobacco:</b> LOVE LOVE LOVE! Not the cherry-ish tobacco, but good ol' delicious, slightly sweet tobacco.
<b>vanilla:</b> a la Antique Lace, Love's Philosophy, Dorian, etc.
<!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec-->
<b><!--coloro:teal--><span style="color:teal"><!--/coloro--><u>My current faves: (ideas of scents/notes I love)</u></b><!--sizeo:1--><span style="font-size:8pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo-->
Antique Lace*
<b>A Bachelor's Dog*</b>
Bat of Wealth
Bat of Virtue
Beaver'Versary
Boomslang
Creature Feature
<b>Dorian*</b> (fresh) -- Can never get enough Dorian! <3 <3 <3
Flowering Chrysanthemums
<b>*Glowing Vulva*</b>
Hanerot Halalu
L'Estate
<b>Le Père Fouettard*</b>
Smoky Moon
Snake Charmer Res.
Sugar Moon
Velvet Tiki
* = wouldn't mind gettin' more of <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/icon_wink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="icon_wink.gif" /><!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec--><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
The Four Hundred divine rabbits of the Aztec pantheon that preside over parties and drunkenness. Bittersweet Mexican cocoa with rum, red wine, and a scent redolent of sacrificial blood.
in the bottle: Rum! And a scent that I know must be cocoa, but that seems more like a toasted sweet nut. Actually, it reminds me strongly of Nutella. There's something a bit sharp running behind which I can't pin down at this point. There's also a sense of unpleasantly over-the-top (sort of sickly) sweetness, like rancid fruit.
on wet: Nutella. 100%.
drydown: The Nutella has faded into a slightly food-y, cozy, very comfortably enveloping scent, which strikes me as the scent equivalent of being wrapped in your favorite blanket on a cool autumn evening. Wow, that's pretty evocative; I'm surprising myself a little. I'm getting a warm, headshop-y undertone which I think is some sort of musk, though that's not listed.
one hour later: I'll be going to bed with this on, so I'll have to start this review over another day to get the full day's worth of critique. G'night.
The electric tang of ozone, marine notes, and a drop of sharp rain.
in the bottle: When I first smelled this, it smelled exactly like chapstick. Now, months later, it smells exactly (with no deviation) like an air freshener (can't remember brand) called Spring Rain. I don't like the scent. Not even a little. This is going straight to the trade pile. I know I should make an attempt to analyze it -- a scent is a scent -- but I'm too distracted by what I consider to be an overwhelmingly common commercial scent. I'm not feeling very generous today, I suppose.
A wonderful antidote to an all-nighter oozing with drunken, addled perversion and debauchery. A fresh, crisp white linen scent: perfectly clean, perfectly breezy.
in the bottle: Okay, I have to say it: dryer sheets. It makes me think of fabric softener or dryer sheets; it's what warm, clean clothes used to smell like straight out of the dryer before I started using unscented laundry products. Floral, but it's that light, breezy, not-obnoxiously-floral floral that definitely puts one in mind of clean laundry. As a matter of fact, I'm having trouble moving past the laundry connotations as some part of my brain is now reminding me insistently that I'm behind on laundry and need to start working on that NOW!
I can't pick apart the notes. All I can really think is floral. Actually, this puts me in mind of a kind of jasmine. Or maybe orange blossom. A little sharp. This could give me a headache, I think.
on wet: Exactly the same.
drydown: More rounded now, not so stabbing-me-repeatedly-with-flowers. Actually, even more like laundry products now than before.
one hour later: I'm not interested in leaving this on for an hour.
end of day: Definitely not interested in leaving it on all day.
compared to official description: It really does have a "clean" feeling, but I know that's because of the whole "mmmm... fresh, clean laundry" connection. Psychologically, there's nothing quite like pulling warm clothes out of the dryer and draping them on yourself -- for me it's an instant mood lifter. Not because of the smell, but because of the feeling of clean. It's an enduring emotional scent connection for me. This is a great scent for someone who wants to give themselves an instant hit of "fresh and clean".
notes: To be frank, I stopped using scented detergents and dryer sheets (never used fabric softener) because I grew weary of the types of scents that are used for that category of product. It's interesting to see the connection between this scent and those things, but I in no way want to smell like this myself.
