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April 7, 2021

Jen's Stuff

I saw one of those 'word cloud' doodads at work and thought, huh, I wonder what would happen if I stuck my smellies collection through there. So here it is. This is all the notes/descriptions of all My Precious, including OCYLs but not things on the For Sale pile, with some curating to remove descriptive copy like 'sensual' or 'sibilant'.

Jenesis

April 7, 2021

Jen's Stuff

My Precious

My bottles... BPAL Ask the Nearest Hippie
Death Adder
Death Adder
Xanthe, the Weeping Clown
Geek
Snake Charmer: Resurrected
Black Moths
The Waltz
Bast
Fuck You, Said the Raven
Night's Bridge
Alice
Brown Jenkin
Dorian
Event Horizon
Sherlock Holmes
Snake Oil
The Black Rider
Smut 2020
Womb Furie 2022
The Serpent in the Roses
Silky Bat
Haute Macabre
Cloister Graveyard in the Snow
Heavy as Honeyed Pulses Beat
Samhain 2020
Peacock Queen 2019 All: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1v5dPCIPOuBg_iTV0F7qSsr1mDf0-RHTH_ip6WHI6Wv8/edit?usp=sharing

Jenesis

April 3, 2021

April

April 1: Monsterbait Underpants -- I only have a drop or so of this left, so once again it is time to upend this vial on my wrist in the name of... uh... science? Testing everything in my stash over the course of the next, like, two years? IDK, it's the first of April, this is the last of this theme, and I wanted to. It's a wear-your-rares day or something like that. This is interesting. I remember it being sweeter than it is now, and if I stick my nose to my wrist, at first it smells mostly of slightly sour saffron and a bit of sandalwood, but the throw as it dries is amazing... for a while. For about fifteen minutes I really get that soft gorgeous golden sweet-but-not-too-sweet aura. Then it pulls a joke on me. This shares a number of notes with Love's Philosophy, which is terrrrrrrrrible on me. This is better (thank you sandalwood), but still ends up slightly root beer-ish in a bad way. The Lab's older cream notes often smell dusty on me. Sooo what I end up with might be best described as Butterbeer, drunk in a corner that needs dusting, while wearing a mild sandalwood perfume. Happy April? April 2: Red Lace -- I decided to pull out all the bottles of scents in the Dark Delicacies-exclusive Lace series that I own. I've had a few others pass through my hands, but right now I have exactly seven. Perfect. ^___^ This is definitely a Lace, but the dried pomegranate, all tart and red, makes this feel like a distant (living?) relative of the Crypt Royalty, especially on later drydown. I've never gotten much in the way of raspberry from it; it's much heavier on the woods/tobacco/patch than it is any fruity notes, at least on me. April 3: Pink Lace -- I bought this at Dark Delicacies. I'm endlessly grateful that I've been able to visit several times and never left empty-handed. This is not exactly the kind of scent that I enjoy wearing, however. It's not bad, I'm not contemplating washing it off or anything, but tea rose is my least favorite rose and strawberry often smells unappealing on me. The tobacco and champaca are pleasant, but as a whole, this might not be one I need in my collection. ...hm. Well, I guess part of the point of this exercise is to winnow out a few of the things I've never or rarely touched. April 4: Mourning Lace -- Probably my favorite Lace that I own. I like all the notes, and the clove, especially, is pleasantly strong on me. I did wear it out clubbing a few times for that 'we can't smoke cloves in here anymore, who smells like that?' factor, and because it's better and warmer (and safer!) than the clove EO I sometimes used to dab on when I was much younger. The oak is pleasantly mild, woody, and adds a little more tannic oomph to the delicate vanilla flower. It makes me smile when I wear it. It's just so nice. ❤️ April 5: Absinthe & Lace -- Soft, green, very gently smoky. The label on this one really wants to peel off. :< I like this, but I like L'Heure Verte more, and they're definitely in the same wheelhouse. The light florals in L'Heure give it just a bit more punch and I love it. That said, I can never have too many absinthe scents. :3 April 6: Summer Lace -- This is quite lovely, though there are a good several minutes where the apple blossom wants to come in and exude SWEET all over everything. Eventually it all calms down to a pleasant vanilla-tobacco-you know, that LACE thing sort of experience. April 7: Pumpkin Lace -- This feels so out of season! Warm, autumnal, sweet, very thick pumpkin with tobacco. It's a bit buttery and sticky, like pumpkin puree with sugary maple syrup. It somewhat more resembles what rum does on my skin, like, you could tell me this was a rum-pumpkin scent with tobacco and I'd believe you. I'm not really feeling it today, but then, I've been on a lighter, springtime florals and light baked goods scent kick lately (maybe I should hit up my Luper bottles after this) and I bet I'll love it again in late summer/fall. April 8: Harlow's Lace -- ........ I hate to admit it, but there are a couple of comments in the reviews saying that this one has similarities to Lush's HIWTK and, to my nose, at least, they are not wrong. It's got a similar sort of thick sweetness and honey-but-a-little-extra feeling. This, fortunately, has some grounding tobacco and a little bright pop from the cognac, so it's not identical, but I can see the point being made. And that's the last of my Lace bottles. I think I will pull some Lupers next, I'm really feeling some bright kicky florals after all this tobacco and booze. April 9: The Raptures and Roses of Vice -- ...so I immediately start with something that is a deep, very heady floral. I picked seven Luper bottles to play with for the next week, and three of them are from '08, the year I got into BPAL, so I sorted them alternating between '08 and not. This one's from 2013, the Our Lady of Pain update, and it is still mind-bendingly gorgeous to me. Deep, dark roses, bright magnolia, a lilt of tobacco tar under it all. I just *will smith pose* love this perfume. The only downsides are that it is quite strong and I have to be in a bit of a Mood to really wear it, and I could not wear it to work. I have worn it clubbing and it was pretty great for that. ....I keep sniffing my wrists and thinking GODDAMN I love this scent and the Lab's magnolia, wow holy heck. ....Obviously, this one's a keeper. 😉 April 10: Her Voice '08 -- Surprisingly, given how old it is, this sweetheart is still a fresh, watery floral bloom plus some beeswax. It stands as one of the only perfumes I own with a strong lily presence that I actually like. 😂 But here, the lily is overwhelmed by the other sweet flowers and it just smells like a gorgeous spring bouquet. This is my second bottle of Her Voice; my first one was my only (so far) casualty of knocking something over while decanting. 😭 April 11: Venus Caelestis '15 -- I sure do like blue lotus as a note. 💙 This is a beautiful, softly resinous scent that I'm surprised I have because it came out when I was nearing the end of school and in a terrible mental state, not to mention too busy for words. It feels soothing to me, perhaps a little melancholic, at least until the lemon becomes more apparent later on. ;D April 12: Dream of the Fisherman's Wife '08 -- IDK how a perfume that's so heavy on seaweed manages to be one of the sexiest perfumes I own, but it remains the truth. April 13: Somewhere or Other '16 -- I have a mild obsession with the Lab's misty scents. Empyreal Mist is my epitome for that particular theme, but I do have several others, like this one, which is misty pale rose. It's got a hint of citrus that I sometimes associate with their white rose note, in contrast to pink, which is often sweeter, or red, which is big and round and more like a 'true' rose. It amuses me that I love these so much, since they're almost all so light and largely fairly feminine, but hey, my strike zone is extremely broad, so why the heck not. April 14: To Helen '08 -- This week is reading like a personal best-of in some ways. 😂 There's a few that I already hit in previous months, but I sure do love me some Lupers, and have since the beginning of my BPAL fandom. It might be partly nostalgia, since the Lupers were the first big release after I really got into it, but it's still one of the updates I look forward to most. This scent, right here, is definitely one of my low-key but all-time faves. It's just beautiful, pale and perfect, but not cold. April 15: Unsubtle Euphemism '21 -- Finishing up my week of Luper bottles with a newbie. I really love this one! For sweet-but-not-too-sweet bready scents, this one's at the top of my list currently. It reminds me of Easter or New Year's bread like my grandparents used to make, and that makes me feel cheerful and nostalgic. But it also reminds me of the milk breads I bought at convenience stores in Japan, at least the base of it. I've never had Japanese milk bread with cardamom like this. ;D It's the only Luper bottle I've picked up so far, but it probably won't be the last. This year has some excellent-sounding things that I'm looking forward to testing as decants! April 16: Ü (read as 'Umlaut', per an old blog post on their site) - I went with a collection of bottled oddities for this week: Kickstarter, retail limited, and one lucky raffle win. This was a retail exclusive to the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia, though I believe it has since been discontinued and hasn't been back for quite some time. ETA: actually, they've restocked it twice in the last few months! I cannot