Carmencita

I'm totally bringing a box of BPAL bottles for the 'potions' class they're having at one of the events.

On Friday night, I'm going to my local and teeny-tiny Borders Express for their release party for the upcoming Harry Potter book. There will be games and it is designed as a ball with costumes encouraged.

I'm taking a bit of inspiration from the character Tonks and going with a brightly-colored wig. The rest of my costume is a midnight blue satin ball gown, and a dark blue cape lined with silver fabric. I'll probably find some twig to use as my wand and have matching blue and silver jewelry.

As I have TONS of imps right now and don't want to list all of them, I've narrowed down the scents that seem like potentials. I'm also listing some of my bottles.

Help me decide which to wear?

In no particular order:

Monsterbait: Closet

Monsterbait: Underpants

Monsterbait: Bigger Critters

Punkie Night

Swank

Peony Moon

Glitter

Dorian

Cathode

Delirium

The Unicorn

Muse

Poisoned Apple

Asp Viper

Tweedledee

Amsterdam

Alice

Eos

Hollywood Babylon

Jester

51

Love Lies Bleeding

Port Royale

Old Scratch

Tempest

Santa Muerte

Thank you in advance.

"IF YOU ARE PAYING VIA PAYPAL, please do NOT use our online credit card processor. Place your order through PayPal using the payment address paypal [at] blackphoenixalchemylab [dot] com and fill your order info in the comments field."

I totally messed up, even though I remembered having read this in the past.

Somehow I managed to pay both through paypal and CCNow.

So basically, the only notification the LAB has that I have placed an order (if I do it exclusively through Paypal) is if they open their account and read (you have received a payment from Carmencita)?

Maybe my seemingly chronic fatigue for 2007 so far is eating my brain cells.

Edited because although I am still stupid, I am not as stupid as I was three minutes ago when I posted this.

In the vial: Almond almond ... is my nose just turning everything to almond today?

On me: Skin and blood.

Later: Yeast and almond and blood.

Hmm. Interesting.

In the vial: Dry dirt, wood moss

On my skin: dirt and clay

later: patchouli and dirt. I don't get even a hint of the other notes.

Meh.

In the vial: Sugar almond apple yum

On my skin: Alice-y. Apples and tea and roses.

Later: Clean powdery sweet tea and apple slices.

Interesting, but fades to a powder-heavy scent. But a clean, non-nose-itchy powder.

In the vial: White and yellow flowers and a pale peach.

On me: Soft violet and lily with faint fruit. The violet coming more apparent (yech)

Later: Very watery. Like a warm spring filled with lily pads and bouquets. Poor Ophelia.

Very nice for a floral scent... which I usually don't like. I may keep my imp but probably will not get a bottle.

In the bottle: Candy corn and rum

On my skin: burned sugar and creamy candy corn

Later: Minty Candy corn with something plastic-like

This is old and the throw is minimal, but layered with something it might be quite nice. The plastic-ness seems Halloweeny, not fake. Like a plastic bucket filled with candies.

2005 Lab-Direct

In the bottle: Rum and ginger and maple syrup.

On me: Gingerbread, pure and simple. Moist and sweet and spiced with a slight whiff of pumpkin as well.

Later: Cinnamon Gingerbread.

The throw isn't that good. This is something I'd wear for myself and not so others could smell me unless they were right up close and personal. Very untampered with. Nothing fake or too strong about it.

Are you making sure to roll them between your palms when you get them to re-mix them?

Majorly. To an OCD degree.

Punkie Night.

I am a HUGE fan of this.

And it can't be a different batches problem because this scent has only been released once for Autumn 2006, so it's not like it could be the natural differences in flora over different seasons or years factor as mentioned above.

The bottle I bought lab-direct (and what I consider to be the true scent) is amazing. Sharp but natural. Spicy. Autumn leaves, sparkling fresh pulpy cider with mulled spices and cranberry. The 'true' scent smells NOTHING like the Hesperides.

I have smelled nine bottles of Punkie Night in my time, and only two of them smelled 'true'. They were all from different BPAListas (or the lab), so statistically it would be VERY unlikely that so many BPAL swappers/sellers ripped me off.

The 'off' bottles smell (to me) like damp rotting wood and old wet apples, or sometimes like The Hesperides (a scent I don't like at all) and paint thinner.

I'm constantly buying/selling/swapping Punkie Night to find more of the specific scent I'm looking for. I consider the lab-direct scent that I got to be the true one. All my vendors assure me they got their Punkie Night lab-direct, and though some of them may be swindlers, I know all of them cannot likely be.

In the vial: Maenad all grown up

On me: A smooth blend of sun-warmed strawberries in a bowl of honeyed milk, but with the other elements making this more sophisticated and sexy.

Later: Honey Amber Strawberry Sex. Mmmm.