Black musk, tobacco, fir, balsam of peru, cumin, bitter clove, crushed mint, and orange blossom.
re-sniffed on 6/24/10
in the bottle: Amazingly, I pick out most of the listed scents. This is uncommon, but it might be because the components are uncommonly strong and distinctive. Tobacco. A warm spice: clove. Something musky. A wood. A kind of catch-in-my-throat dryness; don't know where that's coming from. I will admit that I smell something that reminds me strongly of some kind of alcohol, but it hovers somewhere -- strangely -- between red wine and whiskey, even though neither is listed. Second try: Now I don't smell anything remotely like alcohol, rather it's all about wood and very strong clove. Really, this is predominantly clove.
on wet: A little floral. Tobacco.
drydown: The floral has gone creamy in a vanilla-smooth kind of way. What I'm smelling now, at a slight distance, just 2 minutes later, is nothing like what I smelled in the bottle. If I put my nose right on my wrist and inhale deeply, I get the clove and tobacco, but they're ghosts. OK, clove and wood, in that order. There are definitely other scents in the background, but they're almost "transparent".
one hour later: The scent is dominated by clove, with a deep, dark undertone which is almost impossible to focus on -- I know it's there, affecting my response, but it's almost subliminal. I'm going to say it's the musk and tobacco working together, but that's purely a guess; I can't, in all honesty, smell musk and tobacco.
before too long: I can barely smell anything on myself. I suspect that the scent is just as strong (if my SO walked in right now I'm sure he'd notice the scent immediately) but my nose has become immune to it. That's disheartening. I wear perfume primarily for its effect on me. Maybe today isn't a good day to be testing. I'll probably have to revisit this one yet again.
end of day:
compared to official description: I've never, to my knowledge, smelled Balsam of Peru, though it seems from my research that it's a fairly common component in scents, so it'd probably be more truthful to say that if I've smelled it before, I wouldn't have know that was what I was smelling. Second time around, I detected no floral notes in this. I'm pretty happy that I didn't pick the cumin scent out of this. I like cumin as a culinary addition, but I always notice it at the top of every spice mix, so I need very little to get the full effect. It so easily could have been overkill, but I don't smell it at all in this oil. What I do smell strongly is the clove, which is fine; I like clove so much I've even been known to chew the plain dried cloves like candy.
notes: I started this a little too late in the day to do a full review. I'll have to come back to it. This is pretty close to gender neutral to my nose. Having said that: It's hard to tell when it's just me wearing it, but I suspect that I would find this drop-dead, oh-my-god-take-me-now sexy on the right man.
I seem to have the oddest one of a kind reactions. If I have a scent twin out there I don't think they've discovered BPAL yet. I am seriously tempted to apply scents to my fingers from now on, the reactions seem better on average to the drops that spill there.
I can't seem to resist making outrageous bids on ebay, for bpal scents that I've been wanting for a while. I guess I shouldn't feel guilty.....some of these things I've really wanted for a long time, and they never seem to come up in swaps around here. Of course, it doesn't matter in the end, when I'm outbid less than 12 hours after I place my starting bid (this was for the Holly King proto)! And the winning bid is more than twice what I was willing to pay. I was kind of surprised at that one, I guess I'm not the only one who wanted it badly!
But now I have another auction that I placed a bid on, and we'll see how high that goes. I'm not going to raise my highest bid, because I've already bid more than I really should spend. So, we'll see. It's actually a scent that I already have half a bottle of, and this would be a back-up bottle (something nearly unheard of in my collection, except for Snake Oil which is for aging).
In other news........I'm in the middle of my long stretch of work, interrupted only by being off Tuesday night, until the weekend. I'm looking forward to Tuesday and really looking forward to the weekend, although it's pretty far off. I bought an annual pass to the Newport Aquarium, because I miss the Zoo's aquarium, which was made into the manitee exhibit. The manatees are pretty cool, but the aquarium was always my favorite part of the Zoo. And the Newport Aquarium is not even that great.....there are some cool parts, though. I only have to go once more to make up for the cost of my annual pass (and I'm pretty sure I'll go more than once more in the next year).