for the life of me remember if I bought this secondhand or if I ordered it direct. ^^; Either way, it's a marvelous scent, a bit over eleven years old, sweet and gently, greenly spicy by turns. I never get much leather from it (though it is there, wayyyyy in the back), but it does remind me of piles of aged paperbacks and dust. April 17: Clockwork Couture: Female -- ...With my current tastes, I'd probably be buying the Male scent, but at the time, this one sounded more my style, and I do still love it. The clay note, especially, is very soft and pleasant. ...Vanilla-y clay is not something I would have imagined wanting to smell like, but here I am. A good friend of mine loved ordering from CC at the time and I was able to jump onto an order they were making for the low cost of making them a decant of the scent. I'll always have a bit of affection for this bottle for that reason. April 18: The Orchard — If I recall correctly, this was the first Kickstarter scent the Lab did, all the way back in 2012. I was not very fond of it when it was fresh, but now it’s very beautiful. I like the way the notes have melded with age. The plum is a bit softer, which is nice. April 19: Pursue Rabbit -- A very limited (50 bottles) Kickstarter release for Century Guild. I bought mine secondhand, since I wasn't fast enough. It's actually pretty harsh on me for quite a while, to the point where every time I wear it I have almost an hour of contemplating selling it off. But the drydown is beautiful, soft opium smoke and, on me, at least, matcha tea, and I love it.
April 20: Off -- This is probably the lowest batch BPAL bottle I own. It was a raffle prize, limited to 25 bottles. To enter, you had to purchase another Century Guild limited perfume during a set period and they would include a raffle ticket to be drawn later. I got lucky. I'm the first review on the post, and honestly I don't have much more to say except that it has aged gloriously. It's still exactly what you'd expect, still not a unique scent profile, but it's really settled into itself. Dark, smoky, resinous rose -- of course it was going to smell great several years later. April 21: Black Silk -- Pretty Indulgent exclusive, originally limited to 50 bottles, but it got restocked a couple of times. The first half-hour of this one is rough for me, almost nauseating, but the drydown is so worth it. Otherwise, well... my review says almost everything else I have to say about it. It's a keeper forever, but hoooo boy, immortelle is kind of syrupy sweet anyway and it's only gotten stronger over time. It still smells like that dress, though. 🖤 April 22: Denna -- For the next three days, I'll be testing the three Kingkiller scents. I donated for them when they were live on the Geeks Doing Good Indiegogo campaign in 2016 and I was very deeply entrenched in reading the books. H o w e v e r, I don't think I've ever actually worn any of them. 😂 So I'm going to remedy that now. First is Denna because it's the one I'm least likely to like, based on the reviews. ...And indeed, I don't. I'm not very fond of grass, dirt, or leather in combination with those (though we've established by now that I do actually like leather in other combos, lol) and I prefer my aquatics more oceanic than rain-like. I also think that reviewers who think that lilies may be a component of the "pale petals" are completely correct. I also don't like lily. 😂 I put it on anyway, and yes, it's got that fresh rain note, a green grassy haze, and then a whole heap of white petals. There might be some tuberose in there too, as it almost gives me a headache, which is pretty common with that note. Anyway, I hate to break up the trio, but Denna's going in the swap box. There's no purpose in keeping something I will definitely never wear. We'll see how Kvothe goes tomorrow. April 23: Kvothe -- This really reminds me of a simpler version of an old spring LE, The Traveller, or, a bit, of some of the pirate-y GCs like Jolly Roger minus the salty sea spray. Or, really, any of a TON of other fragrances that are leather + (balsam, bay rum) spices. It's not really a scent family I love, with a few exceptions -- Peter Quint, which adds ambergris or Hatta, which has a lovely warm cinnamon; both share the softer leather that Kvothe has -- and it pops up pretty frequently. I have both of those, and I like both of them better, so... IDK, Kvothe. You may be a victim of your timing. If I didn't have multiple things in this wheelhouse already, I might love you. As it is, please join Denna in the box of those to be eliminated. (It is entirely likely that, had my affection for the books survived the last five years, I would feel far more sentimental about the perfumes, but it didn't, so I'm not.) April 24: Bast (Kingkiller) -- M u s k y. Strangely hypnotic after a bit of dry time. I think this may have some Siberian or maybe black musk with its almost lemony tinge, as well as a few others -- some of the lighter animalics, none of the colorful ones (red, pink, blue, green). Definitely a bit of leather at first, but it fades away eventually. It ends up reminding me of a sweeter, like, Buck Moon or similar, but lacking the woodsiness. I actually like this one a lot, so I guess we're breaking up the band, so to speak. April 25: Priala, The Human Phoenix '08 -- Time for eight days of Carnaval Diabolique bottles, six old and two new. I'm starting with one of the first perfumes I ever full-sized after trying a decant. Priala's still gorgeous. ❤️ Warm, spicy, maybe a little woody, definitely some mildly sneezy myrrh. Priala's the only scent that anyone ever gave me as a surprise holiday gift. I already had a bottle at the time, but I'll keep the second one forever because of that. Also, because it got reformulated a bit and I prefer this version. 😅 April 26: Zarita, The Doll Girl '08 -- Holy heck, this girl may be small, but she packs a punch. This is another bottle I bought in '08 after sampling a few Carnavals and dithering over the decant for months. Over time, I've decanted out about half the bottle, and what's left feels like a concentrated sugary orange blossom caramel right hook to the nose. It's kind of amazing, but also really intense. I used to say that she was one of the exceptions to a number of my usual no's, like, she shouldn't work at all on me -- carnation, cream, and, at the time, often iris, were not notes I loved -- but I'm almost rethinking that. My tastes have definitely changed over time, as has my skin chemistry. I do have a decant of the current version, which adds 'poisonous pale white berries' (mistletoe???) to the notes, and I should try it again sometime soon. As it dries, it loses some of the extreme KAPOW and becomes much more pleasant. Ah, what a tiny little monster of a perfume. 💜 (eta, later: She lasted for almost fourteen hours, and mellowed into beautiful soft iris gaaah Zaritaaaaa) April 27: Green Tree Viper '11 -- The only Snake I picked up because it smelled good both to and on me. 😂 I am not a fan of Snake Oil, and it and most variants are various degrees of naaaah on my skin, but this one's pretty great. I stopped fussing over whether I needed it because the Carnaval was going away and I decided I would rather have and not need than want and be unable to acquire. Zero regrets! April 28: Shakarri '17 -- A newer Carnaval release! Finally. I have somewhat mixed feelings about this -- the notes that I got it because I love them (pear, absinthe) aren't very present for me. She's mostly a somewhat resinous sea-tinged scent with a touch of patch. As it dries, it reminds me a bit of clay. I like it, but I was definitely hoping for a slightly different balance when I bought it. I do love the bottle art, and it's hypnotic, in a way, as many oceanic scents are to me. I find myself wishing it had a bit of ambergris or seaweed or something to really seal the deal and make it really an octopus-woman in a bottle. But it's nice....and gets nicer the longer it's on. Hum. (eta: I ended up not being enamored with late drydown. This one's probably destined for the go-away box. v_v ) April 29: Licwiglunga '08 -- I hope the Wunderkammer makes a reappearance sometime. I can't say most of the scents in it were to my tastes, but some of them, like this one are bizarre and worth investigation, and it would be a shame if they were lost forever. ^^; I feel like this has sweetened with age; I remember it being drier and sharper than it is now. It's still pretty dry, but it's got a very strong dried fruits vibe. The review thread contains gems like this one -- and I agree, it really is an odd duck, even in the wild world of indies & niche perfumes. April 30: L'Heure Verte '10 -- Absinthe, sugar, and rose with a hint of opium, we love to see it. I didn't like it at all the first time I tried it. I got a decant when it came out and a couple of years later, decided to sell it. Before I did, I sniffed it one last time and either my tastes had changed or the scent had, and I thought it was gorgeous. I still sold it, albeit a little sadly; what's done is done, in my mind, but I also bought a bottle shortly after, with the specific intent to age, the first (and only) I ever bought for that purpose. I stuck it in my bottle box and ignored it, and ignored it, and then took it out a couple of years later and loved it, just as expected. Now, eleven years later, it's stood up to the passage of time and is still lovely. I win. 😉
Tomorrow I'm kicking it off with a Mme. Moriarty battle. I have bottles of both the old version and the new, and I'll be comparing and contrasting for funsies to start May.

