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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!
    • 5 comments
    • 6,603 views
Starfish & Coffee
 

Dirty scents.

I tried Death Cap on Saturday. It starts out smelling like freshly turned earth -- much like Graveyard Dirt. Then I can smell something else in it, which I'm willing to believe is the mushroom. Then the mushroom scent takes a sweet turn, which overwhelms the rest of the oil until it starts to smell like cupcakes.   I'm tempted to nickname it Picnic at the Cemetery.     I'm trying out Premature Burial today. The green is doing odd things to me. Ever smelled frozen spinach being boiled? That was a peculiar stage of this oil.   Penny Dreadful also has that wonderful Graveyard Dirt base, but soon includes semi-sweet florals. I would consider this a true scent-garden oil.   Graveyard Dirt ~ I have a bottle, with three more on the way. This actually smells like freshly turned earth, and I was first aware of it as an LE scent. This may end up being my default "working" oil, though I'd need to research the appropriateness of using it thus.
byrdie

byrdie

2
Starfish & Coffee
 

Effective scents.

13 ~ Oddly, I used to have issues about walking around smelling like I'd smeared myself with chocolate, but sometimes 13 would just be too much fun not to wear. Then I let my sweetie sniff some. There's nothing like seeing someone's eyes glow from a BPAL scent to change one's mind. I'm beginning to equate certain scents with sex (ginger and more recently mango, for instance), which is a habit that seems to transcend whatever relationship I'm in. I keep forgetting to wear this oil on the 13th -- after all, I have a bunch of new decants to play with today -- but hopefully I'll correct that next month.   Imp ~ I love this one because it makes me feel somewhere between mischevious and downright evil. Sometimes I feel like I'm developing the Joker's grin just from applying it. "I aim to make some mischief." It's kind of difficult to be scared about walking around alone at night when I feel pleasantly psychotic.   Loviatar ~ for a couple of months, I wore this out while dancing before I started dating a scent-phobe. He's no longer an issue, but I've dropped the habit of wearing scents to the club. I'll have to correct that soon, as this one left me feeling relatively powerful and predatory.   O ~ for months, this was the oil I wore out dancing because it was soft and sexy and made me feel pretty. I have to start putting some BPAL in my dancing bag.   Snake Oil ~ the only precioussss I can wear to work and get compliments on, it's grown on me since I first tried it a few years ago. I used to think that Tombstone was sweeter, but I must have been very confused.   Spooky ~ This smells the way my hair does after I've shampooed with Washaday Greens and conditioned with Cooaluin. Of people I've hugged after giving myself the complete mint-and-coconut treatment, only one has complained about the wet cardboard scent -- the rest have told me I've smelled edible and prolonged the hug just to breathe me in some more. This is my "no, really -- you wuv me" scent.   Sugar Skull ~ While playing "my sweetie has a broken sniffer," I held this bottle up to his nose, keeping my fist around it so he couldn't see the name. This was the oil scent that made him grab my hand in both of his to keep me from moving the bottle away. I've since decanted about half of one bottle into a lip-gloss roller bottle for slathering, and picked up another 5ml for good measure.   Talvikku ~ My sweetie sniffed me after I put some on and said, eyes glowing, that I smelled like candy. I'm not sure that a whole week passed before I bought a whole bottle from Lush-a-Lot.
byrdie

byrdie

0
Starfish & Coffee
 

Chocolate scent notes.

Le whee!   13 ~ I took a risk buying the first release as a 5ml and have never, ever regretted it. I rarely smell anything from it but milk chocolate, though. Freak Show ~ delightfully fruity, I wouldn't have pegged this for a chocolate scent Gluttony ~ absolutely alarming by itself, but excellent as a mixer. review. Lump of Coal ~ I got to sniff this recently, and I agree with people who get fudge brownie out of it. Wowzers. Pumpkin Patch #2 Cocoa, Hazelnut, & Walnut ~ like pretty much everyone else, this is one of my favorites of the Pumpkin Patch series. Not big-bottle worthy, but fun. Spooky ~ there's chocolate in this? Wow, all I smell is mint and coconut.   Le suck!   Cerberus ~ cherry scented bandages. review. Dia de los Muertos ~ I really wanted to like this from the name, but it was a little more harsh than I wanted to deal with. Intrigue ~ not my thing, but I gave it to receptionist who said it reminded him pleasantly of his childhood in Scotland. review. Kali ~ a nice collection of ingredients gone horribly wrong on me. The Great Sword of War ~ I think this one was a little too incensy for me, but I'm not sure. I didn't like it, though. Velvet ~ the chocolate descriptions intrigued me, but I mainly remember it smelling like the fabric.
byrdie

byrdie

0
Shellhell - Hermetically Sealed
 

Hermetically sealed for your irritation!

