Seismogenic

Floodplain! Oh man, I was so excited when this one came out, because it is so overtly geological. It had particularly wonderful timing considering I'd just led some discussion sections on floods that week. I was initially certain I'd buy it, but then Convergence blends happened, and I talked myself out of Inundation because I got all of those. Septima_pica was kind enough to give me a decant, though, so I still get to properly test and enjoy my own personal floodplain. In the imp: Soft dirt, sweet resin, and something with slightly more of an edge that I can't identify. I also get a hint of cold, which must be the melting snow. Wet on skin: Very soft dirt, gently sweet resin, and now perhaps the slightest hint of wood. The edge from before has mellowed out, and it's not particularly cold anymore. Drydown: Freshly dry, it's still mostly soft silt with a gentle resin base that is now becoming more identifiable as myrrh. The sharper herbal note is back, and I'm guessing it's spikenard, since it smells a little bit like lavender? I don't know. I'm also thinking the hint of wood I got easlier was cedar, and it has melded into the fine-particledness of the silt. At one hour in, it seems to have settled at a combination of fine black dirt - ie, silt! - and myrrh, with perhaps a little bit of cedar. Five hours later: Softer overall, but largely the same balance as at the one hour mark. The softness almost is as if the silt has already been deposited by the river and left to dry. So yes, silt, maybe cedar, and a soft base of myrrh. End of the day: Very very slightly mineral-dusty sweet. Overall: Gorgeous. This is a fairly delicate dirt scent, clearly fine-grained to the point of softness. The slight sweetness implies, to my mind, that this is a good and fertile soil, freshly renewed. I don't really smell the river associated with this floodplain, but its sediments are wonderful even in its olfactory absence. I also think this is a gentle enough soil, particularly with the accompanying wood and resin, that it could be appealing even to someone without a hardcore geologist nose for dirt. I'm now really really wishing I'd sprung for a bottle of this when I had the chance.

