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  • Silvertree

    Mod post: No wishlist posts in blogs

    By Silvertree

    Please be aware that we do not permit swap-related content on profiles or in blogs. Please post this content only in the For Sale, Swaps, and Wanted forums, or in the Wishlists topic. ~from Swapping 101  Thanks!
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Nia's Blog
 

TALs and web-browsing

I've rewarded myself 2/5 more so the count is now 3 bottles. I'm aiming at a complete bottle this week.   (Monday 1/5!) (Tuesday 2/5!) (Wednesday 3/5!) Thursday and Friday: YES! I have worked very hard for five days and now I can add another bottle to the list.
Nia

Nia

0
What smells in here?
 

The Other Smoked Meat

When one thinks of smoked meat, pork tends to be the first thing that comes to mind. Unless you're from Texas, where beef, it's what's for dinner. But what about chicken? Low and slow, the BBQ mantra, seems overkill when dealing with humble poultry. I wanted the flavor and succulence of smoked meat, but I wanted it fast and easy so a chicken experiment seemed in order.   I made two foil packets heavy with hickory wood chips and poked a few holes in the top. I set them on top of the grates at opposite ends of the grill. I lit all four burners and let the grill heat up to 500 degrees. I prepared the chicken simply, just a whole roaster, rinsed and dried, sprinkled with salt and placed in a tin pan. By now the wood packets were smoking nicely. I turned off the two center burners and placed the chicken between the wood packets and quickly closed the cover, as not to let out too much of the heat and precious hickory smoke. The temperature hovered around 400 degrees and I set the timer for one hour and fifteen minutes.   It was hard not to peek as we poured a glass of wine and sat and set about enjoying the aroma of the hickory smoke as it filled the air. When it was time, we brought the chicken in and set in on a carving board to rest, it was a lovely golden brown and smelled amazing. The meat was perfectly cooked with a lovely pink smoke ring that dipped down into the top layers of the tender and juicy flesh. The joints came apart very easily and the meat pulled away from the bone in a most satisfying way. The flavor and texture was spot on, exactly what I was looking for. All the rich, smoky flavor and meaty yet melt in the mouth texture but without all the time and effort. Sublime.
Ina Garten Davita

Ina Garten Davita

0
What My Nose Knows
 

Squee!

My 8-17 order should come today!   I ordered three imp packs because things were really stressful. That's a good reason, right?   The first imp pack is 6 Ars Draconis scents: Dragon's Blood, Dragon's Eye, Dragon's Milk, Dragon's Reverie, Dragon's Tears, and Ladon.   I've only tried one AD scent so far and that's Dragon's Musk, which I love. Dragons are my favorite fantasy creatures, so the AD category is one I'm very interested in.   The other two imp packs are scents I want because they remind me of Neil Gaiman's Endless:   Death -- Dance of Death, Twilight Delirium -- Delirium, Mania Desire -- Desire, Hunger Despair -- Ode on Melancholy Destiny -- Miskatonic University Destruction -- The Great Sword of War, Antony Dream -- Languor, Oneiroi   I hope I like all of them.   I was going to wear The Sportive Sun today since it's the last day of August but I decided against it since it's an LE and I only have one bottle. So, I'm wearing Faith.
taramarie

taramarie

0
Welcome to the Abatoir
 

The Grass is getting greener

Well PCC financial aid came to my rescue and gave me $7500 for this year instead of the original amount of $3500. I know feel very confident and happy that I'll have a nice financial cushion. I can pay off my credit card and save up for some form of transportation.....maybe a VESPA! who knows. I'm just contented in knowing I've got that coming and although my loans are getting higher in amount I'm going to stay positive that I'll handle it well when I graduate and start my career. Vet Technology may not be a goldmine, but I'll live comfortably enough for one person on what I'm expected to make working in Emergency. Things are looking up, I really love that. Just when you think you've had enough of all the shit, something comes along as a saving grace. WHEW
Meshuganah

Meshuganah

0
heartbreakangel's Blog
 

AUGH!

I had to explain the purpose of wedding invitations to my intended yesterday.   Yes. You read that right. Explain the purpose of invitations.   See, she's got a bunch of relatives that would like to see this whole marriage thing happen. I have no problems with this. In fact, I'm perfectly content to have them show up, if they're able to make it to the ceremony. So, she's been calling them to let them know what's going on, and asking if they'd like to attend. And she's been getting perplexed over why people aren't just saying that yes, they will be there, when she cannot hand off a date, time, and location. She's just so damn excited that she doesn't see the need to send anything anywhere.   So we had to have a nice conversation about why we need to send these things out.   Me: "See, here's the thing. They can't commit to taking time off from work if they have to to travel, or..." Her: "But it's our wedding!" Me: "I get that. But baby, you've been on disability your entire life. You don't know how it works with putting in a time off request at work." Her: "But wouldn't that be easy?" Me: *looking at ceiling* "Not always, no. Especially not if this is something where they need to find...y'know, nevermind about how this works. It just isn't as easy as saying you need the day and running off. They need the warning." Her: "Oh. But...wait. Wait. How come we need to tell them this stuff so far in advance?" Me: "...because some folks need to travel from upwards of three hours away in province, and then there's your relatives in frickin' CALGARY that are going to need to book flights if they want to come out here for this." Her: "...uhm. So. We have to figure out a date and a time? We already have a location, though!" Me: "Yes. We do. But we don't have a date and time. And I need you to give me a guest list so I know how many invitations I'm going to need to deal with sending out, since you agreed to let me handle this." Her: "Errrmmm..." Me: *siiiiigh*   I'm pretty sure that by the end of this whole thing with invitations and such? I'm going to let out a scream that makes me sound oddly like Howard Dean. My dad's already laughing over the fact that he can mention certain aspects of getting married, and I start twitching while sputtering things out that aren't even coherent, because it's just one more thing I'm going to have to start screwing around with.   Like the whole catering thing he dropped on me the other day. We want a BBQ after the ceremony, back at her parents' house, if at all possible. Standard fare. Hot dogs, burgers, maybe some chicken, chips, salad, beer, ect. Nothing that's going to absolutely bankrupt us. Dad proceeds to inform me that it might be good to have someone hired out to do the cooking, so he and my intended's father don't have to man the grill all day. So now that's yet more money we have to figure on needing, and I get to spent time calling around to different places in North Bay to see if caterers will even do this sort of thing without requiring other stuff we really don't need. I'm half tempted to say that I'll change out of my ceremony attire into a pair of shorts and a tshirt so I can stand there manning the grill myself if it'll make a difference. Just give me a cigarette, a bottle of beer, and the grill tongs, then get the hell out of my way.   But noooooo...it has to be complicated.   I think I'm going to go back to nosing through invitation designs and whatnot. I can't possibly afford half of the stuff I'm seeing, but hey. It's pretty.
heartbreakangel

heartbreakangel

0
Diplomatka
 

The Consequences of Watching Arab Television

(Ain't none of y'all going to get this.)   In East Africa, you have two options for satellite TV: either the European stations that have CNN and ESPN or the Arab stations that have I.Q.-reducing shows like Dr. Phil, Rachel Ray, Wife Swap and Cheerleader Nation (Dubar won, by the way). For all of these reasons, my husband and I chose the latter.   Anyway, there is this juice comercial that runs approximately 300 times an hour on the Saudi station. It features a cross section of Arab society--flight attendants, school children, women in hijabs, Arab men in Kiffeyeh on their knees with arms outstretched--all of them pleading into the camera with varying levels of distress: "Mafi da naw?"   Since I don't speak Arabic, I have no idea what they are saying, but nonetheless, I have somehow absorbed the sentiment. Now, whenever something is unexpected or upsetting, I automatically yell, "MAFI DA NAW?!?!"   Like today, I found out that the Great Ethiopian Race might be postponed from September 9th. (MAFI DA NAW?!?)   And last night Shoa Supermarket did not have fresh strawberries. (MAFI DA NAW?!?)   See? I knew none of y'all was going to get this.
Confection