I think my mother passed a strange gene down to me - it's the dreaded TAPE gene.... Opening any gifts from Mom especially around christmas time gets frustrating. She tapes things closed - not only tapes things but TAPES them. Whenever there is a present ready, my dad has his trusty pocket knife out because he knows. Knows what? you say? He knows that is is going to take some big time muscles with his pocket knife to get thru all of mom's tape! It's the family joke but it gets downright irritating if you are a ripper! Ya know, one of those people who love to rip into a package - damn the pretty paper.   So, somewhere along the line, I got the gene (or the obsession)and it is magnified by 1,000 to say the least. All of my swaps go out pretty much hermetically sealed for protection Whose protection? Well, I would venture to guess, protection of my mental health status! My bottles, for example start out with me trying my damndest to get the lid on as tight as possible. Plumbing thread tape is next to keep the leaks in place. Saran wrap is next, pulled tight and then taped into place - just on the off chance any oil would get past the thread tape and saran wrap. Then, said bottle is wrapped verically in bubble wrap (tape to hold it closed), the horizontally, then it is put into a liitle pouch I have taped together, with the imps and such going out.   Boxes? Now, here is where my obsessive hermetic seal really kicks in. I am so paranoid that the box is going to come open or the label is going to come off that I pretty much tape the whole damn box. I cannot help myself. It is against my nature to normally tape it due to rampant paranoia running thru mywee little mind. Paranoia that the box is going to fly open, or lids are going to leak. This mind set also comes in to play when wrapping presents also. One of my good friends got a care package from me that was vitually a box encased in tape. WEll, what if water got in? Or perfume tried to leak out? Anhow, she is the one who started the whole "hermetically sealed" thing.   Advice to future swappers and buyers, Have scissors on hand when my packages come in.
Rhowan

Rhowan

1
Starfish & Coffee
 

More scent notes.

Notes of mine grabbed from the Lush forum for future use.   In other news, I'm trying Gingerbread Poppet in my scent locket today. Um, I learned something important: just because I could tip my imp of Imp and have to scoop the oil out with the wand does not mean that the same would have been true for G.P.   I smell like a riot in the Keebler factory.     Bewitched ~ very, very sweet blackberries. If it's too sweet on you, I recommend Baneberry, which has a little greenery to cut some of the sweetness. Dragon's Milk ~ one of the few of the Ars Draconis line that I can tolerate, if I remember correctly. Dana O' Shee ~ whee! sweet! Often compared to Snowcake soap. Eclipse ~ I smell HIWTK from this. Snake Oil ~ took a while to grow on me, and now I'm considering a 5ml bottle. Black Pearl ~ a sweet, creamy coconut scent. Imp ~ my "hi, i'm a large, unstable thing of indeterminate gender walking alone at night" scent. Embalming Fluid ~ a very bright citrus. White Rabbit ~ my frimp of it shattered in the box. Smelled sweet and lovely, though. Tombstone ~ before it ages, it actually smells sweeter than Snake Oil. Dorian ~ for Anita Blake fans, my standing comment is: This is what Nathaniel's hair my smell like. Laudanum ~ hoohoo. Herbal, and a great sleepy-time oil. review Hecate ~ very strongly floral to my nose. Queen of Sheba ~ spiced, honeyed almonds Antique Lace ~ after reading people's reviews, I was surprised by how dry and dusty a floral this is. O ~ powdery and very much like cocoa butter on warm skin. Snowblind ~ A perfect, light, sparkling mint blend. Milk Moon ~ somewhere between sweet-n-creamy to "damn, I forgot to finish this glass of milk" Smut ~ falls a bit flat on its own, but has potential if it's layered with O.
byrdie

byrdie

0
Starfish & Coffee
 

Amber scents of note.

Aureus ~ my first wonderful experience with amber. review Bastet ~ spiced almonds, if I remember correctly. review Black Lotus ~ review Bruja (discontinued) ~ related to Snake Oil, but dampened down with dark chocolate. review Carnivàle ~ didn't love it. Maybe it contained cherry. review Corazon (LE) ~ very much a red wine scent. review Haunted ~ a very smooth smelling oil. review Hollywood Babylon ~ not as sweet as I later remembered it being, oddly enough. review Imp ~ I really like this oil: a sweet incense that I can wear! It's my "I'm feeling borderline psychotic right now, perhaps I'll go walk out in the dark alone" scent. Loviatar ~ my "Come here and worship me" dancing oil. O ~ my "Really, I'm perfectly harmless" dancing oil. review Red Lantern (LE) ~ smells like the aftermath of licking caramel sauce off a lover's body. Red Moon (LE) ~ dragon's blood resin. meh. Saint-germain ~ too floral Sin ~ cooling cinnamon pastries. review The Lion ~ this is probably what the lion from the Kenya animation smells like.
byrdie

