TygherRayn

Oooh. Beth, if you manage this somehow, I'm so down with it. I know lots of people .. minxes included .. that I could very easily buy gift certificates for.

What is it with me and not reviewing the good stuff!

In the bottle: This is the blackberry from darkswan's blackberry apple soap! It's sweet, and dark, if that makes any sense whatsoever. I don't know anything about Glasgow, but I know this scent makes me think of something cool, and kinda twilighty-purple.

Wet: This is powdery on me, but .. it's not the 'oh god, how much baby-powder are you wearing!' but more of an 'Mmm .. that's a lovely scent' powder. And there's a fruity smell lingering, hovering, just out of reach, which only reinforces the twilight imagery for me.

Wearing: Mm. Soft. This is a sleepy scent for me. It's dusk, not dawn, and it's just sweet enough to be wearable all day. I've not been disappointed with many of the Wanderlust scents .. and this one doesn't disappoint either. There's rose in it too, which only makes me even more pleased!

In the bottle: Spicy .. like Old Morocco, or even like Scorpio .. but without the 'darkness' of those two. This one's light and spicy .. which seems almost a contradiction in terms.

Wet: more .. something. Almonds? Is that almonds? And the sweet has to be honey. I don't rmember what carnations smell like, but this is nice, just the same. It's not as 'little girl' as I expected .. and that's a very good thing.

Wearing: This softens more and mor as I wear it ... the rose comes out, which isn't really a surprise, as my skin likes to draw rose out and parade it around for the day. but in this, it's a good thing. This is one of the few blends I've found so far with rose that I can wear and not be choked by it.

This one was for Jason. It's not one I thought I'd like at all .. and I know Vanic and he loved it.

Well guess what .. I see why now.

In the bottle: Green .. no white .. no green. Maybe a light lime green swirled with white. Very crisp ... very sharp. A unisex scent, in my estimation. This should do pretty god with my chemistry .. it sort-of reminds me of Old Shanghai and Embalming Fluid.

Wet: This seems a little 'wetter' than the two I compared it to. Almost minty .. definitely herbal. I want to compare it to an herbal candy I tried at a recent concert .. but it's not quite that either.

Wearing: It goes a little lemon-lime on me but that's not a bad thing at all. I rather like lime scents, I've noticed, and so I think this may be an excellent wear .. especially for the remainder of the hot summer, since it's so light and cool.

I'm going through a bunch of stuff I'd not yet reviewed, trying to get caught up because .. well .. there's more coming!

In the bottle: I get a fruity something, maybe lime, maybe something I can't identify. And when some got onto my fingers, I was a bit worried, as it pretty quickly smelled like Cheshire cat to me .. that scared me. But it seems to just be mixing with something else already on my fingers. Phew!

Wet: This is more green now .. I think it's the eucalyptus. Darnit. But it does, rather quickly, take on that very same funky smell that I get from Cheshire Cat .. the one that in that blend never goes away. Gonna give it a bit to see if it'll mellow, like Saturn does.

Wearing: *sigh* No .. sadly, this does not mellow out like Saturn did when it turned to this funky smell. Like Cheshire Cat, this stays .. just ickie.

How did I miss reviewing this one! I've had it forever!

In the bottle: This is cherry-almond .. I can never tell which is which. I suppose that's a reason to eentually get the single notes, hmm? Very sweet ... but not sticky sweet.

Wet: Vanilla comes out in this now. Mmm. Warm vanilla. With a touch of something nutty. Almost like the sugard nuts my mom used to make at Christmas. Very tempting. Nibbleable.

Wearing: Yum. So definitely a keeper. I'm going to have to soon decide how to pick what I get bottles of, there's so many nice scents. This one stays swet, but not cloying like Hellcat and Eclipse tended to do on me. It's a warm sweet .. not quite like hot cocoa, as there's no chocolate in it .. but that sort of sweetness.

Hmm .. we have Djinn. I have a single note of Egyptian Amber. I'll haveta test that out on him, Beth. I'll letcha know.

i think formula 54 has a tobbacco note in it - if you can get a bottle! 

I'm already planning on stalking the forums on Monday, don't you worry.

In the bottle: Hmm. Hello, Lavender! A second later .. hello Cinnamon! What an interesting mix, too! Not something I'd have imagined at all. Definitely a clear-your-senses blend. I can see white this is good for mental acuity, fo' sho'. *grins*

Wet: I'm utterly convinced that I have cinnamon in my blood. It really is one of my favorite scents .. and I've not once had a problem with any blend that has cinnamon in it. No, there's not a but coming up. This one is much the same as the others, incredibly cinnamon, and deliciously so on my skin. Paperdoll ... Chicken? Oh my .. if chicken smells like this, let me at it! *grins*

Wearing: This is one can wear on a regular basis, I think. I might even try it as a bedtime scent, as the lavender in it, combined with the cinnamon, are very soothing to me. Cinnamon scents end up being soothing to me, and I'm not yet certain why. maybe years of baking with it in pies, cookies, cakes and breads have me associating it with comfort foods and mimere's kitchen. But I will definitely wear more of this one.

