ivyandpeony

So beautiful! This blend is very floral on me, but I adore florals so I find that wonderful. Tuberose is one of my favorite notes ever, and I do pick that up, but there are other gorgeous floral notes here that I am not familar with. Most likely those are the davana blossom and champaca flower - the overall effect is a lush, tropical, white floral topnote. The florals are anchored by something sweet and a little woody - perhaps the combination of the amber, honey, sandalwood and vanilla. The effect is positively intoxicating. A multiple bottle candidate in every way!

I was concerned about this one because frankincense tends to smell soapy and sharp on me. But all my needless apprehension melted away the minute I sniffed this glorious stuff in the bottle. I really don't smell frankincense in this blend - perhaps it complements these florals so perfectly, or maybe it is a different type of frankincense than the ones I've tried in other blends. On me, Night's Pavilion becomes a beautiful, white floral with a smooth white musk base. The avatar that Ultraviolet made evokes the perfect visual for this scent - a romantic, exotic locale viewed in the moonlight. Swoonworthy!

At first sniff from the bottle, and when wet, all I get is jasmine. Pushy, bossy, dominating jasmine - but this jasmine smells different from the jasmine I have smelled in other blends, leading me to think that I haven't experienced Moroccan jasmine before. Some jasmines are too sharp for me, but this is sweet and lush.

It takes a while, but the jasmine backs off and lets the fruity notes shine through, and this is a really pretty combination! I have noticed that several of the jasmine blends I love (Euphrosyne, Peitho) had very strong jasmine when fresh from the lab. After a month or so, they were much better balanced and the other notes were allowed to come out and play as intended. This jasmine is lovely and I'd wear the Perfumed Garden as it is today, but I will also look forward to seeing how this blend changes as it ages a wee bit.

At first, this one was nothing but caramel on me! As it dried down it has become a gorgeous, warm scent, sweet, spicy and ambery with a hint of something that could be coconut combined with the caramel. It is difficult for me to describe, but it is a really lovely scent, just as lovely as I had hoped it would be.

Embarrassing enough to follow a beautifully written review like ShriekingViolet's. On top of that, I guess I am Mary Poppins, because BPAL "sex" scents smell very sweet and innocent on me. O smells like honey vanilla loveliness... and Smut? It's absolutely gorgeous, but I am not getting hot smutty nekkid throw down sex. I'm getting sugary, spicy, slightly bourbony... Snake Charmer memories! That's right, Snake Oil ladies. I smelled Snake Oil in the bottle, but on me, it's much more the sweet, fruity spice I smell in Snake Charmer.

But you know what? I am off to order another bottle because this stuff is incredible.

I am one of those who have to try every LE... it's just in my blood. Of all the Lupercalia scents, Luperci was the one I feared most, or I guess looked forward to the least. So I am so pleasantly surprised that I love it and want to order another bottle!

For starters, it's much less masculine than I had anticipated. Not that it's girly, it's just one that I think is truly gender neutral. I don't pick up any juniper at all, which I find quite surprising since it's such an assertive note. I do get lots of oakmoss and patchouli, sweetened by the honey and musk. On me, I notice a loose resemblance to the scent of one of my favorite indulgences in the world - Tramp showergel from Lush. By no means am I saying it's a dupe, or that you will get the same results, but it has the same patchouli earthiness that's tempered with sweetness.

It's also surprisingly light on my skin - I will definitely have to treat myself to a slathering, but today was all about a swipe here and a swipe there so I could post reviews.

All in all, this one is beautiful and has me anticipating the greenness of spring!

Based on my first sniffs & swipes of the Lupercalia scents, Parlement of Foules is leading the pack for me. The rose is gorgeous and pure, a cousin to the dewy rose in Rose Red, and my nose didn't detect any of the sharpness that previous reviewers picked up. I can't identify the resins, but they are very warm, soft and smooth. They are somewhere in the middle of the spectrum, not green/herbaceous, not smoky like amber, nor sharp or soapy like frankincense can sometimes be. The rose dominates on me, but the resins are always there providing a lovely, golden base. I love the simplicity of this blend as well as the gorgeous combination of notes.

STOP! Grammar time!

OMG! Don't waste your money on a neti pot, just pour yourself the beverage of choice and sign on the forum. Sinuses cleared for free!

Macha, I am hoping that Santa brings you a new digital camera! Or batteries or a memory card or whatever it is that's botching up your old one. 'Cause living so close to the Lab, you could be our label picture queen, you know!

But seriously, I always do appreciate your "preview" reviews. You never let us down when you get to be the first kid on the block with a new smellie. And when it comes down to it, that's my first priority: how does it smell?

