childoftime

I. Love. This! In the bottle: Sweet cocoa with berries! Promising, indeed. This cocoa looks like the same dark, thick oil that separates out in Hellhound and others. Definitely roll the bottle before you put it on! Wet, on skin: Spicy, fruity in a way I can't pin down at all, and just that hint of cocoa and honey. Oh, my--this is gorgeous! Drydown: This is a big-time morpher, as you can probably tell by now from all the varying descriptions just on the first page. The chocolate and fruity honey is still there, but the pimento and pink pepper are warming it up, and the champaca and tobacco are keeping it from being too sweet. The bergamot and paprika aren't really popping out at me, though. Dry: This scent is amazingly well-blended. It just smells sweet and spicy--almost smoky, and it does it without being too sweet or super spicy. Just beautiful.

Switch Witch Questionnaire Basic Info Birthday: 12 July Pets: One orange tabby cat named Spot. If you get the reference, you're awesome. <3 Children: Negatory. Religious orientation: Jewish Favorite Holiday: Hanukkah and St. Patrick's Day, though I do love Halloween. Occupation/Major in school: I was a theatre major in college, and afterward I was a professional actor for a while (Shakespeare is my favourite, I'm a huge drama nerd. Actually, I'm a huge nerd full stop.), then got married and settled down, so now I'm going to school again for nursing! Living arrangement (by yourself, with roommates, etc): I'm married to ow1goddess, so naturally we live together! Livejournal/Blog/Website: my livejournal is thechildoftime, I'm brbgallifrey on twitter, and I'm achildoftime on Facebook. Sadly all these are fairly locked down, as my ex-husband is a major creep and likes to e-stalk. Organizations/Causes/Activities (Things you belong to or causes you believe in): Animal Rights, Gay Rights (especially Marriage rights), Feminism, Planned Parenthood, Religious Freedom. BPAL Favorite BPAL oils: Sugar Skull is my all-time favourite, followed by Glowing Vulva, Love's Philosophy, Geek.Goth, Thirteen (August '10), Crowley, La Befana, Mad Sweeney, Mme. Moriarty, Smut, and Penis Admiration. I have been wearing honey/wine scents like they'll never make another one for some reason lately. I am chewing through Fairy Wine and Mountain of Bone, so anything similar = omgyesplz! Favorite notes: Sugar, Lime, Honey, Red Currant, Black Currant, Wine, Red Musk, Vetiver, Leather, Spices, Dirt, Vanilla, Chocolate (of any kind). Sugar absolutely loves me, and as mentioned, I love fruity/boozy/honey BPAL at the moment, and I still need to try all of the Tiki scents apart from Aremata Popoa! Favorite non-BPAL perfumes: Burberry Brit is the only spray perfume I've ever loved. I think it's the lime. Least favorite notes: Amber can be fine on me or it can KILL. It's beautiful in Aglaea, Glowing Vulva, and The Girl, but in other things (I'm lookin' at you, O) it turns into aggressive baby powder, and overpowers any other notes in a blend. Also, hemp tends to amp up and overpower everything when it hits my skin, so I stay away. Least favorite non-BPAL perfumes: Pretty much everything but Brit and Be Delicious. If Beth made a custom blend for you, what would the notes be, and what would you want the label art to look like? Doctor: an eccentric, enthusiastic, and slightly ridiculous scent! Lime sugar, white wine, black currant, and a drop of honey over warm musk, a leather-bound book, and a cup of tea. Is that a whiff of ozone? Say "Wheeeee!" Clothing & Jewelry Hair type: long, "kitten-fine" according to my hairdresser, and dark chestnut brown. Skin Type: super freakin' pale. I'm a MAC NC15. Thank you, Scottishness. Allergies (specifically B&B related): I'm fine with most B&B stuff as long as it's made with minimal chemicals. I've never had a problem with anything from tartchef or Villainess or LUSH or the Lab/Trading Post, but some drugstore lotion/soap has given me hives. Other things to avoid:I JUST found out I'm allergic to wheat (but not gluten-sensitive) two weeks ago. So cookies/brownies are going to be more work than normal. It's extra terrible because I love baking, and now I don't even know where to start. I've looked at a few gluten-free blogs, since anything that's gluten-free is also wheat-free, but...yeah. Tub, shower or both? Both! Favorite bath & beauty products: Paintbox Soap, LUSH shampoo/conditioner/lotion, MAC/Urban Decay makeup, OPI nail polish. Clothing Style/Fave garments: Geek chic! Probably a nice pair of jeans and a classic solid top. Three-quarter sleeved shirts are the best. Lately I've been wearing jean shorts/jeans/cargo capris and nerdy shirts. My ThinkGeek wishlist is long. Favorite clothing colors/colors to wear: Green! Type(s) of jewelry worn: Earrings, earrings, earrings! Especially dangly ones on french hooks. I cannot get enough. I don't usually wear rings outside of my wedding and college rings, and I don't have many necklaces, because given the choice I go for earrings. My ears are pierced several times each. Ring/wrist/collar size: My ring size is tiny (5-6.5), wrist is also small at 6 and 1/4", and my neck is similarly small (13"), so I can wear 16" chains no sweat. Jewelry--gold or silver? White gold! Also silver. Do you have any allergies to metal? Nope! Favorite gemstones: Green garnet, emerald, garnet, ruby, opal, pearl. Sock/Shoe Size: Socks: this is going to be shocking, but I'm the smaller size of socks. I'm a 7.5 in most shoes, 8 in heels since they tend to run small. Lifestyle Style/home decoration style: Clean lines and classic, warm contemporary stuff. Favorite decorating colors: Rich chocolate and spice browns, red, burgundy, wine, green of any variety, especially warm spring greens, and black. Things you collect: glass paperweights, BPAL (obvs), sock yarn Favorite music: Dresden Dolls, Indigo Girls, Dar Williams, Aimee Mann, Barenaked Ladies, They Might Be Giants, and most 90s music. Least favorite music: Rap/Country. Vegetarian/Vegan?: (Please be as specific as possible to reduce confusion!) I was a vegetarian but gave it up about six years ago. Other food