Confection

3
What My Nose Knows
 

More of What I Know Now That I Didn't Know in March

9. I shouldn't buy a GC bottle until I've finished the imp.   10. I should try a note before I dismiss it altogether. Just because some people hate _____, that doesn't necessarily mean that I will.   11. For any blend with more than three notes, my skin will usually eat half of them. Most likely the ones I'm really interested in.   12. Just because a blend is considered masculine, that doesn't automatically mean it won't work on me.
taramarie

taramarie

0
What My Nose Knows
 

Intro to my blog

I've been part of this forum since March so it's about time I had a BPAL blog.   I still consider myself a BPAL newbie -- I've only been wearing BPAL for 5 months. I've tried over 100 blends and I'm still exploring what works for me and what doesn't.   What I know now that I didn't know in March:   1. I need to stay away from anything with clove, cinnamon, and mint since these burn.   2. My skin chemistry morphs lotus to bubblegum, so I can't wear anything with lotus in it either.   3. I love vetiver.   4. BPAL rose notes rock, but tea rose can overpower everything else.   5. If I'm on the fence about a GC blend, it's better to not get it. I can always try it later.   6. If I'm on the fence about a LE blend, it's better to get it then pass it on if it doesn't work.   7. Ordering as soon as I see the update is great, but waiting and deciding when I'm not as excited is better.   8. Any obsession is better when there are people to share it with.   Anyway, I ordered twelve bottles yesterday morning -- October's lunacy Hunter Moon, it's companion Aeaea, and eleven Halloweenies: bottles All Souls '07, Bonfire Night, Dia De Los Muertos '07, October, Sugar Skull '07, and Pumkins I - V, and the imp of A Murder of Crows. I still can't believe I ordered a dozen bottles at once. I blame it on this being my first BPAL Halloween -- I got too excited. Well, whatever doesn't work for me will be appreciated by others, I'm sure. My best friend is already wanting October, but that and Pumpkin III are the ones I'm really interested in, so she may have to fight me for it.
taramarie

taramarie

0
Sourball Ho!
 

Halloween update!

Wowee, another big update. Work has been busy -- don’t they know that there was a huge BPAL update? GO AWAY, I’M BUSY READING ABOUT THESE NEW SMELLIES! This will be a quick run-through for me to remind myself what to watch for in reviews.   Hunter Moon -- Dry leaves, autumn bonfires, blood red wine, feral, animalistic notes and the chill of approaching winter. Ah, the fabled Hunter Moon! I’m so glad this is back, it sounds great. Aeaea -- A dark ocean breeze, electric with adrenaline, magic, and fear, clashing with the thick scent of poisoned berries and spiny aloe, against a backdrop of snowdrop, cedar, and cypress. While the name is fun to say over and over again (Aeaeaeaeaeaeaeaea) I’m afraid this would be too floral and/or soapy. Libra 2007 -- Rose, black cherry, carnation, fig, honey, plum, and black currant. Rose and black cherry AND honey AND BLACK CURRANT? I got more and more excited reading the notes. Even with the carnation and fig, this was made just for me!   All Souls 2007 -- An incense blend that invokes the higher qualities of mercy and compassion, mingled with the soft, sugared currant scent of offertory soul cakes. I was intrigued by this last year, as I love incense blends, but it sounds a bit too cakey-foody which isn’t my favorite. Bonfire Night -- Beer, woodsmoke, tar, and treacle. It’s funny, Villainess recently updated with Mosh, a beer soap. Is beer going to be the new hotness for fragrance? I’ve brewed several batches of beer and needless to say it doesn’t smell like a stinky biker bar when it’s fermenting in the vat, it’s sweet and yeasty. Wait for reviews. The Death of Autumn -- Dark amber, dead leaves, khus, saffron, bitter clove, chrysanthemum, camellia, galangal, and a drop of oud. This sounds very musty-dusty which I’ve enjoyed in Mum Moon. Wait for reviews Dia de los Muertos 2007 -- dry, crackling leaves, the incense smoke of altars honoring Death and the Dead, funeral bouquets, the candies, chocolates, foods and tobacco of the ofrenda, amaranth, sweet cactus blossom and desert cereus. I have Dia ’05 which is nice, but I don’t need more. Hexennacht 2007 -- German fir and forest lichen, incense and bonfire smoke, and the wet, glimmering scent of skin warmed by dance. How great that Hexennacht is back! I bought the original way back in March 2005 and I love it, smoky and sweet. Update: it looks like this was included by mistake. Too bad, it's a beautiful blend. October -- A rustle of red leaves, a touch of smoke and sap in the air. This sounds really interesting; sometimes a blend with the shortest, vaguest description turns out to be so beautiful. Wait for reviews. Samhain 2007 -- damp woods, fir needle, and black patchouli with the gentlest touches of warm pumpkin, clove, nutmeg, allspice, sweet red apple and mullein. The classic Halloween blend. I have bottles of ’04 and ’05, a truly unique fall scent. Samhainophobia 2007 -- Menacing Haitian vetiver, patchouli, and clove with a shock of bourbon geranium, grim oakmoss, and dread-inspiring balsams pierce the innocuous scent of autumn leaves. Another reappearance, but too woodsy for me. Sugar Skull 2007 -- Vibrant with the joy and sweetness of life in death! A blend of five sugars, lightly dusted with candied fruits. I have a 2005 bottle which I love, I get a strong booze note which keeps it from being too sweet. The Atrocious Attic -- The air of the room is dusty, laced with the scent of a child’s perfume and the remnants of a dried, crumbling bridal bouquet: tea rose, violet, white sandalwood, French lavender, and Calla lily. Cool description, like Havisham. I’m not much for ethereal florals, though. The Chilling Cellar -- Wine just turning to vinegar, crumbling mortar, red clay, and the coppery tang of old blood. I love wine, it’s one of my favorite notes, but I don’t want wine that’s “turned.” Wait for reviews. The Forbidding Foyer -- The faint scent of brimstone, ghostly breath laced with cognac, neglected mahogany panels, and rot. Smoke and rotting wood? Wait for reviews. The Ghastly Garden -- Overgrown oleander, marshy water hemlock, the sugared nectar of carnivorous blooms, putrefying wet greenery, oozing sap, crushed rosary peas, withered climbing roses, and nightshade berries. Lots of greenery, wait for reviews. The Lurid Library -- The incense-tinged scent of forbidden tomes and the musk-laden remnants of infernal servants. This one sounds awesome, incense and musk. The Perilous Parlor -- Faint echoes of laughter and the distorted music of a harp drift by, along with the scent of soft white pear and sweet vanilla. Maybe too soft and sweet? Wait for reviews. The Twisted Oak Tree -- Blackened, rotted oak wood blanketed in moss and choked by a cloak of grasping ivy. Probably too masculine with the wood and moss, wait for reviews. Pumpkin I -- Pumpkin with pear, white wine grapes, and jasmine-laced tea. I have to be careful with these pumpkin blends, as they sometimes come out way too foody and heavy, almost like baking bread. For this one with “white” notes, wait for reviews. Pumpkin II -- Pumpkin with tobacco, champaca flower, carnation, and tonka. This sounds a little better, as I really like the champaca flower blends. Wait for reviews. Pumpkin III -- Pumpkin with white chocolate, caramel, pomegranate, and cream. Probably too foody, wait for reviews. Pumpkin IV -- Pumpkin with cactus blossom, sage, and sweetgrass. Interesting florals, wait for reviews. Pumpkin V -- Pumpkin with benzoin, bourbon vanilla, lemon peel, neroli, blood orange, and red ginger. This sounds like Pumpkin Queen version 2, which I really enjoyed. Wait for reviews. A Murder of Crows -- Sleek iris and verbena, grey amber, benzoin, davana, and glossy herbs. Iris is one of those overpowering notes on me, so it’s good I won’t have to order the whole Patch to try this.   Event Horizon -- Black opium, labdanum, opoponax, black orchid, and benzoin. Dark sophisticated floral, wait for reviews. Mary Read -- Salt air, ocean mist, aged patchouli, sarsaparilla, watered-down rum, leather-tinged musk, and a spray of gunpowder. I recently tried Olokun and was impressed that the ocean notes didn’t turn into laundry detergent on me. This sounds a bit more masculine but I’ll anxiously await reviews. Schrodinger’s Cat -- A paradoxical scent experiment! – tangerine, sugared lime, pink grapefruit, oakmoss, lavender, zdravetz, and chocolate peppermint. Flat-out citrus blends aren’t my favorite, as they don’t hang around long enough. Kubla Khan -- Through sunlit caves of ice, roses unfurl amidst dancing waves of serpentine opium smoke and amber tobacco, golden sandalwood, champaca, tea leaf, sugared lily, ginger, rich hay absolute, leather, dark vanilla, mandarin, peru balsam, and Moroccan jasmine. What a beautiful-sounding blend with a bunch of favorite notes. Anxiously await reviews. Epitaph -- Roses and funeral lilies perceived, faintly, through an indistinct, ghostly mist. Roses are Yay!, lilies not so much. The Phantom Wooer -- A lifeless love song: stargazer lily, bone dust, tomb mosses, buttonweed, moonflower, and honey myrtle. Lots of florals, nah. A Countenance Forboding Evil -- Patchouli, ylang ylang, blood orange, and vetiver. This may or may not be stinky on me, with the blood orange sweetening up the darkness. Goblin -- Black coconut, gnarly patchouli, and sweet benzoin. I am a sucker for coconut, even though I haven’t found my one true love yet. Wait for reviews. Incubus -- Spectral white musk and the heart-stopping chill of sheared mint, fanned by caramel-touched body heat, and the diabolical sensuality of black musk, nicotiana, and sage. Reminds me of Red Lantern, hopefully another smutty musk blend. Troll -- A lurching, hateful, bitter scent. This is a gruesome blend of ghastly greens and blacks: vetiver, pine pitch, troll musk, black basil, clove smoke, and scorched cumin. Probably too dark and masculine for me. Hairy Toad Lily -- Spotty, hairy, purple, sweet! I haven’t had much luck with the Rappaccini Florals. Havana -- Date palm, dried tobacco, snakeroot, and leather. Ooh, date palm! Sweet, but not too sweet. Wait for reviews. Hi’iaka -- mai’a, hibiscus, white ginger, akala, na'u, Hawaiian moon flower, yellow ilima, pink lokelani, jewel orchid, and fringed orchid. I was just thinking the other day that BPAL doesn’t have many Hawaiian floral blends. This sounds like a nice addition.   Plus a Trading Post exclusive! Crypt Queen -- As sweet as death, as deep as the grave: pomegranate, raspberry, gardenia, plum, and rose with patchouli, black pepper, rose musk, and a hint of blood accord. Yum, how I love dark fruits like pomegranate and raspberry and plum. Trick or Treat blends -- Spiked Punch sounds the best, as I love the fruity boozy blends. All the other blends sound good though, except for the piney TP’d Trees which I know wouldn’t work on me. I might sign up for this next month.   In conclusion: I ordered Hunter Moon and Libra 2007 as my normal monthly order, and Crypt Queen for my birthday present to myself.
dawndie

