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June

Happy June! ?️‍? June 1: Frostbitten Dorian '17 -- I decided to go through seven bottles of GC variations this week. :3 The ones I have come in four flavors -- frostbitten, pumpkin patch, gingerbread, and pumpkin spice. I'm alternating them. Dorian's one of the GCs I go back and forth on. Sometimes I really love it and sometimes it's almost too sweet. I've bought and sold or swapped a few bottles of it over the years. This one, however, has stuck. Unlike some of the other Frostbitten scents in which the frosty notes take over the scent of the base GC, Dorian stays pretty powerful, if somewhat chillier. It maintains Dorian's vanilla tea & lavender-green cologne and adds a chilly undertone as it dries. The last faded notes on my wrist when I woke up (I put it on a few hours before I went to sleep) were mostly snow. I had a similar experience with Frostbitten TKO; that note has tenacity. Wear length is excellent, throw is solid. June 2: Alice in the Pumpkin Patch -- I do not love Alice on her own; I've always wanted to, but the carnation interacts weirdly with the milk and it just ends up smelling funky. But this, this I love. Somehow, adding pumpkin to it turns it magical. This weirds me out on multiple levels, because fairly frequently pumpkin goes odd on my skin, too. But ignoring all the base notes of this perfume, what it smells like on me is a cup of sweet, very slightly milky rose tea steaming at a table with a jar of honey open somewhere nearby. There may or may not be a pumpkin pie at the table, sometimes you think one is there, but when you look again it's not. It still manages to be very Wonderland-y while also being a lovely fall scent. It's really amazing. It's never that spicy, it doesn't feel like Pumpkin Spice. There might be a drop of clove, but that could just be the carnation doing that thing it does. Wears like a dream, lasts until the end of the tea party. June 3: Gingerbread Goblin -- Goblin's another GC I'm not super fond of. It's pretty simple and composed of things I generally like, but it's just kind of scratchy patchouli and thick coconut on me and feels kind of ...boring? Is that the word I want? I don't sniff it and go ahhhh, yum; I go, eh. Adding gingerbread elevates to something pretty awesome, though. It gets sweeter and thicker, like proper gingerbread made with molasses, or even ultra-sticky steamed brown bread, if you took out the raisins and added coconut shreds. The patchouli is still back there, being patchouli. It's less prominent than in regular Goblin, but it gets stronger over time. It has fairly good wearlength, though I re-applied halfway through the day because I wanted more sticky coconut gingerbread action, so I can't give an accurate impression. Not much throw, though, it sticks pretty close to my skin. Definitely more of a treat than a trickster, overall. Yum. June 4: Pumpkin Spice Harlot -- I actually like the base of Harlot, it's super-simple, just roses and cinnamon, but it wears very briefly, maybe three hours tops. I bought this, I admit, partly out of curiosity because I didn't think it would change that much. ? In the bottle, the blend smells like a rose-scented non-acetone nail polish remover I once bought. It's better on the skin, but the balance is way shifted to favor the spices, as you would probably expect. After it dries, it shifts back. And then forth. I really feel that if you have regular Harlot, this isn't an improvement, just a tonal shift. Regular Harlot dries down pretty gracefully into a puff of rose petals, this one vanishes after about two and a half hours. It was like I never put on perfume. I like it, but if I want spicy roses, I have other things that accomplish that better and are more grounded. June 5: Gingerbread Villain -- Hey, look, another GC that I'm not that into, but adding something else to it turns it into an I LOVE IT. Villain itself was strongly cologne on me and while I don't mind that general scent profile, something about it made me slightly headachy. Adding sweet gingerbread ameliorated that aspect entirely. These early gingerbread scents had very spicy & delicious (and prominent!) gingerbread, and this one adds a pleasantly citrus & floral aspect that makes me very happy to sniff. It's a wrist-huffer. Good throw, moderate wearlength, stays yummy the whole time, though it's mostly just gingerbread crumbs by about four hours in. June 6: Miskatonic University's Pumpkin Patch -- Take the thick, sweet, coffee and mild woods of Misk. U and add pumpkin & a bit of spice. It's my preferred kind of pumpkin, the more squashy one, that smells more like pumpkin puree. There's a couple of places in the city that do lattes with pumpkin puree in the fall, and if you added a half-pump of Irish Cream syrup and drank it in a library, this would be almost exactly the scent memory of that experience. It's pretty strong and goes through a brief phase of being All Spice All The Time, but then it goes back to being mostly coffee and woods. Good throw, decent longevity. It is quite similar to Pumpkin Latte, though with a slightly greater depth from the very slight woody undertone, so if you're kicking yourself for missing this, just get a bottle of that & you'll be set. June 7: Frostbitten Black Phoenix -- The core notes of Black Phoenix stay very apparent, so it ends up smelling a lot like someone dunked Snow White in big bucket of almondy myrrh and perhaps a hint of rosewood or similar. After a while the frost notes almost completely recede aside from a very slight twang at the edges and it's just Black Phoenix hanging out being what it usually is. However, the very late drydown is all almondy frost, same as FB Dorian and FB TKO. I don't regret buying it, but it's not really different enough for me to call it a must-buy unless you really love Black Phoenix and the frosty note. Strength & lasting power are both moderate to strong. And that does it for this week! I think I'm going to test some Luper decants next. June 8: Asses Plus Long, Qu’un Siècle Platonique -- This sounded exactly like something I would like, so I snagged a decant. And I was right! It's exactly something I would like! Beautiful pale roses, scintillating and very fresh, dewy vanilla blossoms, sweet, almost-vanilla benzoin...yep, it's great. If you like lovely sweet (but not at all foody) florals you should definitely grab it. It's lovely, has a very delicate but distinct throw, and fairly good longevity. However, because I like things like this, I have at least three things that are in the same scent family already (maybe more) -- Opuhi (ginger blossom & vanilla orchid; the initial scent is more tropical but the drydown is quite similar); White Rose (BPTP; White rose buds, with vanilla tea, benzoin, orris, coconut meat, and frankincense; for this one the initial white rose is similar, but the coconut & orris change the drydown); and To Helen (Electric ozone, opaline notes, moonflower, white amber, beeswax, and three roses; has the opal & roses and a very similar...atmosphere, I guess? but the beeswax & white amber warm it up as it dries). So I don't think I need a bottle. It is really lovely, though, and I'll keep the decant to test a few more times before it goes away. You know, just in case. June 9: Honey Marzipan -- One of the two honey scents I picked up. Thicccck, sweet, lightly floral honey (I agree, this is absolutely the same stuff that's in Harlow's Lace) and creamy marzipan (sweetened almond paste). ? It's pretty nice but knowing my tastes, I will never wear it. Delicious throw, lasts a while, fades gracefully. June 10: Like the Very Gods -- I also got this one because it sounded like something I would like. ;3 I mean, why else do I pick decants these days? (Sometimes it really is just curiosity, tbh, but I sure do skip a lot more than I used to.) So... this reminds me of Lush's The Olive Branch. They don't share many notes, but they definitely share a vibe, and that vibe is Mediterranean woody freshness. I do really like this. The musk(s?) are mild, the blossoms are sweet and bright, the cedar is very tame, the sandalwood is mellow, and the orris is an excellent binder, bringing it all together without feeling dusty as it sometimes does. As it dries, it develops a more distinctly honeyed aspect and the orris gets stronger. Later drydown is a whiff of orris and honey. It's real good. The only thing is that it really reminds me of The Olive Branch. I have a solid perfume of Pansy, which is, depending on where you're looking, either Olive Branch 2.0 or just the same scent with a different name, so I pulled it out and put a bit on and it's very similar. Pansy ends in a place that's greener than this does, but they are definitely in the same scent family. I think this one may end up being a keep-the-decant-but-no-bottle for me as well. It's real nice, though. I might change my mind. June 11: Cacao and Sugared Roses -- Man, DOES WHAT IT SAYS ON THE TIN. Sweet not-quite-chocolate and sugary pink roses, slightly heavier on the roses in the vial and chocolate on my skin, at least for the first while. The roses take over on drydown and just dominate after that. I don't have anything else major to say about it because it's so basic. It's a nice blend and I'm seriously considering buying a bottle, because I love the combo. Throw is pretty chonky, lasts a while, but not too long. June 12: Honey, Sweet Orange, and Orange Blossom -- Seriously, the honey used in, at the very least, the two of these that I got, is incredibly thick, dark honey. I was expecting this to be a much lighter scent than it is, but it is not! It is quite dense and it completely dominates the orange & orange blossom.The other two notes are there, but they serve as adjuncts at best, and fade out almost completely within about an hour. I'd describe this more as honey made from orange blossoms rather than honey with added orange or orange blossom. It's ...fine? But the near-single-note-ness of it makes it a little boring for me. Throw is sticky, longevity is just okay. June 13: Peach Vulva -- I've tried almost every Vulva they've released over the years and exactly zero of them have worked on me, and this one did not change that record. ? It's pretty nice in the vial and for about thirty seconds after it hits my skin. Big, juicy peach & apricot, lightly sweetened, a hint of cardamom... and then it goes sour and tangy and smells like sweat, and it does that for the next four hours. After about six hours, the weirdness fades and it becomes a soft peachy skin scent, and that phase I like a lot, but this is basically a world of no for me. It has excellent throw, naturally. June 14: Cacao, Sandalwood, Clove, and Hemp -- This is almost entirely cacao and clove on me. There's a very slight creamy woodiness that lets me know there's