restrictions: As I mentioned earlier, I just found out I'm allergic to wheat. I don't seem to be super allergic, and I can eat things that say they've been made in the same facility or on shared equipment with wheat without any problem. The key is for the ingredients to be free of wheat. I'm not gluten-intolerant, though, which is lucky, since there are more foods off-limits for gluten-intolerant people. Also, since I'm Jewish I don't eat pork. Not even (gasp!) bacon (turkey bacon, OTOH, is DELICIOUS). Favorite flavors: Lime, any citrus, any kind of berry (including acai), pomegranate, pineapple, milk chocolate, and anything savory. Favorite foods/drinks: Fish & Chips (crai, the breading--what will I doooo?), any smoothie from Tropical Smoothie Cafe, Starbucks (only the chai and the soy lattes though) and I also really love a good steak (medium rare). I need to find a new source for cheese fries, too, since Outback's apparently are covered in wheat. Favorite authors/genres: Sci-Fi and Fantasy, especially Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, Steven Brust, David Coe, and of course Tolkein. Least favorite authors/genres: Christopher Stasheff. I totally caught him recycling pages of text and trying to pass them off as descriptions of new creatures/places/people. Also John Ringo, Robert Jordan, and anything Romance. Blegh. Books/authors you'd like to read, but haven't yet: Mockingjay, by Suzanne Collins. How do you feel about receiving gently used books as gifts? Bring them on! Favorite stores (including clothing stores): For clothes, New York & Company. Otherwise, The Apple Store, Cocoanut Jewelry (local store that sells work by independent artists--my #1 source for kickass jewelry), LUSH, MAC, Sephora (love me some Urban Decay), Crate and Barrel, GameStop, and Teavana. Favorite online stores (including B&B stores): Sock Dreams, ThinkGeek, Paintbox Soapworks, and Villainess. Magazines you subscribe to: Cooking Light Magazines you like, but don't subscribe to: Doctor Who Monthly, Makeup Artist Favorite movies: The Princess Bride, So I Married An Axe Murderer, Galaxy Quest, Lord of the Rings, and Office Space. Favorite TV show(s): DOCTOR WHO for life! Also, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Babylon 5, Top Gear, and Mad Men. Hobbies/crafts done: Knitting, BPAL box decorating, baking/cooking, and playing with makeup totally counts here, right? Wishlists BPAL Wish List (including SW/SF Help): BPAL list http://www.bpal.org/index.php?showtopic=127&st=1950&gopid=1615275entry1615275 here, SW/SF help at my blog! Other website Wish lists (amazon.com, etc): Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/favorite_listings_public.php?user_id=8631957&ref=favorites Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/wishlist/3W03EF9KPQ15Z/ ThinkGeek: http://www.thinkgeek.com/brain/gimme.cgi?wid=81d21f088 LUSH's wishlist functionality is busted. Random Questions - On a scale of 1-5, how organized are you? I'd say 3. On my own, I'm a 4. But my dear wife is a walking tornado, and I just can't do it for both of us. I hold us together, though. Like I made BPAL boxes for her, and I make sure her bottles are labeled and her imps are in their own box. - Where, outside of the U.S. would you love to visit? I would live in London or Edinburgh in a heartbeat. I'd love to visit Rome or Athens, as I did some graduate work in Classical Philology (languages). - Do people tell you that you act older, younger, or your age? Used to be older, but now it's my age or younger. Apparently I got stuck at 26 (I'm...gulp...30 now). - Have you ever been skinny dipping? Nope. - Do you wear pajamas to places other than at your house? If I'm sleeping over somewhere, yes. Otherwise, no. - Your least favorite feature about yourself: My saddlebag hips and my extra flab. I lost 35 pounds on my own, but I have 40 left to go so I just joined Weight Watchers, and probably only because I can still eat whatever I want, I just have to plan around it. - Do you live in a neighborhood or in the middle of nowhere? Neighborhood here! - Do you like to shop? Love it, as long as I'm shopping online or in one of my favourite shops. Otherwise, get in, get what you need, get out, done! - If you were a shoe, what would you be and why? A fluevog! Probably this one: - They're making a bio-pic based on your life. Who's portraying you? Gillian Anderson. I was disallowed from making myself look like her in our stage makeup project because it was "too easy". - Have you ever thought, "oh, I'm going to get myself one of those one of these days" but then never do? List 1 under $10 and 1 over $10. These things are legion! Under $10: Giant Plush TB bacterium! Over $10: Non-LE BPAL. It always seems like there's something that's leaving in a few weeks that I should use my BPAL budget on, and GC/Carnaval Diabolique scents I love always get left for "next time". Also, there's a Kate Spade iPod Touch cover I like but can't ever justify, and the XKCD shirt that says, "Stand Back! I'm going to try SCIENCE!" has been on my "to buy" list for a while, but I still don't have one. - Sunrise or sunset? Sunset on Pine Ridge at Camp Kittamaqund. Most beautiful thing in the state. - Has a stranger ever told you that you did something really well? What was it? Yes. Acting, fencing, and knitting! - Do you like garage sales (boot sales)? Sure, but I never end up there--too early! - I like to slather my food in: Salt, especially flavoured/seasoned salt. - State fairs or carnivals? Either sounds like a great time right now! - Do you like to splash in puddles after it rains? Did the thought make you smile? Yes, if I can do it without getting my clothes wet and grit in my shoes. And I definitely smiled. Notes (Here's where you can add additional information you'd like your Switch Witch to know!): Ow1goddess is my fabulous, brilliant, and insightful wife, so if you have questions or want an opinion about anything, or want some inside info about what makes me tick, she's the one to ask. Since this is the BPAL board, I might be just the tiniest bit disappointed if I don't get even one sniffie of BPAL.