dawndie

0
Nia's Blog
 

First week of September

Wow, two months already working on this!   The really abstruse Gender Theory book: I give up, the book is useless. Sea of Glass is waiting for its chance to join the rest....   Unit 50: "Schrodinger's Cat". DONE Unit 51: Aunt Caroline's Joy Mojo DONE Unit 52: Block Buster DONE Unit 53: Chuparosa DONE Unit 54: Water of Notre Dame. DONE   This week I also need to do two stacks of photocopies, and go to Uni to request a certificate. These boring tasks get Bien Loin D'Ici. DONE
Nia

Nia

0
giant squid!
 

Halllloweeen!

Man I am beyond excited for this year's Halloween blends! Too bad they came out at a time when I am a bit on the poor side. Thankfully I have a few months to save up some spare change Anyway, here are my thoughts...   HUNTER MOON Dry leaves, autumn bonfires, blood red wine, feral, animalistic notes and the chill of approaching winter.   Oh yes. Despite the fact that I collect the lunacies anyway, this one sounds particularly appealing (bonfires, leaves, feral, wooo!!). I ordered it asap and I an't wait ot try it.   AEAEA A dark ocean breeze, electric with adrenaline, magic, and fear, clashing with the thick scent of poisoned berries and spiny aloe, against a backdrop of snowdrop, cedar, and cypress.   This might go soapy on me, but I love the idea of sharp berries and wood, so I ordered a bottle. The only ther. blend that didn't work on me this year was Allison Gross, so I might as well try this too.     LIBRA 2007 Rose, black cherry, carnation, fig, honey, plum, and black currant.   Definitely a yes. I love all these notes (rose paired with sweet fruits always works on me) so this was a no-brainer.   ALL SOULS 2007 An incense blend that invokes the higher qualities of mercy and compassion, mingled with the soft, sugared currant scent of offertory soul cakes.   I loved last year's version, but I don't tend to wear it very often, so I don't think I'll be getting another bottle of this.   BONFIRE NIGHT Beer, woodsmoke, tar, and treacle.   Hm. I am on the fence about this one. Beer might go cat pea on me like the hops did in A Bold Bluff, but then again it may be ok due to the balancing of the other notes. I do love treacle....I think I am going to try and get a decant of this first to find out if it works on me.   THE DEATH OF AUTUMN Dark amber, dead leaves, khus, saffron, bitter clove, chrysanthemum, camellia, galangal, and a drop of oud.   Yessss! If I had more money this week I would have bought this immediately. All the notes sound like they'd be great together, forming the perfect melancholy autumn scent. Can't wait to try it!   DIA DE LOS MUERTOS 2007 This is a Mexican paean to La Huesuda: dry, crackling leaves, the incense smoke of altars honoring Death and the Dead, funeral bouquets, the candies, chocolates, foods and tobacco of the ofrenda, amaranth, sweet cactus blossom and desert cereus.   I am kinda in the same boat with this one as I am with All Souls. However I do reach for this one in my scent lockets a lot, so I may get a bottle for that purpose...   OCTOBER Dry, cold autumn wind. A rustle of red leaves, a touch of smoke and sap in the air.   This sounds perfect. I am one of those people that's been lusting after a dry autumn leaves scent, so I was more than pleased to see this. I am really curious how the 'sap' note will add sweetness to this. I will definitely order one soon.   SAMHAIN 2007 Truly the scent of autumn itself -- damp woods, fir needle, and black patchouli with the gentlest touches of warm pumpkin, clove, nutmeg, allspice, sweet red apple and mullein.   Yep. I feel like I have to get a bottle of every years' since it's just so good....(however I find I can only begin to wear it once it's aged a bit)   SAMHAINOPHOBIA 2007 The fear of Halloween. Menacing Haitian vetiver, patchouli, and clove with a shock of bourbon geranium, grim oakmoss, and dread-inspiring balsams pierce the innocuous scent of autumn leaves.   I may get a bottle of this even though I have last year's since it does get a lot of wear from me. This is really an amazing blend for those who love dark vetiver scents...   THE ATROCIOUS ATTIC tea rose, violet, white sandalwood, French lavender, and Calla lily.   Nooo! The dread tea rose!!!! I am definitely staying far away from this one!   THE CHILLING CELLAR Wine just turning to vinegar, crumbling mortar, red clay, and the coppery tang of old blood.   I dunno 'bout this one... I wanted to love Fortunato and Montresor, blends that sound similar to this, but they turned into cough syrup on me. However some GC wine blends smell great on me. I may take a chance with this later on based on reviews.   THE FORBIDDING FOYER The faint scent of brimstone, ghostly breath laced with cognac, neglected mahogany panels, and rot.   Rot- mm! Actually, this one sounds quite appealing to me. I love the GC Brimstone scent, so if this has any similarity it should be a winner.   THE GHASTLY GARDEN Overgrown oleander, marshy water hemlock, the sugared nectar of carnivorous blooms, putrefying wet greenery, oozing sap, crushed rosary peas, withered climbing roses, and nightshade berries.   This sounds great! I love green garden type scents, so I will be buying a bottle of this one soon. Hopefully the sugared necatr adds a nice unique touch to all the green   THE LURID LIBRARY The incense-tinged scent of forbidden tomes and the musk-laden remnants of infernal servants.   Incense and musk- a winning combo! Need I say more?   THE PERILOUS PARLOR Faint echoes of laughter and the distorted music of a harp drift by, along with the scent of soft white pear and sweet vanilla.   This was the first LE that I ordered straight away- I love pear and vanilla, and the two together seem like they would be heavenly.   THE TWISTED OAK TREE Blackened, rotted oak wood blanketed in moss and choked by a cloak of grasping ivy.   I love wood and forest scents, so I will be at least getting a decant of this one to try out. I think the moss and ivy with the oak will be just divine!   If I didn't have to complsively order every lunacy and zodiac, I would have gone straight away for the Pumpkin set. All of these sound so creative and unique- I am definitely saving my money atm for a set... I think this is my favorite of the update, besides Libra 07. PUMPKIN I Pumpkin with pear, white wine grapes, and jasmine-laced tea.   I can't wait to see how pumpkin and wine grapes interact with each other. I really have no idea how this one will smell, and the floral tea aspect really makes me curious, too.   PUMPKIN II Pumpkin with tobacco, champaca flower, carnation, and tonka.   OK this one looks incredible! I love all the notes, and I have never smelled pumpkin and tobacco before- I bet it's heavenly, though, since they are both such warm and bold scents. This seems like it might turn out to be a good 'comfort' blend for me.   PUMPKIN III Pumpkin with white chocolate, caramel, pomegranate, and cream.   This one I am a little worried about since the 'super foodies' tend to not do very well for me. However Jack works, so there is a chance that this won't give me a headache. I do love pomegranite, so hopefully it will cut out a little bit of the butteriness from the other notes.   PUMPKIN IV Pumpkin with cactus blossom, sage, and sweetgrass.   Oh, Pumpkin goes west! This one soudns very intriguing. I love the 'western' notes in a lot of other blends, so I'm sure this will work well, too.   PUMPKIN V Pumpkin with benzoin, bourbon vanilla, lemon peel, neroli, blood orange, and red ginger.   I have to agree with everyone else that this one reminds me of PQ. Sometimes neroli can be sour on me, but I think here it is well tempered by the other notes. I am definitely looking forward to trying this one.   A Murder of Crows Sleek iris and verbena, grey amber, benzoin, davana, and glossy herbs. I do love iris, amber and benzoin together, very much. However, I have no idea how the other notes with work with these. I am not itching to try this one, but I do want the whole set anyhow 'cause all the Pumpkins just look so good.   I am so glad there are new GC's! I have many more GC's than LE's and find that I do better with most of them...   EVENT HORIZON A disconcerting scent, heavy and oppressive, through which no light, no matter, and no spirit can escape. Black opium, labdanum, opoponax, black orchid, and benzoin.   This has potential to be amazing, but sometimes opium can go sharp on me. I am definitely trying an imp of this, though, b/c the other notes are all huge favorites of mine.   MARY READ Salt air, ocean mist, aged patchouli, sarsaparilla, watered-down rum, leather-tinged musk, and a spray of gunpowder.   Hm. Looks good to me. Really good, at that. I think the patchouli and sarsaparilla are going to really give this blend an interesting kick. I am going to get an imp soon and find out, for sure.   SCHRODINGER'S CAT tangerine, sugared lime, pink grapefruit, oakmoss, lavender, zdravetz, and chocolate peppermint.   I have no earthly idea how this would smell, so of course I am dying to find out This is going on the imp w/l.   KUBLA KHAN Through sunlit caves of ice, roses unfurl amidst dancing waves of serpentine opium smoke and amber tobacco, golden sandalwood, champaca, tea leaf, sugared lily, ginger, rich hay absolute, leather, dark vanilla, mandarin, peru balsam, and Moroccan jasmine.   This is sounds divine, but I was broke when I ordered and had money for one GC (I got Goblin). I think, though, that I will buy a bottle unsniffed in my next order. It sounds complex and rich like a Salon blend, and very fitting for the poem. I'm excited!   EPITAPH Roses and funeral lilies perceived, faintly, through an indistinct, ghostly mist.   Unfortunately on me, rose and lily usually equals soap. I am not interested in trying this one.   THE PHANTOM WOOER A lifeless love song: stargazer lily, bone dust, tomb mosses, buttonweed, moonflower, and honey myrtle.   This one sounds like a floral that might work on me. I love moss and floral; moonflower is a favorite of mine as well. I'm definitely getting an imp of this soon to try it out.   A COUNTENANCE FORBODING EVIL Patchouli, ylang ylang, blood orange, and vetiver.   This is a NO. Ylang ylang smells like rotting garbage on me. Bleh. I can only imagine how cloying it will be combined with the blood orange!   GOBLIN Black coconut, gnarly patchouli, and sweet benzoin.   YESSSSSSS. I ordered a bottle immediately. Need I say more?   INCUBUS Spectral white musk and the heart-stopping chill of sheared mint, fanned by caramel-touched body heat, and the diabolical sensuality of black musk, nicotiana, and sage.   No idea about this one, either. It seems like it could be similar to Bad Luck Woman Blues, which I love. Imp, please.   TROLL vetiver, pine pitch, troll musk, black basil, clove smoke, and scorched cumin.   This sounds great to a vetiver lover like myself. I wanted to order a bottle straightaway but I had to restrain myself. I bet the cumin and basil will really work together to give this a unique depth. I am definitely ordering a bottle unsniffed soon.   HAIRY TOAD LILY Spotty, hairy, purple, sweet!   Not left with much to ponder for this one... I have quite a few lily scents from the garden, so I think I will wait on this one and get an imp when all the hype of the Halloweenies dies down.   HAVANA Date palm, dried tobacco, snakeroot, and leather.   Argh! So many yummy scents!! I really think this sounds incredible. Creamy, smoky and sexy in a tropical swarthy way. A bottle will come to me soon.   HI'IAKA maiâ'a, hibiscus, white ginger, akala, na'u, Hawaiian moon flower, yellow ilima, pink lokelani, jewel orchid, and fringed orchid.   Oh man, this, too, sounds amazing. Like Havana, it will have to wait. I think I am going to have to plan a massive GC order sometime....where's my winning lotto ticket when I need it?     So yeah this was an incredible update. I think it is maybe second to the January CD update that had the Snake Pit (my glee over that was quite impressive). I can't wait to try everything, and hope that maybe some extra cash will come my way so that it's possible...  
euterpe414