byrdie

0
poisonapple's Blog
 

Rant and Intro

Dude I understand that people have to be careful on Ebay...I know they have been burned before. I understand I am new on ebay and have almost no feed back. But the feed back I got is great feedback. I know it is only from one person. But I have bid on items and had them cancled because of lack of feed back..and it is really pissing me off.   I guess I am going to give up on ebay and just stick to the forums and lj from now on....Bastages!!!!     And may I say how much I freaking love this new skin!!! I love the she-devil skin. I was using the Dark Devil one and I like that one a lot too.   Just had to start a blog here so I don't annoy my Lj'er with my obsessive BPAL rants..though I think I enabled one person,.
poisonapple

poisonapple

2
poisonapple's Blog
 

forum lurv

I am so freaking glad the forum is back up!!!!! I have made blind swaps...lol..that terrifies me. I love reading the reviews. I love reading what other people say about thier own personal addiction.   I have added it up. Ordering from the lab....I have spent over 200 dollars this month.   Buying on the forum and lj..i have spent about 150 this month.   And you know what? I don't really feel bad about it. I am a bit of an addictive personality. I find something and I just go off on it. But I think with the ever changingness (is that even a word?) it will hold my interest.   Not to mention all the people here that are such fun. The only thingI really wish they would fix would be to add a spell check. For a dislexic like me..it is embaressing...because I have no idea a lot of time I have used the wrong word or my spelling is so off.   But one thing out of a hundred is not so bad.
poisonapple

poisonapple

0
poisonapple's Blog
 

A full box

I got some swaps in. I tend to swap for bottles most of the time. I prefer it that way.   But I have a BPAL box i bought from a forumite. I love it..has 24 sections..I can put imps or bottles..both sizes and they fit just fine. Very cool. But I noticed I am totally obsession about filling up the few empty spaces in my box...   I must have more bottles...and I have been looking at those imp holders on line...I don't know why. I guess I just prefer having someone make it for me. I am lazy that way.   Well I have 8 spaces left....about 10 bottles comeing to me...so I needs me another box!!!
poisonapple

poisonapple

0
poisonapple's Blog
 

Flowers hate me.

I just can't wear them!!! I have tried and tried. They smell wonderful for about 15 minutes then they go babypowder or worse on me.     I love the way they smell in the bottle. I need a freaking scent locket. this sucks....*sighs* Why oh why can't i find my one true floral...Hymn works...and So does Grandmother of Ghosts but that is it so far.
poisonapple

poisonapple

6
Korshka's BPAL Ramblings
 

Ok - Let's do this thing...

Ok - I'm doing it. I'm adding a blog here. I will dedicate this blog strictly to BPAL - unless other parts of life leak in - it happens - we all know it. I plan to use it to help push me to review scents (I'm horrible at doing this), to update my wishlist, and track what I order.   I may also use it to post reactions to all things BPAL - like updates and BPTP stuff.   Overall, I have grad ideas. I guess in the end we'll see how many come to be.   Thanks for stopping by.
korshka

korshka

0
Shellhell - Hermetically Sealed
 

First things first...

So, okay... never done this before so I hope I am putting setting right and things in the right place ~ I guess we will find out soon enough. Who knows, maybe you can teach on old dog a new trick!   I just finished my Get to Know Me page. Wow, it's pretty long, but how do you some up yourself in just a tiny page. I am a very complex person so it was hard to just put in the facts and not ramble on about every little detail.   I am freezing cold right now. The heat has been off since we have had the most beautiful spring days lately. Today is cold and rainy and I have been sitting here at the damnable computer, dinking around and ignoring all my chores and especially how cold I really am. My fingers are so cold, it is getting hard to type!   I think it's time to take a nice, hot, bubble bath. Candles burning, oils flowing, hot water and a nice mask! oooh! sounds great....
Rhowan