I am infamous in my family for playing with yew berries as a small child (no, I never ate them, but I did scare the pants off of my mother, and was fed ipecac at least once), so as soon as I saw this blend was available I had to get some! Yew is an evergreen bush, and that is readily apparent when this oil first hits my skin. The sweetness of honey mixes with the spicy green scent of crushed yew berries and smells fresh, clean without any hint of soapiness, and feels sun-warm. The longer this scent stays on, the more the honey comes out, and by the time this is dry, it's a really lovely honey with hints of evergreen and I can definitely see where Invidiana is getting lime, albeit very faintly. It reminds me of summer days spent in the backyard surrounded by growing things and dappled sun patches. The verdict? I bought it more as a sentimental scent, but I'm surprised at how really lovely it is. It's the perfect honey scent for me. Not too sweet, not foody at all, and not too herbal! I'm going to have to get my hands on another bottle before it disappears. I can definitely see this one getting a lot of use during the warmer months, and oddly enough, especially in the fall.

I was worried that the narcissus would amp on me, or that narcissus and violet leaf plus the dustiness of orris would combine to turn this into soap, but so far my fears were unfounded. Okay, maybe it does smell like soap, but it's definitely not cheap soap! This started out as violet and vanilla with a hint of flowers and smoke/dust/something similar, but has calmed down into vanilla violet powder. Hopefully the powderiness will leave soon, since powdery scents remind me too much of my failed attempts at wearing amber and my OH GOD GET IT OFF NOW reflex kicks in.