"Oooohh, Pink goes good with green!"

Yes, yes Galinda .. we know. And while I'm on the 'Wicked' kick, I may as well say it .. -this- is the scent Galinda would wear. I've not yet picked out Elphaba's, but this is definitely a scent with Galinda.

In the bottle: Bubblegum meets mint, if that makes any sense at all. I defninitely get a minty, herbal freshness in this, that's almost-but-not-quite overwhelmed by the candy sweetness.

Wet: The candy-pink-sweet mellows just a bit, leaving the green note to be a bit stronger. But every so often I get a whiff of the pink, whatever it is, and it's absolutely delightful. Definitely a feminine scent, but where Luna might be more a Mother/Crone scent, Venus is Maiden, through and through. And I can't get the image of Galinda out of my head. She would so wear this .. after she becomes friends with Elphaba.

Wearing: I keep trying to pick notes out of this one, and I'm entirely unable to. I want to say there's probably some rose in this, but my skin usually sucks up rose and amplifies it, and that's not happening. There's herbal notes here though .. not mint anymore. Something less familiar. Sage, maybe. And maybe .. a floral I can never ever get, but it's there. I like this, but I'm not sure it's quite 'me' enough. But then .. I'm not a Libra. Bet this smells fantastic on enozgirl though.

Luna was, as I'm alsways most drawn to the moon, the one Celestial I was most wanting to get. I was gifted with an entire collection of them, for which I'm incredibly thankful .. but Luna remains to this point my favorite.

In the bottle: Sweet .. white. This is one of the few scents that I can say is definitely white. I can see where the cherry scent people are noticing is, though I'm not entirely certain it's a cherry note. After a couple of sniffs, I'm definitely getting jasmine, and something berhaps sweeter as an undertone .. I don't know ylang-ylang by itself, but it's in my current shampoo, and this has a similar sweetness and mystery to that.

Wet: Much as my skin likes the cinnamon note, it also likes jasmine, and in a good, yummy way. Wearing, the cherry-type smell completely vanishes, which I like, as I haven't been overly fond of wearing any of the blends with a strong cherry note. It's very definitely jasmine and a few other florals .. as feminine as Sol is masculine. This makes me want to go out in the yard under a full moon and just soak in Her energy.

Wearing: I start to smell the gardenia smell in this, though I'm not sure if it's just the blending of all the florals that are in this, or if there's a gardenia not that's coming to the forefront. but that's alright, as gardenia is another white floral I adore. I'm always sad when the gardenia flowers wilt away at last in the summer heat, as they really do add a lovely smell to the house. Overall, this is very white, very crisp, and yet filled with power. A womanly strength that only Luna can exude.

Now .. let me preface this by saying I first tried this at the same time vaniclion did, and I liked it then much better than he did. I've never really considered myself to be much attuned with the sun, but I find myself rather attracted to this oil for some reason.

In the bottle: As might be expected, this is bright, sunny yellow. It brings to mind buttercups and daisies for me. I get something kind of citrusy, and floral as well. It's like walking out into bright bright sunshine from a darkened tunnel, shocking in that manner, but also rather welcomed.

Wet: This warms and softens when I first apply it, becoming not quite so bright and shocking, but more just the sun of a spring afternoon, where it's not too warm, and no longer suffering the chill of winter ... which I guess is kind-of how the in the bottle state is like. As for notes .. I still get a floral/citrus blend, though I can't pinpoint anything specific. This is almost like a sweet orange candy I've had before.

Wearing: I have to turn towards the more magical purposes of this oil as I wear it more. The sun is masculine energy, and this doesn't at first strike me as a masculine scent. But the longer I wear it, I can get a sense for how this is bringing in masculine energy. I might have to dab some Luna on to balance that! *grins* But it certainly is a scent that infuses me with energy. I feel like I could take on anything, with this on. As this wears, it seems to get spicer, and hotter, more of a summer sun. I think I do catch a bit of the cinnamon, and maybe clove, or maybe a peppery scent. It's nice, though, still.

In the bottle: Totally ignoring the magical purpose of this oil, this smells wet like those old metal pencil sharpeners that used to be clamped onto the teachers desk in grade school. It was a special treat to be allowed to empty it, back then, and I was always happy to walk away smelling like the colorful shavings within. This smells like that. Waxing more metaphysical, I suppose that might just be the purpose. Male power and warmth, this one, right out of the bottle. And yeah, leadership .. the teacher.

