elbow

What sort of things go in a Spring cleaning swap?

Whatever you have that you're willing to give away (and ship), that is still in reasonably nice condition, and that your recipient's Q&A indicates they might want. To give you some examples, boxes I've received have included books, clothing, stationery, candy, candles, a mug, a USB stick full of movies and music selected for me, jewelry, unused cosmetics, tea, yarn, stickers, bath salts, a water bottle, notebooks, tarot decks, soaps, games, washi tape, pretty stones, samples of various kinds, and, of course, BPAL.

It's excellent motivation to go through your stuff, sort out what's perfectly good but not getting any love, select what your recipient may want, and declutter the rest. Then you get a box of things tailored to your tastes as a reward! Join usss Gwydion... Join usssss...

Hello. I was frimped an imp of Szepasszony by a lovely forumite and am finding I really like. It's also really different from anything else I've smelled, though I usually avoid things described as "aquatic." Freshwater aquatic seems to work on me sometimes though and thats what I get from this, along with lavender and some sugary, fresh floral.

 

Anyone have some suggestions?

Not a GC, but the reviews I'm reading of Waiting (from this year's Liliths) indicate that it's rain with a hint of lavender. Similar enough to try layering for the Szepasszony effect, perhaps?

Like DiesMali, I wasn't super impressed with this when it was new, but the notes list suggested it would only get better with time. And it has! A year and a few months later, it's richer, darker, less initially floral, more harmonious. On me it stays close to the skin, lasts a good while, and is absolutely beautiful from wet to fading away. Now, do I wear it, or save it to see how much more amazing it gets over time? Decisions, decisions....

Did you have specific scents in mind that you want to search? If so, googling "BPAL [scent name]" will give you the forum review page within the first few results (it'll be the one with BPAL Madness in the title), and scents typically have reviews going all the way back to their release, just click back through the thread pages. If an LE scent has been released multiple years, unless it has been reformulated, you'll generally find all the years in the same thread, more or less chronologically.

 

If you're just looking for lists of which scents came out which years.... I think some diligent forumites have made lists like that, I'm just unsure where to find them.

Oh, brilliant! I've been poking/prodding/humoring the finicky forum search engine for reviews all these years, when I could've been just typing a phrase into an external one that's much easier to use. Thank you for pointing out this option (which now seems obvious)!

Patchouli's a note that only works for me in moderation. A couple of recent reviews had me worried that it would be too much for me in this blend. But though the patch does take center stage here for me, it doesn't have the spiky nosefeel of many patchouli-heavy scents. Whatever it means to "caramelize" patchouli, I'm a fan! With the warmth and sweetness of the benzoin, vanilla, and fig, this blend is mellow and lies close to the skin; it's incredibly sexy without being in-your-face about it. The benzoin, vanilla, and fig all harmonize with it so well... I would definitely hit that.

This blend is every bit as amazing as I'd hoped! Wet on my skin, I get pure melty milk chocolate -- the good stuff, like you'd find in Switzerland or France. The gunpowder emerges quickly, an exclamation point for the nose, and the myrrh harmonizes gently from the background. Over time, the chocolate and gunpowder sort of settle into the myrrh's warm embrace, but all three remain evident and play brilliantly together. Well done!

I have a sad lack of mint in my life. Any recommendations for scents like Menacing Ionospheric Research Instrument or Green Tree Viper?

Not exactly, but have you tried...

Shattered: A blend of white champagne notes, grapefruit, lotus, slivered mint and crystalline aquatic blooms

Undertow: lotus and juniper with a hint of mint

Ultraviolet: Lush violet and neroli spiked hard with eucalyptus and a sliver of mint.

Cathode: Ambergris, Spanish Moss, oakmoss and three electric mints.

I really like all four of these, and they're all GCs. I also recommend getting your paws on one of the Lick Its (a candy cane scent that comes around every other Yule or so) -- it's a simple, sweet mint that layers well with other blends.

You should totally sign up for the matchbook shrine swap.

Srsly. The last one was so cool!

Doooo iiiiiiiiit.

On my skin: Tobacco takes the lead in this sweet, dry scent, with frankincense, rum, and well-worn leather harmonizing. It smells a bit like a sophisticated man's cologne. I bet it would smell great on a sexy man.

On my sexy man: Far richer and more complex, with more deep tones of cedar, sandalwood, and spices. I wish he liked this one -- it has all his favorite notes! -- but every time he sniffs it, he says, "Too sweet." Alas!

No one's said it yet but I will, that spreadsheet is bloody genius!