euterpe414

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Nia's Blog
 

almost the end of the month!

This is the plan:   Unit 45: Greed DONE Unit 46: Lust DONE Unit 47: Pride DONE Unit 48: The great Sword of War DONE Unit 49: Dirty. DONE   There's also one library book to read. The reward will be Sea of Glass.   And that's the end of the month and of Sin & Salvation too!
Nia

Nia

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Abstract Associations
 

Snow-Flakes

The radiance and desolation of winter.   Reviewed 08/26/2007   I don't get any of the mint I expected from this. It's a light, cold, watery floral. It has almost no throw and clings very close to my skin. After a five or six hours it turns very sweet, almost vanilla-ish. I absolutely love wearing this right now, because it has been insanely hot and muggy lately and sniffing this makes me feel cool even when I'm sweating to death.
Rovylern

Rovylern

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Abstract Associations
 

The Emathides

Gleaming eyes, screeching voices, glistening wings: black amber, black orchid, black currant, olive blossom, wood violet, lavender, blue musk, rose attar, and cedar.   Reviewed 08/26/2007   This was so odd on me.   Emathides started off smelling EXACTLY like Avon Skin So Soft, and it was so strong that I almost gave up on it right then and there. But after it dried it changed to dark, juicy berries with a hint of woodiness underneath. Not my normal scent inclination but very nice all the same, not overpowering but with a good throw. After a few hours it morphed to a very overwhelming baby powder-ish smell. Then that faded out and it became the berry-and-wood scent again, only much lighter. That final stage lasted for another few hours and then poof! It was gone. It was very pretty and feminine and grown up, and I can see myself wearing this out for formal occasions.   And for once, a scent that I love didn't work better on my kiddo than me! Muahahaha. She tends to lean towards light, floral scents, and this was all musk on her. It was a very light musk, but she didn't like it at all and wound up washing it off after about an hour.
Rovylern

Rovylern

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Do you have a flag?
 