Do you like to find out there's a package on the way or to receive a tracking number to stalk, or do you prefer surprise packages? Both ways are fun! It is extremely exciting to receive unexpected mail, but it's also fun to obsessively hit refresh on the USPS website once one has received a tracking number. I'll leave this up to my Witch! If i were your witch, and I wanted to make you a spell or mojo bag, would you be into that? I honestly wouldn't know what to do with it. What are your favorite fruits? Berries of all sorts, mango, clementines (and citrus in general, really), apples (but not red delicious), pear, watermelon, banana...I like fruit in general. Just not cherries, white nectarines, or white plums. Screw you, allergies. What is one thing you constantly keep with you that you constantly lose? Pencils and pens! I always try to carry one of each, and I lose so very many. I do have this one pen that I've managed to hold onto for over a year, but it's noticeably heavier than the other pens I tend to carry, so I may be more aware of its presence. Lusting over anything from the Trading Post lately? I haven't really been looking, because I am trying to avoid spending more money. Are you a Miyazaki fan? Do you have all the films you like, or is your collection missing one? Is there any merchandise you want? The only Miyazaki thing with which I'm familiar is Nausicaä, which I like very much. I've seen the movie and have the books. I figure I'd like his other work, but I just haven't gotten around to seeing/reading it yet. Do you wear lip gloss/lip balm? If so, what flavors/scents? I'll wear unflavored or basic mint lip balm in the winter, because my lips get really chapped and bleed everywhere, which sucks. Definitely not gloss for fashion reasons, or anything with a color to it! Fetish? I assume this means fetish animal, and I honestly don't know. It's an interesting concept, but I haven't investigated it much, and so to say something about a particular animal in this thread would be pulling something out of very little consideration, which just doesn't work. So, nothing for now. Do you drink alcohol? Wine, beer or liquor? What is your favorite wine/beer/mixed drink? I do drink, though not very much and not particularly often. As an earth scientist, I am required to have an appreciation for beer; I tend to like amber ales, pale ales, and hefeweizens. In terms of wine, I know woefully little about specifics, but I do know that I have consistently liked pinot grigio and shiraz when I've had them. I don't really drink hard liquor, though Bailey's or Kahlua in coffee or cocoa is good. ******9/18***** If Beth made a perfume called "switch witch" what notes would be in it? Hrmm. Wrapping paper and/or shipping cardboard, tea, chocolate, the metal of handcrafted jewelry, the soft wood of hand-painted BPAL boxes, the sweet wax of candles, and a whiff of so many generously gifted imps at once that you can't tell them apart. This round might also have beets, but if we're going with a more general Switch Witch scent... What is your favorite cookie type? Oh jeez. You're making me pick one?! In general, cookies are awesome. Some particular favorites are white chocolate macadamia nut, things related in composition to Thin Mints, and snickerdoodles, but there's no way you could really screw up with sending me a cookie. Unless it had cherries - stupid allergies. ghost.gif******9/17***** Are you into 80s movies (like i am ) if so, which are your favorites and who are your favorite characters? I was born in 1984, so I probably know more '80s cartoons than anything else. Haha. I was kind of obsessed with "Oliver and Company" when I was little (I haven't seen it in ages - but I do remember the awesome soundtrack). Also, "Ghostbusters," though I preferred the animated spinoff at the time, and now I prefer the movie. Definitely "The Princess Bride" as well. Do you like Villainess soaps? What are your favorite scents? I have, thus far, only tried two Villainess soaps (Ginger Snapped and Smashing), and I liked them both quite a lot. They smell good and feel nice. In terms of ones I'd want to try, Quick Or Dead sounds awesome, but also appears to be sold out. As for others I might be interested in trying: Friction, Krakatoa (on principle, because it's a big volcano!), Grundy, Scintillating, Byzantium Do you mind artificial colors in your food? I don't mind. Who wants hair pretties?(headbands, barrettes, pony-o's, scrunchies, bobby pins, hair clips, etc) No thanks. My hair is not long enough for these things, even disregarding the fact that I'm a guy. If you were my witchee, would you like any of the scents/sizes that are available on clearance? No candles, please. Don't want to have the cats start yet another southern California fire. I am on an origami crane kick recently, so I wonder if anyone will be interested in origami crane earrings, origami crane in a glass vial (~1.2cm wide) phone charm/pendant or just a container filled with cranes of different sizes. I think origami cranes are cool, but I wouldn't have use for earrings or a phone charm, and I suspect that a really tiny one in a jar would get devoured by my desk somewhere. I should clean this thing, really. How do you feel about clothing/accessories made from animals? Anti-fur, leather, shells, etc.? Does even faux wig you out? I'm fine with leather, since it comes from an animal that people use for other things as well. Fur is a definite no, though, since the animal is killed specifically and only for its fur. I have no moral objection to faux fur, though things with faux fur do not necessarily fit into the vague thing that is my "style." No problems with shells, either. How do you deal with stress? What's your favorite way to unwind? I release my constant loading stress slowly and steadily in a process called aseismic creep, in which I move constantly and produce no earthqu--...wait, that's the Calaveras Fault, not me. Sorry. In all seriousness, though, I sometimes follow a more traditional stick-slip/elastic rebound fault behavior in my personal stress management. That is, stress builds up and I don't let it show so much, but at some yield point, I have a really bad day, whether it's bad-mood-discouraged/depressed or whether it's explosive. I'm trying to be less like this, since I always feel terrible about the bad outburst days later. The goal is to be more like aseismic creep - letting the stress slide, or releasing it so steadily that there are no bad mood problems. I tend to unwind by plunking down in front of the TV and drawing, or by petting my cats, or sometimes by playing music. Reading is less effective than it used to be, because it makes me feel guilty about reading fun stuff rather than reading all the stuff assigned to me. You're given the opportunity to apprentice at any trade (or craft) of your choosing for the period of one year. Your mentor may be any currently living person. Which field of study would you choose, and who would be your mentor? My initial thought was that I'd want to do fault geology with some of the best people out there, but then I realized that I should answer this question in a way not related to my actual research/job, and I also realize that I already know some of the best people out there in this field. So - actual crafts. Artistic things. Hrm. Wouldn't want to do a music thing, since I'm terrible at practicing and would just tick the person off. I'd also be hesitant to do visual art, for fear that formal study might make me feel less inclined to do it on my own (I'm currently completely self-taught.) At this point, I'd probably say I'd want to lean to cook from someone really good, since the only things I can cook now are boring and not very tasty. I don't know enough about chefs to know who I'd want to work with, though. ******9/16***** Who is musically inclined? What instruments (voice counts) do you play? Would you enjoy sheet music? Hooboy, this question. Vaguely in the order of when I learned them: piano, violin/fiddle, viola (I consider this my main instrument), voice, tenor viol, recorder (mostly alto), guitarrón, crumhorn (though I suck at it), and most of the instruments in a Javanese gamelan (with a particular focus on gendèr and bonang, if that means anything to any of you). I also compose (and, in fact, have two degrees in composition). And I'm contemplating learning mandolin next. But for all of that, I rarely practice outside of actual rehearsal. There just isn't time, since I'm not a music major/proper musician/what have you. I probably would not ever get a chance to learn any sheet music sent to me, at least not if it's solo stuff. If you were to send something like parts for string quartets, I would find people to sightread through them with me. Favorite musicals? Wicked, Into the Woods, Spamalot, The Secret Garden, Fiddler On The Roof, Ludwig II (which is a German musical, and which has really good music), Chicago, probably forgetting a few others... Which of the seven deadly sins is most likely to be your undoing? Hrmm. Possibly envy. I do get jealous when other people get awesome opportunities related to things that I also do. It's not a crippling thing, but if I were to let myself fixate on it, I would get sidetracked from working hard so that I can get my own awesome opportunities. Anyone want a nickname and embroidered headband from PandaBite? Not particularly. I have seen a lot of yankee candles haters..... personally i like yankee candle (some of them, anyway). do you or don't you, and if not, what candles do you like? this assumes you like candles. otherwise, what specific home fragrance do you use? I don't scent my apartment, since I hear doing so is bad for animals, and I have two cats. Even if I did scent my home, I think candles would be a terrible idea, because of the whole burning thing, and said two cats. Would a "gift" donation to one of the organizations/causes you support be a great gift, or a lame gift? That would be a good thing! cthulhu.gif******9/15***** Does anyone have any symbols they consider to be personally significant or talismanic? Not particularly. There are symbols that I like, but they are generally representative of my larger interests, rather than being talismans in and of themselves. Are there any Gods, Goddess, or other mythological figures of whom you're particularly fond? I enjoy myths and legends in general, though no particular named figures come to mind as being favorites. Lately, I've been particularly interested in myths that involve/explain natural disasters. Since my research is into some of the real mechanisms behind earthquakes in particular, it's really cool to hear how different groups of people explained these phenomena before there was such a thing as modern science. Super villain or vigilante? Which would you like to be? I'm not really the type for either of these, but I think I'd more likely be a vigilante than a supervillain. What mythical or fantastic race of creatures (dragons, unicorns, griffins, elves, dwarves, faeries, etc.) do you most identify with, and why? This is never something I've thought much about, but out of the list here, I think I'm going to have to go with gryphons. They're part one mundane creature, part another, and come together to be something weirder and, perhaps, greater overall. This makes sense given my academic background - scientist and musician at once. Though, perhaps, a phoenix might describe this switch of focus better. One field wasn't working for me - I felt totally burned out on it - so I let that one go and rose out of the frustration and mess and angst into a totally different field that I'm enjoying much better. How do you feel about Dia de los Muertos? Are you interested in sugar skulls? Catrina (or other) skeleton figurines? I know very little about this holiday, but I do know that the aesthetic of sugar skulls is appealing to me. I like all the little patterns and details that go into the designs. Do you have a favorite poem or poet? I know shamefully little about poetry. vampire-smiley-02.gif ******9/14***** For the crafty people out there: would you prefer something crafted or crafting supplies? I would be thrilled to receive a craft that my witch made! I would also be excited to receive supplies, particularly in the form of markers. Can you use pill boxes, a hard ID case, coin purse, etc? Not particularly. Though maybe I should get some cards, since I go to conferences a lot now and end up scrawling my email address on paper for people. Any songs you are desperately into at the moment? I am still totally hooked on the whole Nickel Creek compilation CD that Lizard Queen gave me in the last Switch Witch round. What's autumn like in your neck of the woods? What do you love and/or hate about it? We don't have proper autumn as most people think of it here in Riverside. It remains quite hot even into November, and humidity is pretty much nonexistent. The Santa Ana winds, which result from a high pressure system spilling already warm and pressurized winds from the desert over the mountains, thus heating and speeding the air up even more as it flows into the L.A. basin, generally start in October, making everything hotter and drier. This is also the time of year that fires are whipped into their worst conditions, due to the heat and dryness and wind. Given the recent drought and the severity of fire we've had already, even without Santa Anas, I'm expecting a bad year. So...I do love how the Santa Anas clear all the smog and crap out of the air, leading to some very clear views of the mountains, but I'm definitely not a fan of the fires. What's your favorite product(s) at Trader Joe's? Those dark chocolate and sea salt almonds are amazing, as are the dark chocolate chipotle hazelnuts. I'm also a big fan of their maple frosted wheat cereal, and of the microwavable Thai lunches they have. I actually do a lot of my regular shopping at Trader Joe's, since it's so close by. If you're caught in front of the tv, what are you watching? Mythbusters, Monk, House, or something on the Discovery Health Channel. Unless it's 3AM and I'm up drawing things, in which case it's probably Law and Order. Any Amy Brown art fans? I do not know who this is! How do you feel about Halloween music? (mix CDs, what have you) I generally find Halloween songs amusing, but not so much that I have sought out CDs/MP3s. But don't let this deter you, Witch - if you have found some musically interesting or particularly funny Halloween songs, they're welcome! Who else is reeeeeally looking forward to Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland? I am excited! Is there a store that you love which does not have a location near you (but that has a physical presence somewhere, not just online? Why do you love it so much? Nothing comes to mind. (I live within an hour's drive or so from the Lab, even.) Lolcats....yeah or nay? I can has! What is your favorite creepy folk story or legend? I don't have a favorite, since I know very few to begin with. If your witch were to either write something for you or put together a collection of ghost stories, would you rather have it in writing, recorded as an oral telling, or both? I'd probably rather have it in writing, but I certainly would not object to a recording if that was something my Witch wanted to do. If you had the funds to comission an original painting for yourself, what would it be of? What would it be like- colors, size, style? I have no idea. Seriously. I actually don't think it'd be something geological, though, since that's the kind of stuff I draw. werewolf2.gif******9/12-13***** What's something you're really looking forward to in the semi-near future? Volcanology class field trip to Hawaii! Also, continued work on the big earthquake outreach project I've been focused on for the past month and a half. What fictional character do you most identify with and why? I could think about this question for a long time and never come up with one in particular, so I won't. Could you use a 'travel' imp case? How many should it hold? It wouldn't hurt, though my use would be more as a way to keep the imps from getting squished in transit, than as a thing I'd carry around for the sake of refreshing the scent. I'd have no preference as to what it could hold. As a witchee, would you prefer to have many little packages sent to you throughout the round with a not-so-big final package or fewer things throughout the round with one huge final package to seal the sweetness? I would be thrilled with whatever modus operandi of gift giving my Witch chose to adopt. What is your idea of the perfect evening at home? Just me, petting the cats and relaxing, maybe reading or drawing. If I'm drawing, the TV might be on, and it'd be an actually interesting show. In this perfect evening, it is not stupidly hot in my apartment. Are you on any social networks (MySpace, Twitter, LJ, Facebook, Bebo, etc)? If so, make with the links! Are you open to new friends? I'm dsch on Livejournal and seismogenic on Twitter. I'm definitelt open for new friends. What kind of socks? Right now, my socks are all the plain nondescript white ones. How often do you update your wishlist? Generally, whenever I get s new thing and test it. May I help you fill out your costuming wardrobe (assuming you costume)? Are there articles you are seeking to enhance your a) Halloween costume, Renfest attire, c) Cosplay, d) Steampunk accouterment? Nothing immediately comes to mind here. I generally only do the costume thing around Halloween, though if I had more excuses to do so without being the only person in costume, I would. My Halloween costumes tend to either be somehow historical, or to be anthropomorphic personifications of things. So, who has a store or ETSY shop or knows of a shop of a fellow BPALer that everybody needs to check out? I have never actually poked around on Etsy. Who are your favorite artists/illustrators/art periods? In terms of periods, I tend to like my art rather like my music - stuff from the late 19th and early 20th centuries - Romanticism, if you will. I like art nouveau and jugendstil for all the patterned details, and I have an appreciation for art deco providing it has not been done as a simplification/modification of things that were prettier earlier (see: the Call Building/Central Tower, 3rd and Market, San Francisco. Grr.) As for artists...hm. I like Mucha, I like Klimt...I actually don't know that much about fine art. Haha. If we can include photographers, definitely Ansel Adams. An if we can include comics, P. Craig Russell. What's your stance on cranberries? Yum! Do you mind receiving used (in good condition, of course) CDs or DVDs? (I know this question was on the questionnaire about books, but I didn't see one for DVDs or CDs.) Used things are great by me! I tend to buy used CDs rather than new for myself, even, since they still work but cost less. Do you have a crush on anyone famous? Do you have a crush on any literary characters? Would you like fanfiction or fan art based on this/these people? I have no crushes. You're at home, or out, and you want a snack. Something that will get you through to the next meal, or through to the end of school or what ever. What do you grab? In reality, this is often determined by mood, and I may not make the best choices (read: Pop Tarts), but if I want to keep my blood sugar at a good height and not have a rumbling tummy, I go for things like almonds or other mixed nuts. Do you have a favorite bpal bottle art? I love looking at the bottle art for all the new scents that come out. This is actually one of the things I do first at Will Call, before even testing some of the new ones. As for favorites, hm. All of the Steamworks and Carnaval labels are amazing (the label art may have been partly responsible for my purchasing a bottle of Priala, even). All of the Lunacy labels lately have been wonderful, too, though I haven't actually purchased one since Windy Moon. I also found last year's Wind in the Willows labels to be particularly charming. So...after all that, I can't say I have a single favorite, but that I enjoy the bottle art in general. The artists must have such fun with these. Are there any decants from the Halloweenies, Literary Vampires, Gris Grimly, or Hellboy that you would be interested in receiving? I sniffed a bunch of these at Will Call, but didn't spring for decants due to money reasons. Things that I'd be glad to have decants of, though, would be Carlin, the Hell Gate of Ireland, and any/all of the Hellboy scents. With Hellboy, though, I figure I can also keep sniffing them at Will Call to figure out if/when I want bottles of any of