Anyway, yeah.....spending lots of money when I should be concentrating on credit card debt. Oh well, gotta have fun somehow, right??
Oh and speaking of spending money, I made an order with Nature's Gift. I bought their Sacred emotional synergy for a room scent. I wanted something for a sort of peaceful meditation blend, although I already have their Meditation blend....and it's pretty awesome.....but I wanted another spiritual blend, too. I also bought some jojoba oil and something for my occasional dermatitis/eczema.....now I can't even remember which oil, LOL.....oh yeah, calendula oil for skin care. And I asked for some samples of their fir/pine essential oils. Can't wait to see what they send me! They're always really nice about sending free samples when I ask for them.
So I've been giving thought to the whole imp case thing. I'm not real big on the ones from the lab or their price. I could get a condom case (same dimensions) http://www.kyledesigns.com/product/CN/Cool...ed-Designs.html
Or I could by a mint case, with dimensions of 2 1/4" x 1 3/4" x 1/2" which is actually a closer fit. Most likely the least expensive option as well. Good places to look being etsy and ebay. However, many have curved edges which may or may not work out okay for holding imps. There are also aspirin tins which are 2 1/4" x 1 3/4" x 1/3" but the designs are typically less attractive.
My favorite option is my own design but I don't know where to find the materials. I would need a small circular tin with a height of about 1 3/4." I haven't decided on the diameter but there would be a metal circle like a cookie cutter on the inside. The difference in diameter between the tin and the inner circle would be just over 1/4" - just over imp width. The imps would go in a circular pattern with their labels behind the next few imps. This eliminates the wasted space caused by the labels in the tin, or the last imp's label at any rate. If the tin height was partially the cap, then once the cap was removed the height of the imps would then exceed the tin making them easy to pull out. Additionally you should be able to pull each one up enough to read the label with out removing it completely. I was also thinking that inside the inner circle there could be a design of some sort.
So ya, that's what I was thinking of as I fell asleep last night.
So I have a bottle of Snake Oil on the way, Amazon says it was shipped already! I just ordered a bottle each of Kali and Josie. Still lots of imps to try from my ebay purchases too!
I went to the zoo again last week, and had a nice relaxing visit. The weather was really great, a little chilly but sunny and windy.
I enjoy watching the serval in the cat house.....so graceful and.....willowy? I also love the feathertailed gliders in the nocturnal house. They are incredibly cute. It's funny because the nocturnal house is, of course, dark inside. At first when I looked in on the feathertailed gliders, I didn't see anything moving. So after standing still and watching for a couple minutes, I started to notice little darting movements here and there. They are like small mice, with weird tails that look kind of flattened out, which they use for gliding. I didn't see any of them jump or glide, but they were darting around and moving all over. They are so cute!
I watched the Sumatran rhinos eat for a while. I love their eyes. They open their eyes so wide you can see the white parts. The zoo built these really cool sun-shades over the rhino habitat, to protect them from the sun.
The insect house has a whole section that you walk into, and it looks like a greenhouse, and it's full of butterflies. There are a few different kinds of birds, too, including hummingbirds, my favorite. For a while I didn't see any hummingbirds but I was determined so I stayed in there for a few minutes, and finally spotted one. It was great.
I don't think I trust the internet enough to really write about some of the things going on right now. I certainly wouldn't post on facebook, and not really on livejournal either, which is dying a slow death anyway (unless I just need to update my friends list a little bit, which is possible).
Anyway, change is in the air, and I'm kind of excited. I seem to have gotten stuck in a loop of insanity, repeating really stupid behaviors, and I'm finally feeling like I might be breaking free. One thing I know for sure is I can't keep doing the same things over and over, and expect things to somehow magically become better.....without changing what I'm doing. I don't want to be too cryptic but again, it's not really stuff that I want to post on the internet....even on a 'private' forum.
