blackrayne

Yay for new imps!

 

In the vial: violet, a hint of rose, and muguet (more commonly known to me as Lily of the Valley).

 

Wet: violet. But softer. I have a horrid sinus headache right now, which is being made worse by screaming kids, so it's hard to concentrate on this one... it's beautiful. But I need to try it again and review it properly when my head isn't throbbing and kids aren't getting mad at each other. Hopefully I will be able to edit this soon with a better review.

So far on me Snake Oil, O, New Orleans and Queen Mab are the longest lasting on me. As in... more than 12-13 hours later, they still smell positively yummy.

Okay, another dumb ass question, but seeing as I made my order through Paypal instead of CCNow (because I wanted to order an imp of Bengal and it's [still] not showing up in Wanderlust) for the first time ever, will I get a an order acknowledgement from the Lab?  I see my Paypal payment remains unclaimed, so...anyone know?

 

Oro

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You essentially should get an email (with the subject line "Black phoenix paypal payment received") to your PayPal email address... sometimes I get them, sometimes I don't, it's an autoresponce basically stating that your order was received by the lab. If you don't get one, don't panic, though, because it doesn't always send it (I get them usually 3 times out of 4).

One of them is the proud mama of 5 month old Daniel and the other is going to be the proud mama of a baby girl come early September.  My third friend is still trying and has just started meetings at a fertility clinic. 

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Andra... I am glad to hear of the success that two people had with having babies.

 

My best friend has been trying to become pregnant for at least 5 years now... her and her husband have gone through tons of testing, treatments and still, they continue to fail in the baby making department. They just recently started proceedings for adopting a baby, as they don't think that in vitro would work for them at this point. I personally am very sympathetic to their situation, especially since I have two wonderful children of my own... knowing that someone is not capable of having a baby when they truly want one and would be an amazing parent is very sad.

 

Oro, I hope you are able to conceive, and have a perfectly healthy baby.

In the bottle I get pure smooth, creamy white chocolate. As soon as it's on my skin, the tangerine totally blossoms. It's simply amazing how it does that. While drying down, it morphs still more, and on me ends up being a light flowery, slightly powdery, slightly fruity blend, which is positively amazing. However... I really think there's some pale amber or musk in this because within 15-30 minutes, I have the most amazing sinus headache of doom.

 

I shall be keeping the one bottle, and experimenting with it (in an oil burner, in a car sachet, etc.), trying to find a way to enjoy this scent without the terrible pain it inflicts on me when it dries... but I don't think it will get much love since I rather prefer my head not to be a pounding, throbbing mess.

Do you think orders arrive more quickly when they're "regular" orders, not orders during a full moon or 24-hour LE? Yes, I know this is probably just wishful thinking on my part. I'm an eager newbie with two orders out, placed in the last two weeks. Guess I better develop some patience, huh? 

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Right now all orders, regardless of whether they are catalog only or LE take the same length of time. The lab is working as hard as they possibly can to get the turnaround shortened, but it's not going to be easy considering the constant influx of new customers.

Wet, and in the bottle... I too am getting the cherry cough drop type of impression. It's actually becoming more prominent as it drys down on my wrist than when it was wet.

The woodsy notes are starting to come out from hiding, and it's got a sweet berry wine afterscent to it now, which, while being very intriguing, I don't think it will fully dry down to a good scent for my skin.

And... the cherry cough drop scent just came back. It keeps fighting the wine, they are duking it out to see which it will smell more like, but it appears that the sweet juicy wine has been overthrown for good now.

It's a lovely scent, just not one I'll be able to enjoy.

Wet, and in the bottle, this is very sweet cherry with a touch of cinnamony goodness.

 

I have had this bottle since it's release, and never worn it due to the cinnamon in it (though I have decanted two imps from it at one point, so I have smelled it quite a bit in the past). Since my skin seems to have recently stopped hating some of Beth's cinnamon blends, I decided to get my bottle out of the box and try it.

 

Once this starts to dry down on my skin, the bright sweet cherry/berry scent fades a bit and the cinnamon comes out stronger than it appeared in the bottle. It's now more cinnamon and less fruity on me, to the point where the cherry I first caught has all but disappeared.

