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BPAL Madness!

portalkat

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Everything posted by portalkat

  1. I just saw an announcement by the lab saying that Gypsy Moth and Yewberry Honey are on backorder. Did either of you have those is your order? That might explain the lack of CnS. Here's hoping they come off backorder soon! Yep. Two bottles of Gypsy are in my order. I wonder if the backorder pertains to orders placed after the 17th, or if it counts for orders from before that since Brian said they're packed and ready to ship. Hmm... Aaahhh, that explains things. I have an order from the end of last month as well and it has a bottle of Gypsy Moth. I got worried earlier today and sent an email, but now I know.
  2. portalkat

    '80s Prom Scent?

    Well, I was way past prom age, but I smelled like Magie Noir, Ivoire and Poison.......and mousse, lots of mousse. That said, Teenage Cannibal sounds like a good choice. Actually, a lot of the things at Dark Del sound like they might fit the bill since they are strong and have good throw. The 80's were loud and larger than life.
  3. portalkat

    Illuminati Cotillion

    I'm going for a backup of this one. My holy grail BPAL is Midnight Mass and this falls into that same category for me, only I find it a little more incensy and the wood note is a little drier and deeper. I was hoping that I would love it from the notes, but I didn't expect to love it as much as I do. I also love the pipe tobacco note which serves to sweeten things up. This also reminds me of Blasphemare Reliquary layered with Tabula Smaragdina. Yep, I'm definitely getting a backup of this beauty.
  4. Sometime back, the lab posted that things were back to normal and that the email notifications were going out again, so I don't think that it's anything to do with your email addy. You might just want to email customer service.............and once you do that, it will show up for sure.
  5. portalkat

    So you're devastated about Antique Lace...

    I find Boo and my aged bottle of the original Black Lace to be most similar to AL on me.
  6. You might want to look at the most recent posts in this thread. It deals with postal issues and it looks like you have plenty of company with the volcano situation.
  7. portalkat

    Who do I email with questions? BPAL/BPTP contact info

    I think that I saw a tweet from Beth yesterday about her email being messed up, so I'm pretty sure that it's on their to-do list tomorrow.
  8. portalkat

    Tobacco scents

    Herr Dross, Hearth '04, A bold Bluff and Dogs Playing Poker are the ones that I grab when I want to smell like sweet pipe tobacco. None of the other ones that are often suggested do it for me. Sometimes they smell like tobacco leaf or some other kind of tobacco, but not sweet pipe tobacco to me. Unfortunately, these are all LE's.
  9. portalkat

    Beachy, Tropical Scents

    Two of the ones that I thought of have already been suggested, Manila and Caliban, but I was also thinking about Thalassa the Galapagos Mermaid.
  10. If you are using Paypal to pay for your order, you shouldn't use CCNow because the lab gets hit twice with fees. They get charged by Paypal as well as CCNow. So, if you pay via Paypal, stick with Paypal. You will still get your CnS from the lab. You can also keep an eye out for posts in the CnS thread so that you can get an idea of your shipment. Oh, and neither way really speeds up the process. The lab doesn't fill one faster than the other.
  11. portalkat

    Does BPAL stain?

    HA! Me too.. my oldest bottle of Boomslang smells amazing but it's so thick and sludgy that it's like putting fudge on my skin. Seriously, if your Boomslang doesn't stain yer skin.. it ain't old enough yet PS ltrittipoe - I put mine on my scalp, behind my ears right at the hairline. It wafts chocolatey yumminess around me all day and nobody will ever know I have big brown Boomslang splotches all over my head. You mean, like this?!?!?
  12. portalkat

    Saint Foutin de Varailles

    This was the one that I thought for sure would be bottle worthy and I even passed on getting a decant initially because I was sure that I would love it. Money is tight these days, so I ended up getting a decant just to make sure. Well, I absolutely love this and I think that this is my favorite BPAL beeswax scent so far. The balance of all the notes is amazing and the beeswax is so smooth and gentle, not too honeyed, not too sweet, but it goes perfectly with the rose I don't detect much frankincense or wine. I love frankincense, but I'm not a huge fan of the wine notes, so I am happy. I only applied a bit on the side of my wrist and it stayed for an entire day and I could smell the throw from just the little bit that I tested. This is definitely a full bottle order for me and I am even considering a backup.
  13. portalkat

    Banshee Beat

    I love patchouli and when I started reading some of the early reviews, I knew that I had to order Banshee Beat. I love the way that Beth uses patchouli and I always look for it in the notes and immediately try that scent. Banshee Beat is a sweeter, rather than earthy or dry patchouli leaf and I don't think that it has only to do with the vanilla. It isn't as sweet and as mild as some of the sweet patchouli blends that are out there, but there is a bit of earthiness and I don't know if that is coming from the hemp note. The throw is great as is the longevity. I had applied just a bit to the inside of my wrist and it endured through all of the hand washings and dishes, lasting about 24 hours. This is definitely a go-to patchouli scent for me.
  14. I love this. I have a thing for raspberry and chocolate and for anything apricot, so I had to have a bottle of this. I think that the strongest note is the raspberry, but I definitely smell the chocolate and the way that the apricot combines with the berry is just lovely. I think that the cordial note takes it from a simple foody scent and gives it more of a complexity and takes it into the perfume realm. I also think that it will age beautifully because of it. I also love these notes with the addition of a bit of rose, so I am going to try it layered or worn along side a bit of Hope and see how that combines.
  15. portalkat