My point (and I do have one) is that I'm really lucky right now. I have 2 real paper journals that are only partially filled, with plenty of room left in them. Also, I bought a membership to our zoo, which is right next door to my apartment building. It is so, so easy to just walk a block, show my card, and walk right in.....skipping the whole line for tickets. And as long as it's not too crowded, it is a great place to walk for some exercise, and sit and relax, while writing in my journal. I'm off work tomorrow night so I think I'm going to take a little trip to the zoo and say hi to my animal friends. The cat house makes me a little sad, though, because I feel like the cats would be happier outdoors, with lots more room to roam around. I guess they don't know what they're missing? I hope not. They look kind of sad all confined as they are.
The ones I've loved. Many of these are not available. Those I have are marked with an asterix. (House fire wiped out my collection in 2007, man with a chemical sensitivity kept me from getting more.) Bluebeard, Brimstone, Devil's Night, Death Adder, Djinn, Dorian, The Great He-Goat, Green Tree Viper, Haunted, Hemlock*, Krampus, Love Me*, Mad Hatter, Osun, Masquerade*, Morocco, No. 93 Engine*, Schwarzer Mond, Snake Charmer, Sloth, the Tell-Tale Heart, Tezcatlipoca, The Caterpillar, winter of our discontent
The ones I've liked, but didn't (or wouldn't) keep (or would try again): Alice, Anne Bonny, Azathoth, Bewitched, Blood, Blood Moon, Bow & Crown of Conquest, Brisingamen, Cairo, Cathedral, Cheshire Cat, Chrysanthemum Moon, Czernobog, Dee, Death on a Pale Horse, Devil's Claw, Dragon's Hide, Drink Me, Grog, Half-Elf, Hecate, Hurricane, King Cobra, Laudanum, Lear, Lolita, Lucretia, Medicine Show, Midnight Mass 2006, Mme. Moriarty, Omen, Polyhymnia, Scarecrow, Snake Oil, Tanin'iver, The Lion, Torture King, Typhon, Umbra, Urd, White Rabbit
The ones I didn't care for or flat out didn't like (star indicates extreme): Absinthe, Aeval, Annabel Lee, Antique Lace*, Arcana, Arkham Revisited, Bat-Woman, Bed of Nails, Belle Epoque, Black Lotus, Black Phoenix, Blood Amber, Bordello, Centzon Totochtin, Coyote, Debauchery*, Dove's Heart, Dragon's Tears*, Eclipse, Fallen, Faustus, Gamaliel, Glasgow, Harlot, Has No Hanna, Hellfire, Herr Drosselmeyer*, Highwayman, Inferno, the Jersey Devil, Kathmandu, Kingsport*, Lampades, Les Fleurs du Mal, London, Loviatar, Mag Mell, Malice, the Masque, Mata Hari*, Megaera, Montresor, Muse, the Music of Erich Zahn, Nefertiti, Nephilim, Nosferatu, New Orleans, Nuit, Oberon, Ouija, Pain, Penny Dreadful, Pele, Red Devil, Samhain, Santa Eularia Des Rui, Saturnalia, Scherezade, Sea of Glass*, Seance, Silk Road, Suspiro, The Death of Sardanapal*, The Unicorn, Titus Andronicus, Tombstone, Twilight, Typhon, Veil, Vinland, Voodoo, Wanton, Western Diamondback, Whippoorwill, Whitechapel, Utrennyaya, Yggdrasil, Zombi
Everything here is what I either like, like the scent but haven't tested yet or hasn't been sorted into the swaps piles.
All are imps unless specified that there's a bottle. Any number following a scent that isn't part of the name is how many imps I own of that scent.