Heh, thanks!

OK. I just spent about an hour going over each of the circular swap boxes of B&B items entrusted to me by Em. They have now been cleaned out of everything leaky, expired, or so leaked-on that I couldn't read the labels. I also made an executive decision and tossed some things that I personally have seen in the boxes for multiple rounds and which had nominal value (i.e. hotel room soaps).

 

However, I need some opinions...

 

One box is mainly full of Bath & Body Works and other fairly cheap mass market brand stuff. The other box has a lot more etailer and higher end brands. Further, the second box has about twice the amount of BPAL and BPTP samples than the first box.

 

My question is: Should I divide things up between the two boxes to make them more equal in value of contents? Or would people rather than I kept each box as-is in case they have been careful about only signing up for one or the other (or alternating boxes, etc).

 

The other option is to have me divide up the contents between: Smelly things (perfumes, scented lotions, body sprays) and Makeup samples (lips, eyes, nails -- this box would include the facial lotions and hair care items) so that each box is more themed rather than a mish-mash.

Oh my goodness, yes, please re-divide! It would be so sad to get stuck with mostly mass-market stuff when there's a box with more interesting things out there.

If you divided between smelly things and makeup samples, I'm guessing you'd get a lot more interest in the smelly box than the makeup box. But maybe that's just my personal bias.

Rose Red wasn't rosey enough for me -- it smelled of cut stem, green leaves, tightly clasped bud. Peacock Queen is that dark red bud in full flower, turned up to 11. No polite pink blooms here; she is one brassy dame! Given the potency of this scent, I was surprised at how quickly it faded. (She makes quite an entrance, but retires before anyone has time to get tired of her....) I don't actually consider this a negative; I like the idea of starting the day with a blast of confidence-boosting rose that fades to an inoffensive memory by the time I arrive at work. I'm going to try layering it with other scents, both to extend the duration and to explore the possibilities of what is effectively a gorgeous red rose Single Note blend (yay!).

I really enjoyed this "single note" as it morphed beautifully from new-cut tree through dry boughs. The smell isn't quite as convincing or memory-invoking for me as for other reviewers (and I was a big-time Xmas tree sniffer as a child -- maybe I was raised with different tree species?). But it's still a lovely, clean evergreeny scent that wears nicely alone, and that I look forward to layering with all sorts of things!

This didn't strike me as foody at all on first test. I think on my skin, the fig milk primarily softened the lotus and warded it away from bubble-gum land. Once the lotus faded, ylang ylang and sandalwood incense were what I noticed most. But all the notes are subtle, harmonious, and muted like the light on a rainy winter day. A very pretty, understated blend.

So, if anyone is tempted to take this deeper down the rabbit hole... here's a screenshot of how I track this stuff. Every new scent, once tested, gets logged under each note it contains, in the column that best describes my experience with it. I've found it really fun to put together and see patterns develop, not to mention very useful when trying to remember which notes I've had good experiences with. This first segment looks fairly ambiguous, but farther down the list, there are notes it's very clear that I like (Benzoin!) and dislike (Jasmine!).

Just an FYI to the world that Em has entrusted me with the circular swap boxes she was running. They arrived at my house today. I'm putting them in the spare room unopened to deal with when my house is parent-free again after Christmas. I expect them to go back into circulation/sign ups in early January.

Yay, kakiphony! Thank you so much for taking this on!

nekan: Keep in mind that a notes list is not an ingredients list. There is more to these blends than Beth sees fit to spell out for us. So this kind of analysis is not an exact science, by any means.

sprout: "Bimodal predilection" is a wonderful phrase.

This is a really interesting topic, and it started me thinking. (Uh-oh). I'm a real computer idiot, can't to spreadsheets and things like that, but I broke my wish lists down into 4. Things I want to try, things I've tried and was OK with, things I've tried and hated, and things I've tried and loved. Only 5 scents have made it onto my Need a Bottle list: Bathsheba, Uruk, Obatala, Sea of Glass, and Paramatman. And that's the problem! They seem to have absolutely nothing in common! Does anybody see something I'm missing? I'm just baffled!

 

(I'd add the descriptions, but that's computer magic that's beyond me. Off the cuff, what I remember is:

 

Bathsheba-Carnation, plum and musk

Uruk-Almonds, saffron and jasmine

Obatala-Coconut meat, shea butter, and fresh water

Sea of Glass-no notes listed, but I get Lilies

Paramatman-Orange blossom, sandalwood and champaca

Well, variety is good! But even though these blends don't have notes in common, one can still make observations like: you're clearly comfortable with a range of florals, you like scents that are clean and fresh with a hint of warmth, you favor blends that are "pretty" without being overly femme-y.

