coldandsleepy

Okay, brief review here because there's only one thing I can think of when I smell this on myself: it smells exactly like a Cabbage Patch preemies doll that I had in the late 80s/early 90s. Sweet, soft, and not wholly unlike baby powder. It's not what I expected from the notes, but I've never tried Snake Oil or Dorian, so... I didn't really know what to expect. This is not particularly lavendery on me, though I can detect a little bit of that and certainly a bit of sweet fennel. But that's about as far as I can analyze this because seriously, my brain just keeps shouting about Cabbage Patch dolls. So, yeah... I actually really like this a lot.

Oh, Pumpkin IV. To think that I almost overlooked you! What on earth was I thinking? Well, I was thinking that I hate vanilla, that honey fails to impress me, that cedar tends to run amok on my skin, and that white sage does nothing for me. My preconceived notions of what you'd probably smell like almost came between us! Thankfully, kmasden alerted me to the fact that you contain that same cherry tobacco note as Hearth '04, the one scent I hoard my precious three drops of like some sort of perfume dragon. With this information, I approached you with an open mind. And I was not disappointed, no, not at all. In the bottle, you smell of sweet honeyed pumpkin. The pine and cedar form a spicy resin that tickles my nose in the most delightful manner. But above all of that, you smell of my dear, sweet cherry tobacco. As you dry, the cherry tobacco just grows richer and more beautiful. Overall, you grow more rich, more creamy, even buttery, without ever veering into sweet, cloying, nasty territory. How do you do it, Pumpkin IV? How do you do it? Regardless of your methods, you've captured my heart, and now I must declare my love for you to all the world! I want them to know the joy that is you. I want to make them see that you are so much more than just a pumpkin scent.

In the bottle: mmmmmmandarin! Delicious! I can tell there's florals in here too but my nose is like yay citrus! On me, wet: for one strange but not unpleasant moment, I smell like an orange creamsicle! (Well, technically a mandarin creamsicle, I guess.) Then the violets, poppies, and tea come parading in. At this point it's a pretty big scent. On me, dry: now those big notes calm down a bit, and I can smell the musks a bit. They're not super strong... they're just a sort of foundation for the rest of this to sit on top of. I can still smell everything above, especially the tea... but the mandarin is losing this battle and I fear we have very little time left together. Throw: this is one that would turn into a WHOA, STEP BACK, LADY! kinda scent on me if I did anything more than dab it... sorta the opposite of Gladdener in that respect. It also presents a neat contrast to Gladdener in that Gladdener is really a scent that's evocative of a baby, and Lady Lilith evokes images of the young lady that baby might become. Very very cool. Anyway, I digress... Overall: if you've ever read any of my reviews before, you've probably heard me say that vanilla is the anti-me. Yet, over time, I've come to accept a few of the lab's vanilla notes into my life. When I tested Lady Lilith at Will Call, I didn't get any vanilla at all, and was like, hurrah! But testing it in my much less chaotic and scent-filled home, I realize that the vanilla IS present here to some degree. For me, I think it's mainly the vanilla cream which causes the brief period of creamsicleness. It's not at all gross or perfumey the way that most vanilla is on me. On the other hand, I still wouldn't classify this as a vanilla scent. For me it's mostly tea, violets, and citrus on top of musk, with just a hint of vanilla in there. Just what I wanted, but if you're in the market for something specifically vanilla-y, you may not like this one as much. Anyway, I love this. It's a really beautiful, elegant, near regal scent. Definitely a keeper.

In the bottle: sweet, soft lavender (not big ol' astringent lavender), spicy carnations, and lurking herbs. On me, wet: wow. This is one of my favorite lavenders from the lab ever. For me, it's definitely the key note, but it's so gentle and juicy. Around it, more herbal scents are cropping up. Nice. The whole thing is still really light and soft. On me, dry: now, at last, I'm getting the baby powder. It's not like an avalanche of talcum or anything-- just the lightest hint. Everything else in here has really mellowed out and combined into one beautiful soft sorta floral sorta herbal scent. Even the lavender settles, just becoming part of the overall scent. Does it smell like a baby? Actually, yeah, it kinda reminds me of how my youngest brother smelled when he was still new. Like, right after he'd had a bath. (He was a colicky baby, so... he didn't always smell so great. Anyway.) Throw and duration: this is a very subtle blend on me. I can definitely smell it on the air, but it's faint. Close to my skin, it's still going strong, so I really think it just doesn't carry far for me. That's okay-- this isn't necessarily a scent I need to have other people smell on me, but rather more of a comfort scent for myself. Don't know duration yet... I'm a little overexcited and had to review it right away. Overall: in case you couldn't tell, I basically love this. I don't get the honeyed milk at all, which was the one part I was worried about. If anything, I think that comes in during the drydown to add a little additional softness and sweetness to the scent. It's not a problem for me after all. I'd also say that it's worth risking this one if the only thing you're scared of is the lavender. Like I said earlier, it's not the RAAAAAGH LAVENDER RAAAAAAGH kind of lavender at all, and there's a chance that it'll just meld on down into the rest of the scent once you apply it, like it did for me. This is really a wonderful scent and I can't think of another BPAL to compare it to, so... I'm very very pleased with it, and might just try to snag secondsies on it.

It's a little after 2 a.m. and the mysterious heartburn I've had for over 24 hours for noooo reason is keeping me awake. So... it's time for questions! ***9/25*** Favorite cartoons or animated films? Oh, I like so many animated things, it's really kinda too hard to pick here. As long as the cartoon is either hilarious or at least a little bit thoughtful, I'll probably watch it. Really. Your take on the election? In other words, would you enjoy campaign related gifts, or prefer to stay neutral? Obama all the way. I'm not really into campaign related gifts, though. Villians you sympathise with, or are interested in boinking? Londo from Babylon 5. There's just something about him that resonates with me. He's so proud and imperious, but he's really rather silly and under the pretty frock coats and face powder, he KNOWS it. Everything he does, he does because he genuinely thinks he's helping his people. And he wants to help them because he wants to be liked. He just... gets sucked down a very wrong path. Poor Londo. Your stance on the all important peanut butter issue: crunchy? creamy? allergic? chocolate? maple? go directly to nuttella, do not pass go? Largely disinterested! On the rare occasion that I want to eat it, I go for crunchy, though. Who here likes to read historical fiction? If you do, what eras/people/countries intrigue you the most? Not a huge historical fiction person, though I'll read basically anything. ***9/24*** What sort of colors do you currently wear? Do you want to branch outside that? What would you like to try? Is this about clothing or makeup? I don't wear makeup, so let's assume clothing. To my mild chagrin, I've come to realize that almost all of my shirts are either red, black, or brown. Oh, sure, I have one or two baby blue ones and one noteworthy green shirt (one!), but really... I don't get around much when it comes to clothing colors. I don't know what colors I'd like to wear. Not yellow. Not orange. ***9/22*** About incense: do you like sticks or lose incense? Have you got one of those devices to burn lose incense over a bit of charcoal? No burny things! No incense! Alas! What's everyone's favorite fairytale and what are your favorite versions of it? Probably The Tinder Box, sometimes called The Magic Tinder Box. It's... well, you'd have to read it. It's full of all sorts of horribleness, and dogs with eyes like saucers! In browsing the internet, I found about seven different versions of it that're the same up until the end. But the weirdest thing about the endings is that they are always varying degrees of happy. What! This horrible man gets a HAPPY ENDING out of this all! ... Still, it's the first thing that comes to mind when I think of fairy tales that I enjoyed reading as a child. Also the one where the guy kills his grandma and sells her. You know, the one where the guy sees someone do something similar and gets confused and is like hurrah I shall be so rich if I only just kill my grandmother! And then he kills his grandma and tries to sell her and is like driven out of town and dies a sad and lonely exile. Um... I had NO luck finding this via Google, and I've long since lost the book it was in, so I have no idea what it's called or anything. So how many imps/decants is officially 'you have gone overboard and your Witchee is going to expire from scent overload'? Haw. As if! I guess that if my witch did something INSANE like send me a hundred imps, I might be a little overwhelmed... but I'd catch up eventually. (On the other hand, I'm perfectly happy with the two she's sent so far!) Who needs a recipe box? I don't need one, per se... I'm perfectly happy sticking recipes into other cookbooks! And to be honest, I rarely print out or copy down recipes these days. ANYONE ELSE want a home-made cookbook? Cookbooks are one of my favorite things, so yes, I'd be open to this!