Wet: I was afraid to wear this because I wasn't sure smelling like pencil shavings was what I wanted, but I'll go ahead and try it anyway. The cedary smell of pencil shavings remains, strong and sure. Not exactly something I can wear as a regular perfume .. but I imagine this would be very centering when I'm in a frazzled state. It's warm, and as it brings me so easily back to my childhood, it's rather calming. It puts me in a frame of mind where I think I can sort out whatever I'm dealing with.

Wearing: This is growing on me, actually. I had been given an imp by one of my swaps .. I can't even recall who at this point, sadly .. but at that time, I wasn't all that pleased with Jupiter. But it really is growing on me as a centering/grounding force. It's wood, and memory to me. Good, comforting memories that keep me focused.

In the bottle: Saturn smells .. green Like walking through an old pine forest. Green and woody. Not sure if I can pick out nay notes in this one, really can only give general impressions, but I would guess one of the 'greener' woods. Cypress maybe, since Juniper tends to turn me off, and I'm not turned off by this oil.

Wet: Still a green/wood scent. Oddly calming, actually .. something I didn't really expect from this. I want to say this in incensy, so perhams one or more of the usual incense oils: patchoili or myrrh, probably, from the warmth of it. But it remains kindof crisp and green .. maybe more like a campfire, and you're trying to burn some green pine boughs, so theres a hissing/popping of the pine sap as the fire burns on. This becomes more powerful as I wear it, though I don't get the 'turned on' thing that some have mentioned. It's more a 'Hello, there, I'm here in the room, notice me' kind of thing.

Wearing: Oddly, I like this. It's masculine and strong, but not uncomforting. Dark, certainly. This isn't a bright spring day, but more of a late summer evening, when it's still warm enough for shorts and tank tops, walking towards a roaring bonfire and feeling the warmth of it on your face. Perhaps a early harvest celebration .. reveling in the dying of the light, and the symbolic death of the crops as we bring in a harvest. Fitting, to try this on First Harvest. It brings to mind dark images seen in a scrying mirror, and the portents they speak of.

ETA: As this one wore on, it started to do the same thing that Cheshire cat does to my nose, though salice says it's not. But it gets a similar smell to it, and I'm not certain I could wear this as a perfume.

"Strawberries are red ..."

...

"Red and wild ... that's your theme!"

This .. like Wrath, and Dragon's Milk, is red. Pure, cinnamon-red-hot, strawberry, watermelon red. And it just -looks- hot, like an oil for Mars should look.

In the bottle: I smell cinnamon, certainly, and I'm quite certain my skin will draw that out, as it usually does. Luckily, I'm not one of those that gets a rash from cinnamon in an oil. There's something else, something a little sweeter .. maybe pepper? .. that keeps this from smelling like I've openend a bag of red-hots.

Wet: As I expect, my skin likes the cinnamon. And *poof* there it is. Sweet, spice, yum. Besides the cinnamon though, there are definitely other notes. I'm almost guessing ginger, but not certain.Ginger has a hot-sweetness to it that sort of matches this.

Wearing: This keeps to the cinnamon note, and I like that it does very muchly. This is certainly an oil meant for purpose, as well as scent, and I will eventually buy a bottle of this one, if for nothing else than Mars is a ruling planet for Scorpio, and I like the scent. But it's definitely not meek and mild. It's not necessarily overwhelming, but it's powerful. I can imagine I'll have to be sparing in my use of this one, as it can easily overpower my senses.

See .. I'm -still- waffling on this one. I'm confident that Beth could create a masterwork for me, certainly .. but then, would I then grow to wear only that and ignore all the rest of her lovely creations?

So Beth, love, if you're reading this .. take your time. I'm sure people will wait forever and a day to work towards a personalized scent .. if it means less stress for you, and more lovely scents coming out in the meantime.

How odd that this didn't have a review yet!

Anyway, thank you Q'spice for the gift of a little impy of this, as it really is one of my favorite florals. And like everything else, Beth doesn't disappoint. This is perfectly true to its namesake .. this is the smell of the honeysuckle growing on the side of the road in the house Jason used to live in .. it's just a sweet, comforting smell that really just makes me cuddly and happy, maybe because it's one of the first 'Southern' things I was introduced too. Didn't have honeysuckle up North!

Incantation, yea. It's very autumnal to me. And in the same vein, so are Three Witches, and Chimera. Old Athens too, in many ways. If you can get ahold of Lughnasadh, it's very Autumn .. it may well replace the disappointing Samhain for me.

And Scarecrow is a very Autumn scent for me. I'm thinking of making some incense with it, in fact, as Autumn for me is only about a month away.

I'm with you, by the way. Autumn is my favorite season.

Nella got back to me too, after I broke down and emailed them, to let me know that my order too had to be held back. So I get to start looking for it around the end of the week, adn I don't have to stalk and kill the postal workers. *winks*

Okay. Question. Those of you that got Click-N-Ships on and around July 16th .. have you gotten anything yet?