April 1, 2021

March

March 1: Deathly Pride -- Starting the month with a Naughty result from an Inquisition. For some reason, when this was live, I completely overlooked it, even though it is composed entirely of things I like a lot. Later, I got a decant and realized my mistake. Now I have one and a half bottles. ^__^ March 2: Mitzvah -- And ending my BPTP bottle week with a Nice perfume. This was a legend I was pretty sure I'd never get to sample as well, but I found it in a blog sale a few years ago along with my biggest discontinued GC lemming, Empyreal Mist. It's simple, sweet, and charming. I feel like a lot of these ancient perfumes have lost their mystique in the wave of newer perfumes that share similar notes or vibes, but I've been a fan long enough that I still feel that little thrill of "Omg, I have this" about them. March 3: Irrelevant and Disturbing Surreal Crawdad Dream '08 -- I decided to poke into the Liliths drawer of my decant collection (I keep my LE decants in an old Vosges chocolate advent calendar that has perfectly decant-sized drawers) for the next nine days or so, and I'm starting with this one, which is a sort of pre-Lilith-Lilith. It's the scent that Beth released when she was pregnant with her, and it's definitely a bit of an oddball perfume, as you might expect. Since then, I've often wished I'd bought a bottle, but at the time my finances were much less consistent and I *really* didn't know how I felt about the notes. It's pretty nice, though red currant is not great on me and it's pretty strong to my nose. ^^;;;;; March 4: Cake Smash '09 -- I always expect to like this one more than I do. I've had the decant since '09 and every so often I sniff it because it smells really good in the vial, but on my skin the cupcake almost disappears under the Dorian/Doc Constantine/Snake Oil. It's not bad, by any means, but it isn't great on me, either. Textbook 'keep the decant, don't need a bottle' situation for me. March 5: Lilith's Feel Better Flowers '13 -- This is a great bedtime scent. However, I have quite a few of those (one of my all-time faves is Gladdener of All Hearts, with which this shares a few notes, and that one reads far less soapy on me), so I never felt compelled to buy a bottle, but the name and story are so cute that I never gave up the decant, either. ^_^; March 6: A Very Pink Surprise Cake '14 -- So! Very! Pink! Quite accurate to the smell of strawberry-ish-flavored cake. It does remind me just a touch of Golletes, but that one is drier and I like it more, hence why I never bottled this one. March 7: A Vast Similitude Interlocks All '15 -- ...Wow, mixed feelings about this one. I like aquatics, but usually darker, grittier ones with lots of seaweed, kelp, or brine. My main exception to this is Selkie, which is light and watery and full of greenery. This is neither of those. It's very bright and salty and beachy, but with a distinctly perfume note from the amber. It's not awful, but it's a very not-me perfume, and I can't imagine actually wearing it out. March 8: Heel '16 -- In a turnabout, this is mostly things I don't usually like (jasmine and grass), with only one note I'm okay with (honeysuckle), but I like it pretty well. This is another from the "I don't remember testing this before" file. I don't even remember buying it, but I'm happy I did. ETA: well, it vanished within two hours. So, er... March 8b: A Vigilant Eye At Heaven's Center '20 -- When I first tried this I didn't like it at all, but after chilling in my new decants box for a few months, it's much nicer. It's still a mass of green with a slightly funky undertone, but the mint is much brighter and it feels mellower. March 9: Rose Quartz Bedroom '20 -- Well, it does feel very translucent and pink. The white musk is pretty strong here, giving it a very clean, laundry-esque quality. Again, not bad, I'm not feeling the urge to wash it off or anything, but not very me-appropriate. March 10: Sentence First, Verdict Afterwards '20 -- Last one for this theme for now. ;} Finishing it off with a bouquet of very woody & clove-y tea roses. It's pleasant, though tea roses are my least favorite kind and I wish the red or white were a bit stronger to my nose. I'm not sad I tested it, but I'm glad I didn't blind-bottle. It's good, but doesn't hit me as OMG GOOD the way some other roses-and-woods scents have. Nice to see the thorny note again, though. I bought a bottle of Thorns (the dc'd Marchen, not the clove ciggies [though I do have that too]) not long ago and really enjoyed it. March 11: Serpent's Kiss -- After mentioning Thorns yesterday, I decided to pick out seven dc'd GC bottles for this week. Man, this stuff is strong. The vetiver has mellowed out a lot since I bought this (2014, just after the dc announcement), so it's not as smoky, and the dragon's blood is much stronger and more floral. It's still a brutal scent, both cold and spicy. March 12: L'Ecole des Filles -- Still one of the prettiest orange blossom-forward scents I've ever tried. March 13: The Little Sparrow -- Soft, fluffy, beige, but so pleasant. It took me a long time and a few misadventures to get this one. I've also accumulated probably six or seven imps of it, so I doubt I'll ever run out. March 14: Thorns (Marchen) -- This and Serpent's Kiss have similar openings -- vetiver & dragon's blood, very intense -- but this one dries down softer and woodier, with a bit of that lovely salty tears note. I really love the later drydown, when the blood has mostly faded and it's soft saltwater and wood. This was way too much for me when it was first released, but I've learned more about my tastes since then, and I'm happy Ajevie had a bottle of this in the charity sale. March 15: Ides of March '12 (proto)-- WELL, YES. This is one of those bottles I dig out once a year and smile happily about, then tuck back away and forget about. It's pretty nice, though, herbalish and almost sweaty by turns. Costus root is a fascinating note; Beth doesn't use it very often, and I usually don't like the things it gets paired with, but it's not quite like anything else. I'll go back to my dc'd gcs tomorrow. ;} (ETA: The drydown on this was just gorgeous. I really ought to pull it out more often.) March 16: The Unicorn (Mad Tea Party) -- Aaah, this one is so lovely, a barely-sweet, misty-pale floral. I like linden about half the time, and the other half it makes me think laundry thoughts. This is one that does not leave me with that impression. I really love the Lab's misty scents. Too bad they get discontinued fairly often. 