I discovered how BPAL-licious today would be when I keyed open my mailbox and found not one, not two but three packages. Without further ado:
One of the packages is not a swap, but instead an Etsy order: mineral makeup from 8 Bit Cosmetics. I'll review that separately....
The first package is from the lovely Gateau. Karme, Pandy and Hippie Ghost. Originally what drew me to it was Karme-- I've been wanting to smell it since I read the description.
Karmê (Κάρμη): Sun-warmed squashes, peppers, salad greens, snap peas, radishes, green onions, and silphium.
Lab imp. In the imp: a familiar floral? no... oh no. Aquatic note with an undercurrent of garden-y complexity. I never trade for or buy aquatics, because there's a note that smells identical to me in all of them and it reminds me of some perfume-in-a-can I had from Walgreens when I was a kid. And in all those drugstore perfumes it's supposed to be 'water' but to me it's sweet and formulaic. I smell it in Karme. I capped it back up for a minute because if that's what I get from this scent I'm going to cry.
On me: The aquatic dissipates, thank heavens, and morphs a dandelion very reminiscent of Roadhouse or... it's been a long time since I smelled One to Tie Two To Win, did it have this? A Blade of Grass? ... It does smell like plants, though no onions- people mention cucumber, and I can see that-- not actual cucumber but perfume-cucumber, a sweet flowery version of the real. I like having this imp and I will definitely keep it-- at the very least until I acquire Roadhouse and do a side-by-side sniff comparison.
Pandy: Fresh white musk, honeycomb, sweet apricot, elemi, orange blossom, and mischievous pink pepper.
In the decant I smell the sweet apricot and what I'm GUESSING is the honeycomb, because it's reminding me of a sweet food I can't place.
on me: ooh, that's nice. apricot with a sweet background of gentle honey. I wish I knew more about honey notes and how to distinguish them. But other people mentioned they mostly got a honeyed apricot too, so there you have it. I think I smell a bit of pepper beneath it, but as for the rest, if it's there I can't tell. But what there is of it I do like and I'm a-buying a bottle. Comforting and feminine, this is a scent I would proudly go out wearing and expect to catch a few looks.
Hippie Ghost: A faded snapshot of patchouli-stained peasant blouses, soft suede boots, and smoke.
In the decant I smell patchouli and a kick of disagreeable stinky smoke. Some people said pot smoke, but that's a nice smell and this is nasty to me.
on me: Well-blended but not pretty smelling... I don't get anything but a vaguely cologney bite under a muddled grimy almost-patchouli. Maybe a little more weedy-smelling than it was in the imp. It mellows out pretty quickly-- When dry it's a well blended sharpish pot-smoky patchouli with leather peeking out. I like it when it's dry- well-blended and smooth, but I don't need a bottle.
And along with the imps, Gateau included a huge, lovely jar of Nyx eyeshadow powder! Now I'm about to carry my pretties off and incorporate them into my collection....
So let's see. Current as of 2/13/13. The bottles with asterisks are not up for swap except in certain Grail-scent-related-cases.
Albedo v5 x3
Atlas
Badgers* (decants poss for Storyville, Voodoo Queen, Dolly Kei, and Pinched.)
Blood Moon 2005 x2
Dead Man's Hand v8*
Gaoler's Daughter
Geek x2*
Gypsy
Harikata
Hod (original 10mL)
Hod Res x 3
Hungry Ghost Moon (pending)
Loosening of the Obi* (boyfriend appropriated this one...)
Men Ringing Bell With Penises* (...and this one)
Mum Moon*
Nagarjuna v2
Phyllocrania Paradoxa v1
Planting Moon* (see Badgers restrictions)
PX23
Ronin
Sachs
Shanghai Tunnel
Shub-Niggurath
Snake Charmer (orig CN version)*
Taphophobia v2
Tamamo-no-mae x2
Trick #1 *
Vipralabda x3
Grail scents I would always buy or swap for:
Cagliostro
Crumpet Rebellion
Geek
Graveyard Dirt
Pinched With Four Aces
Planting Moon
Quincey Morris
Severin
Storyville
Snake Charmer Res.