Favorite Honey

[see previous entries for what I'm doing here.]   Honey in large doses is not great for me. It tends to give me a play-doh scent. That's why picking a favorite scent that's primarily honey is a bit problematic for me. When it's a minor note usually it seems to lend a very pretty smoothness to the scent, so I like to try BPAL blends that contain honey. But sometimes the honey is too much. It's not just BPAL, either; I have this problem with pretty much every perfume oil brand I've tried. I guess my skin just doesn't like it.   So, in a departure from the norm (in picking a scent that is primarily one particular note), I'm going to choose just my favorite one that has honey in it that's detectable. I already know going into it that the primarily honey ones will not be favorites.   GCs THAT CONTAIN HONEY:   Alice: Milk and honey with rose, carnation and bergamot. Aaaaand this list starts off with a play-doh one. I can't wear this one. And There Was A Great Cry In Egypt: Dark myrrh, white sandalwood, amber, hyssop, frankincense, honey, cypress, red musk, cardamom and saffron. This one is spicy, sweet, and complex... but I can't really detect honey in it. Athens: voluptuous myrrh, golden honey, red wine, and sweet flowers. I tried this one twice and didn't like it either time. I don't have any idea what is going wrong for me with this scent because based on the notes it should have been okay. The honey was behaving itself nicely... but after an hour or so it smelled off. In a big way. Bengal: skin musk with honey, peppers, clove, cinnamon bark and ginger. Apparently honey WITH strong spices is a winner for me. This one is lovely. Usually cinnamon is too strong on me, but the hot cinnamon and smooth honey really balance out each other. Very nice. Bien Loin D'ici: red musk, benzoin, caramel accord, golden honey, and spiced Moroccan unguents. Ah, red musk. How do I love thee. Oh, wait, right, I'm talking about honey. Yes, the honey in this is detectable, and it's GORGEOUS. I really like this scent a lot. Sultry, sexy, and smooth. Bilquis: Honey, myrrh, lily of the valley, rose otto, fig leaf, almond, ambrette, red apple, and warm musk. Lovely. This blend is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about in which honey can be beautiful on me when its just an undercurrent that makes the scent warm and rich. In this particular one, the almonds are much too strong for my taste at first, but luckily they fade. That initial almond blast will keep it from being a favorite, though. Blood Kiss: Vanilla, honey, clove, red cherries, vetiver, poppy, red wine, and feral musk. I like this one, but I can't detect the honey in it. It does seem smooth underneath, but that could be from either vanilla or honey, I'm not sure which. Cleopatra Testing Poisons On Those Condemned To Death: Accords of peach kernel, hemlock, aconite, and belladonna, with bitter almond, saffron, honey, myrrh, hyssop, frankincense, and palm. Oops, I haven't tested this one yet. Cockaigne: milk and honey, sweet cakes and wine. This one and one other BPAL GC scent with milk and honey do NOT smell bad on me. This smells like ... well, exactly like the notes. I don't wear it, though, because although I like lotions and creams that are foody scented, usually not perfumes so much. Cupid Complaining To Venus: Apple blossom, fig, white peach, honey absolute, red sandalwood, and wild thyme. I like the scent of this one, but it's extremely faint. It doesn't last long at me at all. That keeps it from being a favorite. Dana O'shee: Milk, honey and sweet grains. This is one of the ones in which the honey is too strong for me. This smells off on me. The Death of Sardanapal: Red wine, gurjum balsam, dark myrrh, honey, cassia, lemongrass, palmarosa, elemi, cognac and olibanum. Oops, I didn't write a review of this yet. Hmm. Hope I still have that bottle. Delphi: The smoke of Sacred Incense of Apollo twined through laurel branches, bay, and honey wine. This one smelled mostly like grape juice on me. Didn't like it too much. Eve: Apple blossom, rose, ylang ylang and golden honey. I think this one is a nice scent, but I can't smell any honey in it. Hellcat hazelnut, buttercream, honey mead, rum and sweet almond. This one's more of a nutty creamy rum scent to me, not honey. Hetairae: golden honey, fiery patchouli, sweet fig and clove, and a blushing touch of ylang ylang. Mostly a honeyed fig scent, on me, with some kick from the clove. It's a great scent, and I do like it, but it'll be more of a contender in the favorite fig one. Horreur Sympathique: blood musk, golden honey, thick black wine, champagne grapes, tobacco flower, plum blossom, tonka bean, oakmoss, carnation, benzoin, opoponax, and sugar cane. This is sweet and lovely, and I like it a lot. The honey isn't strong, but it has a warm wonderful smoothness to it that I attribute to the honey. Itasô Kansei Nenkan Jorô No Fûzoku Osmanthus, white honey, ti leaf, hibiscus, and sugar cane. Kind of a dewy light floral. I didn't detect honey in it. Jezebel: A gloriously decadent blend of honey, roses, orange blossom and sandalwood. This one tends to go chalky on me (like baby aspirin) or powdery. But I can't detect any honey. Kali: This perfume is a blend of the sacred blooms of cassia, hibiscus, musk rose, Himalayan wild tulip, lotus and osmanthus swirled with offertory dark chocolate, red wine, tobacco, balsam and honey. The honey goes wonky in this one too. Les Bijoux: Skin musk and honey, blood-red rose, orange blossom, white peach, frankincense and myrrh. Honey and apples at first, but then I can't really smell the honey. Ends up being a light pretty floral. O: Amber and honey with a touch of vanilla. This one is a play-doh one. Ogun: heavy and dark cigar tobacco, gin and juniper, melon, chili pepper and a touch of honey. I really like this one, but I can't detect honey in it. Mostly melon with tobacco and a chili pepper kick. Osun: thick with honey and herbs of love, passion and desire. I thought I liked this one a lot at first and bought a 10ml of it, but I never wear it. I can detect the honey in it, but I guess I don't really like it as well as I thought I did. The Penitent Magdalen: Immortelle, lily of the valley, gaiac, amber, honey, white sandalwood, almond flower, blonde musk and hyssop. Haven't reviewed this one yet. Sed Non Satiata: myrrh, red patchouli, cognac, honey, tuberose and geranium, and body musk. Can't really tell there's any honey in this. Skuld: Ylang ylang, honey, Egyptian and Arabian musks and labdanum. Charming and bright, warm and soothing. Can't detect honey, though. Spirit Of The Komachi Cherry Tree: Cherry blossom, blue lilac, lavender monofloral honey, white sandalwood, and Asian pear. Haven't reviewed it yet. Sudha Segara: Sweet milk and warm, healing ginger with a touch of golden honey and our blend of Ambrosia. Amazingly, this one works on me. This is the other BPAL GC with milk and honey that does work. It smells like someone nearby has a big mug of chai and I'm catching wafts of it. I like this one a lot. Thaleia: honey, ylang ylang, apricot, ciste, blood orange and gardenia with earthy, warm tonka. Mostly apricot and gardenia, on me. Honey isn't detectable. White Rabbit: Strong black tea and milk with white pepper, ginger, honey and vanilla, spilled over the crisp scent of clean linen. Some days I like this one, and some days I don't. Occasionally the honey is too much for me.   Of those, the ones that are disqualified for being play-dohy are Alice, Dana O'Shee, Kali, and O. Osun and White Rabbit walk the "too much" line a little too close for my comfort.   The ones I like a lot (in which honey is detectable) are Bengal, Bien Loin D'ici, Horreur Sympathique, and Sudha Segara. Although Bien Loin D'ici is my favorite out of those, I feel like I need to pick Sudha Segara because the honey is stronger in it. It just seems like more of a "honey" scent.   LEs THAT CONTAIN HONEY:   The Brides Of Dracula: gleaming skin musk, honey and white amber, plum blossom, osmanthus, sandalwood, calla lily, and a light, sensual blend of Eastern spices. Apparently I didn't write a review of this. I like it and wear it from time to time, but it doesn't seem like I can smell the honey in it. Hearth 2005: candied chestnuts, buttered, covered in brown sugar and honey, alongside the scent of cedar smoke and soft pine. This is really a nutty buttery scent with pine. Pleasant, but not much honey. Honey Moon: five different honeys, ranging from pale and sweet to deep and heady, with hints of jasmine, white gardenia, Hawaiian white ginger and thyme. Not surprisingly, this one didn't smell great on me. Faiza, The Black Mamba: black amber, caraway, oakmoss, green sandalwood, bergamot, jasmine sambac, gardenia, orange pulp, vanilla, blackberry, black musk, white honey, ti leaf, and ginger. This one was mainly floral on me -- couldn't tell there was any honey in it. Freak Show: A strange, disconcerting embrace… to some, alarming, and to some, intimately familiar: fig, pomegranate and cocoa bean with lemon, bergamot, vanilla, mellow honey musk, calamus and tonka. Not a whole lot of honey in this one -- this is more of a fig scent. Gennivre, L'artiste Du Diable: Hyson tea leaf, pale mint, sugar cane, orange blossom, lemongrass, and honey. This is a lovely scent, but it's really more of a tea contender, not a honey one. La Fée Verte: Sugared wormwood, hyssop and melissa with calamus, angelica and Dittany of Crete, blended with aohemian perfume of vanilla musk, honey absolute and Moroccan spices. I love this scent, and thankfully the honey in it doesn't smell bad on me at all. I love wearing this one. It's really unusual and almost always gets a compliment from someone. Khajuraho (2006 & 2007): honey, date palm, tuberose, davana blossom, amber, white sandalwood, vanilla bean, Damask rose, and champaca flower. Both versions (from both years) smell the same on me. It's perfumey and pretty, but I can't really tell there's honey in it. Litha: Honey mead with honeysuckle, oak wood, ivy leaf, wild thyme, carnation, daisy, vervain, gum arabic, frankincense, yauhtli, and liquid copal. Mead yes, but honey no. Couldn't smell honey in this. Luperci (2006 & 2007): raw, down and dirty patchouli, Gurjam balsam, and essence of Sampson Root sweetened with the heightened sexuality of beeswax, virile juniper, oakmoss, ambrette seed over honey and East African musk. The 2006 version smelled mostly like juniper, which I didn't like, and the 2007 version smells mostly like patchouli, which I do like. Neither have a detectable honey, though. The Masque: Honey and carnation, rich incense and rose accord, myrtle, red sandalwood, amber, jonquil and clove, patchouli, tobacco and labdanum. I could barely detect any honey in this, mostly spicy flowers. Milk Moon 2005: Cream and warm honey soften our traditional blend of lunar oils. I really, really like this one. Not wonky at all. This is lovely, creamy, and sweet. Wouldn't say it's strong on the honey, but it's so smooth and wonderful I must be picking up honey from it somehow. Milk Moon 2007: Sweet milk, golden honey, fig fruit, pomegranate, dates, and white grape. This one I had trouble with, though. Smelled like sour milk. The Oblation: A stirring blend of dianthus, French lavender, blackberry, and white honey. Couldn't smell honey in this. Smelled like blackberry wine to me. Ostara: Orris root, bergamot, frankincense, daffodil, orange pulp, attar of rose, jonquil, strawberry leaf, benzoin, violet leaf, copal, honey cakes, sweet cream, and the blossoms of springtime. Couldn't smell honey in this one either. Pink Moon 2005: This Lunar blend is soft with phlox, tulip, daffodil, dogwood and muscari, dusted with pink sugar and honey, and a touch of the first strawberries of the season. I couldn't tell there was any honey in this. Poisson D'avril: Lenten rose, crested iris, Virginia bluebell, primrose, moss phlox, blue crocus, daffodil, and dewy tulip with a touch of sugar blossom and honey. I can't detect honey in this. Rose Moon: Bulgarian rose, tea rose, violet leaf, opium poppy, Bois de Jasmin, patchouli leaf, honey, blue lilac, balsam, woodruff, and lemon peel. I couldn't detect any honey in this, just floral notes. Selkie: The chill waters of the Orkney coast, tea-leaved willow, honey-touched Grass-of-Parnassus, sea aster, and Scottish Primrose. I couldn't detect any honey in this. Svadhinaopatika: Golden amber, oude, red sandalwood, massoia bark, honey, and currant. This is one of those fabulous ones in which the honey undercurrent gives it a luxurious smoothness. I like this one.   Of those, I really liked Svadhinaopatika, Milk Moon 05, and La Fée Verte. But La Fée Verte is by far my favorite.   Verdict on Favorite Honey Scent: La Fée Verte
filigree_shadow

