Holy jumpin' Jesus on a pogo stick. Beth has pulled out all the stops yet again with another bank breaker! The worst thing about these last two updates? Too many scents have been 'must get bottle NOW and don't bother with decants'! It's bad for my student loan, really. But it's so good to see so many wonderful scents that grab me either through notes, descriptions, names, associations or artwork (in the case of CD). Now this new Gaiman series has enabled me in the reverse, so to speak...in other words, I need to read his books. Even Beth herself enabled me to read his stuff on the NA Lush forum! If I still have enough money left, then it's off to Amazon to get American Gods...

(Maybe this is a sign of obsessive fangirlishness but I get goosebumps when Beth replies to one of my posts! She's more of a celebrity to me than any of the losers on Reality TV ever could be!)

CROW MOON

Love! notes: white musk, possibly winter wind

Like notes: violet, cedar, evergreens

Huh? notes: wintersweet, green-barked dogwood, primrose, snowdrop, and lenten rose hellebore bouquet

Iffy notes: verbena (though I think vervain is different to lemon verbena?)

I really like the way this is mysterious, dark and wintry, but with hints of spring flashing through it. A lot of these are notes I don't recognise, but this could wind up smelling a little bit like the Raven. I just hope that this foresty-wintry scent doesn't go the way of Carpathian Mountains, but it may well go the way of Snow Moon, Skadi etc.

OBOROT

Love! notes: frankincense, earth

Like notes: fir, pine

Huh? notes: Greek mountain tea flower, sandarac, ravensara

Iffy notes: sea spray, moss (if it's the Spanish kind)

This blend looks so atmospheric, so dark, when I read the description I got an image of some kind of ancient ritual taking place on a dark stormy coastline, wild animals peering out of the woods and strange incantations. I have no idea how this will smell apart from maybe dark, wild, moody, and a tad incensy. Hopefully not soapy or uber-mossy.

FIRE PIG

Love! notes: lychee

Like notes: peony, bamboo, tangerine, orange, pine, kumquat, quince, narcissus, mandarin

Huh? notes: pussy willow (think un-dirty thoughts, think un-dirty thoughts...lol)

Iffy notes: plum blossom, dragon's blood

I just love the concept of a Chinese New Year scent (I'm looking forward to the Ox!) and this looks like a bright, glittering firework of a scent, sparkling with yellow, peach, orange and pink shades of citrus and flowers and sweet delicious lychee, with a red sheen of dragon's blood. It looks fun, vivacious and celebratory.

ENRAGED GROUNDHOG MUSK

Love! notes: cardamom, vanilla, musk

Like notes: chocolate, caramel

Iffy notes: cherry

How can I refuse? Is the lil' fuzzy hog pissed off because he can't find his shadow? Or because the same day keeps repeating itself-well, that would make anyone enraged! Naturally, cardamom and vanilla sold me, and I hope the chocolate cherries behave, and that the musk is along similar lines to the Bunny or the Buck...

BILQUIS

Love! notes: honey (crossing fingers that it will be the honey from Queen of Sheba), myrrh, rose, ambrette, musk

Like notes: fig leaf, almond, apple

Iffy notes: lily of the valley

Swoon. I love Beth's exotic middle eastern orientals, blends that evoke seductive desert queens and sand dunes in the sunset and all that...and I adore those 'opulent rose orientals' where rose and loads of golden/sweet/resinous/musky notes mingle so harmoniously. I'd be interested to see if this resembles the Love Potion blend, Queen of Sheba, as it seems a few of the Gaiman scents seem to be variants on similar-named/themed scents in the rest of the catalogue. I think this will be QoS made even sexier and more delicious-in fact, this looks like the lovechild of Queen of Sheba and Les Bijoux. Hopefully the lily of the valley won't soap this scent out of what looks like perfection.

MAD SWEENEY

Like notes: oak

Iffy notes: whiskey!

I'll try a decant of this just for the experience but if Beth says this is almost pure whiskey, I'll take her word on that. I'm sure it's a great conceptual scent but smelling of pure strong booze ain't my thing. It's definitely not a scent I'd wear on a driving test!!