them. ******9/11***** Do you have a Livejournal? I do! My username is dsch. I don't update horribly often, but when I do, the posts are long. There has been a lot of talk about chocolate, but none about Candy! What is your favorite Candy? What candy do you hate? I am a big fan of candy in general, it's true! Favorites entirely depend on my mood, though as before stated, you can never go wrong with chocolate for me. Ditto mints. Cinnamon things are also quite welcome. I like fruit candies in general, except for the grape ones. Please do not send me grape candy. It reminds me too much of the awful purple allergy medicine I took daily as a little kid. Do you have a Blu-Ray player? Nope. Do you have any objections to receiving downloads? Is your internet connection fast enough for you to download large files like music easily? Are there any songs, albums, movies, or TV shows that you can't find/haven't been released that you want? I have no objections! My connection is tolerably fast, though I've never really tried downloading more than individual songs at a time. Even if my home connection turns out to be slow, the connection at school is ridiculously fast. Nothing is coming to mind right this instant in terms of things I particularly want, but if I think of something, I'll post or blog. skull.gif ******9/10***** If you do any kind of craft, could you use supplies? What kind? knitting needles, yarn, amazing fabric, pinking shears, cool thimbles or pincushins, jewelery making supplies, beads, etc.? I could always use more art markers, specifically Copics or Prismacolors. I use them frequently, and I just burned through a bunch of them on a major project this summer. What's your favorite pain-relief remedy or ritual? Advil and a nap. Do sounds make you happy? What ambient noises make you smile? Like so many other people here, I love the sound of my cats purring. It's especially nice when I get them both purring at once. I also like the sound of wind through the trees, providing it is a nice sane gentle wind (as opposed to, say, Santa Anas). Also like other people here, I think distant train whistles sound cool. When you receive your SW packages...do you like receiving things that are individually wrapped inside? or unwrapped? or both? I have no particular preference - whatever my Witch wants to do! Of course, we're all going to be grateful no matter what our witches give us, but for the record, what is your anti-present? Tell us something that you think your future witch might give you that you absolutely, unequivocally DO. NOT. WANT. Nothing really comes to mind here. I think I was pretty clear about the kind of stuff I don't want in my questionnaire. Uh, I guess, no candles? Since things that involve fire are not a good idea around rambunctious cats. What BPAL scent have you never tried but always wanted to? What scent have you tried and LOVED, and haven't been able to get more of and why? I generally don't look at the older scents, since I know there's next to no chance of me getting to test them. In terms of recent things that there's no way I'll get to try, almost every single note in Sacrifice sounded amazing. The only one that didn't immediately appeal was the blood note, but everything else looked awesome. As for things I got to try once, Skadi is amazing. I am lucky enough to have a decant, and I'm sure I'll never come by more of it than that. I know we're all scent sensitive here. What are your favorite non-perfume smells? Day in the life stuff? Coffee, orange blossoms wafting over campus in the spring, the desert right after rain, woodsmoke (providing it is not a huge freaking wildfire), chai Coffee drinkers, what types of beans to you like? Kona, Sumatra, Kenya..etc. How do you like them roasted? Do you like flavors, such as hazelnut, vanilla, etc. in your coffee? I like trying different types of beans. Right now, I have some from Guatemala and some from Flores (Indonesia). They're pretty different from each other, and both are delicious. I like flavored coffee drinks sometimes, but not so much for my first cup in the morning. Who has a birthday falling in this round? Nope. It was in June. For those of us who like chocolate, do you like anything /in/ your chocolate, like fruit, nuts, or for the more daring among us, chilies? I like trying interesting things with my chocolate! I think I'd draw the line at that bacon bar that seems to get mentioned every round, though. But yeah, so long as it's not cherries (to which I'm allergic), I like trying things in chocolate. Are there any childhood shows/movies/games/books/etc. that still hold a really special place in your heart? I still adore the Redwall books. I also wish I could watch shows like Gargoyles again. ******9/9***** Super power? I would want to be able to teleport. I could visit all kinds of places at the snap of a finger, with no travel bills, no transit time, and no carbon footprint! If I had this power, I could also move to San Francisco now and just teleport-commute to school, rather than having to wait until I graduate in 2013. If I send you whole spices or coffee beans, would you be able to grind them or would you prefer them preground for your convenience? I have a coffee grinder. I do not know how grinding of spices works. For the tea and coffee drinkers: Opinion on tea- and/or coffee-related accessories/etc? (Teaware, sugar crystals, infusers, tea chests, etc) I don't particularly need fancy accessories to make coffee or tea turn out good. An infuser for loose leaf tea is the only one of those things I actually have, and I do use it regularly How do you take your coffee (or tea)? Black or with cream and/or sugar? I take my coffee black. As for tea, it depends on the type. Green and white tea, I don't add anything. Black tea, sometimes milk and sugar. Restaurants you'd like a gift certificate to on Restaurant.com? I can't get this website to looooad. In your perfect world it is chocolate and...? Oh jeez. I have to pick? I like trying different types of chocolate things. How do you scent your home: tarts, reed diffusers, BPAL, candles? I don't scent my home. This is apparently a bad idea for people who have cats. What's your favorite dessert treat? Ice cream? Cake? Pie? Fudge brownie cake with pie flavored ice cream on top? This entirely depends on my mood. In the summer, though, it's generally ice cream, because it's so stupid hot here in the summer. Do you believe we control our destiny, or does our destiny control us? We control our destiny. What one thing that is missing from your life would you like to have above all else? Uh. Is "living in San Francisco NOW" a thing? ******9/8***** What was your favouritest job ever, and why? I'm enjoying this getting paid to do research thing I'm doing now. The docent position at the Smithsonian was also awesome, but that wasn't a paid thing, so it's not really a job. Which three albums would you take to your apocalypse bolt hole and how would you power the generator? The Beatles' Revolver, Gjallarhorn's Ranarop, and Great Big Sea's Rant and Roar What GC scent have you been putting off getting since it'll "always be there"? Tombstone and Kumari Kandam. I very nearly caved on Tombstone at the last Will Call, but I talked myself out of it in exactly this way. Are you interested in things like home remedies for ailments, cleaning solutions, etc.? I have no experience with such things, but if you have any magic cat-pee-smell-remover, that would rock. Also, allergy remedies are good things. ******9/7***** Any cooks? Could you use anything cooking related? Aprons? Cookbooks? Measuring Cups? Recipes? Herb/Spice containers? Fancy Spices? Dish Towels? Cocktail napkins? Amazing Beaded Pot Holders? (like from our very own Pottersville! ) Something else? When I cook, it generally ends in epic fail. I probably don't even deserve fancy supplies. Are you an avid reader? What's your favorite book/series? I love to read, but I almost never have time to read for pleasure anymore, since I'm in grad school. It's very sad. That said, I like Gaiman and Pratchett in general. I also confess that I still read the Redwall books, though more for nostalgia than for anything else. In terms of nonfiction, I've been on a bit of a John McPhee kick this summer. What's your favorite candy to stock up on at Halloween? Pumpkin spice Hershey's Kisses. I didn't hoard enough last year, I don't think. What are your phobias? Falling off the freeway (again). Though it is not enough of a fear to keep me from driving. I've put 15,000 miles on the new car since my falling-off-freeway incident in June of 2007. This was, perhaps oddly, a thing that still scared me even before it actually happened. What is your favourite flower (or plant)? A huge expansive field full of a variety of wildflowers is a gorgeous thing. I don't know if I have a favorite among them, though. As for other plants, I love Joshua trees. They're so weird. Duct tape purses and wallets and things are pretty darned cool. Who else thinks so? They are pretty cool. An anonymous benefactor gives you $500 (or an equivalent amount of money in your currency of choice) with the following stipulations. You must spend all of it within a week: any money left unspent must be returned. You must spend at least half of the money on yourself. You may not use it to pay off debts or bills of any kind. What do you do with the money? I'd go to San Francisco for a few days. Not that I'm fixating or anything. Who likes coloring books? I prefer to color my own line art. This was true even when I was very little. Do you have a Good Reads profile? If so, make with the link! If you don't have one, go make one! I don't have one. I guess I should make one. Hah. ******9/6***** You're in the kitchen at the end of a pay period and groceries are pretty scarce. Do you take the five ingredients you find first and make something fabulous, or do you order take out? This depends on how broke I am at the end of the pay period. I would be inclined to just eat out, since nothing I would cook would be very good, but if I'm broke, I will suffer through my own attempts at cuisine. If you could decorate/redecorate any 1 room in your home, what would it be and how would you decorate it? I would probably decorate my living room to look like a room that people might actually want to be in! As opposed to a room in which grad school threw up on the floor. There are SO many papers in that room. Any rabid sports fans out there? What teams do you root for? STEELERS, BABY. What's your favorite animal? (You can have more than one.) Domestic cats, cheetahs, cougars, domestic dogs, wolves, coyotes, foxes, pine martens, otters, genets...I could go on. This is how the world ends... zombie apocalypse, robot uprising, alien invasion, return of the elder gods... which doomsday scenario do you prefer (or make your own!)? A large earthquake on the northern San Andreas Fault levels northern California. It sets off several significant aftershocks in southern California, including one on the Puente Hills Fault under Los Angeles, flattening the city (because it's not a true doomsday scenario until L.A. is destroyed). While everyone is fighting the fires that have consumed the case, static stress changes in the crust twig the Cascadia Subduction Zone, which inflicts a 9.0 earthquake on the Pacific Northwest and sends a tsunami across the Pacific, which has effects as far away as Japan. These stress changes twig several of the faults within Japan, which rupture in sequence in a southernly fashion. With all of the seismic waves bouncing around, the magma chamber under Mt. Merapi in central Java gets particularly stirred up, and the gases within react, prompting a massive Krakatau-like eruption. The amount of ash shot into the air is so vast that the climate is drastically effective. Earlier in this process, hurricanes and tornadoes turn up in unusual places as air cooled by the ash in the atmosphere. As things progress, the Earth sinks into volcanic winter. Crops, which have already been struggling due to drought, die, and people and livestock starve. The particularly snowy and icy months don't help. And for those in climates that don't get snow and ice, everything is still such a wreck that nobody can get vaccination or care for standard winter diseases, so epidemics wipe out other large groups. Eventually, survivors become so few and far between that they can't reach each other to share resources or reproduce. And once everyone has died, Yellowstone erupts for good measure, and a meteor hits where Los Angeles used to be, just because it can. (Individually, these things might be able to happen, but they probably wouldn't be able to set each other off quite like that...) In the year 2525... if man is still alive... what sort of future do you imagine? (apologies to anyone who gets that song stuck in their head!) I HATE THAT SONG. AUUUGH. I suspect we will have a future that is blissfully free of that song! Unless some jerkface resurrects it for the occasion. Said jerkface might be punished by being vaporized with the push of a button. Do you believe in magic (or magick, if you prefer)? What does it mean to you? Nothing has happened to me to give me cause to believe in it. If you found the puzzle box from Hellraiser, what would you do with it? ( and would you be able to resist playing with it? ) I do not know what this thing is. ******9/5***** Do you like pinup art/images? I have no particular interest in them, though I have no problem with them, either. What are your plans for Halloween? Have you made any yet? Do you have any traditions? I don't know whether or not I'll be able to celebrate Halloween this year, because I might be on a class trip to Hawaii at the time (the exact date isn't set yet). This is, to me, a legitimate reason to skip Halloween, but I'd still be a little sad. If I do get to celebrate it, I'm thinking I'll either go as a victim/survivor (haven't decided which yet) of the 1906 earthquake, or perhaps as the anthropomorphic personification of San Francisco. Who are your BPAL forum buddies? You know, people I could conspire with to Witch you! Nali and septima_pica are people I know in person, and they'd have ideas. My previous Witches, Voodoocatwoman and Lizard Queen, were amazing and clearly know the kinds of things I like, so they could also be askable. What is your favorite color? Blue or green. Though I've been using a lot of gray in drawings lately, too. Any other steampunk fans/lovers? Steampunk is awesome, though thus far, I have only observed from the sidelines. Describe your ideal picnic lunch. Where would you go? Who (if anyone, and yes there can be multiple people) would accompany you? What sort of food would you take? And, of course, if a picnic lunch sounds like a horrible idea, feel free to say so! I would want to go somewhere with cool geology, though if you ask me to narrow this down right now, I don't know if I could. Accompanying me would be friends from the geology department, the music department, and people from back east that I almost never see anymore. It would be fun to do this as a potluck sort of picnic, with a wide variety of interesting food. ******9/4***** Any Gamers here? What kind? Board games? RPG? Miniature? MMORPG? I used to play a lot of MU*s, but I haven't in a while. Is anyone playing this round of SW into ABJ? (asian ball jointed dolls) Nope. What is your favorite Halloween icon? Icon, in what sense? Imagine that you're given a shoebox-sized time capsule, and you are asked to put any number of items in the box that symbolize who you are. The items can be may be anything you can imagine, and money is no object, but they must fit within the box. Which items do you choose? A CD containing image files of things I've drawn, a CD containing sound files of music I've written, and another CD containing sound files of all the different kinds of music I play. A nerdy t-shirt of some sort. A couple of small interesting rocks. Maybe a copy of a scientific paper I've written. A picture of my cats. Not a picture of me, however. Nobody wants to look at that. Are you involved in any long-term, ambitious project? something like decorating your house or saving for a trip to the other end of the world, for example. I just finished a big art project! It wasn't particularly long term though; if anything, it was rushed. Does a PhD count as a long-term ambitious project, because I am definitely working on that. I am also already contemplating ways that could land me permanently in San Francisco after I earn said PhD. Favorite kind or take out kinda burger? Whats your burger preference? Veggie,meat or ???? I rarely eat burgers, but when I do, In'N'Out trumps all, at least in terms of fast food. Whats your favorite childhood toy? I had a plush yellow lab named Shadow, like the dog in Homeward Bound. I couldn't have a real dog, so I had to make do with a toy. If you have a pet, what kind of gifts would be good for them? I have two cats, Andreas and Garlock. Yes, they're named after faults. They both like catnip, particularly Andreas. They also like toys, though the appeal of a new one tends to wear off on them after a few days. Unless it's the laser pointer. Do you Tweet? What is your Twitter name? I tweet. My username there is the same as here: seismogenic. Are you on Ravelry? What is your Ravelry name? Not on Ravelry. Me knitting would turn into a disaster of epic proportions. ******9/3***** What are everyone's favorite Halloween-y/Autumn-y/spooky movies? Are there any you don't own but would like to? Uh. I know very few of these. Gonna have to go with The Nightmare Before Christmas, since it's the only one that immediately comes to mind. Are roasted pumpkin seeds and home made chex mix the best fall snack foods, or what? I love roasted pumpkin seeds so much. I actually don't know if I've had homemade chex mix, as opposed to the kind that comes in a bag. Whats your favorite pie, my dear SW's? Piiiie. Probably a tossup between apple and pumpkin. What kinda socks ar you wearing tonight? I am in southern California, and it is early September. I am not wearing socks. I have not worn socks in several weeks. Shocking, I know! Do you like socks? Blankets? Wrist warmers? Arm warmers? Headband? Shawl? Or what kind of knitted thing would you love the most? I do, however, like socks when it is not summer! Ditto blankets. I like days when it's just chilly enough to make these things really nice. I wouldn't get much use out of things like arm warmers or shawls, both because winter here is not very potent, and also because that's rather more feminine than I choose to me. How do you feel about ghost stories? Do you like to tell the old tales around a campfire? Read true accounts on the web way past your bedtime? I know very few ghost stories, but I generally find them intriguing. Do you like to pick up a good anthology of Poe stories on a blustery day? Or is all that too scary for you? I have read shamefully little Poe, but I have enjoyed what I did read. Who here is LOVING Warehouse 13? I don't know what that is. Nother question! Coffee or Tea? Both! I tend to drink coffee in the morning and tea in the afternoon. Interested in locally produced products? Food, skincare or both?Olive oil? Lavender oils or soaps? Locally produced is cool! I'd be interested in seeing people's interesting and weird local stuff. I might lean more toward food, but stuff like soap is also good. Does anyone in here wear a lot of dangly earrings or collect pendants of all kinds?? How about hair clips or pony tail band things? Nope. What is your favourite historical period? Turn of the 20th century. So many different things I've been interested have ties to that period. (I mean, other than that certain big earthquake in a certain California city that I've already mentioned a zillion times in these questions.) What other hot beverages everyone likes for fall? Coffee, tea, spiced cider, chai. All are good. I wish the weather were already conducive to drinking these things. (But noooo, I'm going to a conference in Palm Springs this coming week, and it's going to be 107 out! I want autumn, dangit!) Did you order anything from the most recent update? No, though I'm kind of regretting that I didn't order Falling Leaf Moon, since I'm not sure if I'll be able to make it to Will Call in October. Vampires or Werewolves? Or some other monster? Werewolves. What sort of odd or regional foods do you crave? I love a lot of different kinds of regional foods. I think I get outright cravings for Japanese food more than for others, though. I wanted udon SO BADLY on Monday, but all the Japanese restaurants were closed for Labor Day. Woe!