 

My arm's not too sure about this one yet, it's got a bit of a tingly feeling where I applied it, though no redness to speak of at the moment (unlike what most cinnamon sccents create on my skin).

 

After close to 30 minutes this is all cinnamon with a hint of powder on me. And it's still got that tingly burny thing going on with my wrist... so apparently not all cinnamons agree with me.

Due to an overwhelming amount of topics about bottles, we present this post as a guide to bottle chatter.

 

I may have inadvertently missed one or two, but this is a general guide of frequently discussed bottle topics.

 

5ml bottles - how long do they last?

How to get open a stuck bottle

What do bottles & labels (catalog & LE) look like?

Bottle Label Issues

Bottle caps, reducers, polyseals, droppers, oh my!

How do you apply from the big bottles

What do you do with empty imps & bottles?, giving them a second life

Does the Lab Recycle Imp Vials and Bottles?

What do you have Big Bottles of?, (and what do you *want* big bottles of?)

Bottles, Containers, supplies galore, decanting imps, roll-ons, sprays & more

I put a wee bit of this on since I was decanting an imp of it.

 

Wet... very citrus with a spicy ginger smell mixed in.

 

Dry... the citrus is definitely orange, and there's most certainly ginger in there. It's very uplifting, but it's also making me a bit nauseous because of the ginger (go figure... the root that calms most people's stomachs makes mine wretch).

 

Still keeping my bottle for now as one of the other family members might be able to use this... I won't be using it again, though. Especially since it's making my wrists red and itchy. Eep. Time to get it off.

I am very much a fire and earth sign (Sun and Moon in Leo, rising's Capricorn), and find it very interesting that for the most part I fare best with lighter fruitier and slightly floral scents.

 

I've recently discovered a love for cinnamon scents, though (including a few that don't burn my skin... either my skin chemistry's changed and the cinnamon blends I once couldn't wear I will have to try again, or there's just been some new ones that Beth's put out that don't bother me too much).

 

All in all, though, I've never found myself to act like the typical Leo (in my youth, maybe... but I became very introverted at one point in my life and have pretty much stayed that way for the rest of it, even if I don't seem that way on the forums)... what does this mean for me and my taste in scents? I've got no idea.

As far rancidity goes - I've only had one bottle go rancid on me so far, which was the 2003 Samhain (or was that 2002?  I forget.. well, Samhain I anyway).  I discovered it had gone bad about a month ago, which gave that particular bottle a shelf life of a bit less than 2 years (or maybe 3).  Like all my oils, it was kept in a box in my bedroom.

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Samhain's first appearance was in 2003. I have a bottle from then too... I wonder if it's still ok or if mine too has turned. I hope it's still ok... I haven't yet used all of it (or my 2004 bottle either).

I'll second the rose suggestion, as well as vanilla... and some lavender too.

 

I find it unfortunate that so many people associate patchouli with dirty hippies, it's really is a beautiful scent once you get over that association.

(I am hopefully going to have a description to add here soon.)

 

Sekhmet is lovely... slightly minty, definitely cinnamony, and completely hot and sultry. Perfect for feeling seductive on a hot summer night.

 

Unlike most cinnamon blends, this one doesn't bother my skin. Maybe it's possible that the sensitivity I had to cinnamon has decreased since this is the third blend with it I have tried in the last month that hasn't bothered my skin.

I'm strange... in my head I pronounce it that way, but if I am talking to someone about it, they are either "Black Phoenix" or "the lab". I don't call it BPAL out loud.

 

See... I told you I'm strange.

Holy squee of squees!!!

 

I recently got an imp of this from one of the other mods, and I am very glad I did... it turns out that my one mystery bottle that I could have sworn was Gingerbread Poppet (although having never tried GP, this was solely a guess based on notes I detected in the bottle I have) is indeed Pumpkin King!