Rhowan

0
Filling the Periodic Table
 

Trackback demonstration

In her post, please be upstanding for the mayor of simpleton, Clover asked:     Even though I'm writing this here, I'm going to "ping" her post, so that when she goes to look at it, she'll see that this post is in reference to hers.   Hi, Clover!!!
antimony

antimony

0
You will hardly know who I am
 

please be upstanding for the mayor of simpleton

So, yeah...I can't figure out how to comment on blog entries. I am a simpleton.   I know people are writing interesting things in blogs all accross BPAL-land, and I can't reply to them.   So if some kind soul (who knows how to comment) could point me in the right direction, I would very much appreciate it.   Also - what's a trackback?   Scent of the day: Beltane (wishful thinking)   clover - proving yet again why the extent of her help during the forum downtime was "positive vibes!".
clover

clover

3
Filling the Periodic Table
 

Building a community

Evanesce wrote:     I think right now, most people's blogs consist mostly of "this is my first post" and a few exploratory entries, trying to figure out what they want to say. I'm hoping that once people realy figure out what they want their blogs to say, and settle into their voices, there will be a lot more to comment on.   I've always wondered how people on the forum built personal friendships. I don't think of myself as shy, but I've also never just out of the blue PM'ed people, and it's been on only very seldom that people have out of the blue PM'ed me. maybe I just don't sound interesting or inviting when I type. But I do certainly wonder.   As for the chat, I've ducked in a few times and it was empty, but I guess I should stay in so when someone else comes by, then it *won't* be empty. I hope it takes off... I really enjoyed the #bpal IRC chats we used to get going. I'd love to see that become a regular thing.   On an unrelated note, I think I'm going to be the first to use the trackback function. I love trackback.
antimony

antimony

0
Fishnets and Frankincense
 

Pretty in Pink

Does anyone remember the bratpack movie "Pretty in Pink?" With Molly Ringwald, that guy who's now in the TV show with Charlie Sheen whose name I forget, and James Spader before he got rather bloated-looking. I know some of you get off on James Spader, and I think he's a good casting choice to play the son of William Shatner, because the both look like bloated ticks to me, in that alcoholic liver-damaged way. Oh yeah, and Andrew McCarthy was in "Pretty in Pink," but he appeared to be semi-comatose in that movie and was most unconvincing as Molly's trob-boy. Oh, and Harry Dean Stanton...what a completely surreal casting choice, Harry Dean as good ol pa. His presence alone gave that movie a seamy underside that remained unspoken. Does anyone remember Harry Dean in "Repo Man?" One of my all-time favorite movie lines... something to the effect of: "Just look at 'em...ordinary people...I fucking hate 'em..." And Harry Dean in "Paris, Texas?" Weird-ass movie. I need to watch it again. Has anyone ever read essays by Cintra Wilson? The woman is an insanely brilliant writer and is utterly savage. I adore her. Most of her commentary is on entertainment industry abominations, although recently she's been branching out into political commentary. I just happen to have her book "A Massive Swelling" sitting on my desk and I must quote from an essay where she mentions Harry Dean Stanton: "...I was taken to a small blues bar to see derelict actor Harry Dean Stanton sing in the New Year. When we entered the bar, Harry, already suffering "spins," was using the microphone stand as a means to remain standing. "Harry needs another cocktail!" someone from the stage would yell every few minutes, as Harry unintelligibly moaned like he was passing kidney stones to "Wooly Bully" in cryptic and fluctuating time signatures which the musicians tried to follow, with the maddening futility of someone trying to grasp a dollar bill twisting away in a strong breeze. At one point Harry lurched off the stage mid-song and began shuffling around the bar, fumbling cardboard hats onto the heads of fearful young women, his dirty thumbs slipping into their eyes. "Harry's going to hand out hats now, heh heh," chortled the bandleader, treating the alcohol-poisoned actor as if he were a charming Down syndrome child. Any man in that bar with a loving heart would have beaten Harry out cold with a pool cue and dragged him off to sleep in someone's car."   Now how brilliant is that? Cintra is a goddess and without a doubt my heroine. Get her books, and she's a guest contributor to the online site salon.com.   But the reason I mention Pretty in Pink is that I'm wearing pink lingerie today. A pink bra with pink lace over the top and another side-tie mesh bikini, only this one is pink with large burgundy polka dots. And I'm wearing my combo of O and Tunisian Patchouli. My male friend who is one of my workplace noses declared it to be dangerous.   I do believe that it is.
valentina