In the vial: Butterscotch and almond jello pudding (in a good way)

On me: Like Sweet Melissa's Almondina Biscotti... if it were Almondina Butterscotchy. It may be too rich for my blood, but I'm liking it plenty so far.

Later: I think it's too strong for me. It makes me feel heady with scent.

In the bottle: Mandarin and spiced pumpkin!

On me: Orange rind, dashes of cinnamon, something creamy and a jack-o-lantern pumpkin smell.

Later: A very rich scent where the pumpkin is soft but true, the orange is bright and Autumnal, and the spices are very apparent but don't overwhelm the scent. It softens on my skin, fades a bit, but I think worn in my hair or a scent locket it would stay pretty decently.

Curse that this is a Limited Edition.

Damn. I've been using the CC. I will most definitely place all my future orders using Paypal. Sorry! I want the max funds to go to Beth and crew.

In the bottle: Sugar cologne

On me: Flowers in a well-groomed garden and melting candy at midnight.

Later: If cotton candy could be spun out of booze...

The dark elements to this don't work on me. It reminds me of old lady perfume, if the old lady were suddenly transformed into a young woman.... and coated with booze and candy. Boy, my reviews make no sense.

In the Bottle: Rum, rum, get your rum

On me: Butterscotch and flowers

Later: Muted flowers and sugar

It's pleasant, but I was overhyped. It's not the dream BPAL I was hoping for.

In the bottle: Lemony men's cologne with smoky orange vanilla coming through

On my skin: Orange sugar cologne, with the orange popping out like a candy.

Later: Still very masculine and getting more lemony

I like the smell, but I don't want to smell like it.

In the bottle: dandelions and black pepper

On my skin: The above and also a masculine aquatic smell

Later: When I first tried this, I put too much on and it made my nose itch and seemed floral. Upon the second testing (in which I used a smaller dab) it's aquatic and peppery, and salty.

Verdict: I don't know. I don't love it, so probably it goes to the swap pile. But it is mysterious and murky, the way I'd imagine Neptune to smell.

It seems like every time I get a bottle of something, I fall so in love with it that I totally forget I should review it. Maybe it's my subconscious not wanting to give things a good review because then others will be tempted to love it and it will be harder for me to get, particularly since this is an LE.

In the vial: Just as the description says, blackberry and red velvet cake

on me: red velvet cake, creamy buttercream frosting, and all sorts of dark, ripe berries.

later: It makes me smell like cake, deepened by something that makes it smell gorgeous specifically, not just I-only-just-now-stepped-out-of-the-bakery good. It's a little more sophisticated than that.

Make sure you wait for the drydown on this one; it did almost a 180 on me.

in the bottle: sour cherry wine with grenadine poured over it and rubbing alcohol added

on me: Sweet natural cherries and creamy yogurt

dry (after at least ten minutes): Monsterbait: Closet but with cherries instead.. plus something like fresh blood. It is a sinister scent. Almost like a demon's interpretation of what sweet and creamy is.

So I was just comparing Tokyo Stomp to Lick it Again and then discovered I had not yet reviewed L.I.A.

Blasphemy!

In the bottle: Chilly, snowy, sharp peppermint

on me: nose-clearing, cheek-chilling, sugar-painted peppermint

later: A snowy, peppermint gust of wind, going straight into the soul. It smells cold, somehow.

In the bottle: Lick it again with frosting.

On me: Whereas Lick it Again is a cold white mint on me, Tokyo Stomp is a bold, lush, green mint on me. Swampy and trompy and fresh-cut-mint-sprigs on vanilla ice cream with a touch of chocolate.

On the dry down: The ever-popular description of 'thin mints' is VERY apt. Also, do the baits share the same base oils? This is very reminiscent of Underbed on me, except instead of cassia, I get the mint, naturally.

Later: Powdered chocolate cookies ringed with sharp sprigs of mint. Thin mints. Creamy vanilla.

It's gorgeous. I like Lick it Again too, but I think Tokyo beats it down. However, I think I may wear them together to see if they amp things up, as the throw of this isn't too good on my skin, although excellent in my hair.

Woot.

I first got a whiff of this at a Meet 'n Sniff back in November, 2006. It stayed lodged in my memory and I ended up getting a bottle on eBay a few months ago.

Glitter is the perfect name for this. It is reminiscent of Jerome Russell roll-on glitter that was all the rage when I was beginning the 6th grade. Except that it doesn't smell synthetic to me.

White grapes and white pear and something else.

Very fresh, although on the dry down it becomes incensey. Less so if I apply it into my hair. It is a nostalgic scent, reminding me of first kisses and the fun of wearing glitter every day, which once the trend ended, I did not continue in high school.

This remains pretty true all throughout, although, like I said, it gets an incensey undertone to it on the dry down.

All together lovely. I am so pleased to have a bottle of this.

in the vial: smoky sweet richness

wet: like woodsmoke and honey

later: All of these things plus a tangy spiciness. Very grounded yet somehow mysterious scent.