I'm with andrabell on the Tamora, Dragon's Milk and Tigerlily. Also Pele is light and fruity, as are Unicorn and Titiana. And .. oh yes .. Le Serpent Qui Danse.

And thanks to q'spice I can say that Tears and Seraphim are both quite light too. And Embalming Fluid and Old Shanghai too.

No. And I'm seriously considering flying to LA and merdelizing the entire Post Office.

C'mon, people. how long can it take to ship a package Priority? I put in the tracking number and all I get is ::

The U.S. Postal Service was electronically notified by the shipper or shipping partner on July 16, 2004 to expect your package for mailing. Information, if available, is updated every evening. Please check again later.

Blargh!

But .. I can't worry about that. At least my mint and blackberry teas arrived. Yay! This'll do me for a while. Aaaand ... a certain someone should have gotten their package today. So. I'll content myself with knowing I spread some sunshine that hopefully made it today.

*eyes her post office warily* You know .. there wasn't a darned thing in my box. That's not normal. WTF?

*sighs* I've come to the decision that the 'new' Post office that the Lab has been using for some reason takes longer to get packages anywhere.

I'm now impatiently stalking my mailbox. Because I got a click'n'ship on Friday .. and another on Monday from Darkswan Soaps. Both sent Priority. The one from Darkswan arrived today. Two days. No sign yet of the one from the Lab.

I'm seriously considering mojo, to make that darned post office work more efficiently.

I'm a little confused about my order and I'm hoping someone can help me?

 

I ordered an imp-ear six pack on June 30th and the order was paid for the same day.  CC Now is saying that my order shipped on the 13th of July and I have since emailed BPAL in order to get a confirmation on that.   Normally, because it's only the 17th- I wouldn't bother asking but I live only 30 minutes north of the BPAL offices so it seems kind of strange to me that a priority mail package would take this long given regular mail in Los Angeles County has a one-day turn around?

 

Does anyone have any information or know whom I can speak to about getting a more accurate time frame about shipping?

 

The reason I ask is that I'm relocating back to Northern California in about a two weeks for school and I'm concerned that my order will be sent to the wrong address by then and thus, prolonged.  Since my order hasn't actually shipped, is it possible to see if I can a re-direct if it hasn't gone out by the 26th or so?

 

Any info provided will very much appreciated. 

There are a number of posts regarding this matter.

http://www.bpal.org/index.php?s...indpost&p=28243

http://www.bpal.org/index.php?s...indpost&p=14185

As far as who to contact? I would send an email tonight, as the lab is going 'no mail' essentially soon, and it'll be very hard to contact them regarding anything until they finish their 'break' ... which won't be so much of a break as a period where no -new- orders can be made .. so they can get caught up on the existing orders .. as well as wait for the backordered bottles that they -need- to package the oils up in. Emails should be send to answers @ blackphoenixalchemylab.com

Here are a couple of posts about emailing the lab, also.

http://www.bpal.org/index.php?showtopic=3074

http://www.bpal.org/index.php?showtopic=2639

In the bottle: I expected, especially with the color, this to be as 'hot' as Mars was. It's sweeter somehow, and less agressive. Not so much cinnamon as .. well .. possibly the clove blending with dragon's blood. All I know is it's not the cinnamon red hots I expected of a scent named Wrath.

Wet: More clove than cinnamon at first, and a little sweetness. After a while though the cinnamon and pepper come out, and I really love it. Sadly, the little wand came off in my imp .. but that's okay. I don't think it'll matter one bit!

Wearing: Definitely an 'angry' scent. I'm entirely pleased that my skin isn't as sensitive to the cinnamon oils as so many of you seem to have troubles with, because I love cinnamon-y scents. This one is no exception. It's hot, and spicy, and altogether a perfect match for its name, even though I didn't expect it to be from the smell in the vial.

Edited: because 'and' is not the same word as 'an'. Grr.

In the bottle: How odd! It separated! I had two distinct layers in my imp, swapped from supasonicsage .. I'm sure it's not her fault .. it probably settled. (Great packing job, by the way .. kept everything nicely upright .. no seepage!) Anyway .. it's a light citrus/orance scent .. not at all unpleasant. In fact, I can rather see already why this one earned the name 'Ravenous'.

Wet: Red Patchouli isn't something I'm very familiar with, scent wise .. but I imagine that's what's making this spicier than a plain citrus note. Evil orange indeed, Shollin. I can totally get that. It's darker somehow .. more mellow and yet more foreboding. Yum.

Side note: 2 minutes after shaking this up to mix it again, it's beginning to separate. Odd!

Wearing: I don't think I have many imps of citrus notes .. and this is one I can see getting much more of. Like the lime I love in venom, this one is delicious, but not in the same way. Where Venom is cool and crisp, Ravenous is warm and .. tempting.