    Honey and Beeswax scents

    Here is the thread about honey from the Recommendations section, so you might want to look through there. Before I went to bed, I put on some Light of Men's Lives from the Marchen category and it is one of my favorite honey scents. Don't let the description scare you because it mentions wax and smoke and I'm into heavy smoke, but neither I, nor many of the reviewers found it smoky, but rather delicately honeyed.
  16. portalkat

    The Perfect Lavender

    I don't remember if I tested this one, but you might want to try Love and Pain from the Salon category. The notes are "Lavender, Balkan tobacco, black musk, dark vanilla, and golden copaifera."
  17. portalkat

    Are bpal blends all-natural?

    And you will only uproot it by giving the product a fair chance and allowing yourself time to experience it. I think you've hit the crux of what makes folks around the forum so defensive (and make them suspect trolling) -- I don't think most of us give a rats ass about whether anyone likes the product. It's no concern of mine what you do and don't like. But BPAL really is a community. Beth and the other lab staff are active forum members. They hang out with customers every month at will-call. We are well acquainted enough with the people who make the product to know their motivation and their passion for what they do. And they're incredibly warm and giving people to boot, so we feel protective. Whether you like the product is entirely up to your own tastes. Whether you think the business owners are cheating you is something else. If you do spend some time around here, I think you'll learn better. THIS........and we stand by a company that operates with integrity.
  18. portalkat

    Are bpal blends all-natural?

    All I have to say about this matter is that Beth does not use fragrance oils in her creations. In reference to the "molecule by molecule" quote, I think that it is fair to say that perfumers do not necessarily do all of the own distillations, accords, concretes, etc., but procure them from trusted sources. The quote about etailers blending existing fragrance oils, how one chooses to make their creations available to the public is not indicative of their creativity and totally irrelevant when accessing one's business standards. Oh, the prices are not all the same. There are different prices for the general catalog items, the limited edition scents and the Salon category as well as for the very special LE's like the Blue Moon releases which may contain some more expensive components.
  19. portalkat

    Where is this scent?

    From the Hellboy collection here. Reviews are here.
  20. portalkat

    What do bottles and labels look like?

    Wow, thanks for posting pics everyone. I can't wait to get my Inquisition package because those bottles just look great. I checked my Black Lace bottle which I ordered immediately when it went up in the first release. It is quite green - forest green bordering on teal. For some reason, I thought that I remembered it being more teal, but it actually has a lot of forest green in it. I guess that there are some variations out there, but it's definitely note the slate blue/gray one.
  21. portalkat

    Where is this scent?

    It was part of the Carnaval Noir LE series, but it was resurrected last year as part of the lab anniversary resurrection LE's. Here are the reviews. I'll report this thread to the mods and they can merge it with the *what is this scent* thread or something.
  22. portalkat

    Pa-Pow

    I love Pa-Pow and even though I smell the grassy notes, I also smell something from later in the year that reminds me of the October blend from the Halloween update of 2007. There is something that reminds me of the fallen leaf and smoke note and takes this from a grassy green blend and moves it into Autumn territory. This is such a beautiful tribute blend for a beloved friend.
  23. portalkat

    Cake Smash

    I really love this. I don't usually go for foodie, but I had to get this because it's the Bean's 1st birthday and my favorite cake is red velvet. So, the initial impression that I get after applying is a sort of dusty earthy cake with the frosting, but then the Snake Oil, Dorian and Doc Constantine begin to enter the picture. I would have been perfectly happy with just the red velvet cake, but I just love how the other scents mingle with one another. It ends up to be not so foody, but as a rather complex Snake Oil with a touch of cocoa. I'm short on money these days, so I had considered settling for only a decant of this, but I am so glad that I sprang for a full bottle. I just love it, as I seem to love all of the Snake Oil blends.
  24. portalkat

    What do bottles and labels look like?

    Here is the BPTP announcement from 4/07 which talks about the labels - Forum-only monsters! Keep your imps and bottles protected from closet, underbed, and underpants beasts with these derranged plush critters! Each BPAL-themed Critter stands between 8"-14" tall, and all of them have a pocket emblazoned with the BPAL Brimstone Logo for keeping your perfume safe and snug! Each comes with a 5ml bottle of Monster Bait: biggerCritters -- a deceptively sweet scent; just like the Critters themselves, the perfume is fluffy, poofy, soft, snuggly, and googly! Five vanillas with Moroccan jasmine, white gardenia, and pink grapefruit. The bottles that accompany the Critters have a grr’specially kyoot label, designed by Jennifer Williamson. In one month’s time, the perfume, Monster Bait: biggerCritters, will be made available to members of the bpal.org forum through Black Phoenix Trading Post with a standard BPAL general catalogue label. Truly unique creations by biggerCritters in conjunction with Black Phoenix Trading Post and Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab. $65.00US each, sold on a first-dibs basis.
  25. I'm not sure if you were suggesting the snake with mint, but that would be Green Tree Viper - Snake Oil with four mints, bergamot, and green tea.
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