😕 March 17: Three Witches (Illyria) -- While I do have some of the Bards of Ireland series, I'm sticking with my theme today. ;3 This one's a great layering scent, but quite pleasant alone, too. I like wearing it during colder weather. March 18: Empyreal Mist -- It took me seven years of missing or being outbid on ebay and sales posts to finally manage to catch a full bottle, but I finally did. I had swapped and sold for several imps (and a bottle of v3!) and would have been happy with a partial or empty, but I finally managed it, and now it's one of my personal BPAL treasures. I just really, really enjoy that mist note. It's so nice. March 19: Sara Pezzini (Witchblade) -- I picked out seven collab/licensed scents I have bottles of to play with this week. Much to my surprise, considering that I usually don't think I like it that much, four of them have leather as a distinct or primary note. This one definitely does! It's very sexy scent, moreso than I usually go for. I don't wear it often, but I'm happy to have the low partial I have, because it's amazing. March 20: Sweets to the Sweet (Clive Barker) -- Tart, sugary, conspiratorial. I blind-bottled this and have never regretted it. It's got commonalities with the March '20 13, but it lacks the depth that the darker sugars add. It's a bit hypnotic, and almost, but not quite, floral. March 21: The Book (Paranorman) -- I have a low partial of this, which is good, because I'm not sure I've ever worn it before. ^^; I have a few other book-type scents I like a lot (Ü is my favorite!) and this one has a musty quality I'm not very into. March 22: Channel Snow (Kabuki) -- It's mellowed some since I bought the bottle (2016), but it's still that gorgeous galbanum fuzz it was when I first tried a decant of it. Love love love. March 23: Jareth -- What even needs saying about it? ^__^ There was no possible way I was going to not buy this, even if it were somehow composed of every note I hate, but luckily I think it's pretty great. March 24: Alcie (Pandora) -- I distinctly remember disliking this, but testing it now, it's not bad. It still smells very soapy until it's completely dry (green musk, you are not my friend), but afterwards, it's very nice. March 25: Liz (Hellboy) -- The first couple of times I sniffed Liz I thought I was safe forever, but at Will-Call in...2018, I think? I skin-tested it a bit and discovered that she was beautiful. I deeply suspect that this scent has a few batch variations, and I would definitely want to sniff it in person before buying. But the sweet, smoky, leathery, vaguely floral drydown is so worth it. Seriously, though, how did I end up with so many leather scents? It's not a note I thought I was especially fond of, but ...perhaps I was mistaken. March 26: Monsterbait: Underbed -- I'm doing a decant countdown to April Fool's this week. ;} IDK if the Lab will do an April Fool release this year, but I love them and enjoy seeing what shenanigans they come up with! I got this a long, long time ago, thinking it sounded pretty amazing, but it was one of two or three attempts to be friendly with the Lab's cassia note that didn't go well. It's fine, I like the rest of the notes, but I'd like it a lot better if it were normal cinnamon instead of cassia, which smells slightly of dirt on me. 😅 March 27: Velvet Nudie -- Super-simple, but very interesting. The throw increases over time, so I can barely smell it at first, then my SO is asking me what I'm wearing after two hours. I'm not sure I'd want a bottle (I didn't get any bottles from the Velvet Salon, though I have or have had decants of all of them), but I'm definitely keeping this decant. March 28: Teatime in Roswell -- This is very confusing. I tested it twice, and the first time it vanished without a trace, to the point that I forgot I'd put it on and put on something else. The second time it was definitely cucumber sandwiches at first, but then later it shifted, becoming almost floral and very nice. I went into it thinking I'd give it one last chance and probably toss it in the swap box, but instead, I think I'll keep it. It's just weird enough to keep my attention. March 29: Opuhi -- So, funny story, I opened the vial to sniff this and it smelled weird, off, not at all the beautiful pale tropical glory of Opuhi I know. The label was fully wrapped around and taped, so I cut it open and there were barely two drops left in it. I've definitely noticed that the lower the amount of oil (hence the greater amount of air in the vial), the more likely an older scent is to go strange, so in the spirit of adventure I just dumped those last two drops on my arm to see how it actually still smelled. It was pretty close to fine! I have a bottle of this as well, and I may return to it again this year -- it's a gorgeous summer scent -- but this imp is now empty. March 30: Knockout Drops -- The notes for this, on paper, are a list of a bunch of things I love, but the actual scent on me is reminding me why I never sought out a bottle. It's kind of clean minty lemony vague and a little vanilla, no absinthe to speak of. I'd blame age, but it's always been like this. It's neither good nor bad, it's just kind of ...there. The reviews indicate that I'm not the only one who got this impression, and I'm a little jealous of the folks who get a more distinct fragrance. March 31: Tiki King -- Really nice, woody, dark, coconut. I like this a lot, tbh. I'm a little surprise I never went for a bottle, though to be fair, it's a little darker than most of the coconut scents I really love, and more suitable to my tastes now than around the time it was available. I'm happy I have this! (eta: This also lasted f o r e v e r. I could still smell a bit of coconut incense-ish on my wrist twelve hours later -- tbqh, it reminded me a lot of the drydown of Deathly Pride!)