Normally, citrusy things disappear on me really quickly. After a surprisingly long-lived citrus experience at Will Call, however, I'm feeling lucky, and think I'll give some other citrus scents a go. This one has been sitting in the pile of untested imps for a while, and it seems like a good scent for a fairly hot (but not omg doom hot) day. In the imp: Citrus and rose. Not so much on the amber yet. Wet on skin: The rose is not so crazy rosy on me now, but the citrus has, alas, become more subdued. It's all melding into amber now, which is definitely giving it the golden description. Drydown: Freshly dry, this is now largely an amber scent, infused with little hints of citrus and rose. Not picking up on anything like jasmine, and I'm still not sure whether or not I'd recognize orris. So, pretty much, sweet and tart amber. Still absolutely golden. At one hour in, everything has melded together even more, resulting in a sweet amber with a subtly tart edge. It is not, however, distinctly citrus anymore. Five hours later: Not much has changed in terms of balance since the one hour mark, though the overall scent is fainter. End of the day: Very faint amber. Overall: While this did not remain citrusy on me as I'd hoped, I still ended up liking this better than I thought I would. It's a bright and slightly tart version of amber, completely fitting with the images of gold and glitter that come to mind when one thinks of Versailles. Even though there's rose, I also think that a guy could get away with this, though admittedly in a frilly and flashy Louis XIV kind of way. I think I'll hold onto the imp.