I'm still feeling hugely under the weather today and all I want to do is sleeeeeeep. But I've discovered something amiss with my financial aid package for this year to the tune of, uh, $15000 dollars. As in, they're supposed to pay me this money as part of my fellowship, but it's not showing up on my financial aid record at all. I've emailed the financial aid people about it and hopefully it'll be sorted out soon.... but it's left me too nervous to nap. Ugh. But I'm still so tired and woozy that I'm useless at anything else. So I'm here babbling on about SW questions. Hooray! ***9/11*** If you are into the original Nintendo system, what 3 games would you want that you don't have? Hmm. I don't own any NES games anymore, because I gave my NES away before I moved to California. (At least I think I did. Hmmm.) There are lots of NES games I still like to play from time to time in emulation, though. One I really like that I have been unable to get my hands on is Hillsfar. Also Pool of Radiance. And Yo Noid!, my favorite pizza related game of all time. There was also a Mickey Mouse game that I can never remember the name of that I really liked and wouldn't mind playing again. But... I can't remember the name. What is your favorite category of the GC? I've had the most success with Mad Tea Party and am pretty close to through that entire category, which was one of my big goals when I got into BPAL. Wanderlust may be my favorite idea out of all of them, but of course, the category is so huge that I haven't really even made a dent in it. Aside from Dragon's Reverie, which I was sure would work for me and didn't, I've loved everything from the Ars Draconis category. (And actually, I'd really like to get another imp of Dragon's Reverie to give it a second try.) ***9/10*** Stance on Joss Whedon and his enterprises? I've seen about 1.5 episodes of Buffy ever and wasn't super impressed by it. That's my entire knowledge of the Whedonverse. What other perfume companies (besides bpal) have you been curious about? Hum. I'm not really interested in other perfumes, because I still have SO MUCH BPAL that I want to try. I've had great success with Arcana's soaps, though, so maybe someday when I've got less BPAL at my finger tips, I'll give Arcana's scents a try. Does anyone here do anything with grave rubbings? Not specifically grave rubbings, but I like to do rubbings in general. I don't think I've made any in awhile, though. What's in your Netflix or Blockbuster queue, do you want any new Netflix/Blockbuster friends, if so how do we find you on there? So many things are in my queue! I have noooo Netflix friends currently but am not opposed to the idea. If I understand it correctly, you can add me via this link: http://www.netflix.com/BeMyFriend/P7iROVJJgAOG24ZLwlFC ***9/9*** Do you play a musical instrument? No! I'd really like to, but I don't. What do you think of Irrelevant Disturbing and Surreal Crawdad Dream? Love it? Hate it? Kicking yourself for not getting a bottle? It's a fabulous concept. It doesn't smell great on me-- something somewhere goes a bit weird. But I love it in the bottle, and I'm keeping it around for the time being.