March 31, 2021

February

Feb 1: Pothôn Mêtêr -- It is, in fact, my birthday, it is nearly Luper season, and so I have pulled out one of my all-time favorite scents, from any company ever. I love it so much, and wear it pretty regularly and yet somehow, miraculously, it is barely below the shoulder. Magic. Feb 2: Gingerbread Zombie -- I have three gingerbread-and-mint combo scents now, including this one (matcha & raw mint and peppermint candies are the other two), so apparently this is something I'm really drawn to. Good thing that they are all very distinct from each other! This one is the softest and sweetest, and dries down to gently spicy chocolate. Feb 3: Endless Corridors -- I went through a phase of wanting to buy ALL THE BEESWAX scents pretty early on, so I have quite a number of them, and this is not my favorite. It does smell like dirty, smoky wax, which accomplishes the atmosphere for sure, but is not something I feel like wearing on a regular basis. It might make a nice room scent, however, or like, as background scent for a tabletop rpg session. Feb 4: Flickering Lights, Fluttering Curtains -- Oh, no I love this. It's lovely, and the white amber is only very gently soapy. It does remind me of some of the Lace scents, but it feels so airy compared to most of the ones I have. It's interesting; it feels like many of these haunted house scents should be layered with each other. Like, I may try adding Endless Corridors to this, though I may end up with something resembling a lighter Young Edith's Bedroom. Which...appropriate, no? Feb 5: The Cherry-Tree Carol -- This was the one I laser-focused on from the Winter collection this year. I'm not sure why, exactly, since I don't generally gravitate towards, and usually avoid, cherry scents. This one is cherry, but it's also woody and resinous and slightly floral and yeah, I really like it. ^___^ I always seem to have luck when I go with my gut on a particular scent! Feb 6: The Icebergs -- Peach & pine! ....I'm not sure how I feel about this one. It's very odd. I can pick out a lot of the notes, but right now it's blending together on my skin in a way that reminds me of pine-scented cleaning products and clay. ...hm. May have to give this some time and test it again later. (eta: it dried down lovely. ) Feb 7: Rose-Tinted Mirror (TAL) -- I'm giving myself a sort of mental spa day today so this felt both thematically and emotionally correct. It's very soothing and pretty. Feb 8: 13 (March 2020) -- Sugar sugar sugar!! It's hard to believe this one's less than a year old! But it's already one of my favorites from this series, and completely different from all the rest. I really enjoy the journey through the various sugars on my skin. Feb 9: Sugar Skull '08 -- I'm going to test a week of old Weenie decants (including one I full-sized), because why not. ^__^ Kicking it off with a classic. It's not one of my faves, and the only bottle I have is a very low partial of '04, which is dark and sticky and more brown sugar than this one, but it's weirdly nice. It hasn't made an appearance in a few years, but it was a solid presence in the Weenies for quite a long time! It's good for when you want sweet and fruity but not foodie, if that makes sense? I like it, but I don't find it compelling. (Lol, it's there this year; I forgot to check. ^^; ) Feb 10: Frosted Pumpkin Spice Cookie -- ...yep, that sure is what it is. I've gotten a lot less enamored by pumpkin-y scents as time has gone by, but this is still pretty nice. Extremely autumnal and very distinctively frosting-y; I can almost taste it. I'm happy I pulled this one out! It's delicious. Feb 11: All Souls '07 -- How to put it. This smells like a box of BPAL imps. Incense, slightly sweetened, but mostly just blurry, vaguely curranty, incense. I don't think it's turned, it still smells like what All Souls smells like, but the age and leakiness of this imp may mean it's time to chuck it into my freebies box instead of putting it back in the collection. I'm not sure I'm likely to wear it again after this, I have scents with both incense and curranty cake notes that I like much better. (eta: LOL, joke's on me. It dried down absolutely gorgeous and lasted for hours. This is what happens when you have too much perfume, folks. You forget.) Feb 12: Dead Leaves, Chamomile, Red Roses, & White Tea -- I'm not a huge fan of the Dead Leaves series. It's not bad, but every time I try one I just feel kind of eh about it. This was one of a few I picked as decants in 2016, and I still feel pretty eh about it. I like the Lab's chamomile note a lot, and it's very present, but I do not love this scent on me. Feb 13: Perilous Parlor '07 -- This was my first pear scent and I didn't love it. But in early 2012 The Vine was released and I suddenly discovered that I adored pear. But PP was re-released that fall and ...I still didn't love it, and didn't buy a bottle. It had a dusty, slightly perfumey quality to it (to my nose), even fresh. That said, this decant is perfectly pleasant, and I won't be pitching it post-haste. Feb 14: The Bride (Luper '16) -- Well, it's Valentine's Day, it would be more thematic to pick a Luper, right? This one is so light and lovely and romantic. I love magnolia as a note and it really shines here. Feb 15: The Changeling -- Back to the Weenies for two more days. This is a decant I don't actually remember ever trying before. I probably did, at the time (it's from 2011, when my collection was much smaller and I tried every decant I got as soon as I got it, covering my arms in dots of oil!) but I have no memory of it at all. ...And it turns out it's great. It's pumpkin without spices, plus pale wood and a soft linen note. Reading the reviews makes it sound like it was pretty rough going when it was fresh, but the passage of ten years has made this one smooth and beautiful to my nose. Thanks for the present, past-me! Feb 16: Ooky -- I was a little surprised to find I still had this decant, because I used about half of it in less than two weeks and promptly bought a bottle. ;3 I love almond on my skin -- when I was a kid, my mom let me use vanilla and almond extracts as perfume, and that association has never quite gone away -- and this is a delightful little nostalgia bomb of pumpkin and marzipan. Feb 17: Volcano in Springtime -- It's Luper week! I hear rumors they're due to go live soon. This one, from 2016, is pretty meh on me. It's very faint, fairly sweet, and not very interesting. The cream note in it smells a bit chemical on my skin. I do like some of these light, pale, pretty scents, but this one is not a good one for me. Feb 18: Venus Victrix -- Pretty roses and red musk and patch and sandalwood. I think, if I had been newer to BPAL when this came out, I would have really loved it, but it came out in 2015, and I already had several blends in this general wheelhouse by then. Dried down very nice, but still not something I'd have bought a full bottle of. Feb 19: Lady in Speckled Pink Kimono -- Once again, pale, pretty, though fairly distinctively pink. Starts sugary, ends floral, not much else in between. I had to look up the notes and reviews because this was another one I couldn't even remember trying. ... It's fine, I guess? It's funny, for how much I love a number of Lupers and how much variation there is within any given release, I managed to grab a random handful containing a few similar scents and at least two of the remaining four I know I didn't like. ^^; Feb 20: Pontia -- A little while back I finally identified bergamot as one of the notes that makes me think 'soapy' on my skin, so this one really just smells like an exquisite hand soap to me. Welp. ^_^; Feb 21: Inganok Jewelers -- This is one of the two I don't like. I am not really a fan of the 'stone' accord (seen also in Night's Bridge and 13 Hours) and tend to want to wash it off pretty quickly. Adding silver (which I have liked in other combinations) doesn't make me like it any more. I'm putting this one on before a bath because I know it lasts forever and I don't want it to be around later on.
Feb 22: Milk Chocolate, Raw Ginger, and Butterscotch -- Pretty nice, no surprises here. It is, however, a little too buttery-sweet and I love this ginger note more in other things, particularly Mother Ginger and Vespertilio Proterus. I know why I kept this decant, and I also know why I didn't buy a bottle. Feb 23: Love's Philosophy ('16) -- This was one that became somewhat legendary because it didn't come around again for 8 years after its first release. But I hated the first release and got rid of my first decant fairly shortly after getting it. I picked it up again when it finally reappeared just to see if maybe a slightly more adjusted nose would find it more pleasant, but nope. It's very odd, because all the notes (vanilla, saffron, cream) I have enjoyed in other blends, but somehow, all together in this one, they are awful on me. So, verdict from Luper week is that I have four decants to put in the swap/sale box and three to put back into collection. Cool. Feb 24: Licorice Bats -- I think I'll spend this week exploring some of my BPTP bottles. (also I have a migraine and this scent is very mild, which is very necessary right now) This li'l guy is soft and soothing and very gently fruity and doesn't do anything weird on me. It has better throw and staying power than it did fresh, which is nice. It's not one I go for terribly often, but when I do, I'm glad to have the full bottle. Feb 25: Crypt Princess -- Yes, I do have her coffin somewhere in storage. This takes a while to settle on my skin, and the first few minutes are pretty terrible, but then it's pretty good, though still a bit tart, as you would expect from the pomegranate. Definitely related to Crypt Queen and King (I'll get to them later this week), but a bit more floral. Feb 26: L'Estate -- I got this in an Inquisition just a few months after really getting into BPAL. I actually bought two sets, this and L'Inverno, but ended up disliking the latter and sold the full set (perfume, atmo, bath oil) off at some point along the way. This set I kept (and later ended up picking up L'Autunno secondhand) but I never understood until now why it wasn't quite what I wanted it to be, and why it was so lightly soapy for so long on my skin. The answer is lily. ^_^;; It's still pretty nice, but I prefer the bath oil/atmo spray, neither of which have lily. (As a sidenote, the Four Seasons Inquisition was absolutely brilliant. Three [technically four, since there were also extremely limited matching soaps] iterations on a theme, all working together in a delightful whole.) Feb 27: Crypt King -- I'd kind of forgotten how much of a fuss there was about this one until I read the review thread, though checking my email, I actually bought it a few months after the initial release, sans coffin, but direct via the BPTP Etsy shop. It's quite pleasant, that lovely earthy pomegranate with more masculine, cologne-ish notes. I'm pretty happy I have all three members of this royal family; I should pull them out more often! Feb 28: Crypt Queen -- Started the month with one fave, ending it with another, though I still have two more days in my BPTP theme week. This was something I originally got as a decant very early on and didn't like, but a few years later, someone gifted me a low partial of it and I fell in love. It's one of those ones that defies all my usual likes and turns them into a deep love. Everything about it is beautiful.