sandalwood in there somewhere, but the hemp is completely buried. It's very nice example of what it is, and if you're into a not overly sweet, clove-spicy chocolate scent, do give it a try. For myself, I've got a few other chocolate & clove scents from various companies and this doesn't do anything new, so it's an easy pass. It sticks pretty close to my skin, though I get a whiff of clove every once in a while as I move around, and lasts a few hours. June 15: Travelers Under a Tree Observed by Foxes -- Pretty simple; starts with soft coconut & rice milk, turns into mild creamy tea scent. It does remind me of a non-dairy milk tea! Tea notes almost always smell kind of off on my skin (super-astringent, green more than white, white more than black), so I'd be more inclined to use this if it were a room spray*. Low throw, but it smells better from a distance than it does up close, and on me, pretty low longevity -- I put it on and could smell it strongly for about a half-hour, then I took a two hour nap and when I woke up it was gone. *There's a jasmine milk tea scent from another company that smelled AWFUL on my skin, but I put it on before bed and my pillow smelled amazing the next morning. This is less immediately awful, but I'm betting if I put some on my sheets/clothes it'd be the same deal. June 16: Balancing the Sake Cup -- I don't comment on the color of the oils very often, but this one is a bright turmeric yellow-orange. It's kind of neat. Anyway, it goes on with a big chonky sniff of waxy orange blossom and ginger, then turns into a mass of sweet sugary ginger (like candied ginger root) and clove with a delicate orange blossom throw, then dries down a soft gingery vanillic/resinous fragrance that lasts quite a while. There's something interestingly vegetal about it; sometimes it almost smells earthy, like...carrots, or something similar. I'm pretty into it and already picked up a bottle. June 17: It's All I Have to Bring Today -- One big blast of air freshener flowers and then it somehow settles down? This scent really confuses my nose. I simultaneously want to BLRGH and mmm, nice about it. This was one of my three 'wellll, I probably won't like it, but I'm curious so why not?" decants (the other two are the Vulvas). And yet somehow I'm not disliking it at all. It's brighter and sweeter than I was expecting and the honey is very different from the honey used in the other LuperShungas from this year that I've tried. I usually avoid non-specific flowers, due to a strong dislike of a few common ones (lily, especially), but mostly what I smell here is a very sweet carnation and perhaps some sunflowers, along with some other indeterminate blossoms. There is a distinct but not overwhelming ozone note, as well. The amber and the honey are pretty mellow and quite light, compared to the flowers. I don't think I'm inclined towards a bottle, but this is a much more interesting blend than I thought it would be. June 18: Cherry Blossom Vulva -- I figured going into this that this would not be good for me, but I feel compelled to keep trying the vulvas anyway. ? And I do like cherry blossom (more or less) and honeysuckle (sometimes) and even cream (less often), so ...maybe the plum blossom and gardenia would magically become not sour flowers once they hit my skin? ...Yeah, right. It's fine in the vial, very lovely pale pink & white floral, and then it touches my skin and immediately devolves into pickled blossoms. The cream isn't helping here, just adding a bit of extra milkiness to the whole mess. This scent sits, radiating warm pink unpleasantness for around an hour until finally the cherry blossom & cream take over and lead everything else offstage. At this point it's actually more or less fine, if a bit dryer sheets and milk. Not something I'm ever going to wear again, but fine. June 19: No perfume today; got a real bad migraine. :< June 20: Migraine continues. Finally, after three days (it started the evening of the 18th), it's gone. Worst one I've had in a long, long time. >_<;; June 21: Quies (TAL) -- Quies is a fairly neutral scent, very mellow. It feels like what it is, a ritual oil designed for peace and quiet, especially when stressed or overwhelmed. I don't tend to think about TAL scents in terms of how they smell or wear as perfumes (though sometimes they smell very nice! This one does, soft and woody with vegetal and resinous notes.) but rather as how they feel and wear with the intention behind them. After the stress of the last few weeks (my grandfather passed away recently) and pain of the last three days, this was perfect for me. I've used TAL Peace before, and it's different. If Peace is like someone holding your hands and leading you in a meditation ritual, this one is like someone giving you soft pillows and a cup of warm tea and putting you in a dimly-lit room with a bit of incense in the corner then leaving you the fuck alone because you need some time to decompress. It's good. June 22: Vaginal Tales of the Nocturnal Palace -- Or, as the Discord has taken to calling it, Vaggie Tales. ? This is a little too sweet for me -- or rather, on my skin, sweet in a way I don't like, pale, floral-sweet, very much like Volcano in Springtime plus a bit of rather lovely blue lotus. It's nice, but ...just nice. I don't find it compelling, though I can certainly see how it would be absolutely beautiful on someone with different skin chemistry or with different tastes. This decant's going into the swap box. June 23: The Elephant is Slow to Mate -- Lovely. Dark red fruit and musk over deeper resinous notes, sweetened up by vanilla bean. This reminds me a bit of the older version of Mme. Moriarty, but a bit more complex, and overall sweeter. Same scent family, though, and they have similar auras, like a person in very dark red lipstick smiling at you charmingly through a smoky room. I never get much in the way of rose, though there is a smoky aspect to the scent. As you might expect, it has pretty fierce throw and lasts forever. I always enjoy these red, heavy scents when I wear them, but I spent so long unable to wear them at work that I almost never wear them even now, when I can wear whatever I want. June 24: The Shell Box -- This one is overall not for me. I like certain aspects of it a lot: the saltiness, the blue lotus, the sandalwood, precious and pale. But the motia attar and champaca absolutely crush everything else after a fairly short time on my skin. It's a bright, pale-sands beachy sort of scent, the kind of thing that goes well with salt spray in your hair, swimsuits, sunglasses, and a cocktail at the cabana later. Throw starts quiet and then ramps up and it wears fairly long, but after a while it's just a champaca party. June 25: Adventuresome Encounters -- I'm going to need to test this one again before I make a final judgement. It's interesting, much more perfume-y and less foody than I had expected based on notes & reviews. My first impressions are strong cinnamon and oakmoss, followed by fairly intense amber. The yam is there, and comes out more with wear, but it's not especially prominent on my skin. I like it, I think, but it's something I'll need to wear a few times to really make up my mind. I've only had it on for a couple of hours, so I can't comment on wear time, but it does have a nice throw. Eta: Yeaaah, this ended up being mostly sticky amber, cinnamon, and oakmoss on me. Wore for several hours and I ended up not liking the final result that much. June 26: Becoming Thunder (American Gods) -- I just got a fairly large order in and I'm pretty excited about it. It's a bit of a mix of everything, a GC, some LEs, a Lunacy, a TAL, and this. Bottle sniff and the immediate thirty seconds or so of wear are a big burst of green -- to my nose, it's the same as Give Me Thy Breath, My Sister's bog-moist greenery, which is neat -- and then it settles into a fairly glorious skin-musky frankincense with a hit of not-unpleasant ozone. I'm enjoying it a lot fresh, but I'm terribly excited to see what this is going to be like in a year or so. June 27: The Country of Eternal Light -- It's too hot and my sense of smell is kind of borky today, so I went with something chilly that I hadn't worn in a while. It's from the Frankenstein series, from 2011, and it's minty-cold, slightly mossy ozone all the way down. It doesn't have a lot of depth, but right now, all I need is the perception of a chilly breeze wafting off my wrist, so this is fine! It's probably got a bit of white musk in there somewhere as well. It's not terribly distinctive among the many, many cold-snowy-icy scents, but it's pleasant. June 28: Unmanageable Snowdrift -- Yep, still hot out, so ...this. This is a surprisingly bright and sparkly snow, at least at first, but there's a piney component to it as well as a hint of something almost dirt-like, at least on me. It definitely gives the impression of snow piled high against the window, which is a thing I've only experienced when visiting family in Idaho. It's clean, cool, and refreshing and makes me want to make mint iced tea. Later drydown is a bit reminiscent of clean laundry, but not quite in a white musk way. June 29: Mountain Temple: I wanted something light and pleasant and aggressively inoffensive today, so I hit this one up. This was my personal biggest hit from Yule 2019; I bought a bottle untested and then later went back and bought a second one. I love it, and I can wear it most of the time. Soft incense, lightly piney snow, low throw but persistent. June 30: Bloody Corridor -- I didn't actually like Endless Corridor that much; the smoke & vetiver made it a little dirtier than I'm usually fond of with beeswax. But I wanted to give this a try anyway! I thought the red musk would give it a different focus and feel and wow, I was really right about that. The red musk completely overpowers the smokiness on me, giving me a deep red beeswax scent that I'm pretty into. There's a hint of quasi-fruitiness and a little spiciness to this that Endless doesn't have. Later on the vetiver does come out more, but not quite in the same way. Like... okay, when I was a teenager I had these candles that were a couple of layers of black wax on the outside covering a red core, and when they dripped, it was intended to look sort of bloody. That's what this reminds me of, but with the colors reversed -- red outside covering a blackened center. Endless Corridors was a once-pale beeswax pillar candle that had turned mostly gray from smoke and grime. Chonkers throw, good longevity. Whew, six months of a new perfume almost every day and yet I feel like I've barely gotten into my collection. ...Maybe it's time to hit the Therianthropics! ....I did review all twelve of them at one point, but I haven't worn any of them yet this year. It's a good opportunity to see how I feel about them now.