Now it's so cold that I had to turn the heat on for awhile. Sheesh! And they say California doesn't have weather. I just pulled the second batch of cupcakes out of the oven and now they're sitting to cool with the first ones... my kitchen (where I'm sitting) is still nice and toasty from the oven and it smells DELICIOUS, so all is well in the world. Time to answer some questions! ***9/9*** How do you feel about trinkets? You know - tiny toys or doodads that serve no purpose than to be cute, take up space and make us smile. Love them or waste of money? Hum... on a sentimental level, I love them. On a practical level, I hate them. My spouse is a huuuuuge packrat, so our house is full of clutter to start with, and the more little trinkets we get, the more potential there is for clutter. I'm the clumsiest person on earth, so clutter = catastrophe for me, not to mention it just makes me plain anxious. When I do get little trinkets (and they do drift into my life through lots of sources), I usually put them in my sentimental crap box. The SCB is a box of... well... sentimental crap. I sift through it now and again to feel all nostalgic and stuff, but the rest of the time it lives in a closet. If you send me little notes with anything, they'll almost definitely end up in the SCB-- I love collecting notes and they're so small that they don't make a dent in the box space, and they're great to reread later. I'm rambling... anyway... trinkets: great in theory, not as great in practice. Can melty things be shipped to you, or will they be in puddles by the time you open the package? Yup! Even in the dead of summer, the inside of my mailbox seems to stay shady and cool. Who likes pirates? Everyone likes pirates! I'm not as in love with pirates as many people, but I am fond of them. What are your feelings about Dia De Los Muertos? On the part of the east coast I'm from, we don't really do DDLM at all. I think it's a cool idea, though, and I like the imagery that goes along with it. What do you think about the Nightmare Before Christmas? Back before I took ADD medication, I used to fall asleep during movies all the time. ALL THE TIME. I think I fell asleep during Nightmare Before Christmas something like six times before I actually saw it all the way through. It's a good movie, though, and I do like the art style a lot. If candy is sent, would you prefer small amounts to a Halloween sized bag? Yeah, sadly, due to my blood sugar issues I can't really sit down and eat a big ol' sack of candy anymore. Do you like floral bath soaps, shower gels, etc? If so, what florals work on you and what don't? Yes! I am fortunate in that my skin actually likes everything except mint. (I don't like some other notes on my skin, but that's another story.) Florals mostly behave beautifully on me. I'm particularly into lily, lavender, rose, ylang ylang... I'm not at all into jasmine, even though it does stay true on my skin. I like (and sometimes even love) violet, but sometimes it smells like pickles on me. Seriously, pickles... I wish I was kidding but I'm not. Neroli tends to smell bland to my nose. I love cherry blossoms. Hum... that's all I can think of to say about florals right now. ***9/8*** How do y'all feel about honey and maple? And different flavored honey, not just the standard kind? Honey: I think I've mentioned before that honey is one of those things that vegans fight over. I don't seek it out to eat it and wouldn't really want you to send me a big ol' jar of honey. If it's in something else that is otherwise 100% vegan, I will probably eat it anyway. Maple: yes please. I like me some maple. What is your favorite thing to do on a cool fall day? It used to be jumping in leaf piles, but those don't really form around here. I guess now it's to cuddle up with a blanket next to a window and read a book. Ooh, or take a bath. I might just be saying that because it's dark and gloomy out today and those're the two things I really want to be doing. ***9/7*** If you have pets, is there a SPECIFIC toy they like to play with; brand and size? Is there a treat/cookie they eat? What brand and size? Guinea pigs are notoriously difficult to entertain with toys, and my dudes are no exception. For awhile, we had little bells that they could ring... Mister B loved his and would ring it fairly frequently, but Pingpong seemed to be TERRIFIED of his and would just sneak up to it, touch his nose to it, and then jump backwards in terror. In like two weeks, they totally forgot the bells existed. My theory is that they don't like toys because toys aren't food, and well... food is what piggies like. The one thing that they DO always enjoy playing with are paper towels. Seriously. Give 'em a paper towel and they'll be amused for about an hour as they shred that puppy into pieces bit by bit. It's fun to watch and I do let them do it every now and again. Um... you probably don't need to send me paper towels though. Oh! The one thing that they ARE in the market for are new tunnels. I used to have big cardboard tubes for them which they loved hiding in and running in and out of... but after about three months, those things were NASTY, so I had to chuck 'em. I'm sure they'd be pleased to get new ones. They need to be fairly big for the guys to get in and out of them... if you can put both your fists in at once, that's probably big enough. What's your ringtone? Fun fact: I have NEVER heard my cell phone ring. It's always either on vibrate or silent, which is how I like it. So... I have no idea what it sounds like. Just to throw a silly question out there...Munsters or Addams Family, y'all? Addams Family. I only dimly remember seeing the Munsters when I was very very young. The first Addams Family movie, on the other hand, was the first thing I personally ever bought on VHS. People used to call me Wednesday all the time when I was in middle school and early high school, which irritated the hell out of me then but is pretty funny now. What think you about receiving tea accessories and/or miscellany (like mugs, cups, saucers, strainers/filters, honey, natural sweeteners [like stevia])? Tea accessories are swell! I'm sort of up to my ears in coffee mugs right now, so those might not be the best idea... on the other hand, I can always use more cups and saucers. I don't do honey in tea and have thus far been unimpressed by stevia, but maybe you know something I don't know... How do you feel about copies of music or dvd's that your witch might have that you might enjoy? Not just mixes, but whole copies? That's fine with me. Say, witches, I have a question about birthdays. do you expect/rely on other people to plans birthday outings and activities? Oh ho ho. Story time! (But isn't it always?) I'm the third of five kids. My mom had a definite sorta... season... for having babies. Our birthdays all fall between mid-November and the end of February. Guess who is at the tail end? Yup, me. Combine that with the fact that three of my siblings are born on holidays (so easy to remember!) and the other one is just a couple of days after the one who is born on Christmas (hard to forget due to proximity) and... yeah... I've got the least easy to remember birthday in the lot. Naturally, this means that everyone in my family forgets my birthday every year. (Well, not quite. My dad's birthday is three days after mine, so he always remembers it. He's the oooonly one, though.) As a result, I'm used to doing more or less nothing on my birthday unless I make it happen. It'd be nice for someone else to sort it out, but it's not something I rely on or expect. Tarts? Yes/no? Nope... no way to burn them, aaand I'm not supposed to have stuff like that in my apartment per my lease anyhow. Woot! I bet the cupcakes are cool enough to frost by now. Awaaaaaaaay I go!

It's roughly as hot as hell here and I'm not getting any work done at all... so... time for more SW questions! ***9/5*** Do you wear a watch? If so, what kind/style? Nope! My husband is a huge ol' watch nerd, so I have a couple of nice-ish watches, but I never ever think to wear them. Part of the issue is that I spend about 90% of my waking life in front of a computer (yay grad school), and I find it very distracting to have something noteworthy on my wrist while I type. The only watch I've ever been able to wear consistently was a dopey pink Power Puff Girls watch that my mom loaned me for a period of several years. It stopped dead in the middle of the AP Physics exam just to spite me. Alas. How do you feel about having a donation made in your name to something? If you like that idea, what types of organizations/groups would you want the donation to go to? This is a wonderful idea! There are so so so many good things to donate money to as well. Here're just a couple of places I stand way the hell behind: Planned Parenthood Project Bread (Massachusetts) SOS Children's Villages Doctors Without Borders Burners Without Borders (jeez, I hate borders!) Covenant House (I'z not a Christian, but I have huge respect for their work) Habitat for Humanity (likewise) Joseph's House (in DC. This is yet another Christian organization, but this one is extra special to me in that a friend of mine is a full time volunteer there. It's a long term hospice for otherwise homeless people dying of terminal illnesses.) Farm Sanctuary ASPCA I'd be psyched to have you donate in my name if you wanted to, but if you do want to donate somewhere, I beg you NOT to donate to PETA. I really, really, really do not like PETA and believe that they are overall detrimental to the animal rights movement. Seriously. ***9/4*** Do you have a case for your mp3 player/digital camera? If you would want one, what size is your digital device? I've got a teeny tiny ipod-- one of the nanos from back before they got all chunky and gross looking. (No offense to the zaftig ipod lovers out there.) It already has a variety of storage socks. I don't have good cases for either of my two favorite cameras, but they are both pretty big (a Pentax K1000 film SLR and a Pentax K10D digital SLR) so I'm not sure how feasible making/finding a nice case for them would be. For tea drinkers, do you bag it or prefer loose? Loose, but I'll definitely drink bagged too. I'm not too choosy. Does the weather change where you are, as in, does it get cold in the winter? Anyone need homegrown scarves, hats, mittens, etc? YES. One of the most common misconceptions about California is that we have no weather here. We have weather in my part of the state! Winter is cold and rainy, and look... they don't call me coldandsleepy for nothin'. I am ALWAYS cold, even here... thus I'm totally receptive to warm weather gear. I'm particularly hot for hats and socks, but I'd never say no to scarves or mittens. Who are your forum buddies? People you know well enough online or IRL to help your Witch pick out stuff for you? strangemodegirl is definitely your best bet-- I know her IRLz, AND she knows my husband. Plus she's a kinda sneaky lady and I wouldn't be at all surprised if she agreed to snoop for you. My witch from last round, cuervosueno, also has an EXCELLENT grasp on what I like... so I bet you could pick her brain too if needed.