Voodoo Queen
Protos, event-specifics and similar that I desperately want to try, even a small amount:
Amaterasu v2 & v3, Sekhmet v5, Kinnabari, Capela dos Ossos, Anti-Saloon League, Hermes Tris v2, Vrishka Rajaya v2 BTPU1, PX717, PRC12, XCDL13, PP42005
LE/DC (sought in any amount):
Atlas
Antique Lace*
Autumn Lace
Black Lace
De Sade*
Gothabilly
Glowing Vulva*
Inquisition 07: Ecstasy of Passion
Karmê (Κάρμη)**
Lughnasadh
Mabon Res.*
Pumpkin King
LE/DC- prefer a bottle:
Black Temple Burlesque Troupe**
Byron v13*
Diable en Boîte
Hanerot
Horn of Amalthea
Katrina
Khrysopelex
Lambs-Wool
Loosening of the Obi
Men Ringing Bell with Penises
the Smiling Spider
Smut
Sunflower
Toad Hall
Unheavenly City**
LE/DC- prefer a decant:
Arrival @ Sabbath & Homage to the Devil
Carceri d'Invenzione
CD: Parliament of Monsters*
CD: Faith*
CD: Gennivre*
CD: Western Diamondback*
Great Grey Witch
Infernal Lover**
La Mano del Destino
the Magdalena
Miles**
Mother Shub's Gingerbread Temples/Stygian Nougat**
Nothing Gold Can Stay
Pickled Imp
Pisces
Sweet Lavinia's Dread Puddings/Risalamande**
Tobacco Honey
GC (indicated below if I prefer imp but bottles always OK):
Aperotos Eros***
Bensiabel (imp)
Bien Loin d'Ici
Death on a Pale Horse (imp)
Depraved
Herbert West (imp)
Kumiho (imp)
Le Lèthè
Mr. Ibis
Nero (imp)
Panacea TKO (imps ok too)
Penny Dreadful
Perversion
Port-au-Prince**
The Red Rider (imp)**
Roadhouse (imp)
Shoggoth
Panacea: TKO**
Panacea: Moxie
Witch's Garden**
CB IHP: try me. I like it all, but esp. tea/water/dirt/rain/stone, etc.
Greenbriar 68***
Memory of Kindness***
In the Summer Kitchen
Violet Empire
M2 Black March**
M1 Narcissus
Under the Arbor
Revelation
I Am A Dandelion
In the Library
Grass
Soaked Earth
Ginger Flower
Hay
Rich Tobacco
Forest/Wild Hunt
Viennese Pastry
Tomato Vine
Rainstorm
Falling Water
Bamboo Flower
Wildflower Honey
Gathering Apples
Sweet Smoke
Cedarwood Tea, Lavender Tea, Black Tea, Russian Caravan Tea, Japanese Green Tea
Conjure:
Nejla (The Souk)
Golden Amber, Tomato Leaf (Apothecary)
Twr, Anna, Fire In The Earth (Feri)
How You Doin', Queen Elizabeth Root, Bling Bling (Hoodoo)
Earl Black, Befuddling Fan (Miss Victoria's)
Notus, Anemoi (Elementals)
El Alacran, La Corona (Loteria)
Shakti (Mythos)
DSH:
Erotica (oil)
Special X (any)
Eden Botanicals:
Pepper CO2 Select, Black
German Blue Chamomile
Ginger
Immortelle Absolute
Liquidambar
HAEE: Fairy Queen, Vanilla Musk
Haus of Gloi: Perfume, soap, scrub, you name it. Haus Amber, Lavender Sugar, Mango Sticky Rice, Moon Dog, Old Cider Haus,Picaroon, Pumpkin Queen, Honey Tree (soap/scrub)
MAC: Both Lustreglass and Lipglass in anything but really dark colors. Eyeshadows: I'm open to all shades and styles. Want to try the pigments too.
propaganda: Opium Den soap
Villainess:
Dulces En Fuego, Friction, Grampa Joe, Spun Sugar. Pretty much all non-fruity scents... just a slice? Whipped: Possets Indigo, Mud: Scintillating, Pearl Diver. Killer Beez oil sample, Nesthtai anything, Datura and Scintillating oils
wicked cosmetics: Abricot de Vanille
WoobieBath: Vanilla Tea
There are always exceptions, but as a guide to what works and doesn't.
Generally good: amber, benzoin, bergamot, cardamom, clove, dirt/earth/soil, subtle wood scens (e.g. fir), ginger, grass, incense, leather, musk of ALL kinds, oakmoss, opoponax, peach/apricot, delicate floral (e.g. rice flower; T-n-M, HGM, Obi), white sugar, tomato leaf and other plant scents, tonka, vanilla of all kinds, subtle foody scents.
Generally bad: Anise, Aquatics (except The Deep Ones), brimstone/smoke, uber-buttery, candy, civet, cinnamon, cypress, dragon's blood, most strong/sharp florals (e.g. ylang ylang), most fruity scents, harsh wood scents (e.g. juniper) , muscadine, neroli, ozone, pennyroyal, vetiver, wine (except rice wine)