March 31, 2021

January

I figure I might as well paste the previous three months in for continuity. -- Jan 1: Winter-Time ‘10 — my perfect snow scent. It’s all rain here right now, but I remember one day a few years ago where I walked out in the weather right before the flakes started coming down, and the air smelled just like this. Jan 2: The Shadowy and the Sublime — This came out in a year where there was a Will-Call in my area, and I disliked it at first, but I kept coming back to sniff it, and eventually, test it, and the drydown hit me in the best way, so I ordered a bottle. The name matches it perfectly; it is both shadowy and sublime.
Jan 3: Beaver Moon ‘05 — One of my oldest bottles, and the only Beaver Moon I bought secondhand. It still smells like cheesecake-y cupcakes, even fifteen years on, though it seems a little fainter than I remember. I have a couple of bottles of Beaverversary lurking around as well, but this one’s the original, cobalt-bottled deal.
Jan 4: Mother Shub’s Stygian Nougat — Gosh, I haven’t worn this in ages. Nougat, honey, lavender, thyme, all present and still lovely. I used it as a sleep scent for quite a while until it got packed away during one move or another. I’m happy to see it again! Jan 5: Kourabiedes — I haven't eaten one in years now, but this perfume sure does take me back to being a kid while my grandparents were baking these particular cookies. I bought enough of the imp pack it came from to put together a full bottle, that's how much this one affected me. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. ;3 Jan 6: Neutral — I just really needed a soft, pleasant scent today. Jan 7: Humbug -- Vanilla licorice! It's so simple and so lovely. Licorice is a very divisive scent (and food!) but I enjoy it a lot and have quite a few licorice scents. Oddly, in sorting my collection the other day, I noticed that a large percentage of them are either Yule or BPTP or, like this one, both. Jan 8: Give Me Thy Breath, My Sister -- I can't explain to you how much I love this oddball scent. The combination of almost-powdery sweetness and intense, damp, almost musty greenery is just beautiful. It improves my mood immediately when I wear it, and I love that the inspiration was caring for carnivorous plants. Jan 9: Blackbear Moon -- I've had two black cats, and this precious beast always reminds me of putting my face in their soft little bellies and huffing. I have two bottles and they are very dear to me. It's also got crazy longevity on me -- I'm putting it on before bed, but I know from past experience that it'll still be quite strong in the morning. Jan 10: (I really wanted to wear a scent from a different company today, so I did. ^^; Some days you just have particular things you want to wear, and Arcana's Love was it for yesterday.)
Jan 11: White Rose (BPTP '09) -- I'm really on a binge of soft, pretty, or comforting scents lately. I bought the pair, but I've been more likely to wear White Rose alone, whereas Red Rose I pretty much only wear layered with its companion. I really love BPAL's white rose scents & I have quite a lot of them, but this is one of my faves. Jan 12: The Vine -- A lovely, rich, sweet pear scent, probably my favorite of the several I've tried. It's gotten a bit denser over the years, and almost smells more like pear jam or something similar to me. I first tried this one at a Will-Call as well, and bought it as soon as the Lupers went live that year. Jan 13: Love in the Asylum -- It's very stormy tonight, so again I went with something soothing, in a way. It's a softer scent than you'd think, based on the notes. (two roses, tolu balsam and ambergris with vanilla, labdanum, tobacco leaf, carnation and tonka) -- I got this ....in a blog sale, I think? Or something similar. I like it a lot; it bears some small resemblance to White Rose, but I'd call them more distant cousins than immediate family. Jan 14: Huesos de Santo '08 -- I've gone through one and a half bottles of this one because it's one of the very few scents I can wear always and anytime. ❤️ Jan 15: Bah! -- I went through a phase where I desperately wanted All The Coffee Scents, so this was what I was hoping for from that Inquisition. (I bought Humbug secondhand later.) I miss the Inquisitions; there was something fun about not knowing exactly what you were going to get until you got it, though I always wrote something that indicated which I wanted and always got that one. Jan 16: Bones Trombone -- This occupies a very strange place in my collection. I don't like clowns, I don't usually like lemon, and at the time, I wasn't really sure about blueberry, either. But I do like things that combine sweet and green, and this hits that right on the clown nose, plus a big hit of tart & bitter. I only have a half-bottle, because I waffled over it too long when that series was live, but I do dig it out and wear it every so often. Like today. Jan 17: Pinched With Four Aces -- I was poking around in my stash of older April Fool's decants and discovered that I have a 3/4 full decant of this that I don't remember acquiring. This says something about my collection, probably. It was one I was sure I'd never be able to find, but at some point, I clearly did. O_o; It's real nice, though, woody cinnamon with just a half-hint of sweetness. Jan 18: The Bear Prince '15 -- I blind-bottled this one when it came out because I love rose, snow, and fur notes, but I feel like it's one that is more than the sum of its parts. It's only gotten more beautiful and long-lasting as it's aged. Jan 19: Door -- Chamomile and honey. That's what's going in my teacup today, and that's what's on my wrists. I just gotta chill. Jan 19.5: Valse Finale et Apothèose -- Door lasts forever on me. It's mostly faded after about 10 hours, though there's still a hint of cistus and honey if I sniff closely, but I want something new, so I'm following it up with something related to it, to my nose. Valse lacks the herbal notes, but makes up for it by being twice as sweet, with more honey and apple blossom. Good for sweet dreams, hopefully. Jan 20: Take A Knee — I bought this at Will-Call in 2019. It’s one of the few apple scents I enjoy wearing. Jan 21: Hanami -- This was one of the two bottles in my very first Lab-direct order in 2008 (The other was Spider!). The description -- A scent of peace, reflection, and renewal of the spirit: sakura, ume blossoms, and wisteria -- was what I wanted to feel like today. Jan 22: Gy**y (Moth) -- Still one of the best cardamom scents I own. It's just beautiful, sweet and simple and gently musky. Jan 23: Lump of Coal '19 -- I wanted something thick, sticky, sweet, and CHOCOLATE. So, Lump of Coal. I don't have an oven at the moment, or I'd actually be making brownies. Jan 24: No. 93 Engine -- I feel like I've been wearing a lot of Yules/Winter, so I pulled out an old GC fave. I was genuinely startled when it showed up in the Tournament of Underdogs, because it's just so gorgeous. ^_^; I ordered another bottle to age with my Winter order. ;3 Jan 25: Lán Yuèliàng -- Something very new for a change. While Luna Azul remains my uncontested top Blue Moon variation, this one's not bad. Jan 26: Aoede, Melete, Mneme -- Man, this is so good. I got a decant hoping I'd like it and immediately turned around and went for a full bottle. It's like a smooth, rich, melted caramel, but grounded and just a little earthy. Jan 27: Bite Me -- I'm in such a foodie mood right now. ^^; Give me all the pastries and candy and cookies! This one's interesting in that it's got a very floral impression that you wouldn't expect from the notes. But it dies down after a little while and I'm left with light almondy pastry cream and a hint of caramel. ...Time to go eat dinner. Jan 28: The Ifrit -- This bottle's from '08 at the latest and it's so dry and so spicy and so good. I've been wearing too much sugar lately, which feel both seasonal and also like a very necessary comfort move. But I think I'll continue this habit on into February at least, so I should start branching out further into my collection. :3 Jan 29: Blood Moon '05 -- Spicy & cool is another thing I like a lot in a perfume, and this one is exactly that. It's foresty and mellow, but definitely has some cinnamon to brighten it up, and it gets sweeter on drydown. Jan 30: El dia de Reys '07 -- Back on my sweets kick. ;} This was one of my very first BPAL chocolatey loves! It's come back a few times, and I think I still have a decant of at least one other year lurking somewhere in my stash, but for me, the first one is the best one, and the only one I have a full bottle of. It's almost boozy on me, but I'm pretty sure that's just the brown sugar doing that thing it does. Jan 31: Snow, Glass, Apples -- I did it. A full month, noting what I wore every day! Tomorrow's my birthday, and I felt like wearing something special for the end of January. So, this little cobalt bottle. Still smells like sexy vampire apples, even over a decade from first release. It's not the kind of perfume I gravitate towards, but I'm glad I have it and I'm glad I kept it all this time.