Thanks to scotchgrrl for collecting these! I'll be answering them periodically as time permits! ***9/3*** My questionnaire is chock-a-block with ideas for Witching me on the cheap, and without sending "stuff for stuff's sake". And I just came up with another one--make me a Pandora, Finetune, or Last.fm station you think I might like! What manner of affordable Witchery might you covet? Cheapy used paperbacks are ALWAYS welcome in my life, as are mix cds. I'd be touched if someone made me a MuxTape or something similar. (It's worth noting here that I use a Mac, so any sort of streaming media that will only go through Windows Media Player or RealPlayer may be impossible or at least annoying for me to get to.) Does your cell phone have a place to attach charms? I'm not sure... aaand my phone's been lost since early June. Well, sorta lost. I know where it is, I just haven't gotten a chance to go pick it up yet. If you drink coffee (and make it yourself) do you use a French Press, regular filter basket coffee maker, Espresso Machine, Percolator? At this point, I mostly avoid caffeine, and I swear that decaf coffee just doesn't taste the same. When I do have coffee, I just use a normal ol' coffee pot. What movie soundtracks (or scores) do you love? The Juno soundtrack! The Rocky Horror Picture Show soundtrack! Basically any musical soundtrack ever... I am secretly a huge, huge, huge musical nerd. Lost in Translation has a lovely soundtrack as well. There's probably more, but I'm not great at remember what music is tied to what movie. How do you scent yourself? Do you layer soaps, moisturizers, etc. or do you go straight to slathering your bod with BPAL? Soap smells rarely last on my skin. I only moisturize occasionally, and between being vegan and being allergic to aloe (damn you, aloe!), I can't use very many commercial moisturizers, so I usually just slap plain ol' coconut oil on. I've made BPAL scented lotion bars with great success in the past. Mmmm. Uh, where was I? Oh yeah. Anyway, soap doesn't last on me and I rarely use scented moisturizers, so yeah, I generally just go straight to BPAL. I'm not opposed to the idea of scent layering, though! Do you/how do you scent your world? Candles, incense, diffusers, potpourri? None of the above? My lease forbids burny stuff, so no candles or incense here. Even aside from that, I'm allergic to stuff in a lot of commercial scents and I share a living space with my dude who is easily overwhelmed by heavy scents. So, mostly I don't scent the house at all. Lately I've been fortunate enough to try two of the Lab's atmospheric sprays (Down the Rabbit Hole, via a delightful goblin squirt from my last lovely witch, and L'Inverno)... those don't seem to bother my nose at all, so I've been spraying my clothing drawers and bathroom and the inside of my laptop bag with them. Down the Rabbit Hole smells SO good inside my laptop bag, and one little squirt has lasted forever. Um, I digress. BPAL is such a scent-ual experience. What are your other tactile, aural, or olfactory pleasures? Back in high school, I had a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful teacher for gifted english. She's probably one of the best teachers I've ever met at any level of education. She's really keenly interested in the process of learning and how it varies from person to person, and how teachers can help facilitate these differences. She had us take a series of little tests to figure out what kind of learners we are, and I came up as tactile. Tactile?! All my friends were getting like, linguistic or interpersonal or spatial or or... I was a little miffed at first, until the teacher made me read about what tactile learners are. We're the people who can't buy clothing on the internet because we can't TOUCH it first. If our t-shirts have tags at the neck that are itchy, there is NO way for us to possibly sit still and learn something. We do best with hands on learning. So on and so forth. It's weird, because prior to this conversation, I had never really realized this about myself, but it makes SO. MUCH. SENSE. Anyway, point being, I am ALL ABOUT physical sensations. My very favorite thing is food. I like the process of eating-- the feeling of chewing, the feeling of food as it goes down one's throat, the feeling of fullness as it hits one's stomach. And of course, I love flavor. Unfortunately, I have blood sugar problems that keep me from eating a lot of the food I like these days. Did I mention this in my questionnaire? What I have is called reactive hypoglycemia, and it's kinda like the opposite of diabetes in that eating food with high sugar content makes me release too MUCH insulin, such that my blood sugar DROPS. It's pretty irritating, and means that I have to eat basically the same way as a diabetic person, though not usually to the same extreme. I've had it to some extent since I was 12 or 13 and it's gotten better and worse since then... for some reason, it took a turn for the WAY worse this winter/spring and basically made me pretty miserable. This is actually a big part of why I got into BPAL-- I needed some other sort of instant gratification thing to occupy and titillate my senses. Other than eating and smelling, I love listening to things, love touching soft things, love looking at nice things... I'm really pretty much a sensory ho. Jeez, I'm wordy, too. ***9/2*** How do people feel about receiving baked goods/kits to make said goods? Baked goods - oh yes! Kits - if you put it together yourself, I'd try it! I feel somewhat guilty admitting that despite the fact that several of my relatives give me baked good kits (like, boxes of fancy muffin mixes, etcetera), I NEVER use them. It just doesn't occur to me. It's probably because I like baking from scratch so much. Or other cooking items? In general, I give a big thumbs up to any sort of cooking items! Would you enjoy oil or vinegar flavored with herbs grown at home? Strange and exotic spices with recipes to try? Cookies made with carnation petals? Oh, good heavens. YES, YES, and YES! These are all insanely wonderful things. What are your pet's names, and what are they named for? Pingpong - he's a guinea pig. When my dude agreed that we would get piggies, I decided instantly that mine would be named Pingpong. I had this idea in my head of what a Pingpong would be like... he'd be white and orange with splotches, and he'd be an energetic little bundle of fluff, and he ABSOLUTELY WOULD NOT HAVE RED EYES. I could give up the white and orange splotches, I thought, but the eyes... red eyes are scary, I could never do that. ... And then when we went to get the piggies, there was one there that was the perfect Pingpong... but with red eyes. I didn't care, he was too loveable. We brought him home, and he really has been the perfect Pingpong ever since. He's a neurotic, twitchy, hyper little man, and a wonderful ball of fluff and love. Mister B - my dude named Mister B. Originally, he was called Bashful, because for like the first ten minutes he was in our house, he seemed really pretty shy. He's ended up being the least fearful, most bossy guinea pig either of us have ever met. So, he became Mister B instead of Mister Bashful. We sometimes make up new things for the B to stand for, like Bitey, Bossy, Beautiful... and so on. Mister Fish - he is a betta fish that our former somewhat batshit insane neighbors left with us when they moved out in a hurry/were evicted. He had another name prior to meeting us, but Mister Fish seemed much more appropriate. ***9/1*** Who here is a complete, over the top, Alice In Wonderland fanatic? I do love me some Alice in Wonderland, but after going to Burning Man and seeing Alice themed rave camps and dance parties, I know I'm nothing compared to many other people out there. Are you a Trekkie? If so, which series do you prefer? Do you have a favorite character? Oh, dude. I grew up watching TNG in a bad way. I'm probably the only person on earth who genuinely liked Wesley Crusher... I related to him in a big way. (Wil Wheaton is STILL a totally awesome dude, by the way.) I also watched and loved the original movies, though we don't talk about the modern films. McCoy was one of my first celebrity crushes, when I was like... 8. Yes, really. I haven't actually seen the original series and would kinda like to, though I understand there's a lot of SF cheez whizzery to be had in there. Do you have phobias? BUGS. (Spiders count as bugs.) Also heights to some extent. I had huge social phobia problems when I was younger, but I've learned to mostly work around them, so... not really phobia level anymore. How do you like your mix CDs? Random? Stuff you know you'll like? Random! I'd rather get a mix CD of interesting stuff I've never heard before than one of stuff I already have. Would you rather get food or jewellery? Oh, sheesh. This is a hard one! Probably food, but it's close... I mean, I'm just going to eat food and then it'll be gone. On the other hand, I don't wear jewelry all that often, so I'd probably just drape it on my dresser and coo lovingly over it in the morning. (This is what I do with most of the jewelry I own right now.) Which's not to say that I wouldn't enjoy it... because I would! Do you like children's toys, such as jacks, those little things you tilt around to get the ball in the right hold (wtf are those called?), the aforementioned caplet dinosaurs, cap guns, etc? Sorta. At this point, there are SO MANY tiny toys in my house (my mother-in-law and husband both love these things, so she sends us them all the time) that they basically just form clutter. So... while I don't mind receiving them, they're probably not the best gift in the world for me. English candy/tea/marmite or other stuff that you love and can't easily get outside of England? Having never been to England, I couldn't say for sure. I'm a vegan, too, so that kinda cuts it down. Fanfic as a gift* - yay or nay? Your fandom? Slash preferences?*well, a virtual gift obviously. You know what I mean. Alas, I've never been able to get into fanfic. Any beaders here? Need beading supplies? Not a beader, though I'm interested in trying. Do you like making up your SW packages around a theme, or prefer to mix it all up? This is only my second round of SW, so I'm not sure yet! Last time I managed to do one theme package and a couple of random ones. The theme package was fun to do, but I don't think it was a totally integral part of my experience. Band-aids: do you like the fun and funky ones? Of course! What's the scariest thing that's ever happened to you? Jeez. There're so many to choose from. What's really weird is that things have happened to me that I objectively KNOW should be higher on the scary-o-meter-- things that were vaguely life threatening, etc. But you know what the thing that always jumps into my mind is? (Spoilering this because it could be triggery for some.) ***8/31*** What is everyone's favorite Halloween song?! Wait, there are Halloween songs? Am I... am I just blanking on this or do I really not know any? I do like the Danse Macabre. How many of mah fellow witchies play video games? Platform? Do you like used games? Oh hell ya. I have access to, uh, most non-current gen consoles and to a lovely xbox360, as well as a contemporary PC that is still new enough to play just about anything and an Intel Mac that will play... uh... Mac stuff. I do like used games! What kind of music (genres, please) do you like? I will listen to basically anything other than modern country music (is it pop? is it country? either way, it's shitty!), teenage girl pop/boy bands (gag me with a spoon), and gangsta rap (I just can't relate to putting caps in people's asses, sorry). Seriously, beyond that, you're welcome to try me. I'm not terribly into electronic music, but I'm trying to get better. Have any of you ever received a book from a Witchy and loved it so much you ended up buying a copy for a later Witchee? No books, but there're some presents from my last witch that I'd be thrilled to find copies of for my witchee. What kinds of eye shadows do we all like? Absolutely NO powder eyeshadow-- I have insanely sensitive eyes, and even the littlest bit of eyeshadow near them will cause my eyes to itch and weep and goo up for days. I wish I was joking, because I love glam eyeshadow and would love to be able to pull it off every now and again... but powder eyeshadow just doesn't work for me. Some cream shadows are fine... it kinda depends on whether or not they dry into a powdery mess or not. Honestly, the thing I've had the most success with is using a little bit of lipstick/lip gloss on my lids. I know, I'm a classy lady. Do you like lip balm? If so, do you like tinted, glossy, sparkly, pearly or just plain lip balm? Yes to all of the above. I will put basically anything on my lips that isn't made out of animals or full of aloe. (Note: I AM open to beeswax. This is a huge source of debate among vegans, and I'm not really decided on it one way or another.) What are some of the SW gifts/finds from past rounds (or you can just name a gift in general that you found for someone if this is your first round!) that you are the most proud of in terms of your sleuthing skills? SW - I was really insanely