It's supposed to be 104 degrees outside today. Time to break out the things that should hopefully feel like cool temperatures. In the imp: Cool cucumber and slightly sweet grassiness. Wet on skin: Fresh cucumber, cool and a bit wet, with just a little hint of grass. Drydown: Freshly dry is pretty much the same as wet - cool fresh cucumber. The grass may have faded a bit more, but it's still lurking. At one hour, it's basically single note cucumber. It's softer now, and doesn't smell as wet, but it's still a light, cool, and slightly sweet scent. Five hours later: Gone. End of the day: Still gone. Overall: This definitely is a cool and refreshing scent while it lasts, and I like it well. The problem here is that it doesn't last very long. This could definitely be related to my walking around outside, with said 104 degree heat taking its toll on the oil, but I was still disappointed that it didn't offer me some sort of (unrealistic, granted) vague anti-heat forcefield. It seems like this'd be a good one to wear in a place that's hot but has a breeze, as opposed to in Riverside.

I'm not going to lie - I'm drawn to this one because there is desert involved, not because of little green aliens. The idea of using soft green notes to represent the aliens against said desert is also very appealing to me, but I'm actually a little apprehensive of some of the more floral members of this scent. I'm hoping they don't kill it for me, and that I can smell the desert, or at least smell more than extraterrestrial flora with possibly-malevolent intents. In the imp: There's an indistinct and decidedly green fruity sweetness, but despite the fact that those notes are listed first, I actually smell much more of the dry wood and desert scrub, not to mention a pinch of something saline. Wet on skin: Fruit and flowers are still there, but they're still melded enough together to be indistinct from one another, aside from being very very green indeed. It's a green that's pale in hue but strong in intensity. I still smell a lot of desert around this all. Drydown: This dries quite quickly, and as it does, the pale musks start to come out. They meld more into the sweet green fruity thing than to the deserty backdrop, however. The green aspect is more prominent now than when the scent was wet, but I still definitely get dry air, scrubby plants, and a bit of salt behind it all. At one hour in, the glowy green aspect is still extremely homogeneous, considering how many of the listed notes must be involved in it. The green aspect is also, however, now quite faint. There is still quite a lot of desert left, however, in the form of dry plant matter, something a little stony, and a bit of salt. Five hours later: All desert! The green aliens took off after about two hours, in fact, and they seem to have left the landscape intact. I get wood, stone, a bit of salt, and a hint of musk. This is all still very evident, despite the quick fade of the other notes. End of the day: Dry wood and a hint of ozone. Overall: I'm fairly sure this isn't how it was supposed to work. Unless you want to argue that the quick departure of the green stuff is a parallel to the aliens not sticking around on Earth for very long, I'm guessing this was supposed to be green glow plus desert for most of the time. However, my skin seems to push green glow away, and I'm left with just desert. Aaaand, I'm not complaining! I do like the green stuff, but I'm also a huge sucker for desert scents, and what's left over is this awesome desert-at-night sort of thing, with the heat of the day being stored in the sand but not in the air. I'm also impressed by the presence of discernible salt flats here! So, 51 not doing what it should have was a good thing for me, since I was drawn to it for the desert aspect anyway. Definitely keeping the imp.

Out of the whole recent addition to the Mad Tea Party, Twinkle Twinkle Little Bat appealed to me most. I think it might be due to the fact that I love mixing green tea sorbet with melon sorbet, and this reminded me of that. Or it might be that I know many of the fruit notes from the other new scents don't work on me, but I wasn't sure about melons. Either way, this one sounded good, and when I sniffed it at Will Call, it also seemed quite good - even though my first impression was, "Ooh, that'd make an awesome smoothie." So, generally assured of awesome, I bought an imp, and here we go. In the imp: Fresh sweet melon, somewhere between canteloupe and honeydew, with a very slight tang that I assume is coming from the lime. Wet on skin: Very juicy sweet melon, which still seems to be some weird genetic recombination between honeydew and canteloupe. The citrus I thought I was getting now seems to be gone, but there's something indistinctly drier lingering under all the melon juice now. Drydown: Freshly dry, melon is still the most prominent scent by far, though I think it's leaning more toward the honeydew side of things by this point. The green tea is also evident, though it's like something the melon is suspended in, rather than an even mix. Not really getting the indistinctly drier thing now, either. At one hour in, everything has faded quite a lot, to a level that seems almost excessively faint seeing as I've only been wearing it for an hour, though the actual balance hasn't particularly changed within that faintness. Five hours later: I was about to write "gone," and to note that it had been that way since about the two-hour mark, but when I sniffed really hard, I got a faint whiff of something that seemed like sweetish wood. It's very very faint, and I'm resultantly not sure if I'm identifying it correctly at all, but there you go. Overall: This is a wonderful fresh melon scent...right up until it disappears, which happens incredibly quickly on me. I definitely like it quite a lot, particularly for hot weather, and I think I could get away with wearing it and not craving melon all day (which is not the case with some scents with food elements), but it gets gone so fast that any talk of wearing it for an extended period of time becomes completely moot. I will probably end up swapping this (or figuring out how to make it into soap instead), but I should note that I also did attempt making a smoothie based on the notes in here, and that turned out awesome, so I'll still be enjoying Twinkle Twinkle Little Bat even with the short wearlength.

In honor of this week's massively huge vampiric update of awesome, I figured I should test the only vampiric scent that I currently have. All the more so since I was initially surprised the update had no Vlad references, until I remembered that he already had an oil. D'oh. In the imp: Some evergreen, some citrus, definitely some clove, and something chilly. I assume the chilly is the mint, though it doesn't smell outright minty here. Wet on skin: The tobacco has announced itself, though as a distinct but smooth backdrop to what I already smelled in the imp. The mint is more minty, but the citrus is (unsurprisingly) less citrusy. Drydown: Freshly dry, the clove is standing out as one of the main players, and I'm thinking the cumin might be edging in there now as well. The mint and the fir are melding into something sharply dark green and not so cool in temperature anymore. Citrus has pretty much left the building. The tobacco backdrop is still going on. At one hour in, the cloves and tobacco are playing very well together, though the sharpness of the fir and maybe the cumin are keeping it from going entirely clove cigarette on me. There's definitely no citrus left, and anything that might be mint has blended in too well to be distinct. Five hours later: Mostly clove and tobacco, still pretty prominent. There are still enough traces of other notes to keep this from being a dead ringer for clove cigarettes without the smoke, but those traces have blended smoothly enough together to not be describable note by note. End of the day: I thought I'd hosed this review by going to the beach, actually. But now that I sniff my wrist, I do not smell only like Huntington Beach, but rather like Huntington Beach with vampires smoking clove cigarettes. There is, despite submersion in salt water for an hour, still a hint of clovey tobacco on my wrists. I suspect that these would be more than faint traces if I hadn't gone swimming. Overall: This is pretty darn awesome. I like the smell of clove cigarettes, so having that as sort of a base is a good thing, and the addition of the evergreen and minty notes give it more depth. It's a dark scent, but not heavy enough that it's a bad idea to wear in the summer. It also has insane staying power, as evidenced by the fact that even the Pacific could not wash it away. Definitely a keeper! I'm also sure my imp is pretty aged, since I got it at a meet n' sniff, and it has the old logo on the label, so I'm also going to say right off the bat that aging this is a very very good idea.

What is not to love here? Cow, in general! Ghost cow. Seriously, this is one of the most entertaining ghost stories I've ever heard. The mere concept of this oil makes me happy, even aside from the Yerba Buena Island being in San Francisco factor. Of course, the San Francisco factor also made me squee, I won't deny. I also don't deny that I'm trying this one today specifically because I just got back from San Francisco yesterday, and I miss it like crazy. I spent a while sitting by the Ferry Building and looking at Yerba Buena island, and I couldn't help but imagine a ghostly moo echoing over the Bay, even though I didn't actually hear one. In the bottle: Sweet milk with a trace of dry herbs. I can't tell you what the herbs are, except they're not sweet compared to the milk. Wet on skin: The herbs are more pronounced, but still indistinct from each other. They're kind of a lightish green note over a solid base of sweet milk. If anything, the herbs keep this from going foody, oddly enough. Drydown; Not much change from wet. Mostly sweet milk, though not strong, with a faint air of dry herbs. I can see where people are getting an impression of oregano, but only if I think about it. It's not smacking me over the head, nor is any other individual herb note. One hour later, this is still a very mellow scent. The milk note still dominant, but at the same time, it doesn't scream "Hi! I'm milk!" so very much. It's more of a light-colored creamy warmth, and is quite comforting. The herbs are still there on top, but they're still so subtle that I can't determine what they specifically are. Five hours later: Not really getting much in terms of herbs anymore, at least not specifically, though I can still distinguish something faintly dry and not-milk against the remaining warm creamy note. On the whole, though, everything is quite faint. End of the day: The parts of my wrists that had oil on them definitely smell different than the parts that didn't, but they don't smell anything like the scent I was describing earlier in the day! If anything, the faint note that's left is reminiscent of saltwater! This makes sense for the whole island factor of the Cow's haunting grounds, but it's still weird that I didn't catch wind of it at all until the scent is almost entirely gone. Overall: This was my first experience with a majorly cream/milk-based scent, and I'll admit that I was a little wary of it, no matter how much I adore the concept behind the scent. Well, my worries were overblown or unfounded. I found Phantom Cow to be a very soft, pleasant, and even comforting scent. I definitely got more milk than herbs by a long shot, but the herbs were present enough to give the oil atmosphere and keep it from veering into purely foody waters. Once it has settled, I can picture the Cow in question relaxing happily among the island greenery, perhaps finally reunited with her ghost calf - and I think it has to be that sort of happy ending, since this scent registers to me as peaceful, rather than rank with spectral bovine rage. I was going to remark on two things: One, that this does not, for all its awesomeness, particularly remind me of San Francisco, and Two, that the salt water at the end is bizarre. This has since wrapped itself up neatly in my mind, however - saltwater surrounding Yerba Buena Island implies San Francisco Bay! I smell like San Francisco after all! Squee. How can I lose, when I get to smell like my favorite city, and like a ghost cow, all on the same day?

I am least familiar with the concept behind B340 out of the whole set of Convergence oils. Google is telling me that people can't stay in this cabin of the Queen Mary anymore because of the sheer volume of paranormal weirdness, and it's also telling me that someone was murdered in there, but it's not telling me much about what the victim was like. I have to wonder, but at the same time, the idea of being told a ghost story by way of scent is very intriguing. In the bottle: Lightly sweet herbal mint and violets. I can tell there are also other things, but I have no idea what sort of other things. They're pretty backgrounded. Wet on skin: Still a definite focus on the herbal mint and violets. These particular violets seem less strong than some of the others I've run into. Drydown: Freshly dry, there isn't much of a change. It's still a pretty equal balance of light violet and fresh herbal mint. The sweetness I was getting when the oil was wet seems to be solidifying into something that's hinting at being rose. It's a subtle enough rose - if that's what it is at all - that I'm not worried about the other notes being drowned out, at least not at this point. By one hour in, I'm wondering whether or not my earlier impression of rose was accurate, since I only get hints of it occasionally. There still hasn't really been much change overall - sweet delicate violet and mint, and maybe something a little soft and powdery behind it. Five hours later: Much fainter now, and sweet in a less plant-specific way than before. Still getting a touch of violet, but the mint has left the building. The sweetness has matured into something like a very light dusty vanilla, and it's possible that there's a light musk of some sort back there as well. I'd even say that, to my nose, it currently falls somewhere between the parts of Dorian that aren't tea and the parts of Black Opal that aren't rocks. End of the day: Very faint, slightly powdery, sweetness. I am pretty certain this is related to the presence of a light musk, though it's still also vaguely vanilla-y. Overall: This scent is, on the whole, light and ethereal. It's sweet and floral and herbal, but not in an overwhelming shade of any of those. If anything, it's like the recollection of a sweet floral perfume in a larger space. To my mind, the lightness of the scent against the pale background that remains late in the drydown makes sense for a larger room that was once occupied by elegant ghosts. And it's because the florals are subdued and ethereal that I like them in here. I don't like smacked-with-bouquet sorts of scents, but this is very gentle and pleasant and fresh, even if it's representing the perfume worn by people dead long enough that they themselves sure don't smell so fresh anymore. But I digress. I am not entirely sure if I can personally get away with wearing this, since it is pretty feminine, but that doesn't change the fact that I think it smells really good. I'm going to hold onto this and contemplate how to best make use of a lovely scent.

