meaganola

This should be bottled Quease. Red currant goes straight to gummy bears, and it is a note I can't deal with after wearing Eat Me while watching _Cloverfield_ at Cinerama (*giant* curved screen with an amazing sound system. *The* place to see action movies in Seattle). I tend to amp coconut to the exclusion of everything else, and it can turn so sweet my teeth ache. Last year, I had a broken decant incident with either Velvet Tiger or Velvet Panther and had to *leave my apartment* for a few hours because the vetiver made me sick. And speaking of sweet, lemon sugar. Apricot can be okay (March Hare!), but if it's combined with a problem note, things can go very, very wrong (Depraved). Based on the notes, I should avoid this one at all costs.

But. I got this one for a decant circle, and out of all of the Moths'n'Butterflies, this was the one I found myself thinking about with alarming frequency. Yesterday, I crossed my fingers (hoping that I could make it through the day without *too* much of a problem) and tested it. The best way I can describe this one is spiky pears. Not spicy pears. Spiky. Like pear slices were mixed up with a bunch of spicy sticks near a campfire, although I don't get smoke. I'm not sure why I get *pear* out of this, but I do. I've only tested three so far, but this is my favorite of those three (and the other two? Monarch and Gypsy), although it's not really an early June scent to me. It makes me think of late August weekends. And, hey, August will be here fairly soon!

Yeah, that's why I was hoping for something with the lab's prices. There's just so many that I thought I'd check if there was a complete list somewhere before I went to the swap mods with my list of unpriced stuff.

Have you checked out the Lab's Shiny and New page to see what they were priced when they were originally released? That's where I would start for LEs. Or go to the Lab's Announcements section here on the forum and search for the specific name. Hmm. I really should start keeping track of how much stuff costs when I buy it considering how many partials I end up with after decant circles.

I finally got around to trying this one today. There's something in here that I strangely turn to a sort of dried chili pepper sort of thing. Not hothothot spicy. Just... *warm*. And there's something celery-like happening, too. And it's powdery. *So* not my sort of thing. I blame my skin chemistry, though, because this is most definitely not what it smelled like in the vial. On the up side, I'm not at work today, so I'm not sitting here thinking about whether my coworkers dislike it as much as I do, and I waited until well after 11am (I've been up for more than six hours already). The down side is that my skin really hangs onto this, so I'm going to have to take a shower and scrub this off, but I've got tiedye going in the bathtub, so that's going to have to wait a while.

As a side note, this is the first perfume oil I've ever tried that has caused the kat to stick his head down my shirt and sniff. I'm glad I tried it so I can stop wondering, but I'm even more glad that it was just a testable sniffie left over from a decant circle so I don't feel compelled to keep on trying to convince myself that I like it.

Does anyone know if there had ever been a cognac single note?

According to hackess's spreadsheet (see her signature), there has not.

I can't remember the last time I wore something that morphed as wildly as this one. In my Clocket, it's pretty much all coconut husk. On my skin, it started out all coconut husk, but then the licorice came out, and then everything else just kind of hung out in the background. Every once in a while, the tonka pops out to remind me that it's there. Overall verdict: It's very pretty and subtly spicy, but while I adore the spices, "very pretty" is not my sort of scent. I'll keep a decant for the archive, but the rest of the bottle will not be a keeper.

Huh. I don't get metal, ozone, cologne, or any of the other things everyone else seems to get. Once upon a time (read: the version with this name now isn't the same scent), probably about ten years ago, Bath & Body Works had a Stress Relief shower gel, lotion, and linen spray. The gel and lotion had little green blobs in them. Tin Foil Fat smells exactly like how I remember that shower gel. I think the notes included clary sage, spearmint, eucalyptus, and maybe lemon verbena. I loved that stuff, so I'm very happy to have this oil. It won't be something I wear frequently since it's not really my day-to-day style, but it will be awesome for those times when the craving/need hits.

How does the actual mailing label look? I have random strings of numbers (for example, 4-87204493) on mine, but they come after my name, not in the street/city part both in the CnS notice and on the shipping label.

I gave this one a try today because I woke up thinking about it. Couldn't remember a single thing about it other than the name, but my brain locked on it and wouldn't let go. *So* glad that happened. I ended up with a full bottle of it left over from a decant circle, and this may very well be my keeper of the batch. White amber and white musk rarely play well with my brain (white musk in particular can do headachey things for me), but this is all lemonade cotton candy on me. Very creamy, and a *soft* lemon, not a harsh LEMON. It specifically reminds me of something I can't identify (some sort of candy, probably), which is annoying, but overall, it's wonderful. Zdravetz has a tendency to go all HELLO I AM GERANIUM on me, but in this one, I don't smell it *at all*, which is a welcome development. I think I just found my spring hand lotion scent!