happy with the second necklace I got for my witchee, edenssixthday, last round. I had felt nervous about sending her a second necklace and wasn't sure if I should send it... but when it arrived at my house, I was just taken aback by how beautiful it was and knew it would be perfect for her. She seems to have really liked it, so I count that as a good thing! Said necklace was made by a friend of mine, so that's an additional bonus. Non-SW - many years ago, before I went from vegetarian to vegan, my husband (then boyfriend) mentioned that he was really interested in learning how to make cheese. This was circa July or August that he mentioned this. He did a little research on the internet but was daunted by the cost of it and was like siiiigh I'll never get to do this... so he just forgot about it in a couple of weeks. Me, I remembered about it until Christmas and bought him a cheese making kit. I've never managed to top that one, I think-- he was really touched that I'd remembered and facilitated his desire to learn how to do this thing. Also, I got to eat lots of excellent cheese because of it. And, secondly, what is something you've been searching for but just can't find? Hum. I don't know. I'm generally a pretty content little person. The only thing I've been trying to obtain and failing at lately is, uh, a baby, and I don't think you all can probably help me with that. ***8/30*** Do you knit/crochet? Do you need any supplies? Not anymore... I have carpal tunnel and knitting used to make it flare up in a HUGE way. I've considered trying again lately, because I haven't done it in a few years and my wrist problems are generally much better now that I use a touchpad instead of a mouse (really!). Who here has an etsy shop? Not me, says the flea! What are your two favorite etsy shops? Lush Beads - that's the friend of mine who made my last witchee's necklaces. I really love her stuff, though I don't think she's listing many of her new things on Etsy right now. (She's in the middle of moving both her store and her home, which is as big of a pain as you can imagine.) Zygopsyche - picking a second place store is just this side of impossible for me, so I'll pick one that's fresh in my mind. Zygopsyche is a lady who makes stuffed piggies and bunnies. My lovely witch from the summer round, cuervosueno, bought me one of her guinea pigs and it is the most beauuuutiful thing ever. I'm thinking about getting one for my mother in law for Christmas. Are you active on any other boards/forums? If so please specify where and your username there. I'm on again off again active over at the Post Punk Kitchen (ppk) forums! My username is the same as here. Other than that, I don't do many forums anymore. ***8/29*** What would you tell yourself 6 months in the past about 2008 so far? You're going to face a lot of disappointment re: the baby thing. It's harder to conceive than health class would have you believe. You're going to finally make two great local friends whose first names both start, incidentally, with A. This will help with the loneliness a lot, so just hang in there. You're going to learn how to ride a bike all over again! Isn't that exciting? Your strange little plan to try one imp pack of BPAL every month for a year is somehow going to turn into you trying something like 400 scents in seven months. Good luck! If you had one minute of fame, what would you do/say in the spotlight? I dunno. I don't really like being in the spotlight a lot, which is funny because I love acting and public speaking and stuff. I guess I'd just say thanks. Robots versus zombies: who wins? Robots. What would zombie say? Braaaaaaaaains. Where are a few of your favorite places? Bed, Burning Man, the local arboretum, Oregon, the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, the Mercer Museum in Doylestown, PA, the Exploratorium in San Francisco, Santa Cruz, San Francisco, and Scotland (though I haven't been there yet). Out of curiosity, all the fall babies who are celebrating their birthdays during the round - who are you, and when is your bday? I'z not a fall baby. What is one (only one) object that you collect, that totally goes against your personality or beliefs? Uh, perfume. Every time I tell anyone about the perfume thing for the first time, they're like, WHUT. I'm about the least frilly person you'll ever meet, and I'm freaking cheap too, so BPAL seems pretty at odds with the rest of me. Are you a soap addict? Anything you like to avoid in soaps (goat's milk, lye, dyes, etc...) or any particular scents you like or brands you want to try? Yes, I'z a soap addict. I don't do animal products, even in soaps. This means all milk soaps are out for me. I'm also allergic to aloe, so aloe's right out there. Right now I'm really hot for Arcana soaps, and also for Magic Hands... and, well, Villainess, of course... and I'd like to try more BPTP soaps... yeah, I'm in to soap. Do you like kilts and would you wear one? Of course I'd wear one! I'd kill a man for a Utilikilt. What's your favorite book? Isn't this on the questionnaire? If it is, I probably said I can't really say for sure, which's true. Ender's Game is up there, as is Last Call by Tim Powers. There are so many other wonderful books though that I just can't really pin it down. What size socks do you wear? How about hat size? I am only barely aware of the fact that socks and hats come in sizes, so uh, go from there. I have medium feet for a lady... I wear 7 or 7.5 shoes. My head seems to be normal head sized. Do you read comics? Which ones do you love and which can't you stand? YES! In terms of print comics, I love most things by Warren Ellis (provided that they don't turn into people shooting people and nothing else... damn you, Warren). Also big into Fables... loved Promethea... loved Y: The Last Man until I eventually got bored of it and just wanted it to end... love all things by Jeffrey Brown... Owly... and uh, I read Shojo Beat every month basically cover to cover, even though I can't stand some of the series therein. On the manga track, I'm big into Skip Beat, which I'm trying to read in Japanese because I like stabbing myself in the eyes it's a learning experience. Online comics: Anders Loves Maria is probably my most favorite online comic, followed shortly thereafter by Questionable Content. I read some others off and on, but those're the two I'm really into. Comics I don't like: X-men other than the original X-men (which I love)... anything superhero-y... many web comics. Symbols that are meaningful to me? Hum. Nothing's springing to mind other than the Burning Man symbol, which's fresh in my mind after a week on the playa. By nature are you a morning lark or a night owl? Kinda both. I would say I'm more of a morning lark right now, but as a life long insomniac, I often see both ends of the evening. What's your favorite type of music to hear live, rather than recorded? My favorite person to see live is John Vanderslice, followed by the Mountain Goats. I've seen each of these gentlemen something like twice a year every year for the past four or five years. So... I guess we're going to have to go with indie rock. What is your favorite autumnal-seasonal drink? HOT cider. It has to be hot. Cold cider is sort of an abomination. Hot cider is best if you drink it outside in the freezing effing cold out of a paper cup, but being that I live in California now, my chances to do this are few and far between. ***8/28*** Crossword puzzles? Other pencil puzzles? I am mildly addicted to crossword puzzles. When I have the time, I do about five daily puzzles, though if I don't have as much time I'll just do the New York Times and maybe the (vastly inferior) Washington Post. I love to do crosswords in the bath, especially Sunday sized ones. The Wall Street Journal has my favorite Sunday puzzle. I like other wordy sorta pencil puzzles okay, but I'm not really interested at all in Sudoku-- too easy to do if you know the basic method and have time to crunch numbers out. Favorite artist? Like art artist? That's hard. I've always had a soft spot for Van Gogh-- I like that you can almost see him going insane throughout the course of his painting career. There are a really insane amount of contemporary artists whose work I love, but I never remember names. Favorite poet? Hard to say. Maybe e.e. cummings, because the stuff of his that I like I really love... though admittedly, I can't stand about fifty percent of what he does. Halloween. Do you like it kooky or creepy? Either! Reserved or Raunchy? Halloween can be raunchy? I had no idea. Earth, Wind, Fire or Water? Water or Earth. Tea or Coffee in the morning? Neither, lately. Tea more often, though. Fruity snacks or chocolate? Chocolate. Mmm. Would you accept art? Of course! Antiques or Brand New? Antiques! What keywords do you use when searching for items for yourself on Etsy? Vegan - annoying because a lot of times non-vegan things are labeled as vegan. Recycled - I like recycled art and jewelry a lot. Are there any of y'all who are allergic/sensitive to having natural fibers on your skin? Not me, though I don't do wool for personal reasons. What was your favorite ghost/scary/campfire story growing up? I'm blanking. Bugs? Do you like 'em or not? n-o! i haz no imp storage. do you? I have four 100 imp ammo boxes, of which about two and a half are full. I'm open to more. ***8/27*** If you have a garden/planter box, what do you grow? I tried to grow lilies this summer but after thriving for weeks, they SUDDENLY DIED. The same thing happened to my rosemary, though it took longer. Sigh. What incense scents do you prefer? I don't do incense (see higher up). Do you decorate for Halloween? What sort of decorations? Dress up for Halloween? I dress up, but have never actually decorated. I wouldn't mind having like a light up cat to put on my porch, though. Or some sorta flag. Bats, cats, skeletons, monsters, vampires, witches or what other ghoulies do you prefer? I have known and adored a great many black cats in my life, so I love black cat decorations. Monsters are fun, especially if they're kinda cute, too. I like little cute ghosts and skeletons. I... I guess I'm a cutesy Halloween person. Hadn't realized that before. Do you like horror flicks? Yes, though they do tend to genuinely scare me. Who here prefers stylus and ink to ballpoint? Anyone invested time and effort into calligraphy or proper Victorian writing? I WANT to very much, but I've never had a chance to try. What about stationery? Need some? What styles do you like? I always need more stationary. Basically, if it's anything other than plain white printer paper, I'm interested. I especially like little tear-off notebook pads-- like little hand sized ones. I use them to write notes on. ***8/26*** What is one item that you've wanted forever, could have afforded, but have never gotten and why (haven't you gotten it!)? Hmm. I don't know. I'm bad at buying stuff for myself, but I also don't tend to want stuff very much. I guess one thing I've always really wanted is to leave the country, even to go to Canada or Mexico. There have been plenty of times where I could've afforded it (though it would've been a scrimp at some point... it always is) but I've just worried too much about spending the money. Travel in general is something I love to do but rarely treat myself to. What Halloween scent are you most looking forward to? Oh, sheesh, I'm not sure. I broke down and bought a bottle of Huesos de Santo this morning while picking up the Lilith scents (yay! baby! yay! baby scents!), so it's probably that. Basically all of the Sleepy Hollow scents are also screaming my name. Tattoos! Do you have em? Do you want em? Whatcha got or getting? None yet. I'd like to have one, but I've never been sure what exactly I want. Ursula Vernon has a picture of a riding guinea pig that I love that I might see if someone could put on me at some point. Reduce - REUSE - recycle. Do others feel the same? Yes'm. What is your favorite crafting supply? Watercolor paper. Paper in general. Weigh in...Are you right or left-handed? Righty. Any period of time that you love? Oh, lots. I even kinda like now. ***8/25*** What's your favorite part about Fall? Rain! It used to be jumping into leaf piles (and overall, the turning of the leaves) but we don't really have that over on this heathen coast. Do you like office/school supplies? If so, what is your favorites? Yes! New pens and lead for my mechanical pencil. What's your favorite Halloween candy? Alas, there is little left that I can still eat in the way of Halloween candy. I DO like candy corn, despite the havoc it wreaks on my blood sugar. Will you be participating NaNoWriMo? If so, is there anything you'd like to have for that? I don't know if I'll do it this year or not... maybe. I've done it successfully before and really enjoyed it. If I do it again, I'll want a good notebook and a special pen to write it with... I found I had much more luck in just getting it done if I wrote it out by hand first and then typed it up. ***8/22*** Where does everyone like shop for witching goodness? I'm about fifty fifty internet and local brick and mortar stores. What is your favorite pumpkin goodness? PIE Phew. I'm fiiiiiiiiinally done!