This smells almost creamy on my skin. The saffron and the cedar balance each other out and each keeps the other from getting too strong, and blend together very well into a lovely warm spiciness. The black currant was easy to find in the bottle, but once it's on it's only detectable as a fruitiness blending in with the warmth and spice of the scent.

Well, hello there Gardenia. Are you going to let all the other gorgeous scents in here come out to play? ...no. You're just going to amp. I smell like GARDENIA. It's a bit soapy, and I'm disappointed. I can get just a hint of beautiful things, but they're all swallowed up by the gardenia. Super sad.

This scent didn't really carry the earthy quality of Matcha I was kind of hoping for, that rich almost-bitterness just isn't there. What IS here, on the other hand, is LEMON! I hoped figured it would burn off after a little while as it dried down, but it keeps that lemony-ness the whole way through. The chocolate does try to come back out a bit on the drydown, but the lemon is overwhelming the green tea. It's like a lemon truffle rather than a green tea truffle, but it's still delicious. I think I'll tuck it away and hope the lemon fades a bit with age and lets the green tea come out to play a bit more.

I was a bit wary, as the scent in the freshly-removed-from-bubble-wrap bottle was sharp, sharp, sharp, and too well-blended for me to really pick anything out. I suspected that the sharpness was coming from the thyme, juniper, and mint, and I was really worried about it being soapy (especially after MamaMoth's review), and decided to let it settle. Well, five minutes later, I decided that to hell with settling, I was trying it. Before I could talk myself out of it (again) I was putting it on. And no conservative, wrists-only testing (which I usually do with scents I'm unsure of, as washing something you hate off of your neck is a huge hassle)--I put it on my neck and everything! Right away, I got thyme, cranberry, and dry woods, with just a hint of fuzzy mint around the edges. The cranberry seemed frozen, with just a hint of ice about it, and as this blend starts to dry it turns to a beautiful cool red, cranberry-and-currant note over dry woods. I think that the coolness is probably the mint, but I can't specifically pick it out now that it's dry. This scent stays fresh and herbal the whole way through, and I don't get any plasticky or artificial smell from it at all. This is hauntingly beautiful, and I'm SO glad I have a whole bottle! I have a feeling this one is going to be very, very popular, especially as it ages.

This is cupcake musk! I love it! It's like Cake Smash with vanilla cake and chocolate ganache. It's such a sweet, delicious scent, I would so eat the chocolate, it really smells like a smashed cupcake over musk.

I don't know what went wrong here. I was all set to love it, as all the notes in it sound freakin' awesome, leather and vanilla in any form love me, so when I got a tester of this, I wasted no time trying it out. Sadly, I don't know whether the balsams just hate me or what, but it just smells pungent and I get none of the delicious leather and vanilla that I know must be in there somewhere. I like grass, but that isn't at all what I get out of this. This one broke my heart.

I've yet to layer this with anything, but I had to review this scent, just because the scent is so strikingly pink hard candy (this is gonna be a short review. It smells like heart-shaped sweet tarts. Flat out, that simply, like you just ate them or rolled around in a pile of them. It's a great smell, but it's not very me. I love smelling it, though!

In the bottle, this is all sugared blackberry. Once it's on, though, it's definitely jam, and the warm scone comes out behind it. It seems crazy, but I swear I can smell the rough texture of the scone torn open and smeared with jam. The scent stayed very consistent all through drydown, and still has decent throw hours later, but not so other people would notice without getting very close. This is a home run, and I definitely need a bottle!

This is definitely a green scent, and the musk is just a bit powdery like old Smut or B.B3. Once it started to dry, though, I think the powdery-ness isn't the musk, I'm pretty sure it's amber. Sadly, amber hates me, and has turned this into a powder scent. Not baby powder of doom, but not my idea of smelling fantastic, either. Glad I got a tester of this before I bought a whole bottle.

In the bottle, this one smells like straight-up snake oil with a tiny bit of extra sweetness. As soon as it hit my skin, it started out smelling powdery, and I was terrified it was going to smell like baby powder on me, but much to my relief it settled down and became a warm, glowing honey scent with a snake oil base and just a hint of powdery dryness.