 

*SQUEE*

 

On me, its all apples and spice and amazingly the cinnamon isn't bothering me (how very rare is an blend with cinnamon that doesn't produce insane redness on my skin). It's a very Autumnal scent, perfect for those chilly days with leaves fluttering through the air and the wood stove burning for the first time.

 

Why did I take this long to identify this scent? I *love* it and will be wearing it constantly this upcoming fall.

Does anyone have photos of LEs?  I'm especially curious what the MiGo Brain Cannisters look like...

is there really a bitty brain inside? 

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There's a huge thread about LE bottle labels here... and here is the Mi-Go specific post.

I'm not getting the lavender scent that everyone else has... mind you, it is reminiscent of lavender, but it's totally different too. It has a slight lemony scent (though it too doesn't smell exactly of lemon... it just has that similar zesty citrus scent), with an undercurrent of delicate rose.

 

I currently have a horrid headache, I am hoping this will help get rid of it and allow me to sleep well tonight. I will report back tomorrow with the effects it has on my sleep.

 

edited to add the following...

 

I just got out of the shower... just trying to wash off the Quietude wouldn't have done it, I needed a full rub-down with MeadowSweet and Honey Oatmeal Almoond soaps to get the Quietude off. I was fine at first, but when it fully dried on me, it subtly reminded me of something, not entirely sure what since I never did figure out the culprit, from years ago, that the smell of always makes me really, really nauseous. I can still smell it a bit, possibly I got some on my keyboard tray or my mousepad (fortunately, I have to replace it soon anyway), and I just feel.. ick.

 

My headache's worse than before, and I am now sitting here sniffing some Dragon's Milk hoping it will calm my belly a bit. I'm about to take some Tylenol Sinus and hopefully get some sleep... and I really hope tomorrow I can't still smell it, because it just totally did not work for me.

 

As a side note, this has nothing personally to do with the blend, because I imagine it will work great for a lot of people (and I liked the smell wet even)... it's just that one bad scent memory association that kicked in when it dried and totally killed this blend for me.

Lemony, but totally not in a lemon Pledge way... in a happy, uplifting, yet soothing like warm honey lemon tea when you are sick way.

 

Just sniffing this makes me feel much more mentally focused.

I thought the Panacea's only came in 5mL bottles.

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They do only come in 5mLs. I guess Beth just thought Andra needed some extra Moxie these days or something.

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Hahahahahahahaha!

In the bottle and wet: There's a sharp crispness to this scent... something I can't fully distinguish the culprit of. Faint undertones of something mellow and relaxing.

5 minutes after aplying: The sharpness fades on me, and I smell something still very crisp, but more green and herbal.

p.s. I will be editing this to add more of a description when my sinuses stop throbbing... it's not a perfume related sinus pain, it's the crappy weather that's doing it this time.

Cotton candy. Candy apples. Funnel cakes. French fries doused with malt vinegar. Toss in a hot summer night, laughter everywhere, rides lighting up the night sky, and you've got Midway.

 

Beth once again has outdone herself.

I put this on about two hours ago, and forgot entirely about reviewing it right then.

 

It, on me, is amazing. Lightly floral, with the jasmine a bit stronger than the honeysuckle, and a very faint hint of spice... to the point where it's barely noticable.

 

I feel like I should be exploring an ancient cemetery, in the sweltering heat and humidity of the summer, just as the sun is setting.

This reminds me a lot of a Russian Spice tea we get occasionally. I smell cinnamon in it, though I don't feel it (I almost always instantly get a rash from anything with cinnamon in it - could this one be the exception?).

 

Warm spices, strong teas, light incense, dusty bolts of silk fabrics, and a fresh sweetness that mingles so perfectly with the rest.

 

It is an amazing scent... not one I'll wear often, but something I could see myself wearing while trekking through Chinatown on a hot summer evening.

QSpice said DMH had a normal label, dunno if it's got a special little symbol, but no TLF-like label for DMH..

 

 

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I was so disappointed - was hoping for playing cards!

 

(Gosh, Ace, wonder why.)

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Nope... it's got the same label as Spooky and most others, though all black - no colored symbols, etc. It would have been very cool if it had an aces and eights logo on it.