DCCCLXXXI (phew-- that's 881!) I tried to put a reducer cap on this as soon as I opened it and ended up splattering oil all over myself. Doh! I'm not that upset, though, because ol' 881 is delightful. What does it smell like? Well, in the bottle, it smells like chocolate frosting and slightly soapy citrus. On application, the "whoa! chocolate!" tones down a bit and I can recognize the citrus as whatever it is that's in Aelopile. I frimped my Aelopile to someone who really wanted to try it and have missed it ever since, so I'm pleased to smell that same citrus again! Along with the citrus sharpening up (and getting way less soapy, something woodsy comes out to play. It's a little bit like the world's faintest cedar (or maybe patchouli?) note. Really faint, but really pleasant. It takes this scent from mostly foody into creative incense territory. Definitely a win. I'm glad I decided to take a chance on it.

There are a couple of BPAL scents I've had a hell of a time getting off. Obatala, one of my arch scent enemies, absolutely would not come off of me. Ugggh. I scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed with a different variety of things and it just wouldn't budge. And it lasted for hours. Bad memories. For most things, though, I find that a good dish soap works wonders. It makes sense if you think about it-- dish soap is meant to cut through grease/oil on dishes, so a good dish soap'll cut through oil on your skin that hasn't sunken in too far. If you've got unscented dish soap, this is an extra bonus, since you'll be scent free and ready to put on something you like more or less immediately after.