MAMA-JI

Love! notes: cardamom, spices, nutmeg

Like notes: flowers (depends on what type)

If I wasn't br0ke I'd get a bottle of this STAT. I can't resist cardamom, and with nutmeg and spices? Me wantee. I'm intrigued by the flowers. What kind of flowers will they be? Probably Indian ones (but hopefully not champaca, aka Banana Blossom of Doom) but my guess is that they could be similar flowers to the ones in Kali, as this is a Kali scent too. (I get the feeling that these different scents with similar names/themes/alternative names evoke different aspects or characteristics of the person/deity/creature/character, and I love that.) I loved the flowery drydown of Kali, so that with added spice sounds fantastic. And if it's in Beth's favourite list, that's got to be a good sign!

MR. IBIS

Love! notes: papyrus, vanilla, Egyptian musk

Like notes: sandalwood

Huh? notes: aleo ferox, African musk

Oh yeah. Egypt, baby. And Thoth! As if adding Egyptian Freaks to the CD was bad enough for my finances, now she had to go add Egyptian gods to her Gaiman line! Thoth is one of my favourite gods, I have an affinity for him, what with his connections to science and writing...and I've been waiting for Beth to make a Thoth scent and now she has! And it has papyrus! But I adore the smell of Egyptian papyrus paper, the golden, reedy, dry aroma that I smell on my countless gorgeous papyrus paintings. If Beth captures that scent in here, I will die of happiness. And I've also been waiting so long for another scent with Egyptian musk-as Beth's E-musk note is one of the best, especially the stunning musk in Debauchery (which would have been a favourite were it not for civet) and I hope that musk, or the one in Bastet, shows up here. I'm also curious about the aloe (hopefully it's like the fresh green aloe note I like) and vanilla is always good. This was a no-brainer-instant bottle purchase!

MR. JACQUEL

Love! notes: amber, patchouli, spices

Like notes: hyssop

What the? MORE EGYPT? *paypal goes splodey-boom* And it's an Anubis-inspired scent! Oh my dog god!! I get the feeling this is going to be even better than the Excolo Anubis which I adore but it's not really an everyday scent-this one looks delicious. Amber is a favourite, as is patchouli (I wonder what North African patch is like) and I adore the combo of amber and patch, I'm wondering what those embalming spices will be like-will they be like the herbs in Anubis, or more spicy? This was another instant bottle purchase. I now wonder if there are more Egyptian god characters in American Gods...I've heard there's a Horus based character and someone mentioned a Bastet character too (correct me if I'm wrong)? I can't wait to see what else is added to the Carousel!

MR. NANCY

Love! notes: cookies

Like notes: tobacco, lime

Iffy notes: bay rum

I wonder if the Sugar Cookie note in here will be like Sugar Cookie 04, which was the most wonderful cinnamon biscuit ever, or like SC05 which was a more buttery, less spicy, boozier affair (which went burnt on me though)? I'm hoping for the former, but it could be a completely different cookie note...I have faith in Beth to make a delicious lime cookie scent which will smell fantastic on my skin. The addition of tobacco is intriguing, and the bay rum may or may not make this smell too masculine.

SPIDER

Like notes: ginger, nutmeg, mandarin, bergamot, lime

Huh? notes: artemisia

Iffy notes: vetiver

This one looks very masculine as a scent, like a citrus cologne with that gritty vetiver base. That's one of the notes that could be too much for me, depending on whether it's good vetiver of EVIL VETIVER OF DOOOOM. However, the nutmeg, mandarin and artemisia (wormwood? mugwort? tarragon?) remind me of Winter of our Discontent, which I loved, and the ginger could add a little kick. I'd be willing to try a decant but I think this is more of a man's scent.

So I bought The two Moon scents regardless (I have a feeling I might not like them but they could be miraculously good on me, who knows?), the Egyptian American Gods, Bilquis and the Blazin' Piggy, and they all have to put up with the Grumpy Groundhog who's also joining them on their transatlantic flight.

Talking of which, I think my Hunger Moon/Spicy KitTea has landed at home! I am really, really looking forward to trying the, along with my Mummy and Vulture, and my Salons! A great week for BPAL all round!

On non-BPAL related news, my coursework is nearly finished! I'll get more, no doubt, but I'm not procrastinating as much as I used to