filigree_shadow

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Do you have a flag?
 

Favorite Mint

[see previous entries for what I'm doing here.]   Mint is often a deal-breaker note for me. I almost always do not go for the cool/chilly scents, and mint smells cool to me. In the worst situations it reminds me of toothpaste, and in the best situations it makes me think of dinner mints. Neither of those are things I'd consider favorite perfume scents. I do like some mint-scented soaps, so it's not that I dislike the scent of mint. It's just that as a personal fragrance it doesn't suit me.   GCs THAT CONTAIN MINT   Absinthe: Wormwood essence, light mints, cardamom, anise, hyssop, and lemon. Not primarily minty, mostly wormwood essence. Bess: rosemary, orange flower, grape spirit, five rose variants, lemon peel, and mint. This doesn't seem primarily minty to me because rosemary is always so strong on me. Calliope: lavender and bright mint with bergamot, verbena, thyme and a touch of sweet orange and warm almond. This is an herbal citrus scent on me and not very minty. Cathode: Ambergris, Spanish Moss, oakmoss, and mints. This one is minty, but I'm not a fan of the moss/mint combination. My notes for this scent said it reminded me of one of my dog's mint-flavored treats. Ew. Not a great association. No wonder I didn't like this scent. Cloister Graveyard In The Snow: Three white musks, ozone, frankincense, mint. This one was a surprise hit with me because I did not expect to like it. My notes said that the mint was the most captivating of the notes in the scent -- that is unheard of, with me. Death On A Pale Horse: empty white musk and mint seeped with solemn lavender, doleful patchouli and vetiver, scythe-sharp yuzu and lime, with geranium bourbon, white sandalwood and calla lily. I really didn't like this scent at all due to the yuzu. I don't think it was mostly minty, anyway. Dracul: Black musk, tobacco, fir, balsam of peru, cumin, bitter clove, crushed mint, and orange blossom. My husband has a bottle of this and wears it from time to time. I like it, but it's not primarily minty. Envy: Green herbs slithering through mint, lime and lavender. Mostly herbal, not minty. House Of Night: [see description for what may be in it -- one thing mentioned was mint.] "A sorrowful graveyard bouquet of somber blooms, funereal boughs, dismal green and laden with grief." A sweet floral. Not minty. Juke Joint: Kentucky Bourbon, sugar and a sprig of mint. I can smell the mint in this, and I like the scent. Very evocative. The Lantern Ghost Of Oiwa: Black tea, cherry blossom, ho wood, calla lily, rice wine, and white mint. The mint in this is soft and smells fresh and clean. I like this one, but I can barely smell it on my skin. Manhattan: sheer amber, black leather, white mint, lemon peel, white tea, grapefruit, kush, teakwood and orchid. I love this scent -- it won my Favorite Grapefruit scent. Not really minty, though. Melpomene: dark cypress with mint, geranium, Bulgar lavender, orange blossom and passion flower. I didn't really smell mint in this, but it smelled kind of medicinal to me and I didn't like it. The Mock Turtle's Lessons: blurry aquatic notes, with a confusing, contrary splort of iris, ambrette, green apple, vodka, white mint and a squish of lime. This is a good blend of mint and lime, and I do like it. My only complaint with it is that it disappears really fast on me. Shattered: A blend of white champagne notes, grapefruit, lotus, slivered mint and crystalline aquatic blooms. This smells like mint-menthol on me and was totally not the kind of scent I like. Silence: White sandalwood, iris, blue musk, lotus root, moonflower, plum blossom, green tea, white mint and white peach. This perfume is gorgeous, and I love it. However, not primarily minty. It's one of the peach contenders. Ultraviolet: Lush violet and neroli spiked hard with eucalyptus and a sliver of mint. The eucalyptus in this one is very, very strong at first. I mean, like knock-you-over strong. That's what keeps it out of the running for my favorite anything. I do like the violet/mint combination I get when it's dry, but I really dislike the initial eucalyptus blast. Undertow: lotus and juniper with a hint of mint. Minty when wet, but sweet when dry. My notes said that when it was dry it reminded me of Pez. I have no idea why. Utrennyaya: Osmanthus, Damascus rose, violet, delphinium, white mint, palmarosa and white sandalwood. This smelled minty AND powdery on me. Not a good combination. Vicomte de Valmont: ambergris, white musk, white sandalwood, Spanish Moss, orange blossom, three mints, jasmine, rose geranium and a spike of rosemary. This one is a little too minty for me personally, but it smells great on my husband and I like it when he wears this.   The ones that didn't have mint listed in the notes but smelled a bit minty to me were Hamadryad (possibly due to wintergreen smelling minty to me), possibly Yggdrasil, maybe Nocnitsa, maybe Szepasszony, possibly Jezirat al Tennyn. I thought Tarot The Fool and Strength smelled a bit minty as well (but again, that could be due to wintergreen), and Grr is very definitely peppermint-scented (but I don't use that as perfume, of course).   So of all the ones listed above, the primarily minty ones I like are Cloister Graveyard in the Snow, Juke Joint, The Mock Turtle's Lessons, and Vicomte de Valmont. I think my favorite out of all those is Vicomte, but I don't wear that, my husband does. So I'll have to pick something else. I think Cloister Graveyard in the Snow wins.   LEs THAT CONTAIN MINT   Frost Moon: "traditional lunar oils frozen with winter mints, shivering eucalyptus, clear lotus, a gust of wind, and a midnight aquatic note." This smells much too cold for me to like it. F5: Aloe, white musk, lime peel, fresh mint, seaspray, verbena and green tea. I did like this one, surprisingly. It smells fresh and clean. It was really nice on hot days. Not really minty, though, mostly aloe, tea, and musk. Gennivre, L'artiste Du Diable: Hyson tea leaf, pale mint, sugar cane, orange blossom, lemongrass, and honey. I like this one as well. On me it smells like a tea scent with a mild mint. Very pretty. Green Tree Viper: Snake Oil with four mints, bergamot, and green tea. I tried this but didn't write a review, and I'm trying to remember what I thought of it. I think that I didn't care for the Snake Oil + mint combination. Lick It: a candy cane perfume, minty, sweet and sugared. Smells exactly like a candy cane. Peppermint isn't my favorite mint, though. Lick It Again: "a peppermint candy cane with an extra jolt of sugar." This one also smells like a candy cane, but a bit smoother than Lick It. Like I said, though, not really into peppermint. Monster Bait: Tokyo Stomp: vanilla mint. Crisp and refreshing, but smooth as well. I was surprised and delighted that I liked this scent. It's probably the only mint scent I actually wear. Nuclear Winter: The ice, desolation and barrenness of nuclear devastation shot through by a beam of radioactive mints. I liked this one. Didn't think I would, but I did. Very much a chilly scent. Snowblind: the perfect vanilla mint. I tried this a long time ago and gave it the boot due to being minty. I don't think I even wrote a review, I just passed it along. If I recall correctly, it did smell like dinner mints and I thought it wasn't that bad. I wish I'd kept a little bit of it so I could do a side-by-side comparison with Tokyo Stomp, but I don't have any Snowblind and I doubt I'll ever get any again. Spooky: buttery rum, cocoa, coconut, vanilla and peppermint. I like this scent. I haven't written a review for it yet, so I couldn't tell you what I like about it, I just know I like it. Taurus 07: Rose, daisy, apple blossom, violet, poppy, columbine, thyme, and mint. Sweet spring floral. Not minty. Treat #2: fig meat, coconut, "buttercream bonbon," orange rind, mint leaf, cardamom, clove, ginger, and milk chocolate. Smells very Fruit-Loopy on me. Not minty. Tulzcha: "A crystalline, cold green flame: six mints with white pepper and cucumber." Mint+cucumber. This is a cool, refreshing scent, and I do like it. I just never wear it. It's one of those scents I appreciate because it smells good but it doesn't really suit me. Usher: light musk, fougere, white mint, mandarin, tea leaf, blackcurrant, "brushed by the scent of the tarn that surrounds the House, and the gloom and decay of the walls that hold him." I gave a bottle of this to my husband and he wore it maybe once or twice. I remember liking it when he wore it, but I don't think he liked it. I can't remember if it was primarily minty, but I doubt it.   The one that didn't have mint listed in the notes but smelled minty to me was Snow-Flakes. I really like that one, but because I don't know for sure that it has mint in it, I can't include it.   So, of those ones, the ones I like are F5, Gennivre, Tokyo Stomp, Nuclear Winter, and Spooky. (Possibly Snowblind, but I wouldn't name one that rare as a favorite anyway because in order to be a favorite it has to be obtainable.) Out of those, my hands-down favorite is Tokyo Stomp.   Verdict on Favorite Mint Scent: Monster Bait Tokyo Stomp.
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filigree_shadow