Interesting! I love Hunger Moon but have a respiratory allergy to verbena, so basically I sniff it and am like YUM GOOD SMELL and then am like AAAH CAN'T BREATHE, which is not too great. I didn't like Scales of Deprivation on my first pass, but maybe I'll try it again with that comparison in mind. Though it's one of those not-really-much-better substitutions, Death of The Grave Digger reminds me of Hunger Moon without the big side of verbena. Hunger Moon that I can actually _wear_? Oh, I'm very pleased. A couple of different things have reminded me of Glowing Vulva. The one that comes right to mind is The Antikythera Mechanism. They're not twins by any means, but they've got the same vibe for me.

Too true. I clicked on this thread specifically to say that Crawdad Dream is just about the strangest BPAL I've run across in awhile. What does it smell like? Do I like it, don't I like it? Impossible to say. It sounds like you got a great variety of things in your imp pack! Though I'm late to this party, I'll add in a couple more for anyone else who might be looking for not so normal scents: Great Sword of War - already mentioned, but bears repeating! Queen Alice - the sand note makes this pretty strange to my nose. Black Pearl - this smells shimmery. It's really odd. One of my favorites, though. It's definitely got coconut and hazelnut and iris in it, but it's one of those scents that's more than the sum of its parts. Ulalume - both clean and delicate and heavy and dirty at the same time. It's also a good cheap intro to the lab's dirt note.

Ah, sheesh. How have I not reviewed this yet? I've taken like four baths with this oil since I received it. This is significant because, well, it's summer, and in the summer, I tend to go on a hiatus from taking baths. But L'Inverno is just that refreshing and good. Of the three L'Inverno items in the Inquisition, the bath oil has my favorite scent. The fir doesn't dominate it whatsoever. Instead, I get a big pile of really chilly lilies and orchids, with a heavy dose of icy grapefruit. Though I've just told you that I get a big pile of flowers out of it, I'm going to follow that up by saying that it doesn't really smell floral to me. It's a bit floral, a bit citrusy, a bit pine-y, and a LOT clean and refreshing. It smells cold and crisp and clean. It smells so good in the bottle that I have to take it out of the bathroom as soon as I pour a bit in the bath... otherwise, I'm afraid I'll end up dumping the whole bottle and have one gluttonous, wonderful, but sadly remorse-inducing bath. Mmm. Gluttonbath. Anyway! A little goes a long way with this oil. I'd say I've been putting maybe a capful of it into my bath, which causes the scent to persist for at least an hour long bath and cling faintly to me afterwards. I combed a tiny bit of this into my hair after one bath out of reluctance to part with the scent... and my hair smelled like heaven for the entire rest of the day. This... this is good stuff. I'll be so sad when my L'Inverno bath oil is all gone.