rivetted's sense adventures

June 1, 2021

ShungaSense Adventures

Full Shunga Collection: A Karasu Tengu Copulating With The Knot-Hole of a Pine Tree Adventuresome Encounters Balancing The Sake Cup Butterfly Dancer Cascading Silks Cherry Blossom Vulva Coy Mermaid With A Vulva Shaped Head Cycling For Pleasure Discarded Sandal Dragon, Rabbit, & Snake Ecstatic Dancing Penises Erotic Sake Bowl Famous Kabuki Actors in Imagined Scenes of Lovemaking Flowering Peonies Fracas with Eleven Kabuki Actors Imayo Irokumi No Ito Inspecting The Lantern Kimi Ga Dai Wa Levitating Phallic God Peach Vulva *(shipped separately - don't have yet) Raucous Games Inside a Bathouse Rippling Water In the Stone Basin Shadow Pictures Travelers Under a Tree Observed by Foxes Under the Foot Warmer Unsubtle Euphamism Vaginal Tales of the Nocturnal Palace Initial Impressions: Day 1 (Friday): Fresh out of the Mailbox - Cherry Blossom Vulva is the Day 1 winner. Beautiful fresh daytime florals. Easy to wear, not lotiony/soapy - just fresh! Butterfly Dancer leaves a good impression & gets set aside for my personal collection immediately. Cycling For Pleasure is immediately intriguing, & different than everything else I own. I can't stop smelling it, & it is the second one I try out. Balancing The Sake Cup is strong, & intense. I don't think I like it. It needs to calm down some. Erotic Sake Bowl is much more pleasant, very bright, fresh, happy, citrusy. Unsubtle Euphemism is somehow like the most delicious bakery smell ever. I don't know If i want to wear it - but I could definitely eat it. Everything else smells interesting but it's too much at once. Some things are disappointing, but initial impressions can be that way. I am surprised by the amount of varied scents, & how even throughout such variety they really do feel like part of a cohesive collection together. Day 2 (Saturday): wore Cycling For Pleasure. What a treat to wear. A new favorite. my partner tries on Ecstatic Dancing Penises. It is definitely a bit more of a men's scent. Day 3 (Sunday): Attempting to organize my thoughts on the variety of new scents. Initial impressions have left me skeptical of (4): Balancing the Sake Cup (too sharp), Vaginal Tales of the Nocturnal Palace (sickly sweet florals), Imayo Irokumi No Ito (too grassy), & Shadow Pictures (parchment note is strong). Of those, the first two seem least likely to fall into my personal collection. The latter two just might age to be much nicer - & I'll admit I'm coming around to Shadow Pictures more and more over time. Although I do intend to hold on to most of these as a set for quite some time, to see how they age, some things just don't sit right at first. The ones I do set aside for my personal collection immediately: Butterfly Dancer, Cycling For Pleasure, Cherry Blossom Vulva, Under the Foot Warmer, Discarded Sandal, Erotic Sake Bowl On Sunday at some point I tried on Kimi Ga Dai Wa - and I didn't quite like it. It may have been the wrong moment for me - it is very toasty & warm, definitely smells like someone who owns cats - it smells nice, but isn't something I see myself personally wearing. Late that evening, before bed, & after a shower, I tried on Raucous Games Inside A Bathouse - and it's quite lovely. Fresh & clean, fruity & steamy, beautiful spa vibes. Day 4 (Monday): Wore Under The Foot Warmer I think I just knew I'd love this one. Fresh, sharp woodsy notes, and a hint of pepper & smoke. I think this could easily be a daily wear / new favorite of mine, and it should age beautifully. It's a bit light at the moment, and I think it will grow into a bit more heaviness / staying power after some time resting. Day 5 (Tuesday) Tried to wear Erotic Sake Bowl. It turned from the beautiful bright citrus smell to soap on my skin. Disappointed, but saving it to try again later. Maybe it'll work differently with age.

rivetted

June 1, 2021

khorazir:Working on a @fandomtrumpshate artwork – a watercolour of Smaug on his hoard – for...

khorazir:
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May 17, 2021

Vernon Press - Call for Book Chapters: Edited volume on Star Trek and Star Wars

Vernon Press - Call for Book Chapters: Edited volume on Star Trek and Star Wars: Call for Abstracts Edited volume on Star Trek and Star Wars Edited by Emily Strand, MA and Amy H. Sturgis, PhD Vernon Press The generations-spanning, multimedia franchises Star Trek and Star Wars will form the focus for this edited collection of scholarly essays. As venerable and evolving repositories of science fiction and fantasy storytelling, and as towering pillars of popular culture, both Star Trek and Star Wars inspire, transform, and even at times inflame their often overlapping fan bases. Together with the publisher, the editors seek proposals for essays exploring these franchises’ themes, narratives, characters, treatment of moral and philosophical dilemmas, religious or spiritual notions, and other aspects. (Abstracts for essays which compare or contrast the two franchises are also welcome.) Collected essays will offer insight — from a variety of disciplines and perspectives — on how these franchises contribute to popular culture and the tradition of speculative storytelling. Abstracts and subsequent essays should be academically rigorous yet accessible to the informed (even non-academic) reader. Abstracts of 300-500 words in length should be submitted, along with a brief biographical statement, by August 2, 2021. Authors of accepted papers will be notified by September 1, 2021, and paper drafts should be submitted by January 10, 2022. More information is here.
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May 11, 2021