Out of all the places described by the four Convergence XV oils, I'm pretty sure this is the closest to me, mileage-wise. I've certainly spent a decent amount of time in Pasadena, and while I haven't seen this particular bridge, I'm still really wondering if the overall scent of this oil will be oddly familiar. Not that I've run into ghosts or anything, but, you know, plants! And, uh, freeways. Yeah. In the bottle: Sharp, cool, and planty. I can't quite figure at this point whether the balance of plants is skewed more toward flowers or more toward the green parts of the plants. It's a bit aquatic back there, too. Wet on skin: Lots and lots of plants, with a balance definitely more in favor of leaves, though there are some flowers in there. I can't tell what kind. I couldn't tell you what the leaves are, either, but they're sharp, and they do smell quite familiar. There's still some fresh water back there, but not enough to push this into "Hi! I'm aquatic!" territory. Drydown: Freshly dry isn't much of a change from wet. It's still a dense combination of sharp oh-so-familiar leaves and softer flowers, with some water behind them. I do, however, think I'm starting to get a bit of something that explains why other people have had thoughts of wet concrete. I don't know if I would have noticed it on my own at this point, but it makes sense, given the rest of the review thread. At one hour in, the concrete note is more prominent than it was before, though it's still overgrown by plenty of greenery. I'm not getting so much of flowers anymore, just those familiar green plants. I get less of an impression of actual water now, but the greenery and the concrete still register as damp to me. Five hours later: Predominantly wet concrete, with a hint of ozone. The greenery is still back there if I sniff really hard, but it's not particularly obvious otherwise. End of the day: Ozone. Overall: This scent gives me a detailed mental picture of a setting that is probably an exaggeration on the actual Arroyo Seco bridge (I've never been there specifically!), but could find its place nicely in a sort of Victorian ghost story derived from the actual history. There is thick dense greenery - lots of deciduous leaves, but also those iceplants everyone else in the review keeps bringing up (I looked them up - they're everywhere, and when I sniffed one on campus, it was indeed the familiar smell). The green is punctuated by small white flowers, the petals of which fall down an indistinct length. The green practically forms a tunnel or cave around a concrete bridge (looked up the actual bridge - it is indeed concrete!), but the ends of the bridge don't seem to particularly go anywhere. Everything is damp and dripping, as if it has recently rained, or as if fog has just cleared enough to reveal the scene. The ghosts that might be flitting about in this scene are sort of wistful melancholy ghosts, rather than malevolent horror story types that possess people. This is perhaps one of the strongest specific mental pictures I've gotten from a BPAL. I suspect that, judging from the concrete and the iceplant, this is another scent that is completely dead on in the depiction of its locale. Also, the overall temperature of the scent is quite cool, so I definitely see myself reaching for it on hot days. So far, the Convergence scents are two for two on awesome in my book! I'm looking all the more forward to the other two now.

This is, hands down, the most excited I've ever been about an individual BPAL scent. It is rocks! It is desert! It is California geology! And it is something gloriously weird with several theories about how it works. I cannot find anything that is not to love here, at least in my weird desert-dwelling California geologist book. And these were all thoughts I had before looking at the reviews thread! Oh man. There are comparisons to Moai and to Tombstone, which are two of my favorites. There is description of desert foliage and sand. Oh, and there was the thing where, at Will Call, Beth told me that she thought I'd really love this one. So, yes. Zillions and zillions of thanks to Persephone76 for picking this, and the other Convergence XV scents, up for me! In the bottle: Dusty and stony with a hint of watery green - but like a succulent plant, rather than an aquatic. Overall, surprisingly cool in temperature given the whole Death Valley thing. But then again, one of the theories about how the rocks move involves a thin ice layer. Wet on skin: The scent immediately starts warming up when it hits my skin, though at this point, it's still nowhere near record high temperatures ever recorded in the US. It's still a comparable balance to in the bottle, though - stone, fine-grained and sedimentary, with green succulent plants. Drydown: This is taking surprisingly long to dry, given that the oil didn't seem that thick when I applied it. Perhaps this persistent wetness could be a nod to the microorganism film theory of why the rocks move? More likely, I'm reading way too much into it. Once it finally is dry enough to not be shiny on my wrists, it has warmed up even further. We're still not at nose-scorching heat, but the day is still young. The main body of the scent is, appropriately, still rocky and dusty. It gives me the impression of very fine-grained light colored sediment, both consolidated and not. On the whole, though, it's quite well blended, and while I'm still getting a vague impression of greenery, I can't identify really what type. But you probably wouldn't be able to standing in the middle of real desert plants, either! Oddly, it doesn't strike me as being particularly strong on my wrists, but when I take my wrists away from my nose, I can still smell it at pretty much the same intensity. At one hour in, it has warmed up further, and dried out even more. The succulents have mostly given way to drier flora, and they are very much a secondary note to the rocks. Rocks rocks rocks! Gloriously realistic ones! Oddly, they smell more solid than they did before, though perhaps this sense of consolidation comes more from further distinction between the dusty note and the rocky note. The scent is, if anything, more intense on my wrists than it was earlier, though the throw now doesn't seem as far. Five hours later: Heat-steeped dusty rocks! The heat itself still isn't a huge driving force of this blend, but the rocks smell like they've been baking in the heat for quite some time. The same goes for what remains of the planty notes - they're dry and desiccated, and dwarfed by the sedimentary landscape. The intensity of the whole thing is still pretty strong. End of the day: Surprisingly, since I hadn't really picked up on it much earlier, what remains now is quite a lot of ozone, with maybe a little bit of dusty rockyness back there. The ozone here is effectively a cooler note. Overall: Oh wow. I have tried quite a few BPAL rock and dirt scents, and I think that this one is the most dead-on of the lot -- or it's the most dead-on capture of the scent of the kinds of places where I've done all of my fieldwork, that being the middle of the desert. The combination of dust, solid rock, succulent and desiccated plants, and that scent that rocks give off when they've been sitting in the sun (I have no idea how Beth achieved this, though I suspect the ozone I sniffed late in the day was somehow involved, since rocks do give off ozone when they're broken, at least), is just like stepping out of your air-conditioned car into a field of pale sediment and boulders on a bright warm or hot day. I was actually wondering if anyone in the department would think I'd been in the field because of how I smelled! I can easily understand the comparisons to Moai earlier in this thread, as that's also a crazy accurate rock scent, but the geological setting of Sailing Stones (arid desert, white sedimentary rocks, geophysical regime governed by faulting) is so very different from that of Moai (tropical island, black igneous rocks, geophysical regime governed by volcanism) that there can't even be a best rock scent battle there. Another thing that was striking about Sailing Stones is, at least on me, how its "temperature" went up during the day. I was crazy enough to be in Death Valley two weeks ago (yes, mid-July!), and early in the morning, before the sun had cleared the mountains, it wasn't all that hot, and you could smell the plants pretty well, but as the sun got higher and the rocks started to resorb heat after a dark night, the whole place started to smell much more like dust and minerals (the part we were in didn't really have boulders - huge sand dunes, though!). We got the heck out of there before full daylight and heat, though! But yes, long story short, this smells like Death Valley. It really does. I love it.

This marks my first actual purchase of a Carnaval scent. It was inevitable! Ohhh noes! I actually decided on this one at the Will Call right after the release of St. John's Eve. I figured I should give a bunch of big conflagration-y scents a sniff before opting for the most limited of the lot, and from first sniff, I immediately knew Priala was a winner. Also, I love the bottle art. Not gonna lie, that was a factor here. In the bottle: Cinnamon and myrrh, warm and a bit sweet. Wet on skin: More myrrh than cinnamon now, though both are still there. They're joined by a rich dark smoke, slightly acrid, but not enough to overcome the bit of sweetness from before. Drydown: Freshly dry, it's rich smoke and sweet myrrh with some of the dryness of cinnamon. The smoke is less bitter than when the oil was wet. By one hour, it seems to have settled at a point pretty close to where it was when it was freshly dry - a good blend of sweetish myrrh and dryish cinnamon, overlaid with rich smoke. Five hours later: The smoke has backed off quite a lot, but the overall scent hasn't faded particularly much. The balance now is primarily myrrh with some cinnamon for spice, and a wisp of smoke. End of the day: Myrrh - dark, sweet, and still very present. Overall: In accordance with my impression from Will Call, and from the skin test I did in June and failed to write up as a review at the time, Priala is a gorgeous fire scent. It's perhaps more metaphorical fire than literal, in that it doesn't smell actually charred and devastated, but the heat and smoke are still plenty clear. It's like this supernatural fire is sweeter and gentler than the real thing, or perhaps more like this scent shows off the beautiful and entrancing aspect of flame rather than the destructive part. It also doesn't morph much and has a very long wearlength, which are both good things in this case. Much love for this one, and I'm glad I have a bottle!

