portalkat

Quick question, because I think this might have been an error on my end - recently someone (I honestly forgot who) told me that due to some change in PayPal processing, the Lab no longer receives my e-mail (which is needed for a CnS notification) with the order and that if I wanted to have a CnS notification I'd have to include the e-mail in the comments section of my order.

 

So I placed an order (1 bottle Coyote, 1 bottle Cathedral, 1 bottle Smokestack) April the 25th with my e-mail in the comments section. Now, I know the lab takes time to process orders but the thing is, people are already receiving CnS notifications for orders (including international orders) placed on the 29th. Coyote, Cathedral and Smokestack don't strike me as scents I've ever heard of being backordered, either. So maybe it's just gone out without the notification because I screwed up on the e-mail thing?

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.

I find Boo and my aged bottle of the original Black Lace to be most similar to AL on me.

Just wondering if anyone else in Europe had recent orders on the way from the lab? I got a CnS on 13 April -- normally packages from the States only take about a week to get here, but two weeks isn't uncommon, so I wasn't really expecting it till this week and the longest a package has ever taken is nearly 4 weeks from the Trading Post. And I'm sure that the delays in flights due to volcanic ash will also have disrupted air mail. All that being so, I don't think it's worth contacting the lab about it yet.

 

On the other hand, it would be great to know if anyone else is experiencing delays or has had European deliveries made during the last fortnight

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.

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.

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.

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.

So, I always pay with paypal because I thought that sped up the process because they get INSTANT payment. but is that really the case? With paypal, I have no idea if they even processed my order or anything unless I put in an email to bug them. at least with CCNow I can know whether it's been harvested or not. Should I just use CCNow from now on?

 

(in case you are wondering, i'm a 2/26 order, but i hate not knowing what's going on with it.)

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.

My bottle of Boomslang is OPAQUE. Smells fabulous, but looks like used motor oil..... and stains my skin just like you said, like I tried spray on tan, in that one area.

 

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?!?!?

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.

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.

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.

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."

I guess it comes down to worrying or at least feeling like I'm being cheated or deceived. I want to buy products from people who care about excellence, not price or prolific production of a new perfume every other day. I don't want to be fooled by creative copy. Maybe Beth is spending day in and day out in the lab dutifully mixing her own essential oils to create violet, musk, amber or sandalwood from scratch. Maybe you all are right. But the blog comments planted a pretty big seed of doubt that I'm having trouble uprooting.

 

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.

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.

Using the BPAL Review search engine, "Liz" didn't come up.

From the Hellboy collection here. Reviews are here.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Can someone please help me out by explaining the difference between MB Bigger critters with the 'critter label' from the Trading Post that came with the critter, and the bottle with the GC-type label? As far as I understand it the scent is the same, but I have a bottle of the GC type label and wondering why it was released differently to the other bottles?

 

Thanks so much!!

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.

What you could do is go the the bpal site and use the search for anything with tea tree and mint; from there, you can click on the name to link to here, to the specific reviews of fragrance that could work.

 

Hope that helps! PS try Temple Viper (I think) in the snake pit of Carnivale Diabolique.

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.

What collection is The Lights of Men's Lives from, again?

 

ETA: I agree with whoever said Slippery Poppy Tincture is strong on the honey. It has a red-berry scent to it at first but dries down to this blast of honey that is the same as the honey in Hetairae, but without the deeper tones of fig and clove that Hetairae had.

It's from the Marchen collection.

Hi guys, just a quick heads up, in case anyone finds this helpful...

I started getting antsy today, as I haven't yet received the order from my 10/16 CnS, and the DC # still isn't in the system, so I called the post office. They are having a problem with the DC system lately, but told me that if you prefix your DC# with the digits "94" when you do a search, it should bring it right up. Worked for me!

Thanks for the info MamaMoth, I posted a link to this post on the "Postal rants and raves" thread so that it would get more exposure.

I just got this frimp in my order from today and I am somewhat baffled. The tag is printed like all the other GCs, but it is just called "Hymn" and smells to my somewhat unschooled nose to be rose and possibly some sort of light or skin musk.

 

Does anyone know if there's a perfume that I'm missing in the reviews, or have I had a surprise dropped in my lap? It's totally not my style so I'll probably end up swapping it, but I'd like to know what sort of animal it is before I do.

 

EDIT Nevermind, I just can't read. It's a Sin and Salvation GC, go figure. Definitely into the swap pile for me. (Rose, bleh.)

It's from Sin and Salvation category here.

"A paean to true holiness, spiritual purity, and sacred enlightenment. Based on an incense blend sacred to the Virgin Mary: perfect rose absolute and Palestinian Lily of the Valley with olibanum, labdanum, frankincense and myrrh."

Reviews are here.