May

May 1: Mme. Moriarty Misfortune Teller '08 (Red musk, vanilla bean, pomegranate, patchouli leaf and wild plum.) vs Mme. Moriarty Misfortune Teller '15 (Red musk, vanilla bean, pomegranate, black currant, patchouli leaf and wild plum.) -- '15 is on my left wrist, '08 is on my right wrist. Both bottles were purchased by me from the Lab. They are definitely the same basic scent, sweet, red, musky, and rich, with a fruity undertone that makes me think more incense and not so much fruit. '08 is smoother, with a stronger vanilla waft, even from the bottle, and almost reads as woody on my skin. '15 is a bit sharper, and the plum & currant combine to add a deeper, purplish aura that '08 doesn't have. I feel sure that some of the differences are because of age, which often softens notes, and I'll be curious to see where the '15 is in about five years, but as it stands, I do prefer the '08. If I'd never tried '08, I'd probably still love '15. It's a gorgeous scent, especially if you like red musk. I'm going to spend the next twenty-three days going through the Only Lovers Left Alive scents alphabetically. I have a full set from the first release -- my SO very, very kindly enabled me into buying them in two batches -- plus one bottle of re-released Eve, and I've worn some of them quite a bit (Eve, of course, but also Adam, Quintessence of Dust, Café Mille et une Nuits, and Shelley, Byron, and Keats) but never reviewed any of them. So. ? May 2: OLLA Adam '14 -- Leather and ambergris -- like the leather in Peter Quint or Kvothe or Hatta, soft and worn, but sweeter & more complex than any of those -- gently laced with dust, wood, wool, and chemicals. It doesn't sound that pleasant, but for me, it is. It goes on leathery, but it backs way, way off fairly quickly, until it's more like the memory of wearing a leather jacket, not necessarily a classic moto, but a leather blazer that might have been in a closet for a long time. The ambergris is surprisingly present early on, along with the magnetic tape scent, and a slightly earthy note. I suspect there's a bit of costus in this for the wooly note. It's not a very strong scent, nor does it have powerful throw, but it smells so nice up close. As is usual on me, the late drydown is dominated by wispy ambergris. Good stuff, great interpretation of the character. May 3: OLLA Ava '14 -- This was never going to be a favorite of mine because I cannot stand tuberose. ? Buuuuut it's not bad and I don't hate it. It's a somewhat thick vanilla musk at first -- I have a very, very old ('95 or so) vial of Moroccan Vanilla Musk from a long-gone local oil blender, and it reminds me of that at first -- but then it lightens up and becomes the tuberose-vanilla very modern concoction that I expected it would be. I don't find either mandarin or almond as separate notes, it all blurs together into a sweet floral Perfume Smell. It's a bit impressive to me, tbh, that Beth can make all the wonderful weird atmospheric and unusual blends, but still be able to construct the ones that wouldn't feel out of place spritzed out of a fancy glass bottle and representing a first big splurge into the wild world of adult perfumes for some young person. For me, personally, it's fine. I could wear it, but it's not really very me. (That said, this set I am keeping as a set because I do have an emotional attachment to the inspiration.) May 4: OLLA Blood Popsicle '14 -- ...I'm kind of surprised at how many of the reviews, especially the early ones, aren't pegging this as mostly dragon's blood with a bit of the Lab's frost/frozen note, even though a lot of people are describing it the same way that DB always gets described: slightly floral, fruity, reminiscent of red musk, etc. It has that distinctive BPAL dragon's blood hint-of-sweetened-lilac on me, plus the slightly piney version of cold. The frozen aspect wears off pretty quickly, maybe twenty minutes in, and it starts smelling more like dragon's blood incense. There's probably some actual red musk in there as well, or the blend that comprises blood musk, as it does get muskier & thicker as it wears, then tapers off until it vanishes. Man, IDK what else to say about it; this one feels pretty 'does what it says on the tin'-ish to me. It's nice, it suits the theme, and I like it, but I've always found it difficult to wax poetic about dragon's blood. May 5: OLLA Café Mille et une Nuits '14 -- This fragrance has always been stronger on the sweet, sticky shisha tobacco & spices on me. The coffee note is there, and it's darker and deeper than most other BPAL coffees I've tried (except for The Turkish Village), but it's not and never has been the most prominent note. It's very atmospheric in that it doesn't smell like coffee and tobacco smoke, it smells like you've been in a hookah lounge, surrounded by people drinking coffee and smoking for hours. I find it calming. The late late drydown is a dark-roast coffee bean sort of scent, but it takes quite a while to get there. This is one of the few OLLA bottles I've made a noticeable dent in. ;3 I'm not usually that into tobacco, but this one's really lovely. May 6: OLLA Diamond Star '14 -- This has aged into thick & sticky territory, which is kind of neat. I've barely touched it, which is slightly odd considering it's fairly solidly in my wheelhouse of scent types I like. The bottle sniff is a bit sharp and myrrh-heavy, almost sneezy, but on the skin it blooms beautifully. It's an interesting contrast, both heavy and light in almost equal parts -- woody and resinous with a vanilla-esque sweetness and dim background salty skin-like undertone. It doesn't have huge throw, but it lasts for hours and as always, the last note to go is the ambergris. I think I know why I've mostly ignored it, though -- the immortelle almost pushes it into sickly territory at times and doesn't (imo) mesh well with the other notes on my skin. Once that fades, I love it a lot, but it takes a while to get there. May 7: OLLA Eve '14 & '18 -- I always feel a bit bemused when my favorites are everyone else's faves. ? But honestly, in all ways, Eve is my favorite from this series. It's a beautiful perfume, complex and both deep and bright; herbal, resinous, woody, and rosy by turns. It shifts and flickers on my wrists, with different facets coming out throughout the fairly long weartime. It doesn't have strong sillage, but every so often I catch a whiff of it as I type. I have '14 on one wrist and '18 on the other and they're pretty much indistinguishable. I love it as an interpretation of the character, as a scent completely divorced from the source material, and for the way it makes me feel when I wear it. It's great in all weather, for most occasions, and I could wear it to work without offending anyone. This, as they say, is the good stuff. May 8: OLLA Funnel of Love '14 -- I've never been able to make up my mind about this particular scent. It's simultaneously beautiful and nauseating on me, full of both notes I hate and notes I enjoy, and all of them are present. It wavers between something I like to wear, a rich, spicy patch with a backing of red musk and champaca and other good things and a rather indolic jasmine with bitey black pepper and strappy leather. Later drydown (because of course this lasts a long time, of course it does) is mostly woody patch and musk and champaca. Oh, you know what -- ...I smell like going to a club, like, everything about it. The sweat and the way decades of smoke have seeped into the walls, the kind of gross toilets that you don't care about after three or four drinks, the low lights and and close whispers and grinding on the floor with someone you don't know, and they sure are wearing leather pants and that's hot, but also you can practically taste their perfume, which is neat but also a bit much. Nothing's going to come of that dance-that-isn't-really-dancing, but it's pretty intense while you're in the moment. Yeah. Anyway, that's what Funnel of Love is to me. ^___^;;; An experience I don't regret, but would be pressed to say that I really enjoy. May 9: I'm skipping today -- I got my second vaccine dose yesterday and I feel awful. May 10: Same today. =_= Plus nausea! … ? May 11: OLLA Hal '14 -- Well, the last two days pretty much sucked, but I'm feeling much better today. So. Hal. Gorgeous, yes. Mildly funky jasmine backed up by woods and a whole lot of sweet, sticky honey. The overall effect is a deep but still translucent amber with black flecks. It has a lightly toasted aspect to it -- Leo '07 has a little of that on me as well, so I suspect the saffron is playing into it -- but not burnt. I agree with a number of other reviewers, tbh: this shouldn't work on me, but it's absolutely beautiful. This one is good times, sexy and warm and not too much, at least on me. Eta: Well...Hal only lasted about 4 hours on me, so I've washed off my wrist to clear the last vague hints of it and now I'm moving on to... May 11b: OLLA Ian '14 -- Compared to many of the other character scents in this series, Ian is so simple. Leather, sweetened (but not spiced) rum, bit of very distant, slightly dirty patch that gets stronger the longer it wears. ...and that's it. No surprises, no oddities, just a simple perfume for a simple boy. I've worn this a few times over the years, but I'm not actually that fond of rum in perfumes as it usually ends up pretty cloying on me. It's not bad for cooler weather, but it's a bit dense for late spring according to my tastes. ^_^; The leather reminds me of a fringed buckskin jacket I thrifted in high school, slightly musty and worn, sueded, not smooth or dry. The patchouli is also rough & woody. It has moderate throw, and I probably wouldn't wear it to work, but it's nice. May 12: OLLA In Templum Dei '14 -- Woodsnresinswoodsnresins -- okay, but seriously though. For a mellow, meditative incense blend, this one is difficult to beat. Starts a little sweet, then dries out until it reminds me of a soft drift of incense smoke