March 31, 2021

I love — with the power of a thousand burning suns — the fact that Amy Richau ends her beautiful...

I love — with the power of a thousand burning suns — the fact that Amy Richau ends her beautiful Star Wars book I LOVE YOU. I KNOW. with Baze and Chirrut.
View the full post.

March 16, 2021

Seagull Noises

Seagull Scent Masterlist

ESSENTIAL Cheshire Cat Bliss Twilight To a Wreath of Snow Jezebel Belle Epoque Xiuhtecuhtli Blood Pearl Blood Rose Thanatopsis Every gingerbread scent Torture Queen Pumpkin Queen Queen of Hearts TEMPTING Envy Cold Moon 2020 Lightning Ranger Don't Lick It Meigetsu Ya Nosferatu The Jersey Devil Carnal Candy Corn Smut Bleeding Walls Apple Spice Hard Candy Bon Vivant Hecate Bastet Vasilissa Chimera The Sea Foams Blood The Sea Foams Milk Dragon's Milk ACCEPTABLE Persephone Transeo Baobhan Sith The Icebergs Incubus Titania Kumiho Y’ha-nthlei Brisingamen Aglaea Haunted Wilde Soothing System Kumiho Pele Eat Me Smut Severin Tweedledee Kali TOLERABLE Shango Hell's Belle Gingerbread Invisible Man Winter Sunset Wheatstacks, Snow effect, Morning Fighter Sin Mad Hatter Peppermint and Pine Queen Block Buster Please Scream Inside Your Heart Kitsune-tsuki Perversion Coyote Tlazolteotl Verdandi Cozy Sweater and Apple Cider Dead Leaves, Marshmallow, Pistachio Cream Imp Great Sword of War Sed non Satiata WELL IT COULD BE WORSE Croquet Brimstone Antonio the Carny Talker Ouija Sjofn Night-Gaunt Maenad Juliet Fae Nyx Vice Hunger The Lights of Men's Lives Kabuki Anathema Obatala Dragon's Bone DISASTER Athens Darkness Pomegranate Sufganiyot Oberon Poisoned Apple Arcana Harlot Red Queen La Lethe Centzon Totochtin Namaste Candy Apple Smut High-Strung Daisies Zephyr Disembodied Malevolent Laughter Velvet Event Horizon The Forest Reverie Juke Joint Dana O'Shee Scherezade How Doth the Little Crocodile Plunder Jack Grave-Pig Apothecary Les Fleurs du Mal Arcana Psionicist ?????? I GOTTA RETRY THESE Snake Oil Tavern of Hell

Laughing Seagull

February 19, 2021

Maps and Legends

2021 Welcome Spring Questions

Updated 2-20-21 is the wishlist in your signature up to date?? Sort of. I need to catch up on anything post Yule and will try to do that in the next day or two. Whole bean coffee or ground? Loose tea or bagged? Prefer whole bean coffee, marginally prefer bagged tea for the convenience, but will happily accept either. What type of "spring" item would you like? Actual bulbs/seeds for the flowers mentioned? Artwork depicting said flowers? Something in that scent? A baby goat? I would love to say yes to seeds/bulbs, but I know myself well enough to know that I am terrible with plants. Yes please to baby animals. I actually love floral food items - bitters, teas, those little pastiles, cookies (I'm planning to try my hand at lavender shortbread this afternoon). I also love ladybugs and butterflies and other insects, so feel free to play with that side of the theme. Please share your 5 most recently read books! To the goodreads! Bridgerton Collection Vol 1 - Juila Quinn Across the Green Grass Fields - Seanan McGuire The First Battle - Erin Hunter (this is one of the Warrior cats books that I'm reading with my 10 year old) A series of Amazon shorts by Harold Schecter about historical true crime that I'm going to count as 1, even though there are 5 of them Unspeakable Things - Jess Lourey Please share your most recently read books that you’d rate 5 stars! This is hard since I don't tend to really rate books this way, but here are my top 5 from 2020: The City We Became - N.K. Jemison War for the Oaks - Emma Bull Children of Blood and Bone - Tomi Adeyemi Every Heart a Doorway (and the whole Wayward Children series) - Seanan McGuire A Stitch in Time - Kelley Armstrong Please share your top 5 books of all time! This is also sort of impossible, so this is more what sort of jumps to my head. The first two are easy because they are books I regularly reread. The others are more broadstrokes things like love (18 months ago, Harry Potter would have been on this list, but I just can't with it anymore. JKR has ruined her creations for me with her closedmindedness and transphobia). Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman Chalice - Robin McKinley Cainsville series - Kelley Armstrong Best of Ray Bradbury I can't just pick one, so I'm going to just say Charles d'Lint Regarding hair decorations: Do you prefer bigger items (scrunchies, large hair pins, etc), or smaller items (hair baubles, decorative bobby pins, etc.)?
No hair decorations for me. My hair is super short and I don't really wear things in it and neither do the longer haired members of my family. Is there anything you’d like me to know about your hair or skin type? For example: hair clips don’t work on me because my hair is too thin, I prefer creams over lotions because my skin is very dry, etc. My hair is super short and normally dyed a burgundy that I can mainly get away with because I'm an entertainment lawyer, so people like a little artistic flair. I don't really need anything hair or skincare wise, although I do enjoy sheet masks for oily/combination skin or "brightening" formulas because I'm in my mid-40s. For body lotion, just about anything is fine. I live in Japan. There are a lot of fun snacks here, from the “normal” (flavored kitkats, rice crackers, fun jelly pouches, etc.) to the “weird” (pickled plum flavored candy, seaweed snacks, dried squid/fish, etc.). The current seasonal kitkats are ume (Japanese plum), peach parfait, passion fruit, and matcha tiramisu (along with the standards of matcha, raspberry, and hojicha). Do any of these things sound good to you? I have a mad mad passion for Japanese kitkats - any of the seasonal varieties sound amazing (passion fruit, peach and plum are some of my favorite flavors in general). I'm not a huge fan of the plain matcha. We actually get a monthly box of various Japanese snacks and other than the kit kats, I particularly love just about anything pastry-like. Astrological info: Gemini sun, Sagittarius moon, Leo rising - years and years ago, Jarvenpa read my chart here. How do you feel about insects? As noted above, I definitely think about the return of our small arthropod friends as part of the joy (and sometimes annoyance) of spring. Would you be interested in clothing, like a tee shirt or otherwise depicting something spring-like? If so, sizing? Sure - I tend to be an XL and prefer more fitted "womens/girly" style tees. Generally I tend to like darker colors and geeky prints, but something like a detailed anatomical flower or insect drawing could be very cool. I've started experimenting with different shortbread combinations - would you be interested in sharing in some of my experiments? If so, would you prefer plain shortbread, or flavors? This is my question, but I'm definitely here for just about all the baked goods, especially fruity and floral, for spring. Favourite colour palettes for accessories/clothes/homewear? Black, grey, purple, green, peacock blue - basically jewel tones. Favourite fruit/veg Papaya, cherries, peaches, blackberries, generally stone fruit and berries in spring, tomatoes, cauliflower, corn, potatoes, okra, beans. I actually have oral allergy syndrome, so I cannot eat raw apple skin, celery or cucumber skin. Are you interested in any of the following? Rose Petal Liqueur Vanilla Lavender Liqueur Peach Jam Ginger Peach Butter Star Anise Plum Jam Candied Jalapenos ALL OF THEM, OMG. Especially interested in the liquors, ginger peach butter, star anise anything and candied jalapenos. So all of them. Are you a crafter of fiber, and if so, would you like any kind of yarn or roving? No thank you. Fiber craft and I do not get along. I have some extra drop spindles, are you interested in one? No thank you. Would you like any knitted goodies like a spring shawlette, hat, or fingerless mitts? A shawlette or fingerless mitts would be delightful! For snacks - am actually in the UK, not sure if there's anything special here that US board members would be interested in? I generally love British sweets, especially Cadbury bars, custard cremes, tea cakes, and the like. Do you appreciate socks? What kind of fibers? No-show, ankle, crew, knee-high, over the knee? I love fun socks with cute designs - ankle/crew socks would be best for spring. Pretty open on fiber so long as they are not wool. Would you appreciate a spring-themed mask? What kind? Absolutely - I prefer around the ear.