(Now it makes me want a lemon float -- vanilla ice cream with fizzy lemonade, or vanilla ice cream with Sprite/7-up and lemon juice -- but I don't have any ice cream. This makes me sad.)

ETA: Just figured out what specific candy this reminds me of. Lemon Pez. Haven't had them in years, but my memory of them is exactly what this oil is like. Also, when I put fresh oil on top of a dried-down application, I get vague hints (so vague I can't name anything specific) of herbs that weren't there the first time around. I'm fascinated at how double-dabbing like this (that is, putting fresh oil on top of the same dried-down oil) can bring out things that I don't otherwise smell in an oil if I'm just smelling the wet or the dry phase.

When I'm in the mood for a fruity floral, something with a fruit blossom (that is, not necessarily something that contains fruit *and* flowers as separate components) frequently does the trick. A few of my favorites:

-- Carnaval Diabolique (lemon blossom)

-- Katharina (orange blossom)

-- Tamora (peach blossom)

-- Khrysee (orange blossom)

-- Lovers in a Ricefield (plum blossom)

-- Spell of Amorous Love (plum flower *and* cherry blossom)

-- Voyeurs Among the Cherry Blossoms (oregano! Just kidding)

-- Vampire Tears (neroli)

[Edited because I didn't like the way the list looked at first.]

Ooh, Witchblade labels!

There's a certain BPAL oil (can't remember which one at the moment) that does this weird soapy thing on me: It doesn't *smell* like soap, but when I wear it, the back of my throat feels and tastes like it's coated with soap. Little Bird does that, except with the added non-bonus of smelling like soap (some sort of facial soap, like Camay or Dove or something else along those lines). I don't get the berry thing other people are getting *at all*. Very much not for me. And I have a feeling it will turn out to be long-lasting and impossible to scrub off since it disagrees with me so much, and very possibly a headache trigger, too, since that's what usually happens with anything involving wildflowers. On the up side, most of the bottle went out in a decant circle, so I didn't pay for the whole thing, but I still have a *lot* left over, which has been moved to the sales box.

Does anyone have a photo of a Chaos Theory V Snake Oil series bottle? I have one, but there's no number on it and I can't figure out where the number is supposed to be if there is one. I'm hoping seeing a photo might help me figure out if I just got an oddly un-numbered one. Thanks!

I don't have a picture, but I just pulled out my bottle, and the numbers were written in the dark space between "RECURSIVE SELF-SIMILARITY" and "THE SNAKE OIL SERIES." There was probably a number on there -- in the past tense. The pen used to number the labels rubbed off extremely easily, so unless you wrote the number on a sticker for the top of the bottle as soon as you received it directly from the Lab, chances are high the number would rub off, even with minimal handling. My guess is that you just got a bottle that had the number rubbed off through normal handling, not an unnumbered bottle (as a side note, my barely-handled bottles have lost their numbers, too, although I did write them on cap labels).

Ah, skin chemistry. This is why I don't usually test on my arm: On my arm, I get a creamy floral. Nothing too thrilling, nothing too offensive, just kind of pretty. But I usually wear scent on my chest, not my arm, so that's where it went today. It turns out that I amp narcissus to the point where it might as well be single-note. No violet leaf, no orris, no vanilla. Narcissus. I resniffed the decant to make sure I wasn't misremembering what it smelled like. Nope, creamy floral in the vial. I like narcissus -- so much so that I bought a bottle of First Soft Snow, which this smells almost exactly like. *And* it fades quickly. A couple of hours later, and I can't even smell it on my shirt. Oh, well. One less bottle on the to-buy list. And I *really* wanted to get this one for the name alone!

Metal and incense! It makes me think of the cash register area at an import store my aunt used to work at: The incense was right next to the little metal sculptures of, like, elephants. And then as it dries, a sort of a hint of something almost WD-40-ish comes out -- sort of like the oil on metal pieces of things you would buy at the import store and have to take home to assemble yourself. Hmm. The longer it sits on my skin, the more the WD-40 comes out. Very odd. I like it (I even kind of like the WD-40 thing), but there are so many other oils I like more that I think I'll just stick with the decant and not bother getting a bottle of this one.

This is another one of those weird oils where I love the scent, but it seems to make me strangely lightheaded and dizzy. I'm not sure whether it's the tangerine or musk, though (I'm not sure I'm getting any cypress, so I'm disregarding that as the potential culprit). I had this on my potential bottle list, but this dizzy thing is making me rethink that. I'm really sad about that because it's really a nice scent, but I'm clumsy enough as it is. I don't need my perfume making me loopy, too!

Hmm...those all do sound interesting, especially the Raven Moon and the Hunter. Falling Leaf Moon...heh, I just moved away from Portland but I know what you're referring to. Even if it doesn't fit the current season, it might still fit me

 

Thank you for the recommendations! I will be on the hunt!