curling off my wrist. It's just complex enough to reward deep huffing; I can tease out just a bit of the labdanum after a while, but it doesn't ever overtake the pale sandalwood & frankincense. It does fall into the category of scents I think of as 'antisocial' in that, when I wear them, I prefer to be alone and not have to talk to anyone. Most of those scents are cold or have chilly notes, but this one is soft and warm. Gentle throw, lasts forever, clean, patient, holy. May 13: OLLA June 23, 1868 '14 -- That just looks like number hash. And the scent, on my skin is a mess of flower hash. =_=; It's not surprising, I don't get on at all well with most of these big white floral fragrances. I have a moonflower SN from another company, and a similar note is very much present. I can tell the warmer notes are under there -- the slightly sweaty costus (and a need to give it a full chance) is about the only thing keeping me from just washing it off because that note is like catnip for me -- but mostly this is about pungent white florals. The hilarious thing about this perfume to me is that it encapsulates an experience I would love. Being in gardens full of night-blooming flowers is a wonderful experience and I treasure many of these notes as actual flowers. I just don't love those scents on my skin. Late, late drydown, I do get a hint of tobacco, and the whole experience is probably sweeter because of the tonka and vanilla notes, but overall, very fragrant white floral. In the end, I took a bath, and it vanished. So I'm moving on (gotta catch up on those two lost days) -- May 13b: OLLA Kit '14 -- Ah, Kit is much more to my taste. It starts out a bit sharp and very distinctively inky (with a hint of parchment, perhaps?), but that fades pretty fast. Mysore sandalwood is often sweeter than other sandalwoods, and here it is very sweet & creamy, backed up by some not-terribly-sweet benzoin, aged fabric notes, and ink, with just a tiny hint of marjoram. It seems a little smoky to my nose, slightly diffuse and very old. I really love it. It's largely a skin scent, with minimal throw, unobtrusive but so pleasant to huff. It keeps my interest and is pleasant to wear, and lasts for several hours while fading gracefully. I've worn it several times over the last few years and each time I pull it out I want to sigh happily. Calming, complex, ancient, mottled green/brown, evocative. May 14: OLLA Our Hearts Condemn Us '14 -- I really wish this were something I liked and wanted to wear, but I just don't enjoy cedar or teak and those are the strongest notes on my skin. The rose otto and oudh are there, but this is almost entirely pencil shavings, antique store, and sadness on me. Low throw, doesn't last too long on me, better for those who like *waves hands* that sort of thing. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against wood & rose scents, but I really prefer sandalwood or pine or rosewood or literally anything other than cedar or teak. Later on it becomes mostly rose oudh, which is fine and I like much more, but I also have Elizabeth of Bohemia, which is that from the get-go and skips the parts I don't like. ^^; May 15: OLLA Quintessence of Dust '14 -- I went through a very long phase where I was absolutely obsessed with beeswax scents. I still like quite a few, but I've discovered that it doesn't always work for me anymore. Even a few scents that I went berserk over a few years ago are now surprisingly cloying on my skin. I don't think it's the scents aging, I think it's my tastes (and possibly skin chemistry) shifting. ? Anyway, this is one of those. I wore it a lot shortly after I got it and loved it to death. Now, it's stickier to my nose and I'm not as in love with the particular leather -- it's not the softer worn-jacket leather of Adam or the fuzzy suede leather of Ian -- it's smooth, brown, and ...well, it does smell like libraries. Old books, slightly musty. Unfortunately, the blood is on the sweeter side as well, and the salt isn't quite enough to counteract it. The ink is nice, lending a blackened swirl to the scent, and the way it dries down is still beautiful (especially once the leather settles down a bit)....but it's no longer a favorite. It doesn't have major throw and lasts 4-5 hours. I don't get the incense until about the midway point, at which point it's mostly a slightly smoky, dusty haze. May 16: OLLA Shelley, Byron, and Keats '14 -- This reminds me quite a bit of L'Heure Verte, but that one is strongly absinthe with a bit of rose and this one is strongly rose and carnation with a bit of absinthe. Both feature opium, though, and both have a heady, brooding aspect that evokes a similar time period and aesthetic. I do prefer the lilac in L'Heure to the carnation in SBK, but unlike many carnation scents that end up too sweet and unpleasant on me, that note is tempered by the rest. The mercury note is very low-key on me, lending a silvery cast to the whole experience without standing out. It's got a fairly significant throw -- I can smell it without bending my arms at all, and my SO has commented on it from across the room -- and lasts several hours. I like it a lot, but I have to be in a Mood to wear it. I used to wear velvet blazers and ruffled shirts more often and this felt just right. :3 May 17: OLLA Spooky Action at a Distance '14 -- Starts as a burst of rosy sandalwood, much like The Little Wooden Doll, but fresher and brighter and better. This one is very harmonious on me, everything blends well and feels intentional. There's a mild citrus-like aspect to it, making it one of the cleaner scents from this series, and the geranium is pleasantly herbal but not bitter. I really like it! Elemi can develop a slightly peppery note as it dries, and that's what happens on my skin, buoyed by the geranium & violet leaf & not-quite-coniferous frankincense. It's not a deep scent, it's not thick or rich or heavy at all. It's light, but not airy -- it kind of....echoes? I guess? is the way I want to describe it. Like, when you walk into a open air temple? I've only been to those in Japan, and this isn't a Japanese scent at all, but it has that sort of feeling. It clears my head. Throw is very mild, I can't smell it unless I lift my wrists near my face, but it's got a surprisingly decent lasting power. Late drydown is just a wisp of sandalwood. I'm not really shocked that this one doesn't, overall, have great reviews, but I enjoyed this slightly spare, softly resinous scent journey, and I'll wear it again for sure. May 18: OLLA Streets of Detroit '14 -- Good lord, this is incredibly strong. It's dark, a little dirty, and very thick, with throw and lasting power for days. Black musk often has a slightly lemony tinge to me, and that aspect is present here; the combo of the musk with the myrrh and motor oil is very intense. I'm learning (slowly) that oil notes are a bit iffy for me at times, and this isn't really increasing my confidence in it. Once it's dried and has been on for a while, the motor oil fades and I like it a lot more, but the oil makes me almost a little queasy while it's damp. It's odd, because the throw is captivating. What I smell from a slight distance is absolutely fantastic, but when I sniff close up, blergh. It's like, on me, it's a scent that was meant to be smelled by someone else. And it lasts forever: it lasted through a shower, it beat my fairly strong lotion into submission, it wore through the night and was still strongly present when I woke up. It's just a beast. The only thing I can think of that I have that begins to compare is Minotaur, which is also black musk & resin, but that one is a baby compared to this, and the other notes mellow it out a lot. May 19: OLLA The Diamond's Gong '14 -- After the initial white musk & pale champaca blast, like a brilliant white KABOOM on my wrist, it subsides into a mild, twinkling, almost-soapy-but-make-it-incense scent. I'm neither a fan of nor do I dislike white musk, and likewise with champaca, so this is fine for me, but just fine, and not exceptional in either direction. I have some tagetes SN, and I think here it's giving the fragrance a little more body rather than being a primary note -- tagetes is remarkably bitter, and this skews sweeter on me -- but there is a hint of it that comes out periodically. It never feels specifically fruity to me, but it has a fruitiness to it that comes and goes. The scent as a whole is scintillating on my skin, in that I can smell it very strongly one moment and then it seems to vanish almost completely the next, and which note seems strongest varies wildly as well. Throw is variable, and longevity is fairly strong in that it continues the peekaboo act for several hours before it decides it's done. May 20: OLLA The Edge of Doom '14 -- This is a peculiar scent. It's very pale and plasticky, hitting me as a very beige scent at first, but there's something underneath that feels darker and muddled green. It's not really very pleasant, but as a person who has been on a whole lot of airplanes over the years, it hits right in that spot of clean and slightly off-putting that being on one often has. It's not a scent for the place you've been or the place you're going, it's that odd, liminal perfume of the non-place that air travel represents. I get a hint of rosemary, green and prickling my nose, and the faintest hint of almost grassy, slightly cucumber-y violet leaf. There's a saltiness to it, almost sweatiness, that starts appearing in later drydown that I find weirdly appealing. The opoponax, I suspect, has melded itself to the bottom of the bottle, as there's a thick opaque layer that won't budge no matter how much I roll or shake it, and the decant I have has similar sludge. This is definitely unique in my BPAL collection. It feels closer to a niche-style perfume. No throw to speak of, lasts a short time at strength but then pops up mysteriously hours later. Fascinating. May 21: OLLA The Hourglass '14 -- The opening is a pleasant