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a stargirl's addiction
 

Twilight Alchemy Lab order

I'm currently doing my Masters in Professional Accounting, as well as working full time, and looking after 2 stepkids part-time, so life is pretty hectic and sometimes overwhelming at the moment. I read some reviews about the Twilight Alchemy Lab's utility oils, and they sounded exactly what they needed. So... I put in an order   Hey... it's for studying, right?!   All 5ml bottles   Concentration: A useful aid in study and ritual. Dot on palms and rub them together vigorously. Then inhale the scent to intensify mental focus and clear errant thoughts. This blend with sometimes provoke insight into problems and can be used for inspiration   Determination: A powerful aid in finding strength, drive and determination to complete projects. Battles frustration, sloth and rejuvenates your work ethic   Energy: An invigorating, stimulating blend. Replenishes depleted energy stores, banishes fatigue. Extremely useful after intense ritual or prolonged spellwork   Peace:Soothes frazzled nerves, brings serenity to the heart and tranquility to the home   (Ordered: 6-August, CnS: 8-August, Received: 16-August)
crushedstars

crushedstars

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a stargirl's addiction
 

Third order from the Lab

Yep... officially addicted   Of course I had to make an order when the Singing Moon update went live last month... I'm still yet to receive this one, but it's finally on it's way now   All 5ml bottles, from the Full Moon update for September:   Singing Moon: Moonlight over grave grass, meadowsweet, marsh hellebore, rock sea-lavender, Irish Lady's-tresses, melancholy thistle, and wood bitter-vetch, with the scent of autumn fires in the distance, sprayed by wind howling over the Atlantic   The Emathides: Gleaming eyes, screeching voices, glistening wings: black amber, black orchid, black currant, olive blossom, wood violet, lavender, blue musk, rose attar, and cedar   Virgo 2007: Mutable earth: the essence of analysis. Fennel, valerian, maidenhair fern, carrot seed, honeysuckle, and myrtle   From General Catalogue: Moon Rose: A crisp, pale, almost translucent rose dusted by moonflower and midnight dew   Kurukulla: The Tibetan goddess of love and wealth. Her scent is a harmonious, sweet, enchanting blend of three lotus blooms and three roses   (Ordered: 26-July, CnS: 24-August, Received: not yet)   {I will eventually do reviews and stuff on here... I just wanted somewhere to keep track of my orders for the time being though }
crushedstars

crushedstars

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Forum Updates and News
 

[BANNED] Miss Anthropy (et al)

On August 22, 2007, MissAnthropy created a new account (InanimatusConjurus) for the purposes of trolling in the Conjure Oils thread. She was subsequently put on a 1-month suspension. Within an hour of her suspension, she created a second new account (paintahappylittletree), presumably to continue monitoring the situation with Conjure Oils. At this point in time, she had an additional 6-months added to her suspension for attempting to circumvent her suspension. Within two hours, she created a third new account (SeeYouNextTuesday), using a transparent proxy and sent me the following message. At this point in time, she was banned.
ipb

ipb

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heartbreakangel's Blog
 

Things are going apace...

Well, things aren't going too badly, at the moment, knock wood.   She told her parents the other night. Or, rather, a relative did. I think it was her other half sister. I need a flow chart to keep track of siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles, and other assorted relatives, as her mother's been married three times. So the one that I refer to as her father is actually her adoptive father, while her biological father has apparently remarried or something, and had children with another woman after the divorce from her mother. That's probably not important at this point, though, so...moving right along.   It didn't go over as badly as we'd thought. There was some momentary panic and assumptions of my character and motivations by her mom. I figured it would happen. I rolled my eyes over it, and uttered "whatever" quite a bit, and was not surprised to hear that those reactions were beaten down into the illogical hole they crawled out of, likely never to be seen again.   The going opinion? That it's obviously making my intended happy, that she's going to be 33 next year, and that even if this isn't what her mother had envisioned her life turning out to be, it's what she wants to do, and nobody can stop her.   I almost fell out of bed in shock over hearing that, considering certain bits of family history I've been involved in for the past five years. My dad was just as shocked to hear it, himself.   But, we're getting married, and nobody's cheesed off over it. At the moment, at least. I still haven't told my mother, who is probably going to wince a few times, as she's always thought I'd settle down with a man and have a host of children. Should make life fun, there.   We also picked out a formal engagement ring! She's going to send me the funds to order it within the next week or so, which means if things go as planned, I should have it by the end of September. I also picked out what I'd like for a bouquet, and what I want for a dress, and and and...   If all goes well, we should be married sometime in the spring. EEEEE!!!!
heartbreakangel