I have had excellent luck with every desert-themed BPAL I have tried to date, so that was reason enough for me to be intrigued by The Ifrit. The fact that it comes from American Gods just makes it that much better. Of course, the cost of the Gaiman oils was the main reason I hadn't picked up a decant to test yet, but then Rhowan sent me some in a trade - thank you! In the imp: Ginger, cinnamon, and tobacco stand out, but there's other reddish spiciness behind it. Wet on skin: Now I'm getting the dragon's blood, and less of the cinnamon. Still picking up on ginger and tobacco, though, and maybe pepper. The backdrop is actually rather soft, and I'm suspecting that'll mature into the sand note. Drydown: Freshly dry, this is soft and dusty red, likely a combination of sand and musk, though I don't really have any experience with red musk specifically. The blast of dragon's blood that I got when this was wet has calmed back down; I assume it has blended with many of the other notes into an amorphous warm spiciness out of which I can't distinguish anything specific anymore. At one hour in, the sand note has really announced itself, and is the most prominent thing over a backdrop of dusky reddish spices and musk. The whole scent is still surprisingly soft, though not in a fading sort of way. Five hours later: Sweet sand and musk. The spices have pretty much departed in full, but what they left behind is still quite present and nice. There's still an overall reddish impression to the scent. End of the day: Still a bit of soft musk and sand. Overall: Another definite win with me and desert scents! This too is gorgeous! It's definitely a much redder desert than the one represented by Coyote or Velvet Bandito or Ozymandias, and the redness is manifested in the color of the sand, the color of the sky, and the feel of the atmosphere here. It is, I admit, gentler than I expected given the character and his connection to fire, but that doesn't make me like it any less. This is one that's going to be tempting me with bottle-ness, I just know it.

I started writing the date I acquired a given imp on the label several months ago. Now, looking through the pile of untested ones, I see that this one is dated April, while everything else is from June or July. Somehow it has kept slipping through, but that stops today! In the imp: Sharp dry wood and saltwater. Wet on skin: Immediately, an odd metallic note comes out and pretty much covers up the woody note. Still getting the salt, though now it's pretty much just salt without water. I'm assuming the metallic note has to be blood, and I suspect that the aim here is actual blood, not dragon's blood. Drydown: Freshly dry, it's salty metal. There's something a little bit smoother under there, with an overall dark color to it, but I can't figure out what it actually is. The salt and metal are immediately obvious. Overall, it's pretty strong, and my gut reaction is that it's not a pleasant kind of strong. At one hour in, this has shifted to metallic salt and vetiver. It has faded enough to not be overpowering, and I think the vetiver actually mellows it in general, which is not a thing that usually happens with vetiver. Five hours later: Salty vetiver, fainter than before, though still quite evident. The strong metallic note from earlier is gone now, making the whole thing more subdued and less strange. End of the day: Slightly dusty salty. Overall: There may, perhaps, have been some sort of grand cosmic reason that I didn't get around to trying this until today, despite my having the imp since April. That reason may, perhaps, be that it really really didn't work on me. I found the earlier stages of drydown unpleasant enough that I thought about washing it off, though I opted for the benefit of the doubt. It definitely did improve with time, but even then, salty vetiver is not very me. I wish I'd gotten more of the actual thorn note in here, rather than a whole lot of blood and tears, but that just wasn't to be on my skin. So - rings pretty true to the description, but it's a description that other people are bound to enjoy far more than I did.

Sri Lanka was the suggestion of a friend who has generally had an excellent track record of suggesting oils I might like. With that track record on her part, and with my general good luck with Wanderlusts, I figured I should order it and test it! In the imp: Dusty incense with a backdrop of cedar and sandalwood. Fortunately, this does not seem to be the sort of sandalwood that makes me sneeze. Wet on skin: Mostly sandalwood and patchouli, with a bit of cedar still there, and now a more resinous backdrop. It's quite strong. Drydown: Freshly dry, the whole thing has calmed down a little, and the sandalwood and patchouli are letting the cedar stick out a little more again. It's still essentially strong smoky incense, though. At one hour in, it's back to being a mix of sandalwood and patchouli incense. I'm really not getting any of the other notes. Five hours later: Fainter overall, but still a very incensey mix of sandalwood and patchouli. Not so much smoke anymore, though, but rather the incense sticks themselves before they've started burning. End of the day: Faintly and indistinctly earthy. Overall: The scent of this reminds me a lot of the scent of The Coiled Serpent, which I was horribly allergic to. I guess the fact that the sandalwood in Sri Lanka is red makes all the difference! Both of those oils give off a definite Indian Grocery Store vibe, but that sort of scent world isn't far off from hippie head shop, either. I think this oil smells good, but it's much more of a scent that I'd want to smell in a place than on myself. Though I guess that's kind of the point of Wanderlusts, to smell like places and all...

I've never had an actual martini, but looking at the Pile O' Untested Imps, it seems like a good bet for a kind of scent that might be refreshing on a stupidly hot day. I'm sure actual martinis warm you up some degree due to their contents, but I'm hoping the "on the rocks" bit comes through here. In the imp: Dry and cool, though not icy. A tiny bit tart, but not screamingly boozy. Wet on skin: Not as dry now, and more tart than it was when wet. Still cool overall, though. The alcohol is starting to come through more now, though it's doing so in a way that strikes me as typically perfumey, not mixed drink-y. Drydown: Freshly dry, it's smelling like a drink now, not like perfumer's alcohol. It's like there's a bit of of lemon-lime soda mixed with a larger portion of some dry alcohol. By one hour in, it is staying pretty much where it settled when it dried to begin with, though the tartness may be less specifically citrusy. Five hours later: Pretty much the exact same balance as the one hour mark, though fainter. End of the day: Still a little bit of dry tartness. Overall: So, I figured I should look up what goes in a martini, and reading the description, the scent of this oil makes complete sense. I suspect that, were I to go sniff the real deal, I'd be all, "That smells just like Twenty-One!" Anyway, this definitely was cooling on a hot day, as I hoped it would be, but in general, I am not enamored of walking around smelling like I've been sitting in booze, no matter how classy the booze is. I think I'm going to swap the oil, though it has made me more interested in trying an actual martini in the future.

It's summer in Riverside, which means it's entirely too hot to really be legal. I was considering my pile of untested imps, and this one stood out as being a colder sort of scent, which is exactly what I was hoping for a day like this. In the imp: A clear and chilly aquatic with a splash of grapefruit. Wet on skin: The aquatic notes are dominant, and they are still very clear, smooth, and cold. There's a little bit of sweetness, but it's indistinct as to whether it comes from fruit or flowers. Drydown: Freshly dry, this is still mainly an extremely smooth and chilly aquatic. I think I'm getting a touch of the champagne now, though it's light and not screamingly boozy. Any hint of grapefruit is gone. At one hour in, not much has changed. The crystal-clear aquatic notes are still dominant, and there's still an indistinct sweetness. I think it might be floral at this point, rather than champagne, but it's certainly not overtly screamingly floral. Five hours later: Faint, glassy-smooth, and chilly. Not even particularly aquatic anymore, though if I had to classify this somewhere, I guess it would still fall in that category. End of the day: Gone. Overall: This definitely was the kind of chilly I was hoping for! It's cold without being frozen, and watery without also being salty. The little bit of sweetness makes it livelier, but it doesn't come close to verging into sticky. Definitely a good blazing hot weather kind of scent.

So, yesterday I tested the Wanderlust Jezirat Al Tennyn. It seemed only logical that I should test the oil based on its inhabitants today, since my wonderful summer Switch Witch sent me a decant earlier this week! In the imp: Spicy! A little sweet, too, but the pepper and the cloves are the main players, and they definitely give a sense of heat. Wet on skin: The patchouli is coming out now as an earthy backdrop, and the pepper isn't quite as punch-you-in-the-face as it was in the imp. There's still plenty of clove, and I think the sweetness that I'm getting is probably related to the vanilla flower. Drydown: Freshly dry is pretty much the same as wet: a foreground of clove and pepper with a backdrop of patchouli and a little bit of indistinct sweetness. I think there might be some amber coming into the picture now, but I'm not sure. That's a note that shows up later and lasts longer on me. By one hour in, the pepper is barely evident and the cloves have calmed down further. The patchouli is still there, and now the amber and moss are more evident. It's an interesting balance between hot and earthy scents right now, though not in a volcano-geological way. Five hours later: It's all amber and moss now. While this scent initially registered as red, it has definitely jaunted across the color wheel into green territory by this point. End of the day: Gone. Overall: I don't think I've ever had a scent do quite as much of a 180 in terms of "temperature" and color on me as happened with the Wild Men. Really quite surprising! I like both moss and amber, but the thing that made this really awesome and true to inspiration were the hotter notes that were present in the first hour or two of wear. The combination of those with the earthier notes smelled so very great, and I wish that stage had lasted longer. I'll hold onto this decant, but the crazy morphiness implies, at least for the time being, that an upgrade is not necessary.

