kakiphony

5 hours ago, Thuy said:

I'm really curious - what's everyone favorite grab from this go around? I keep finding earrings that I love to add to my already wacky hoard of them😅

I grabbed three pair of earrings, two of which are actually perfect for use with my summer Camp uniform. I also took some chunky brown beads that I plan to bust up and restring as highlights on other necklaces. (They're way too heavy as they are now!)

4 hours ago, lorizav said:

The box is ready to go out to @skyelyric but I don't have their address and they can't receive messages.  @Em-  can you help me out?

My heavens you were fast! I think it took me hours just to do the first bag in a box. I hope you found at least 1 fun thing!

It looks like lorizav should receive the box today according to the always reliable (ha!) USPS tracking system. I am wearing a pair of earrings from the box today!

The box landed with me yesterday. I'm taking it a bag at a time as I go through and pull "possible" keeps (I'll probably end up putting some back!) I anticipate being ready to mail this on to the next person no later than next Monday. (I'm giving myself the weekend to hunt up all the stuff I have to go in that I haven't found yet!) It is really, really, really full!!!!!!!!

Your sneak peek: If anyone wants to plan a Gem and the Holograms costume, this box has you covered. You could outfit your whole family!

I'll try and organize myself over the weekend too!

LOL. I sincerely hope I have not oversold what I have to add to the box!

12 minutes ago, Thuy said:

Geography and time preferences, sent! I just want to be after kakiphony to raid through the singles stash

You know, I have no idea how many I actually have! I just know there's a little bag sitting in my dresser with at least one really cute ceramic cat earring...

Great! When the box comes to me, I'll make a bag/tin/something for single earrings. I might also make a tin for "broken thing I can't fix but which can be cannibalized for parts."

Ooooooo! Me please. This is the incentive I need to make some decisions.

Quick question: Is there/or would anyone be interested in, a bag/box for single earrings? I will NEVER wear them, but I know some people like a mismatched ear look or someone might be able to take apart and use the parts?

I don't always do well with musks, so I tried this with some trepidation. (Seriously. A lot of musks make me smell like my grandfather, which is a fine thing to smell like, but not really what I tend to for with perfume.) However, I need not have worried. This "animalic" musk fades quickly on me and never turns into Aqua Velva. Wet on my skin this was very herbal with a bit of rounding and powder from the amber. Oddly, although this NOT one of the blends from this collection with pine, it smelled a little evergreen. It faded very quickly and what's left behind a gentle blend of amber and herbs. It's so gentle, in fact, that I find myself wishing it had a little more oomph on me.  

Wet, the dominant scent of this on me is the nuts (which have a slight butter note to them) with smoke. However, as it dries it becomes a really interesting blend of frankincense, vanilla, and nuts. It actually really reminds of the Lab's sasparilla blends (Stimularting Sassafrass and Tombstone, but even more so the Organ Grinder). It's drop dead gorgeous and a total winner. 

This one really surprised me. While it was immediately citrus heavy when applies, the citrus was spikier and sharper than I expected it to be. It definitely said mockery and guile as in a sharp tongue, and quick witted deception! This is not a gentle citrus. It dries down into a more gentle, incense ash (as opposed to unlit or burning incense) scent with a hint of beeswax and really gentle patchouli. At one point my husband asked me to please some hug him so he could smell me some more. This is a winner.

This is such a gorgeous and perfectly wearable blend. It has become my daily fragrance since Christmas and at the rate I am going, my bottle will not let a whole year.

It's a perfect skin scent on me, subtle with a deeply resinous dry down and just a little bit of ripe, sweet, citrus fruit. Golden is exactly the way to describe this one.

I don't really get incense from this, although that may be because I associate incense so strongly nag champa-type and smoky smells. Instead, the frankincense in this is very much unburned frankincense resin to me. (It smells like the frankincense tears that come on my favorite soap and that I hoard like a dragon.) And don't let my "sweet" comment scare the non-food people. This is NOT a cloying sweetness or a sugar sweetness. This is a golden syrup sweetness that is subtle, but delicious. It's a sweetness I associate with cuddling up under super soft mohair blankets freshly clean from a bath, not of candy.

The throw on this one is mild for me, and that's part of why I can wear it as a daily scent. It sits close to my skin and no one would notice it unless they hug me, but I can smell it and I smell dang good.

Coming in to review after 2 years of aging in a cool dark place to say: Wow. What is soma exactly? Because when I got this two years ago it was all ozone and frankincense wet which dried down to a very slightly green and spicy skin musk. Two years later this has lots of bright, clean, white florals when wet along with the ozone, and they linger. It's something like gardenia and maybe jasmine? Definitely not lilies (thank goodness!). But very, very, very different from when I first tried it. This is one that is aging and opening up in unexpected and interesting ways.