You start to see clearer patterns when you add more data. Keep trying stuff and adding it to your lists, and give them another look a year from now -- it's amazing how much you can learn! In the meantime, a look at your "tried and hated" list may also give some helpful clues about your tastes.

Spreadsheets are my go-to for any significant quantity of data I'm having trouble wrapping my brain around... which describes BPAL's catalogue pretty well. Like gentle-twig, I give every blend I've tried a rating (1 = Nay, 2 = Ehh, 3 = Yay). Then I plug the notes into a five-column spreadsheet...

Column 1: note name, listed alphabetically

Column 2 (green): names of blends with that note that have a 3 rating

Column 3 (yellow): names of blends with that note that have a 2 rating

Column 4 (red): names of blends with that note that have a 1 rating

Column 5: info about the note, if I have any

This way I can tell at a glance what blends I've tried with a given note, and how many of them have or have not worked for me. Even if I don't know exactly what something smells like, knowing what blends contain it really helps me form a useful theory about whether it will work for me in a new blend.

This process has also made it obvious that Beth uses some notes way more than others! You may actually have so many fave blends with vanilla in them, not because it's your favorite note (though it clearly works for you), but because vanilla is in so many BPAL blends.

Others have done a fine job describing the notes for this blend. It's been hard for me to do so in any objective way, because something about it just grabs me on a visceral level. I liked it all right on my first couple wearings, but since then I've found myself vividly recalling and craving the scent when I haven't worn it in a while. It is warm, comforting, and just... so... ugh, it's so good.

I first encountered it when I received a decant from a generous forum member, and I recently sprang for a bottle. I don't buy bottles often, and I've certainly never paid $30 plus shipping for one before. But this vanilla beeswax magic is well worth the cost for me. It has catapulted into my top 5, and is easily my favorite scent of 2015.

The blend conjures up a happy, comforting place for me, but it's full of subtle complexities.

It goes on fresh, sweet, and a tad bright, almost-but-not-quite fruity, with a faint suggestion of dried spices. I'm not familiar with all the herbs, but I think I'm smelling the white sage, bay rum, and hemp early on. It's the golden hour at day's end, and the setting autumn sun through the window is lighting up the dust motes in the air, making the rows of canned fruit glow, and warming the bundles of dried herbs hanging from the ceiling while the witches gossip, tease each other good-naturedly, and discuss plans.

Beeswax becomes more prominent as the sun drops below the horizon and candles are lit, filling the room with a cozy, flickering glow. I picture these witches calling the four corners for a brief ceremony, and adding pinches of herbs to a flame to purify their sacred kitchen space.

It dries down to a warm, richly honeyed myrrh: conversation slows as sleepy witches enjoy comforting spiced beverages and the peace of one another's company at day's end.

Okay, so maybe my mental image is not quite what the Francken painting depicts. Either way, this is definitely a kitchen I will be hanging out in!

ETA: I didn't really explain the "subtle complexities" part well, but at every stage I detect some other interesting note that I don't know how to describe or name, making me ask, "What is that? Ooh, and what is that?"

Whoa, this is love at first sniff! The clove and frankincense just sing together, with the tar providing a velvet-deep backup harmony. The notes list may be simple, but the blend is full of rich, unexpected nuances. It's like the lovechild of two of my fave LEs: Smiling Spider and Minotaur. Very highly recommended to other clove+resin fans!

My decant of PSE 2014 has aged beautifully in the past year, mellowing the spices and bringing out the sweetness. It's reminiscent of a smoothly blended chai latte. Last fall I thought I'd only want to use this for layering, but it's totally wearable on its own now!

What is it with the shortage of sign ups for the chocolate swap. This used to be the most popular one!

I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm moving this fall, so I'm on a, uh, swap circle fast. :/

An ominous frankincense leads this somber procession on me, with rough leather following close behind, and tobacco bringing up the rear, leaving a dusty sweetness in its wake. The vanilla and clove are both present, without drawing attention to themselves. On me the patchouli, champaca, and petitgrain are lost in the crowd; their presence is felt, rather than directly observed.

This is really gorgeously dark. I'd call it a masculine blend, but my boyfriend doesn't care for it at all, while I (not a masculine person) like it very much. Instead, I'll describe it as a must-try for any fan of somber, leathery, tobacco-y scents.