Bpal
Ace of Wands
Agape – Bottle
Agrat-Bat-Mahlaht (Small amount in roller bottle)
All Night Long
Aunt Caroline's Joy Mojo
Banded Sea Snake
Belle Epoque
Bewitched
Bijoux Y'ah-Nthlei
Bitch 2
Black Cat 2
Bliss 3
Blood Kiss 2
Blood Pearl 2
Blood Rose
Blue Moon '09 Brian's Creation
Boo 2 + 3 Bottles
Bread-and-Butterfly
But Men Loved Darkness Rather Than Light
Cake Smash 3 + 2 bottles
Candles Moon '10 (unlabeled)
Candy Butcher
Carnal
Cathode
Chuparosa
Cleopatra Testing Poisons on those Condemned to Death
Clockwork Couture Female
Clockwork Couture Male
Copper Phoenix
Couple Consulting an Enpon
Coxcomb
Dana O'Shee 2
Dark Chocolate & Key Lime Truffle
Day of the Skulls
Debauchery
Ded Moroz
Dee
Desdemona
Devil's Claw
Doc Constantine
Dorian
Dorian Chaos Theory CXLI
Dragon's Heart
Eat Me
Eclipse 5 + Bottle
Ekhidna
Enyalios
Fearful Pleasure
Fenris Wolf + Bottle
Florence
Gelt 2 + Bottle
Glitter
Gluttony
Green Tree Viper
Grr
Gunpowder
Habu
Havana
Hecate
Hellcat
Hollywood Babylon
Hope
Horn of Plenty
How Doth the Little Crocodile + Bottle
Hurricane
Imp
Intrigue
Jezebel
Joulumuori
Jupiter
Lady Una
Lambs Wool
Lawn Gnome (unlabeled)
L'Ecole des Filles 2
Les Fleurs du Mal
Lilith
Lilith and the Giant Crab
Luna
Man with Phallus Head
Marotte
Mars
Maud Ruthyn
Mercury
Milk Chocolate & Matcha Green Tea
Miskatonic Univversity
Mlle. Lilith, Fortune Teller
Mme. Moriarty + Bottle
Monsterbait: Tokyo Stomp
Night-Gaunt
Neptune
No. 93 Engine
Nostrum Remedium
Obatala
Okayaki
Olisbos (unlabeled)
Oof
Pais de la Canela
Pamona
Pannychis
Penitence 2
Perversion
Pet Magah Bird
Plunder
Pluto
Pontia
Port-au-Prince
Quicksilver Phoenix
Raven Moon
Santa Muerte
Saturn
Schrodinger's Cat
Scurvy
Seraglio
Serpent's Kiss
Silver Phoenix
Skuld
Sleipnir
Snake Oil 2 + Bottle
Snooty Rose
Snow Glass Apples + Bottle
Sol
Spanked
Spooky Res.
Squirting Cucumber
Storytime at Dark Del
Sylph
Tanin'iver 7 + Bottle
Teatime in Roswell
Tezcatlipoca
Tin Foil Hat
Tin Phoenix
The Black Rider
The Dodo
The East + Bottle
The Harp of C'noc 2
The Millers Daughter
The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
The Star (Tarot oil) 10ml bottle + 2ml in 5ml roller bottle
The Temptation
The World (Tarot oil)
Tiresias the Androgyne
Titania
Ugh
Ultraviolet 2
Under the Harvest Moon
Unveiled (unlabeled)
Uranus
Vampire Tears
Van Van
Velvet Panther
Venus
Verdandi 2 3
Western Diamondback 2
When the Winter Chrysanthemums Go
White Chocolate & Strawberry + 2ml in 5ml roller bottle
White Chocolate, Strawberry & White Pepper Truffle
Womb Furie + Bottle
Wulric the Wolfman 2 + 2 bottles
BPTP Atmosphere Sprays
Basil Hallinard's Studio Proto-type
Doc Constantine's Medicine Show
Okiya
The Fainting Couch
The Queen's Croquet Ground
Villa Diodati Proto-type
other e-tailers
Cobalt Blends
Rehab
Violette Market
Black Apple
Possets
Les Espices Lavender Water
Haute Love
Pomona
Liquid Music - Bottle
Past Time Perfumerie
Silk Road
Merci 32
Blood Drop
Nocturne Alchemy
Hathor
Bella Lucce
Moroccan Incense massage oil 2
Scream
Blooddrop Autumn '09
Haunt
Turkish Cocoa