heartbreakangel

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Forum Updates and News
 

[BANNED] wichapi

There have been rumors floating about administrative action dealing with secondary accounts and banning. (I'm saying "secondary account" rather than "duplicate account" because we're now seeing forum members loan their accounts to other people - so the second account that's involved isn't necessarily "duplicate", but it's not an approved usage.)     As we've touched upon before, we have a slew of tools that we use to track secondary account activity, using common internet technologies such as cookies, sessions, and IP addresses. Cookies are tiny text files that live on your computer. You can opt out of them, though it takes away some of our cooler features (such as always staying logged in or collapsing forums). Sessions are something that our server create whenever you login. If you use cookies, there's actually cookies about your session information, and if you don't, the session information gets added to the end of the URLs. Cookies & sessions are specific not only your computer, but to your browser profile and computer login. IP addesses are like mailing addresses for computers, letting servers know how to send data (such as web pages and images) back and forth between a client (you) and a server (the host). Sometimes, there are intermediates between the two (like routers, firewalls, or proxies) - especially with dial-up or large networks - which will give the appearance of multiple people sharing an address.   Like everything else on the internet, these tools create logs. We review the logs both in batches and individually. We occasionally target individual accounts that have been suspended from swapping, reported as a swaplifter, or suspended (in general) for non-random screening -- to ensure that people who aren't supposed to be accessing the forum or particular areas of the forum aren't doing so by other means and to ensure that people who are ripping off forum members aren't doing it with multiple accounts (such as last year's love.is.suicide/simple.delight incident).   We could probably do away with all of these tools by forcing users to use services like ConfirmID to prove that they are who they say they are, but that requires all users be over 18, doesn't work for all countries, may not work if you've not got ready access to your proof of identity papers, and costs money -- and that doesn't work for us.   Let me repeat: at the end of the day, all of this is to make sure that people who aren't supposed to be accessing the forum/parts of the forum (banned users, suspended users, and users who are restricted from certain areas of the forum) cannot do so, and that people who are trying to rip off others can't do so with as many accounts as they care to create. Furthermore, things like occasionally logging in at a friend's house, or a coworker's computer, or a computer lab rarely trigger our asking questions, and being picked out as having unusual account traffic patterns doesn't usually result in any more than just a standard questionnaire.     But I digress.       We have been hearing rumors about how wichapi's account became banned, and since some of these rumors allege some shocking activities on our part, we are going to address this issue. Normally, it's not our practice to publicly disclose the specific reasons for banning someone, but with these allegations roaming around about the reasons for this banning, we've decided to what happened a matter of public record.     On February 11th, May 17th, and June 23rd (all in 2007), wichapi violated our price caps. Our policy on price caps states that on the third offense, users' accounts are barred from swapping for two months; on a fourth offence, they are permanently barred from swapping. I'm not going to discuss the merits of barring frequent price cap violators in this post -- that's its own discussion. Obviously, any swaps that were already in progress at the time of her banning could continue to their rightful conclusion -- but until late August, she could not start new swaps here at the forum. (Obviously, there was nothing stopping her from swapping on LJ or NALF or other locations.)   Swaps were initiated on or around June 30, July 9th, July 10th by wichapi - despite having her access to the swaps forum taken away on June 23rd. Our logs showed that during this period of time, wichapi was using the account of a coworker ("Black Medicine") to access the forum from her computer. Literally: someone(s) was logging out of wichapi's account, logging into the "Black Medicine" account, look at topics in the swap forums, log out of the "Black Medicine" account, log into the wichapi account, and go about her business (including arranging swaps, as evidenced by shipping notifications and timestamps on the swap posts she had been responding to). Whether they were doing it together or it was just wichapi is irrelevant - both types of actions intentionally subvert wichapi's ban on swapping on this forum.   On July 13th, the "Black Medicine" account was banned for abusing one of our members, abusing one of our moderators, and a long-established refusal to follow our guidelines. As is standard when we ban someone, we banned not only the account, but email addresses and IP addresses associated with it.   On July 14th, wichapi contacted us because she was unable to access the forum. This initiated the duplicate account analyzer while we were waiting to hear back about what IP address(es) she was attempting to access the forum from.   On July 15th, the account "ShyinChi" was created from wichapi's computer at home. Unlike most new users, this account accessed the New Members Validation Center (required by all users), scanned topics in the Introductions forum (which is where you go after you verify that you've read our rules), and visited several topics in the various swaps forums. Even when they don't read topics or participate, almost all of our new users visit other forums as well.   On July 16th, it was established that while wichapi's computer was behind a network both at home and work, to the best of her knowledge, she is the only person that uses her computers. (Incidentally, this does imply that she had obtained the password for "Black Medicine".)   On July 18th, wichapi mentioned that "Black Medicine" had accessed the forum from work - something we had already known. Nothing was said regarding home access, or about the "ShyinChi" account.   On July 22nd, wichapi's account was suspended from the forum as a whole for 6 months, and at the conclusion of her suspension, it would be suspended from the swaps section for an additional 3 month. This suspension was entirely due to the fact that two secondary accounts (one legitimate account, "Black Medicine", and one duplicate account, "ShyinChi") were used to access the swaps forum from wichapi's computers at home AND work while wichapi was banned from swapping. In her suspension notification, she was informed that any additional duplicate account activity would result in her account being banned from the forum.   On July 23rd, the account "MaineEvent" was created from wichapi's computer at work.   On July 24th, wichapi's account was banned from the forum, with the caveat that if we saw account activity from the two accounts that wichapi claims she did not create that demonstrated that they were in fact separate accounts (that is: not using her computer or network accounts), we would reverse the ban and continue on with the suspension.   On July 29th, wichapi provided the names of the individuals she claims created those accounts (two visiting artists), and complained that it wasn't fair that we were pegging her reinstatement on them. Additionally, she accused us of illegally penetrating her firewall in order to determine what happened on individual computers.   On July 31st, we notified her that her account was permanently banned.     To summarize: wichapi was initially barred from swapping for two months because she violated the price caps three times. It wasn't permanent, and it only applied to the swaps forum. Everything after that stemmed from her attempts to circumvent that barring, first by using other people's accounts, and then creating multiple accounts. After more than a dozen e-mails exchanged between she and we, during which she blamed co-workers at work and guests -- despite the fact that the log-in patterns clearly demonstrated that some of these other accounts were primarily logging on to spot potential swap partners, then logging back off so wichapi could contact them. At the end of the day, she was persistently attempting to circumvent the rules, and when we presented her with the evidence of that, she went so far as to accuse us of hacking her computers in obtaining that evidence. (For the record: we didn't.) As a result, we decided that she was not going to abide by our rules and had no wish to: we banned her.
ipb

ipb

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heartbreakangel's Blog
 

Hrm...

I'm having a "I'm right, you're wrong" moment about this moving thing as far as how dad assumed it would go.   He's under the impression, as I said in the How Are You Feeling thread, that getting a work permit is going to be some kind of cakewalk for me.   It isn't.   Not only do I have to go up there to hunt out a job, get a letter stating I have the job, and submit an application for the permit, but there's just...ugh. The business I work for has to prove out that they cannot find a Canadian to fill the position I'm applying for. Not only that, they also have to prove out that the job market projections (simplified version, really) states that this is an okay thing to do. And they have to pay a laundry list of fees to accomplish all of this, so if for some reason my work permit is denied, they've just spun their wheels wasting all sorts of time trying to fill the position when...   ...they could've just hired a Canadian.   Anyone else seeing where the cards are really stacked against me on this one?   Oh, and if I wanted to come in under the Skilled Worker classification, there's at least a two plus year lag time on applications, according to the CIC website. 80% of cases get finalized in 30 months. Not that it would matter, as I'm three points off from the lowest number of points you can have (67) to come in under this header. I'm also pretty sure that my skill levels aren't as up to par as I'd need them to be to...you see where this is going. It's just not something that's feasible.   So that leaves the marriage option. Which is what my intended and I are hoping to do as soon as humanly frickin' possible in the first place. It's more complex than simply getting hitched and waltzing across the border. It's never, ever that simple. Which is fine, since I think I understand this process a bit more than all of the other stuff, anyway. Not that this says much, as my brain's kind of lacking anything beyond a basic "durr" response at the moment.   Now we just need to, oh, I don't know...break it gently to her folks that we got back together, and that we're intending on getting married within the next year. I also have to sit my dad down and tell him that no, I am not kidding, as I'm pretty sure it hasn't settled in with him as more than something I've mentioned in passing. It won't surprise me to find out he's taking a nice cruise down denial, really.   Anyone got any tips for how to deal with the inevitable "WHAT?!" response we're likely to get from her parents?
heartbreakangel

heartbreakangel

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Indigo's Blog
 

Review: Has no Hanna

Going through some of the new imps and fighting the urge to slather on lots of Purple Phoenix again:       I think that will be my imp of the day.   Wet: Mmmm. This is sweet. And I can kinda sorta smell the notes I was given to expect by the writeup, but they're so nicely blended I can't really pick them up. If this maintains this way, it goes in the "keepers".   Dry-Down: Hm. I had heard of fragrances turning soapy on the wearer. I think I'm experiencing that now. It's not bad, but I am definitely brought to mind with soap.   Throw: I have a hard time picking out throw because my sense of smell is so diminished by allergies and the like.   Oh, and this one seems to be another voodoo blend. I seem to gravitate straight for those before I even realize they are voodoo blends.   Later: It seemed to fade away to nothing by lunchtime. But I had some running around to do at lunch. The fragrance rallied in the Atlanta heat and I was surrounded by spicy loveliness all afternoon. And no soapiness!       Keeper!
Indigo

Indigo

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