orange blossom and white rose pop, and then it sours and the lily takes over. Fortunately, that stage doesn't last too long -- after it dries, the darker notes come out and it gets sweeter and suddenly I love it. The myrrh/opoponax form a soft, round resinous warmth at base of the scent, and there's an almost musky woodiness over that, with the clove and violet a vague dusty overlay that comes and goes. But the dominant note wafting off my wrist is a soft, glowing white rose. It has a pretty strong throw; I can smell it very clearly as I move around, but it doesn't have a lot of staying power for me. By the end it's just a hint of myrrh and rose. I do have quite a few rose and resin scents, even one specifically white rose and resin (Parlement of Foules), but this one is sweeter and more languid than most of them. However, The Hourglass, unlike most of the rest of the OLLA perfumes, feels very much like it could have come from a normal BPAL release; specifically, it feels like it could've been a Luper. May 22: OLLA There's Water Here '14 -- That sure is cement. This starts out very gray and very tough, but it melts into a softer, sweeter, greener scent in under ten minutes. There's a strong (expected) aquatic element, and a milder metallic note, plus some light florals. As it wears it starts developing some murky aspects, like pondweed or algae blooms, but it isn't a salty aquatic at all, it feels very fresh. It's not bad, however something in this is giving me a mild headache, so it isn't getting a full weartime. The throw, for as long as I lasted, was considerable, but I can't comment on true longevity because I had to wash it off after two hours. I feel pretty lucky that this is the first of the OLLA series that I've had a bad reaction to, and based on the notes for the two that remain, probably the only one. May 23: OLLA This is Your Wilderness '14 -- Cool, mentholic, green, foresty with a soft, sweetened patchouli that shows up as it dries and a mild tobacco underlying it all. Holy mackerel, this is lovely. It was a little sharp when it was newer, but it's aged into something truly glorious. It shifts gently once it's fully dry, with the pine and patchouli taking turns to be the dominant note. It has a good, solid throw and lasted for about six hours before fading away cleanly. I consider this a bit of a trilogy with In Templum Dei and Our Hearts Condemn us (and maybe Spooky Action), all are woody and contemplative. Wear this one for hiking, meditation, calming, or reminding yourself that the world is large, but not that large, and you can find wilderness anywhere. Just one left, and then I'll have to think of something new. Maybe a week of Lunacies or something to finish off May. May 24: OLLA Wooden Bullet '14 -- I really liked this for about two minutes. The balance of wood and metal notes was lovely, smooth and rounded. Then it went very wrong -- cocobolo has a slightly floral woody scent (it's a rosewood relation) and it did not mix well with the lighter brassy notes for me; it became very sour and unpleasant on my skin. I don't get anything smoky from this at all, just polished wood and brass. It had a pretty solid throw and got louder with wear. It was giving me a bit of a headache, so I ended up layering it with a different scent that was also mostly wood plus actual rose notes and that toned it down, but that scent wore off and Wooden Bullet was still there underneath. It's still there now, twelve hours later. Have you ever had an brass figurine or pendant and played with it for a bit and then smelled your hands? I used to wear a pendant that was a hand-me-down from my mother, who I think got it at a garage sale; I fidgeted with it constantly and my fingers used to smell like the brass note in this. Excellent ratings for being evocative, but wearable for me, not so much. May 25: Sugar Cookie '08 -- I'm doing Yules. We're creeping on towards the beginning of summer, so what better time to dig out some old Yule decants (and one bottle). ....I thought I remembered this one being kind of weak, but it is not. The blast of buttery sugar cookie wafting off my wrists is pretty impressive! It's not especially complex, but it's definitely a Good Cookie. This is another that, up close, is not amazing, but the throw is fantastic; I smell freshly baked. This was one I swapped for extremely early in my BPAL habit, the label is torn and stained and it's still about half-full. If I liked these pure cookie scents a bit more, I'd buy a bottle of 2020, but obviously, while I do enjoy them, they aren't high on my wear-list. I might toss the remainder of this one in the bath because I looooove bakery-scented bath goods. :3 May 26: Nowhere in Particular -- The Wind in the Willows collection is one I slightly regret not buying more bottles from. It's a bit late now, twelve years later, but I do periodically keep my eyes out for them. This one's very soft and lovely, slightly dusty and with a hint of the mist note I love so much. It's a little soapy ozone for a bit, but it evolves into pale green leaves and yes, just a hint of apple. At first it smells distant, even with my nose pressed to my wrist, like I'm smelling something from far away, but it's not faint, if that makes sense. Over time it strengthens, as if I'm getting closer. It morphs a bit at this stage, developing a stronger apple with a slight hint of spice (not cinnamon, maybe a drop or two of carnation in the blend?) and a bit of dirt. It has mild throw and only lasts a few hours, but while it's there, it's a very fine wandering scent. I should wear it on one of the days I go aimlessly walking around in the evening; I think it'd be perfect for that. May 27: The Last Evening of the Year (The Little Match Girl) -- Did you remember that they did this series? Because I sure didn't until I pulled out this partial decant. ? This is one of the Lab's pale, frosty rose scents, plus a bit of skin musk and some white musk masquerading as fabric softener. It manages to be pale, thin, and melancholic -- definitely giving the impression of a waif in rags in the snow, dreaming of warmth. It's not by any means unpleasant as a scent, but it has an aura of misery that makes me somewhat averse to wearing it; I suspect part of the reason I didn't buy bottles of any of these at the time is that it's a pretty miserable story. Even if you take comfort in her spirit being swept up to heaven to be with her grandmother, the story makes it clear that her corpse remains on earth, and that she died alone in the cold on a day that for most represents hope and renewal. I was not raised in a church-going family, so this particular fairy tale has always given me nightmares. Fragile throw, fades out quickly. May 28: Braving the Ice -- Mmm, more cookies, sweet, buttery, and bright with a hint of pomegranate tartness. Decent throw, solid wear time, does entirely and precisely what it says on the tin, though the mint is not especially strong. I'm marking this confection down as another that's pleasant enough for a decant, but didn't distinguish itself enough for me to buy a bottle. It does, however, tempt me to try to make something with these flavors as an actual dessert. I feel like I'd enjoy eating it more than I enjoy it as a perfume. (I loved the brief time when the Trading Post offered candies inspired by various perfumes. I still have the empty tin for at least one lurking somewhere. Knowing my tendencies, it's probably full of imps. XD) May 29: Snow Bunny '05 -- This one is another I got very early on in my BPAL journey and haven't touched in years. It's pretty straightforward and mellow -- a soft, piney, snowy top with some indistinct light floral base. From the reviews it sounds like it's chilled out a lot from when it was fresh. ...though, to be fair, the reviews are all over the place. ^^; The place this gets fun for me is in the later drydown, where it warms up to a soft powder with a hint of skin musk, like the ghost of perfume. It's a weirdly meta little fragrance, constructed to be a perfume that smells like a perfume that has been worn for a while and partly sweated off. Whether this was intentional or not, only Beth can say. I'm not sure I can say I like it more than a decant's worth, but it was definitely interesting. May 30: Skadi '04 & '13 -- When '13 came out, the decanter I purchased from included a 1/2 decant of '04 along with it, because they were amazing and generous, so I have both versions to test. The good news is that they're pretty much identical. '13 is a little bit more sharply minty at first but both go from snow to pine to berry with a little pause at delicate white musk at pretty much the same pace. The later drydown is mostly a cool berry with a hint of pine. It's pretty nice, I like it, but it's not in my personal OMG LEGENDARY list; there are just so many pine & snow scents out there, and the berries aren't distinct enough to my nose to make it pop. March 31: Visiting the Temple of Auspicious Fortune Alone on the Winter Solstice -- Finishing this run of Yules (and the month!) off with a winner in the longest names club. I had a decant of this and used it up, but I recently acquired a bottle so I can wear it again. ^__^ It's a very quiet, mellow perfume. The incense is soft and hazy, not distinct, and mostly hides under the rain and dust and ozone until late drydown. I'm very fond of this kind of thing. It has similarities to many of the misty scents, Nowhere in Particular, Mountain Temple, etc. None of them are clones of each other, but they all have a light presence without being flowery or overly bright. They're like neutrals in the color palette. This one is sort of middling brown and grey, and I really like the way it's aged. Low throw, but surprisingly decent longevity; I can still smell faint smoky incense after several hours. As a person who enjoys being alone, and who wears perfume primarily for my own enjoyment, fragrances like this really appeal to me. *happy sigh*