The detail in Ninevah's picture is incredible - Herr Drosselmeyer is so adorable I'm contemplating ordering it just for the label. (I know a leather and pipe smoke scent is 180 degrees from "me", but - gah! Look at him!) Wonder if the Rat King looks similar. I hope someone posts a picture soon.

I was contemplating ordering some of the "revisiteds" that I didn't click with last year - my tastes have evolved, and I might like them more now. Having seen the 2005 labels on these, I'm like MUST! HAVE! PRETTY! BOTTLES!! EEEEEEEEE!

Note : These are not my bottles (I wish, though!) nor is this my picture, I stole it from my dear friend in the Lush forum so you too could enjoy the beauty that is BPAL obsession. But we must find a picture of the Rat King!!

Alone has bit me - twice. The first time, I thought oh, it's too close to the shower, so I didn't give it any mind. But it left big red marks whereever I used it. Big, sore red marks. I swapped for a bottles after falling in love with the imp, and I picked it up yesterday at lunchtime. I put some more on - the same thing! so I"m going to have to go back and reread this thread, and get experimental with jojoba oil. Such a beautiful scent. *sigh* I still have hope...

The same thing happened to me with Alone and I'm so sad. I managed to swap for an imp before my bottle arrived and couldn't believe that it made me react. I have reacted to just a few oils and the reaction is the same, red marks or welts and a burning sensation. Bengal, Al Sharain, Alone, and once Jailbait (of all things!) have done this to me. Oh, and Inferno, but if it doesn't do that to your skin it's supposedly proof that you are spawn of the devil.

I can wear Chimera with no problem, so I don't know if it's cinnamon, or maybe an issue of its concentration. A friend on another forum suggested it was cardamom - but I can wear Whippoorwill (an all time favorite) which lists cardamom as an ingredient, and Silk Road which smells like it has it to me. Again, it could be an issue of concentration if that's the component that I'm sensitive to.

I made rollers of Bengal and Al Sharain diluted with jojoba oil and that seemed to make them gentle enough for me (both have lots of fragrance so I don't notice any decrease in that at all!) I decided just to put my bottle of Alone up for swaps and hang on to my imp though - I'm hoarding too much and had to make some cuts somewhere.

I feel lucky that those are the only reactions I've had when I see how sensitive some of y'all are. Must be all the industrial chemicals we kids got exposed to in the last 60s and early 70s.

I have an "older" bottle of Sol (I bought it over the summer at one of the BPAL retailers, The Enchanted Castle). It has a standard black & white BPAL label w/ an indigo border. So the new label must be celebrating Sol's return!

Wichapi, no one from the lab has ever posted exactly how the queue order is determined. I have ordered during the first hour of an update and been one of the last to get a package, and ordered late and been one of the first to get my order. Regardless of how the original order queue starts forming on an update day, it's going to get shuffled immensely as they go along filling orders - for example, if they still need a batch of a certain oil blended, then orders with that oil are going to move down the queue and they'll pack orders that they have everything on hand for. Or if an ingredient for another blend is backordered, all the orders with THAT blend will also move down the queue.

So after 14 months of BPAL-ling, I've come to the conclusion that the time of day you place your order on an update day isn't a good indicator of how early or late your package is going to arrive.

I know that doesn't really answer your question - but it's the best I could do!

I'm bumping this since I know some of you in colder areas have been looking for it!

Since you have a fairly complex ordering situation, you'd probably do best to get the advice of customer service at the Lab, answers@blackphoenixalchemylab.com. That way you'll be getting instructions directly from them and there will be much less probability of confusion.

But just from my point of view - I'd do it as 2 separate orders.

There are instructions and FAQ on placing PayPal orders and CCNow orders in the BPAL FAQ subforum.

I have heard metal is a no-no. I think many metals can react with the oil and cause it to go "off." I think glass daubers are best, since it's the only thing that you can safely store the oils in for a long time.

Since imp wands are plastic and obviously stay in the oil without causing problems, some plastics must be alright too. Personally, I'm wary of plastics though, due to some of my disastrous home cosmetics experiments over the years. Like the time that I wanted to mix two nail polishes, but one bottle was too full, so I poured a bit into a Solo plastic cup to throw it away. The polish literally dissolved the cup and made a huge mess in the bottom of my bathroom wastebasket! My husband cringes any time I start acting like a mad scientist in the bathroom...