Ooh, if you're from Portland, then this will probably make perfect sense: It is the smell of walking through Laurelhurst Park in the afternoon in late October/early November. The decaying leaves, the dirt, the lingering patchouli, all still nice and gooshy from the heavy, heavy mist that isn't *quite* rain but will definitely mean you will need to hang your jacket up to dry.

The one that made me *kerthunk* was Falling Leaf Moon. Patchouli, wet leaves, rain -- it's bottled Portland Autumn for me. Alas, it's *so* autumny to me that it demands to be saved until October, so maybe this isn't the best recommendation right now!

I would like recommendations for something summery but bug resistant...

 

Any suggestions? OR at least something that won't attract too many bugs.....

Mad Hatter! Pennyroyal is a natural bug repellant, and there's just something about MH that is fantastic in the heat.

the traveller is a fairly understated label. it's soft sage green with a very light grey celtic knot and the words "the traveller" in green across the middle.

 

(unless there are multiple versions of the label. i have two more bottles on order so i guess i'll see...)

I have two bottles each of The Harp, The Traveller, and Little Bird. They're all the soft-green-with-knot-and-name-in-bright-green scheme (which almost caused some decanting horrors!). I have no photo-taking abilities, though, so I am unable to post any pictures.

LEATHER LEATHER LEATHER OH HAI DID I MENTION I AM LEATHER!

Ahem. So, yeah, all I get is leather. *Strong* leather. And not dainty Wilson's Leather stuff. This makes me think of a tack store that has just received a brand new shipment of saddles. Unfortunately, leather is one of my headache notes. I can just barely tolerate it in I Married a Vampire from Planet X and Miller v California, and that's about it. I'm not even going to bother skin-testing it. I just hope I can scrub all traces it off my fingers now since I tend to sleep with my hands near my head, and having this scent near my nose all night will not make for a pleasant morning.

So I'm wondering if my bottle may be a little older for some reason? The imp older? I don't care either way, just curious as to why there is the difference. Anyone else tried an imp that smelled one way and gotten a bottle that was different?

All the time. There's already a thread about this in the FAQ, though, so you might want to check that out for more detail.

I ordered 5mls of Smut 2010 and Mme. Moriarty and am gonna give her whichever one I think she'd like better and keep the other one for meeeee. Or maybe I'll let her try both and she can decide. Or base it on which label is schmancier.

 

But THEN! I got my second package of imps this afternoon, including Dorian and Mouse's LAST, and I really like both of those, too! And Embalming Fluid sounds really nice as well, though I haven't tried it. Gah! What is a justifiable time interval between orders? Like a week? I will feel like an asshat if I make two orders within, like, a day of each other.

 

Snow White is LE, right? Is it a recurring seasonal LE (or whatever they're called) or was it just available once? Same with Werepuppy?

Snow White is a recurring LE, but there's no guarantee it will be back any particular year. I believe there's a component in there that is only available during that time of the year, which is why it can't be a GC. I'm assuming it's plant-based since, well, pretty much all BPAL is plant-based. If that particular year's crop of Special Snow White Component is ruined, well, no Snow White that year. I believe that was the case in 2006. Werepuppy is a different matter. I don't think we have ever had a forum-only scent get resurrected. Once they're gone, they're gone.

As for when to place your next order, well, I think I've placed multiple orders on the same *day*, and I know I'm not the only one, although nowadays, I tend to order only at updates, and, again, not the only one. But if you have the money, it's kind of fun to space them two to three weeks apart so you're always just a couple of weeks away from the arrival of your next order!

On one hand, I want to add another vote for Mme Moriarty. Even (especially!) if she tosses the bottle in a drawer unopened and forgets about it until next year, Mme will be *amazing*. On the other hand, the patchouli in there is nothing like anything I've ever encountered before, and if she's all about head shop patch, she's going to be disappointed. Or confused. But if she's adventurous, this would be a good bet, especially if she has any interest in dark and twisted takes on old school carnivals. I think you still get a pitch card and tarot card with every bottle, too (I got the ten of swords, which was freakishly on the nose for what I was going through at the time), which makes it a little more special. On the other hand, Mme Moriarty is the very oil that got me started on a very dangerous and very, *very* expensive LE obsession.

ETA: Yeah, apparently, I'm posting as Kali tonight!

If you like spicy and can find any, Tanin'iver! To/on me, it's very similar to Phantom Calliope, although PC is a bit fruitier, and the cardamom makes it kind of pop. Tanin'iver is pretty much the only thing I handle myrrh and smoke in (Dragon's Hide makes me kind of queasy, although that may be the leather, another of my problem notes). I don't know how easy it is to find, though, because I got a bottle when the discontinuation was announced and haven't tried to find any more.