May 2, 2021

Ciao's Blog.

Testing New Perfume [April 2021]

Wanted to do a quick review of the perfumes I purchased this past month so I would have a place to reference in the future: POESIE Twice to Tea (5ml) a strongly brewed cup of Earl Grey tea delicately infused with all natural lavender absolute, sweetened with vanilla syrup, and lightened with a splash of milk. I had gotten a sample of this before, and I'm so happy I finally strung for a full size. It's a sweet scent that has bits of tea, vanilla, milk, lavender, and that sweetness that comes with earl grey tea. It's not super foody but is more of a perfume version of a rather sweet tea if that makes sense. A favorite! Keep. Curiouser and Curiouser (2ml) daisy chains, blades of grass and a rabbithole, a blue cotton frock, airy vanilla clouds. Ok. I need a bottle of this one immediately. I hoped this would be stronger on the grass note, but it is actually stronger on the vanilla. It's fluffy and sweet with a hit of freshness keeping it from getting too heavy. It reminds me of a lighter, fresher BPTP Celeste. Keep, full size wishlist. Always Time for Tea (2ml) countless cups of black tea loaded with cream, treacle tarts, mini strawberry jam tarts. This is stronger on the treacle tart on me than the strawberries. It's like if Twice to Tea had a ton of molasses and a hint of licorice in it. I like it, but it gives me BPAL the Soldier vibes, and in general I prefer BPAL's the Soldier. Keep. White Rabbit (free sample) fluffy white fur musk, kumquat marmalade, lacy carrot flower, a wisp of hay and sweet fennel. This is all musk and hay on me. I got a touch of fruitiness when it first went on, but the musk is really the strongest note here. Unfortunately, "musk" notes (apart from red musk) usually just translate to powder on me. Pass. NUI COBALT DESIGNS the Bees' High Tea (sample) An uplifting blend to forge lasting connections and cultivate friendships. Delicate vanilla cakes with rose petal preserves, elderflower wine, and Earl Grey tea with a dainty drop of spring harvest honey. Smells like BPAL Lady Una, but BETTER. I need to test this again, but wow how absolutely gorgeous. I might need a full bottle. ETA: after a second test, I don't think I need a full size bottle of this one. It's less "better than" Lady Una and more the juicier version of Lady Una. The honey and jammy rose plus elderflower wine is the strongest combination of scents here and it feels very lush. I think I might amp NCD's honey note because it continues to take over after a while which isn't something I am always in the mood to wear. Lovely, but not a forever scent. Keep. Busy Bee (free sample) A piquant potion for swift and efficient productivity. A blend of Oolong and Tibetan black tea with peach blossom honey, cardamom, and clove, sharpened with pink peppercorn and dry oakwood. Wear this scent for improved focus, diligence, and motivation. This is a sweet, light, honeyed tea on me initially. The peach blossom honey is the star of the show and the spices add a bit of depth without my nose really being able to pick them out. It has a light cozy fuzziness to it as well which goes a bit powdery. As time progresses the honey note gets a bit sharp and really takes over. I liked this initially, but the honey is just too much in this one. Pass. ALKEMIA (still letting this order rest) First Dandelion (nature's ambience sample set) A springtime daydream of sunny dandelion flowers, green dandelion leaves, and warm dirt. Stronger on the dandelion than the leaves and dirt. Does to powder on me. Pass. Moss Maiden (nature's ambience sample set) A delicately feral blend of ferns, bark, lichen, crushed autumnal greens, and moss I liked this initially, but it turned to a powdery mess on me. Pass.

CiaoBonefish

April 26, 2021

Ciao's Blog.

Testing the Collection [2021]