Em-

February 15, 2021

Happy Hearts Day!

dramyhsturgis:
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February 14, 2021

A Fairy's Blog

Favorite Labels

Album of label pictures here (will upload my own photos maybe one day) Comforting Plush Companion Knock a Dolly Razors in a Doll's House Velvet Unicorn Blue Unicorn Moon Lilith Victoria Mouse Circus Fairy Bites Escape from the Autumn Carnival Sticky Eyeballs and Floppy Entrails Toy-Strewn Attic Please Scream Inside Your Pumpkin Patch Please Scream Inside Your Haunted House Arlecchina Caramel Apple Cookie 2016 Drop Dead Ghoulish

fairybites

February 13, 2021

A Fairy's Blog

Posts I refer back to

DISO thread My Feedback Wishlist thread BPTP Collection 5mLs Partial Bottles Top 10 Notes Amping Favorite Labels GC I've Tried Layering

fairybites

February 10, 2021

Babu Frik and snow. Hey HEEEEY! ❄️

Babu Frik and snow. Hey HEEEEY! ❄️
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February 7, 2021

bambi's blog

12 Days of Christmas 2020

PBSW has their Yuletide Winter collection out sans candles (http://paintboxsoapworks.com/new-limited-edition/2020-yuletide-winter-limited-editions/) that are coming soon. Is there anything you'd like? Also any scents you'd like as candles when they come out? These all sound lovely! Black Twig and Sozzled especially for the winter collection. GTFO and Halcyon generally. If you like incense what type to you use? Stick/cone/loose? I usually go with sticks, but cones are also ok! Do you have a favorite animal? Snakes! And badgers (both the British and the American ones). Owls, frogs, foxes, lizards, too. Would you like gloves/mittens/scarf/winter hat? I like scarves! Do you prefer loose tea or bagged? Either is wonderful! Would you be interested in trying out anything from Nocturne Alchemy Lab? (http://nocturnealchemy.com ) Most of their blends look a little resin-heavy, which generally isn't my thing. But anything I don't wear, I can use in some other way!
Would you like a batch of home-made bath salts? (if you have allergies / skin sensitivities, rest assured, I can make them with pure epsom salts and pure essential oils- just tell me what you'd like - or what to avoid) Who doesn't love bath salts! My only sensitivity is cinnamon (I can use it in perfume oils, but not bath products).
3. Anything catch your eye from Dandelion Chocolate? (https://store.dandelionchocolate.com/pages/home) All of these look great! Secret is, I'm a huge slut for fancy chocolate. 4. What's a thing you always tell yourself you're going to get just for you but haven't yet? Name one thing under $10 and one thing over $10 Probably one of those little travel watercolor sets for over $10. For under $10, probably candies 🤣 (I love airheads, sweettarts, etc.), but I rarely buy them for myself. What's your favorite type of chocolate? (milk, white, dark, with nuts, with fruit, flavored chocolate, etc.) I love dark chocolate. With fruit, nuts, fun flavorings, etc. I like milk chocolate. I don't like white chocolate very much at all. How do you feel about stationery? (letter sets, stickers, pens, etc.) I love stickers, fun paper, and letter sets! I don't like typically cute/kawaii things. My style runs more in the vein of cottagecore/dark academia. Thoughts about lovely bespoke cleansing scrubs a la Sugar Spider (https://sugarspider.shop/) or PBSW sorbets? Those both sound wonderful! A lot of the PBSW scents sound lovely. A bespoke scrub intrigues me! Briarberry, coconut ash, supernova, and devil's food all sound pretty. So does their fall scent "pinup pumpkin." How about literary writing gloves? This isn't something I'd have much of a use for. Tokidoki, anyone? Other cute kawaii goodness? Plushies, blind boxes, etc?. Since I live in Japan, I'm not really in need of anything kawaii. Fun cloth masks? Holiday themed or no? Favorite style? I've got plenty, so I don't necessarily need more. Journals or Sketchpads or Sketchbooks - yay or nay? Maybe a watercolor paper pad, but other than that, no, thank you.

Face masks (like the kind that come one to a package? I have plenty already, so no, thank you.

Anything from Sock Dreams? Nothing that sticks out to me.

bambi

February 2, 2021

This music mix is inspired by The Magic Ring by Baron de la...

This music mix is inspired by The Magic Ring by Baron de la Motte-Fouqué (1813, translated into English in 1825). Roughly half of the songs are authentic to the era in which the story is set, and two were written by historical figures who actually appear in the novel. I made this mix while editing this edition of the novel for Valancourt Books.
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January 29, 2021

I’m using my new Owlcrate pin banner to display my Chirrut and Baze pins.

I’m using my new Owlcrate pin banner to display my Chirrut and Baze pins.
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January 22, 2021

Ring Out The Old, Ring In The New

Thanks to all of you for your friendship throughout this past year. Here’s to making the new year a much better one! Happy 2021! Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky, The flying cloud, the frosty light; The year is dying in the night; Ring out, wild bells, and let him die. Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring, happy bells, across the snow: The year is going, let him go; Ring out the false, ring in the true. Ring out the grief that saps the mind, For those that here we see no more, Ring out the feud of rich and poor, Ring in redress to all mankind. Ring out a slowly dying cause, And ancient forms of party strife; Ring in the nobler modes of life, With sweeter manners, purer laws. Ring out the want, the care, the sin, The faithless coldness of the times; Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes, But ring the fuller minstrel in. - Alfred Lord Tennyson, “Ring Out, Wild Bells”
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December 31, 2020

Wishing everyone a safe holiday season full of warmth and love!

Wishing everyone a safe holiday season full of warmth and love!
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December 24, 2020

The Christmas Ghost Story Is Much Older Than You Think It Is

The Christmas Ghost Story Is Much Older Than You Think It Is
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December 9, 2020

rewfoe:Check out my kitbashed K2SO! This one was a lot of fun to...

rewfoe:
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