I second Judas Kiss's Whitechapel rec - especially since your mom loves lilac. It's fresh and brisk but full of lilacs on me. Nocnitsa is my favorite forest scent, because to me it doesn't smell like evergreens, but the cold air in an evergreen forest... sigh. Ides of March is a wonderful, crisp herbal bouquet and only carries the risk of her falling in love with it, but not being able to find it again... but isn't it better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all?

Another scent that I think of as completely green is House of Night. Many people jump to the conclusion that it's a heavy floral because they only skim the poem that inspired it, but when you read it carefully you realize that the bright, heady flowers have all died, and the green trees, herbs and a few pale funereal flowers are all left behind to mourn. It is a deep, dark green scent and just gorgeous.

March Hare?

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I'm slow, but I just got it! Rabbits....

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People often tend to assume that any reaction to something indicates that they're allergic to it, but in fact an allergy is a fairly specific type of reaction produced by a release of histamine in the body, and in the case of skin-contact allergic reactions, itchiness and hives are the usual symptoms. The sort of redness and burn that can be caused by cinnamon, pepper, ginger, and other hot-and-spicy scents is because they're actually mildly caustic, and sensitive skin can easily be irritated by them even if you have no allergies whatsoever. Especially if you've done anything to make the skin more sensitive, like exfoliating, shaving or taking a hot shower.

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That's a really good point about allergies, especially when you think down the road to future reactions. Lots of us have had or will have an irritable, sensitive skin reaction to a product we like at one point - but in most cases it's still safe to use. You can dilute the spicy scents, wait a half hour after a shower to apply, always apply over lotion so there's a barrier, etc. But when you have a true allergic reaction you need to be more cautious. I don't think it means you are going to go into anaphlytic shock the next time you're exposed to that oil! But you can become more sensitive to an allergen over time (just as you can develop a tolerance for it). Bottom line: I'm still craving a bottle of Inferno, even though I could write messages on my body with it undiluted and watch them develop like a Polaroid but sadly, gotta stay away from the Jailbait from now on.

Sorry to hear that someone has joined me on the Jalibait bench!

Odd thing - I can still wear Chimera with no problems at all. The reason I can state this with such veracity is that last week, I was feeling tired and sinus-y, took a long hot bath, slathered up with lotion and then slopped on lots of Chimera because I wanted something comforting and I needed something I could really smell... and my dog ended up smelling like a big Chimera sugar cookie for days because he snuggled up to me in bed that night. I didn't have an itch, a welt, a bump or even a hint of one.

I didn't even think about the possibility of cinnamon in Jailbait (shows you what a solid sense of self preservation I have, huh? ) but it definitely does have a hint of something spicy now that you mention it.

Eventually I will e-mail customer service and ask about it, but with Beth on the mend and everyone working so frantically right now, it didn't seem of dire urgency to me.

Oh man, I about died when I first saw that picture. You should have to click on a little square certifying you are 18+ and you don't have a heart condition before you are allowed to see it.

BPAL porn from the Lush NA forum (thank BPAL forumite Brumbjorn for this lovely money shot). Love in the Asylum is on the far right.

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It's not the long, complicated names that tie me up, but the short ones. Except Tzadikim Nistarim, but that a whole different ball of wax.

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When you hear someone who speaks fluent Hebrew pronounce this, it's beautiful! I gift my acupuncturist with imps and bottles occasionally since she's become a BPAL fan. When I took her a lot of imps including this one, she got so excited about it and told me all about them (I knew a little just from Beth's description). Of course I couldn't tell you right now how it was pronounced... I love to hear her recite the names of the Sephiroth too.

After 10 months of wearing BPAL with no problems at all (other than the skin-sloughing effects of Inferno that everyone experiences at least once ), I had my first true allergic reaction last week... I could see the exact pattern of where I had rolled the roller bottle on my arms, painted in pink and filled in with cute little hives everywhere. And the culprit? Jailbait, of all things. It doesn't seem to have anything spicy or itch inducing in it to my nose... but of course, I would react to something with no notes listed.

A quick wash-off with soap and water and a little OTC cortisone cream and there was no trace of the ugly scene within about 45 minutes.

I figure I'll do a spot test in a month or so - not that I'm so enraptured with Jailbait that I can't face life without it, but I have developed hives a few times in adulthood when I have been under stress. (And this was the day that my brother, his wife and 3 kids were coming into town for a few days... having called the night before to move their arrival up a day. Jeff and I were cleaning, organizing and shopping like mad people so we'd be ready for them at 6 pm Thursday instead of noon on Friday. Ah, family love. ) I just don't want to prematurely panic that there's some mystery component I'm allergic to (or bother the Lab trying to figure out what it might be), if I was just especially sensitive at the time.