This is the second hair gloss I have tried, after Mitzvah. This scent is MUCH stronger than Mitzvah, really lasting throughout the day and wafting out from my head rather than settling down and just being a kind of subtle "you smell nice" if someone sniffs my head thing. I will definitely need to use fewer sprays than I did with Mitzvah for a subtle effect! The scent on me is very-cinnamon heavy with a lingering red musk. It's a DRY hot scent, like a dragon wallow in the desert, much more spicy than sweet. 

This is very sweet when first sprayed -- all caramelized sugar, a very sticky, childlike sweet scent. After drying/styling it settles into a very subtle much deeper sweet smell for me. It smells quite like the way tonka does on my skin, and is much more sophisticated than the description implies or the fresh spray would lead me to believe. If it were a color, it would be a deep burnished gold.  

OK, I have finally managed to login here despite the captcha madness. I need someone to raise their hand to take the Bath/Body boxes off my hands and organize a round robin for them. They have been sitting in my closet for a year (more?) and I don't have the time, energy, etc to deal with them. I realize I asked this a long time ago and then never followed through. I am terrible. But someone else will be better and I will mail them off (one at a time because I am also broke from borked student loans) and then I will feel less terrible.

Hi, kakiphony! I could take over the makeup round robin boxes at the end of the round if you're tired of doing it. I'm a makeup addict, so I have tons to add to boxes. ha ha

I will PM you as soon as I have the brain cells. I currently have 4 houseguests and am chairing two events at work. I am...not functional. But soon!

Hey everyone. I finally figured out a work-around to get onto the boards from my laptop during work hours. Yay!

But the yay is tempered by the giant BOO! to me for having so completely dropped the ball on the round robin boxes. I have excuses, but they're excuses and no one cares, not even me. The long and short of it is: I still have them.

Em is going to CLOSE the current topics for them. I'll reopen new sign-ups BUT, I would love if someone could take them over for me at the end of the round. My job and life simply doesn't leave me enough spoons to deal with them.

So, any takers? There are two of the large priority mail boxes full of perfume and makeup samples. There is NO nail polish as it was all gross, leaking or dried out, old and did not survive my box clean-up purge after the last round.

I finally went through the two giant round-robin boxes, and re-wrapped all the imps and bottles. Some of them I alphabetized and some I did not... I admit that I ran out of steam at the end. It is a LOT of stuff!!!!

I did make an executive decision and got rid of all the nail polish. All that was left of it were things I had seen more than once now, and all drug store brands. It's the thing that seems to leak the most, takes up the most room, and no one is taking. So, from now on, these will NO POLISH boxes.

There was still enough for 2 large flat rate boxes. They are currently very heavy on the BPAL imps, non-BPAL perfume oil bottles, and non-BPAL perfume oil samples, with judicious amounts of skin care (each box now has sheet masks!) and make-up. There are still a few soap samples and alcohol based perfumes, but not many. And the haircare (aside from some BPTP spray decants) is mostly gone.

It's interesting to me to see how these have changed over time as the group's interests have shifted.

I will open sign-up for both boxes on Monday, after I've had a chance to review and revise the rules.

Both of the round robin boxes are home with me and ready to be sorted. Once I go through them, I'll determine if there's still enough good stuff there for 2 boxes, or if we need to go down to 1 or up to 3. Look for me to post sign-ups toward the end of next week.

The second (first?) of the two big bath/body/makeup circular boxes it out traveling to its very last person. As soon as it lands with me, I'll going through both boxes to send them back out into the world. Look for new sign ups in February!!!!

Citrusy and classic "clean" scent at first spray, but definitely something herbal as it longer in the air. I'm getting mint and/or tarragon rather than rosemary though... This is not super long lasting, but is very pleasant.

As everyone else has said, this is (really good, not cheap-o) Nag Chama in a bottle. It's a golden, thick, incense scent on the skin. There's a little fruity/sweet at the beginning, and then pure incense for ages and ages. Throw is moderate. It smells like the clothing racks at a shop I used to frequent in college that carried hippie skirts and loads of scarves from Indian.

I will wear this loads on the weekend when I can smell how I want, but never to work. If I wore it to work I'd get the reputation of a total hippie!

Still looking for some takers for the second of those HUGE round robin boxes. It is very, very, very full of most indie bath and body, makeup, and perfumes (mainly BPAL). It is a take an item leave an item scenario.

I would love to fill this one up with takers BEFORE I move next week!