valentina

2
this machine
 

Scent planning, imp overwhelmed, old favs

I usually go to sleep at night with at least a minute or two of thought about what scent i will wear the next day. Sometimes i make a solid decision, and sometimes i waver between a few and decide to see what happens in the morning. In the morning i get up and hover over my imp box, trying to make a decision. Sometimes it's obvious and easy, and sometimes i have to be very careful. If, for instance, i've been thinking about shadow but when i look in my box i find my eye grabbed by lampades, i have to make sure i pick the right one. I love both but if i go with what i've been craving (shadow) i may find myself throughout the day thinking in the back of my head about how i crave the sweet tartness of lampades. Then shadow is kind of ruined for me for the day, no matter how much i love it! And the opposite is true - if i go with what suddenly grabbed my eye in the morning i may find that what i really wanted was the one i'd been thinking about in the first place.   It's all so silly and many people would think i need counseling for having this much thought about something like perfume oils! But i'm sure some people out there in bpal land can identify. And when i say silly, i don't necessarily mean unimportant. These things are important to me right now, even if they aren't earth-shattering or life-changing. It's just something that enriches the other more important things in my life.   I'm still in the stage where i have scads of imps and i've tried almost all of them, but i'm utterly overwhelmed by them all and feel a constant battle between the grasping obsession of must...get...more...now...must...have and must...reduce...quantities...now. When i have that many (i have something like 80 imps) i know i can't do them all justice, and i look in my box and i'm so excited by them all but also have a feeling of dread, like "ack, i need to test those, and i need to retry those and see how i feel about them, and ACK i haven't even had a chance to LOOK at masquerade or shadow or snow white for three weeks and i love them but i have so many others i need to work on." You get the idea. I know it probably seems silly to many, but it's just overwhelming! I want them all at once!   Since i'm trying to move to ordering only on lunacy updates and since i didn't want peony moon, i gave myself the month between that moon and the next to not worry about testing very many if any oils. I'm just going to give the ones i love some time and attention, and basically revisit the ones i've been neglecting while hoarding and trying new ones all the time. It's been very good! I still try a few new ones now and then but mostly i'm enjoying the favs...geek, masquerade, cathode, EO musk, snow white, intrigue...and the list goes on. Once i've satisfied this mode for a while, i'll finish testing the new ones and i'll feel caught up, and i'll have at least separated all the swaps/sales from my keepers, and then i can think about trying some of the new ones out there. Yay!
this machine

this machine

0
Forum Updates and News
 

I'm sorry for all of the suffering you knew

Integrating third-party software is such a pain in the ass, especially when you want to pimp it out to be all purty and the developers go and encrypt the core code. I think I may talk to them about getting an unencrypted set of code and use the "but I'll give you the integration-with-IBP 2.1-info!!" as a bribe.   Looking at my various schedules, I think I'm going to need to talk with Di to see if we should set the feedback to be manually entered at first and worry about automation later -- we'll be giving someone the task of babysitting the feedback, and they can monitor the new user queue. It looks like I've got about 15 hours/wk of homework/projects/labs coming up next month in addition to prepping for my national exam on the 22nd (15hrs/wk of prep), NOLA on the 14th-16th, tomorrow's exam prep, and finals...   (I don't really plan on sleeping more than 6 hrs/night again until after 5/11.)   My current list of what needs to be done to the swap feedback script to make it what we want: Set up categories (#, A-Z) & a "user" vendor. ~15 minutes
Integrate admin login w/ IPB. 20 min.
Layout front page ("list of categories"). ~10 minutes
Layout remaining views (27 pages). ~1 hour.
Add a default skin. ~1 hours of my time plus whatever it takes Di to find/create the page wrapper, CSS, and images.
Figure out why test case can't have reviews added. 2-3 hours.
Integrate reviewer login w/ IPB. 1-2 hours.
Integrate "item creation" to sync with new user registration & import current users. 2 hours.
Add profile info where currently just the name is. May just sync up Avatars on a weekly basis. Unknown, minor detail. Can happen after it's up.
What else do I have forum-wise that needs to be done? Just the raffle, I think. Raffle drawing code is done, so I can just export the tickets, assign raffle tickets by order, run the drawing, announce winners, get donors the winner addresses, and start decanting & packaging, and then start compiling the list of people who get PM box upgrades that haven't gotten them already.   Oh, and getting GD set up for the gallery. I think I may just submit a ticket for that as I really need to finish the gallery and do raffle stuff this weekend. And fixing the 'who's chatting' thingie.   Oh yeah, that reminds me, I need to print off the decant set labels and send them on to Di, Donna, and Meg tomorrow. Whoops, I'm late.     Entry Title: The Suffering You Knew
ipb

ipb

0
Wolf Tracks
 

Why Not Just Go to Sleep!?

Yep. didn't go to sleep.   I should have. My issue= EVERY guy other than the boyfriend is looking good to me. Any one giving me attention in a positive manner is a good thing. Now Schmitti (a paintballer I knwo from the team is starting to look good to me). Damn damn damn. Bad Erik for being all sensitive, cute, and funny in emails back and forth! Bad me for enjoying writing!   Really bad me for being stressed and not wanting to run to the boyfriend.
LupaWulf

LupaWulf

0
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