I need to go through my collection, thoroughly test everything, write down my thoughts, and figure out once and for all what I will keep. This blog post is going to catalog my process. (ETA: I never finished this, but I wanted to keep these reviews here for future reference) Perfume Reviews from my Collection: Black Opal - (4/28) Crisp mineral-esque vanilla with a bit of airy powdery feeling. I love this scent, but it does take a hit to settle into the skin and lose it's slightly sharp edge. It's a warm weather scent for me, and even though it goes a bit powdery it's a keeper. It's also difficult to get a hold of so I don't want to sell it and regret it. Keep. Golletes - (4/20) Lovely, pink, and foody. Of all the foody scents I have, this is BY FAR my favorite. It's just delectable without being too heavy. I knew I loved this. I still love this and need to wear it more! Keep. Hungry Ghost Moon - (4/21) Delicious ginger, ho wood, and rice wine. Slightly sparkly, slightly warm, absolutely divine. I love this perfume. It does go ever ever so softly powdery but not enough to keep me from wearing it. I love how delicate and sophisticated this one feels while also have some playfulness to it. Ok, it's been a while since those last thoughts and unfortunately this goes more and more powdery as it dries. I think my skin just doesn't agree with sandalwood anymore as those perfumes keep going powdery on me. Sigh. Swap/Sell. Inez (5/5) - Sadly I think as time has gone on sandalwood and musk notes now translate as powder on me. I used to loooooove this scent so much, but our time has come. Pass. Kit - (5/4) Straight up woods. Deep, warm, round woods. I like how this doesn't do powdery on me. I want to compare this to other perfumes like Inez and CT: Woods to see if I prefer either of those to this one because I really only need one warm woodsy scent in my collection. This might be it, but it might not! Lady Una - (4/24) I adore this scent. It's soft berries and honey and milk and an absolutely comforting scent. However, Nui Cobalt Design's the Bees' High Tea smells JUST like it... but BETTER. It also lasts way longer on me than Lady Una. I will keep this for now because the scent makes me nostalgic, but I might make it a goal to finish this one up sooner rather than later. ETA: I retested this alongside tBHT and low and behold I actually prefer Lady Una. The honey is more understated in Lady Una and it's more of a creamy but slightly fresh scent while tBHT is more juicy and honey berry. Keep. Lantern Ghost of Oiwa - (4/21) Soft florals, a hint of wood and tea over a bed of rice wine which smooths things over, and a bit of mint to brighten the whole thing. The florals are a bit powdery if I get in close, but the general waft is really lovely. I need to compare this to Hungry Ghost Moon because I remember them being similar, but I'm not sure if I need both. Just tested HGM, and yeah it's just way more my vibe with its added ginger while giving me a similar feel to LGoO. I think it's the ho wood and rice wine that ultimately connect them in my mind, but HGM is less powdery. Swap/Sell. Mag Mell - (4/21) Mag Mell, Oh how I loved you but now I think our time is up. I've just had this bottle for too long. This used to be my favorite bright spring scent with ginger and sage and and amber. It was my favorite, but I think I am now in need of a fresh bottle because it's gone to powder in the past 10 or so years and I really think this has just gone off. I prefer Arcana's Gehern over this one for when I want a fresh ginger verbena scent. Dispose/Recycle. No. 93 Engine - (4/22) This honestly has just gotten even better with age. Herbs, resin, besswax, and benzoin. It's golden, spicy, and rich, and it's really mellowed out with time and isn't so sharp anymore. Keep. Old Moon 2008 - (4/22) Wintery, forestry goodness. Smells just as lovely as the first time I wore it. It makes me so nostalgic as it was the first bottle I bought off of the forum. It's more of a room scent to me than a perfume sent, but it's absolutely perfect for winter. Keep. Paduan Killer Swarm - (5/2) I forget how much I love this scent. It's sweet, cozy, resinous, and warm. The tonka and licquorice are at the forefront when it is wet, but when it dries down the spices and woods come forward to make it feel a little less juicy. I wish the woods and spices didn't overtake the juiciness so much, but it's still an absolute cozy favorite of mine, perfect for fall. Keep. Tarot: the Star - (4/21) This honestly smells like a lemon version of Mag Mell but with more musk and without the . This scent is pretty sentimental to me, and until I find the perfect lemon scent, this one will be staying in the collection. I honestly just find it difficult to let go of. I'm curious how layering this with more foody scents will go? Keep. Theodosius the Legerdemain - (5/4) I like the idea of this scent, but it doesn't really smell like tea to me. It smells more fresh and laundry-esque with a hint of woods. I don't mind this scent. Especially when it has been a while, it's quite nice. It's just not something I think I really want to wear as a perfume anymore. Pass. a World Where There Are Octobers - (5/2) Paper-esque, peppery, a bit sharp. It's a crisp autumn day. No sweetness, just straight up atmospheric vibes. I don't wear this often, but I think I need to break it out more as a layering scent with more warm or juicy blends. I feel like it would temper them in a way. Especially warm autumn scents! It's so unique and definitely a keeper for me. Keep. CT: Woods - (5/5) Just straight up woods with a foody bready vanilla note to it. I like it, but I'm pretty confident I would never actually wear this one. Pass. Edith Cushing - (4/20) I enjoy this on initial application, but over time this just turns to powder. This is mainly a powdery sandalwood with a hint of vanilla underneath it all. Too powdery for me. Swap/Sell.

CiaoBonefish

April 20, 2021

aoiphe's Blog

My bottle list

GCs Bast
Bow and Crown of Conquest
Crowley
Dorian
Hunter
Lyonesse
Mouse's Long and Sad Tale
Mr. Ibis
Plunder
Snake Oil
The King's Daughter
The Cat
The Lion
TKO x 2

LEs After the Winter (2021) Amber and Cardamom (2021) Amoretti LXXV (Luper 2021) And Though They Are With You (2022) An Incubus Leaving Two Sleeping Women (Pickman 2011)
Autumn Cider (Weenie 2011) Beeswax, Cedarwood and Bourbon Vanilla (2021) Black Amber and Sugar Cane (2021)
Bezoar (CD 2011) Body, Remember x2 (Luper 2019)
Butterflies, Flowers, and Jewels Attending (2013)
Caligraphy Practice (Luper 2012) Cardamom and White Sandalwood (2021)
Clemence (CD 2010)
Egg Moon (Lunacy 2010)
Feed Me and Fill Me With Pleasure (Luper, 2013) Frankincense and Ginger Root (2021)
Green Tree Viper (CD 2010)
Gypsy (Metamorphosis, 2010)
Habu (CD 2011)
Half Elf v5 (proto, 2011)
Harp of Cnoc I'Chosagair x2 (Bards, 2010) Hay & Clove (2019)
Hod: Resurrected (Anniversary 2009)
Hungry Ghost Moon x 2 (Lunacy, 2006)
Hope and Fear Set Free (2013)
Inez (CD) In Templum Dei (OLLA 2021)
Leather Phoenix (Anniversary 2011) Leave Her Johnny (2021) Like a Girl (2020) Liquid Gold is in the Air (Weenie 2020) Lillith de Milo (2019) Lugubre Gondola (2013) Luke 10:25-37 (2021)
Metal Rabbit (2011)
Michael Casts Out All of the Fallen Angels (Weenie, 2012)
Mme. Moriarty, Misfortune Teller (CD 2010)
Mourning Cloak (Metamorphosis, 2010) Nightingale (2022)
Pallas Athene (Salon 2011)
Palmyra (2015) Pericardium (2019) Perfectly Normal Childhood x2 (2020)
Phoenix at Midday (Anniversary 2012) Plunging into the Hellmouth (Luper, 2022)
PRC12 (proto, 2011)
Pickled Imp (CD 2011)
Pumpkin V (Weenie, 2012) Quaeris Quot Miki Basiationes (2013) Rabbit Moon (2021)
Raven Moon (2012)
SERKET v5 (proto, 2011) Snake Smut (Luper 2021)
Sonnet d'Automne (Weenie 2011) Sunyashniki (2022) The Diamond's Gong (OLLA, 2018) The Dream is Big Enough for Everyone (2018) The King's Daughter (2011)
The Smiling Spider x2 (Salon, ?)
The Sportive Sun (2007) They Shut Me Up in Prose (2019)
Third Charm (Weenie 2012)
U Mutter Museum (retail) Vanilla Husk, Nutmeg and Hay Absolute (2022)
Western Diamondback (CD 2011)
WILF (Forum only, 2011)
White Sage (SN, 2013)
Womb Furie (Luper 2010) You May House Their Bodies (2022)
Young Pine Saplings (Luper, 2011)

aoiphe

April 16, 2021

Jen's Stuff

My top smells

In no particular order. Geek In Time of Plague Death Adder The Waltz Snake Charmer Sherlock Holmes Anathema Device Samahin Peacock Queen

Jenesis

April 15, 2021

The Handheld Book Club: Women's Weird

The Handheld Book Club: Women's Weird: Tickets are free for this online event. I hope you’ll join us!
View the full post.

April 7, 2021

Jen's Stuff

Notes word clouds!

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 Arcana- The Kraken Black Moths Brown Jenkin Cloister Graveyard in the Snow Death Adder Dorian Event Horizon Geek Samhain 2020 Sherlock Holmes Snake Charmer Resurrected Snake Oil The Demonaic The Serpent in the Roses The Waltz Xanthe, the Weeping Clown Haus of Gloi- Custom scent ("Spring Rabbit") Nocturne Alchemy- Eternal Ankh Nocturne Alchemy- Steve Nocturne Alchemy- Ghost Nocturne Alchemy- Nothing

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.
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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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