In the bottle, this is very much the scent of lime icees from King's Dominion, with a little bit of cocoa-y chocolate in the background. When I put it on, the lime warmed up and dominated the chocolate for quite some time--this was basically a key lime SN for a while there. It was only when it dried down that the chocolate came back out to play. This is definitely key lime, not your usual, 'normal' lime. I like this one a lot, for all its simplicity. It will be absolutely gorgeous in the summer when I want something sweet but not syrupy, and not too foody. Refreshing.

I think the confusion about whether the strawberry is fresh or candied in this blend is actually coming from the sweet creaminess of the white chocolate, which is really well-blended here. In the bottle it smelled candyish, but once it's out of the bottle, the strawberry note is the smell of the bowl of freshly-cut strawberries that you sprinkled sugar on and left in the fridge for an hour before taking out and sniffing (right before you dump them on your shortcake and devour. Wet, this was a little bit of strawberry, a bit more cream, and a ton of spicy white pepper. When it started to dry, the pepper backed off quite quickly, leaving a bit of a bite to mingle with the scent of fresh, sweet strawberry and sugary creamy fresh white chocolate. This is the best chocolate scent I've even worn. Just amazing. Dry, this is fresh, cool fruit; sweet, creamy white chocolate; and warm, spicy pepper around the edges. I may need a backup bottle of this.

Precious, softly glowing metals and ancient stone--this is the scent of the British Museum. I wouldn't even know where to start to tally all the hours I spent there (during the rainiest spring London has seen for 200 years, lucky me!). It reminds me especially of the Roman Britain room, with the great big marble slabs of Gaius Julius Alpinus Classicianus' tomb in front of me, and the gleaming gold from the Mildenhall treasure behind me. This is a sweet, dry sort of smell, not powdery at all (it seems that anything that can go to powder, like amber, turns straight into baby powder on me) to my very great relief. It seems cool and warm at the same time, if that makes any sense at all. This perfume is a lot closer to what I'd hoped to get a from U. I may need a bottle just so I can always go back to my favourite museum.

Any time someone asks me what I'm wearing and I have Glowing Vulva on, I tell them it's called Ryogoku Bridge. I'm not lying, just choosing to use the second half of the name instead of the first!

In the imp, this was allllll almond, with maybe a hint of herbs. Once on my skin, I got the same almond-y smell, and as it dries I'm starting to get the deep, peppery smell of dried roses. Normally I can't wear any kind of rose, but this is really nice. My wife is a total rose queen, and likes to hoard anything rose-scented, but she may not even recognize this one as rose. It smells like smashed rose petals, oregano (maybe sage?), and other herbs I can't pick out. It reminds me of the bedroom I used to sleep in when we stayed at my grandma's house as a kid. Not sure whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, but my memory is insistent, so I included it here.

It's definitely a strong amber, and while this isn't as bad as, say, Baghdad on me, the amber in this blend was powdery. Not overpoweringly baby powder, but definitely a light, powdery scent. It's very golden and a bit spicy, but the powdery amber is definitely the throw.

You may have tried this ages ago and it didn't work, but have you tried Detestable Putrescence? Seems like that one might be a little closer since it's vanilla and cream, sweet and sticky-like.

Oh yes, the amber is definitely there. I had to try this after discovering that I can wear some amber blends, but this one went straight to baby powder in record time. It completely overpowered any subtlety or complexity this blend may have had. If you usually have problems with amber, stay well back from this blend.

If you missed out on Left His Nurse While In A Crowd, get ahold of some Malignant Dreams of Cthulhu In Love. They're really similar, you're just swapping tentacles for tea.

I got to try this thanks to an incredibly generous forumite, and I am SO grateful! I read the notes when I put it on and I'd somehow not noticed the amber listed in the description, so I was worried, and expected it to not work on me, since amber hates me and always turns into baby powder on me. Always...except this time, somehow. WTH? I'm thrilled! Not only is it not baby powder, but sweet zombie Jesus this is BEAUTIFUL. It started out all cream and lotus, but then the teak and amber came out when it warmed on my skin, and it almost seems like there's tonka somewhere in here despite its total absence from the description. The amber and teak keep the cream/lotus combo from being too sweet or sharp, and everything blends into this delicious, warm, creamy wood with a delicate whiff of lotus, even ten hours after I put it on. I NEED more of this.

I'll have to try this one again, because on me this was sort of earthy floral rather than rooty or herb-y. It is definitely different than anything else, but smelled interesting and alive. Like a garden full of the green smell of growing vegetables and the perfume of blooming white flowers.