Today, I am wearing a shirt with a picture of a volcano on it. I think this is reason enough for me to be trying this oil (out of the many untested imps sitting on my desk) today. In the imp: Truly bizarre! I think there's pepper in there, and possibly also cinnamon. It's definitely more on the fire side than on the rock side right now. Possibly also some ozone? I'm really not sure! Wet on skin: Is that...salty and fiery at the same time? It sure is! Huh. At this particular moment in time, I have to confess that it reminds me a bit of smoked salmon, though at the same time not overtly fishy. I just can't think of other things that are both salty and smoky. I'm no longer convinced of cinnamon, but I think there still is pepper. Drydown: Freshly dry, this is still salty smoke, and it's still incredibly bizarre. I don't think I'm getting ozone anymore at this moment, but there's starting to be something drier under there, which I'm suspecting is going to turn into volcanic rock, since the wind, water, and fire have already been represented thus far. At one hour in, there is more of the dusty stony stuff going on, but still only in the background of the salty smoke. Five hours later: Now, it's mostly volcanic rocks and vapors. The ozone that I smelled way back in the beginning seems to have also been hiding behind the salty smoke, but now that those notes have mostly dissipated, it's back, though secondary to the rocks. It's a little like Moai at this point, though softer. Maybe pumice rather than fresh basalt. End of the day: Gone. Overall: Jezirat al Tennyn is definitely one of the most bizarre BPALs I've tried to date, and yet it manages to be exactly what the description says. There's the salt of the ocean, the ozone of the wind, smoke from the fire, and there are volcanic rocks. I have no idea how Beth did that, but it's definitely all there, and I am duly impressed! I do wish the salty smoke stage hadn't lasted so long relative to the stage with rocks, and I resultantly probably won't wear this terribly often, but I'm going to hold onto it anyway because I love the concept and the trueness to it.

I was just saying the other day that a rewatch of the Disney Alice and Wonderland a few days ago was enough to prompt me to test the Mad Tea Party imps that I have. And then, lo and behold, there is a massive Mad Tea Party update! What manner of madness is this?! So, March Hare is the only other untested one I have from that category, and I have all the more reason to test it today. In the imp: Sweet clove with a backdrop of apricot. There might be some other spices as well, but I might just be thinking that in association with the clove. Wet on skin: Immediately a lot more apricot, though still plenty of spicy clove. Gotta say, this immediately strikes me as more of an October hare than anything going on in March! Drydown: Freshly dry, it's a wonderfully clovey-spicey sort of apricot. It still strikes me as extremely autumnal, and also as something that would be nice on toast. By one hour in, the apricot has pretty much disappeared entirely, but there's still a lot of wonderful spicy clove left. Five hours later: Gone. End of the day: Still gone. Overall: It's becoming increasingly evident that most fruit scents in general disappear on me all too quickly. The mix of apricot and clove was very nice while it lasted, and not so foody that I couldn't handle it, but the apricot aspect was short-lived. Cloves are nice by themselves, but the point here is the mix! I'm probably going to have to pass this one on, regrettably.

This was a frimp from a trade with the amazing Rhowan; thank you so much for sending it to me! My allergies are wary of that white sandalwood note, but the other notes sound awesome, so I'm going to try this anyway, with kleenex nearby, and hope the other notes are more significant players. In the imp: Benzoin and myrrh are most prominent, with some of the sweetness of rose. I also get a little of the sandalwood, but not enough to set my nose tingling. Wet on skin: Much less sweet and more woody, though fortunately still not so much that my nose itches. Getting the moss now, but much less of the rose. Drydown: Freshly dry, the rose is back again, though not as a dominant scent by any means. It's a subtle dusty woody incensey rose, and it's quite nice. At one hour in, however, the rose is outpacing everything else; it's sweet rose with a dusty backdrop. Come back, mosses and woods and resins! Come back! Five hours later: Almost completely gone, but what remains is more woody-incensey-mossy. The rose is no longer in the picture. End of the day: Gone. Overall: Of all of the stages Thanatos went through, the wet-on-skin was my favorite. The balance between woody-incensey and rosy was just right at that point - a dry understated rose that's quite unisex. Rose overpowering the other notes is not so much my thing, but at the same time, it is a smell that I like, and I can get away with it if it's subtle. Unfortunate that it was either not-subtle or completely gone here! I'll probably hold on to the imp for a little while, though, and then reevaluate from there.

Here's the part where I admit that I still haven't tried normal regular Snake Oil, I suppose. But I've heard rave reviews of this one, and the things that got added to the Snake Oil in it are a major draw for me. There is also the factor that this kind of snake supposedly could show up on my street whenever the heck it wanted to, but I fortunately haven't run into one yet. In the imp: Tonka and leather, with things that must be Snake Oil because they're not sage and red sandalwood. Quite smooth. Wet on skin: The whole combination smells a little drier when it hits my skin, which makes sense for a desert snake. I'm suspecting this has a lot to do with the arrival of the red sandalwood, and I think that I'm just maybe starting to get the sage now, too. Drydown: This oil is fairly thick and takes longer to dry than a lot of others I've tried. Just after the glistening wet oil stage, this scent is predominantly soft leather, with some of the sweetness of the tonka and some of the dusty sandalwood. It seems like the sage can't decide how prominent it wants to be, and same goes for the notes that I assume to be the Snake Oil base. For a while, the leather amped up so strong that nothing else was detectable, but it had calmed down again at the one hour mark or shortly thereafter, and what was left was a surprisingly gentle and soft mix of leather, tonka, and a little bit of sage and sandalwood. Very very nice. Five hours later: Warm, dusty, and still gentle, but still definitely there. The tonka is more prominent than the leather now, though both are still involved, and the sage and sandalwood dry it out a little. End of the day: Faint tonkalike sweetness. Overall: So far, I haven't met a desert-themed BPAL that I didn't like. This is another variation on the theme of warm and dusty and arid, but is a distinct variation with its combination of tonka and leather, and I like it very much in its distinctness. I do wish the leather weren't so overwhelmingly strong in the first 45 minutes or so (I worried I'd put on way too much oil due to the strength, but then it all calmed down a lot), but the end result is great, and lasts quite long as well. Definitely keeping the decant - thanks to my Switch Witch for sending it to me!

So, I rewatched the Disney Alice and Wonderland yesterday; I think the previous time I'd watched it was about ten years ago. It was as wonderfully confusing as I'd remembered, and it was enough to persuade me to test the few Mad Tea Party imps I have. With Drink Me, now that I'm reading the notes list on the website, I think Disney left out a few! In the imp: Cherry pineapple cake. I can already tell I'm going to be wanting dessert today. Wet on skin: The pineapple is the strongest thing, I think, though the cherries are back there. Good thing I'm not allergic to the smell of cherries! I think I'm picking up some toffee now, too, and the cake impression I'm getting very well could be a mix of the custard and the toast. Drydown: Freshly dry, everything has become a little more subdued, which is good, because I was already craving pastry. Blend-wise, though, it's still a sort of creamy custardy pineapple cake with a few cherries. At one hour in, it has faded more, and is also less overtly fruity. I'd say the custard is the most prominent scent out of all of this right now. Five hours later: Very faint indistinct sweetness. Kind of like one of those snack cakes you get in plastic wrap and clearly have no natural ingredients in them, but are sweet and sticky nevertheless. End of the day: Very slightly sweet. Overall: This oil has reaffirmed that I am really not a big fan of foody scents. It is not at all that I thought this smelled bad. Rather, it was either making me crave some sort of cake all day, or making me go OMG SUGAR SHOCK. I was able to refrain from going and seeking actual cake, but it was kind of hard to do that. I should not be wearing things that make me want to snack! So, I think I will be swapping this to someone who can get away with smelling like dessert while not also craving dessert. (Sidenote: I'm glad the turkey never showed up. I was kind of terrified of what that would smell like in oil form.)

Today seems like a good day for PIRATES. This was a Lab frimp, and one I was pretty excited to get. Even though it wasn't on my wishlist, I've had good experiences with the couple of pirate scents I've tried so far, so I'm hoping that trend continues. In the imp: Saltwater, wood, and a teeny tiny bit of bay rum. Wet on skin: Saltwater is the predominant note, with the wood and the bay rum present, but still in the background. Drydown: As this dries, the leather really starts to come out, and it blends really nicely with the bay rum and wood. The saltwater is accompaniment to these notes, rather than something that drowns them out. By one hour in, the balance has become even smoother, with the bay rum and the leather and the wood complimenting each other extremely well, and the saltwater serving as an ever-present background. Five hours later: Still going! Not as strong as at one hour, but the balance is pretty much the same. End of the day: The leather and bay rum have since departed, but the remaining salty wood and water is still quite piratical. Overall: This is another one of those scents where the concept has, at least in my opinion, been perfectly captured by the notes, and even more so by the balance. The wood and leather of the ship as most prominent, the bay rum as more of an atmosphere, the saltwater as a backdrop. These are some excellent pirates! This is also a good scent for days that are stupidly hot (as so many Riverside summer days are), as it brings a sort of cool sea breeze along with it by default. A definite keeper.

So, today is July 3rd and I have a many-hour rehearsal of inane patriotic music later this evening. I'm getting paid for the concert, sure, but that doesn't mean I have to enjoy rehearsing "The Star Spangled Banner" for the umpteenth time. And so, I will subtly sniff my snark by testing London today. In the imp: Roses, but different than the other BPAL roses I've encountered so far. These are sharper, and even somewhat tart. Wet on skin: These roses manage to be drier than the usual ones while also being sharper. I don't get anything other than roses, but then again, they're the only note listed! Drydown: Freshly dry is the same as wet - a fairly light, dryish, tart rose. Nothing has really changed by the one hour mark. Five hours later: The tart aspect of the scent is hanging on stronger than the characteristically rose aspect, though it is still back there. End of the day: A slight impression of tartness remains, though it's not particularly rosy anymore. Overall: I don't quite understand what makes this a wicked and nasty rose, per the Lab's description. Perhaps the tartness? Or maybe just the inherent roses-have-thorns thing? Anyway, I did not find this to be particularly blackened and twisted smelling, though it was perhaps drier than other rose notes I've encountered. I found it to be a pleasant scent, though at the same time, I'm not really the kind of person who would choose to go around smelling like just plain roses. I was pleased in my expression of snark at the obnoxious patriotic music, but at the same time, I somehow doubt I'll wear this one again.