In the bottle: sharp ozone, casual pine, and faint, creamy lilies. Mmm. Smells good! On me, wet: much the same, though I'm losing the lilies pretty quickly here. Noooo! Come back, lilies, come back! On me, dry: chilly pine and benzoin. Mmm, benzoin. I'm also getting the faintest hint of plum, but it's pretty faint. Throw and duration: throw's about average; however, the duration is definitely on the low end for me. I think I got about 4 hours out of it both times I wore it. Sadness. Overall: This is a sort of somber wintery scent. Makes me think of a snowy winter evening. I like it a lot, but I'm sad that the lilies (my favorite part of the initial scent) just go poof on me, because seriously, I love me some lilies. On a scent pairing note, here is what I did the first time I wore this: 1. Sprayed the bathroom with the L'Inverno atmospheric spray. 2. Bathed with the L'Inverno bath oil. 3. Toweled dry, then applied the L'Inverno perfume oil. It's amazing how different and yet how complimentary the three scents are together. They're... they're really awesome. <3 L'Inverno!

People seem to often enjoy scents I can't stand the smell of on me. Three cases in point: my BFF loves Marshmallow Poof on me, whereas I feel like it makes me into a cloud of sweaty vanilla death stink; my husband loves Torture Queen on me, which smells like my own B.O. in a way that makes me feel sick; and the spouse also loves MB: Closet on me, which I think smells distressingly like cake and cat litter. Whyyy do they all compliment on those ones? It's maddening. On the other hand, the spouse has complimented a reasonable amount of others. (I actually note it in my spreadsheet. Yes, I'm a nerd.) He likes Prague ("like flowers but not like floral, you know?"), Buggre Alle This Bible ("it smells like rum!"), All Night Long ("it smells like delicious cookies... NOM NOM NOM"), Versailles ("pretty!"), Hex '08 ("you smell like delicious wood smoke"), and Sleepy Moon ("yes, that is a good one!"). Oh. And Dragon Moon '08. A LOT of people approached me about this one when I did theater stuff recently... lots of "delicious incense" comments. I guess I know how to work the dragon's blood.

I have a teeny tiny dining room (five feet by five and a half feet, with walls on three sides) where I sit at the table and do homework all the time. I sprayed a squirt of this in there and, oh my. It's love. About the scent itself: I can pick out all of the notes in here if I try, but it's really gorgeously blended and the final outcome is not just the sum of its parts. It's really hard to describe on account of this. It's cold, and clean, and a little sweet, and a little woodsy... and a lot awesome. As a room spray: it's a fairly subtle and gentle scent... definitely present but not at all overwhelming, which is just perfect for me. I'm impressed by the fact that it really doesn't take over the space it's in, even though I put it in a tiny little room. There's nothing at all chemically smelling about it, which makes it different than... well... any other room spray I've ever used. (But then, I haven't tried the other BPTP offerings yet. ) Definitely a refreshing breath of cold, crispy air on a hot summer day. Maybe... maybe I'll go spray this in my underwear drawer.

Okay, I hope this is the right place to post this... I couldn't find this anywhere else. For those who're curious, here's what the L'Inverno set* looks like: (click for bigger version) Also: closeup of the label on the bottle of oil. *Soap label from the preview soaps, not from the Inquisition itself.

For a pale rose, I particularly like Moon Rose. Pale, crisp, and just rose... nothing else lurking in there. You might find more good suggestions in our big rose recommendation thread here: roses!

To me, this smells a bit like cherry and a lot like vanilla and sugar. It doesn't combine to anything that I think of as "marshmallow"-- I think it's a lot closer to gooey marshmallow fluff, like someone else suggested. I don't like vanilla, so you won't be surprised to hear that I didn't like this a bit and ended up washing it off. The vanilla was very aggressive and cloying and musky on me, as almost all vanilla is. Yuckers. On the other hand, my best friend was visiting from out of town, and she LOVES the smell of this on me. She says it smells like vanilla and patchouli, which I think is crazed. Anyway, she really likes it and says it does smell a bit like a marshmallow. So there you are, two very different opinions of the Poof. Regardless of my feelings on the scent, I am really glad that I got to try this.

Okay, this is a scent I can only really describe by comparison. I know that's not helpful for people who haven't smelled the other scent, so I try to avoid doing it, but my brain can't really process this scent beyond this observation... It smells almost exactly like Tiki Queen on me. Maybe a bit more sugary, a bit less floral. It's definitely got a bubble gum sort of vibe going on to my nose. I'm happy to say that on me, it doesn't smell particularly vanilla-y at all. It's quite lovely, in fact, in the same way that Tiki Queen is. It's just a super sweet kind of lovely. Also, Pink Phoenix lasts forever on me. Like... 10 hours. That's something Tiki Queen doesn't do. I'm glad that I got to try this, thanks to the lovely and generous dpoulsen21.

This is another scent from the lovely package dpoulsen21 sent me for co-winning the Tell Me Something Amazing contest. In the vial: heeey, I'm in a pine forest. With cinnamon? On me, wet: ... a creamy, fruit filled forest. On me, dry: the forest and its fruits persist. Mmmm. Persistence. Throw and duration: moderate throw, good duration. I applied about six hours ago, and it's still as strong as when I first put it on. Nice! Overall: Skadi is in the same family as a lot of other wintery pine scents. On first sniff, it really reminded me a lot of Old Moon. But the big difference with Skadi is the fruit... I don't get berries from this. I get some sort of bright red extremely juicy fruit... a fruit punch sort of fruit. That with the creamy tone really make Skadi something special and delicious for me. And, okay, I just like pine scents a lot anyway, so it's not surprising that this is a win for me.

This is the first scent I tried out of the set that lovely lovely lady dpoulsen21 sent me for co-winning the Tell Me Something Amazing contest. (That might not be the actual name, but.) I have to tell you, I felt a lot of trepidation about trying this and the rest of the things in the package out, because, well... they're RARE. And obviously, since they're RARE, I'm going to LOOOOOOVE them, and what if I can't get them again after I've used up my decant... Closet has shown me the flaw in this. I... I don't like Closet. it just doesn't work for me. It starts out smelling like, I kid you not, cat litter to this nose. On my skin, it starts smelling like Eat Me + cinnamon + cat litter. I really, really don't dig this at all. It's just getting sweeter and sweeter, too. Sweet cat litter. Nooooooo thanks. On the flip side, my husband LOVES this and says it smells excellent on me. He's really passionate about his like of this, which is weird for him, so I have to assume he really means it. He says it smells delicious, like cinnamon and spice and vanilla and cookies and cake. It "reminds him of something." Maybe I'll hang on to this partial decant just in case, y'know, he needs to be convinced that BPAL's the right way to go in the future. I wish this didn't smell so much like cat litter to me, because I quite like the non-cat litter scents in this.

My notes about this say: A scent of inimitable purity, crystalline grace, and limitless lemons. Don't get me wrong. I like this scent a lot, and for me, it really does evoke the scent of limitless light. It just does so through heavy application of lemons. The lemon in here is very bright and fresh, and I like it with the sort of ozone-y scent. Works for me! I'm hanging on to my imp.

This reminds me of Sleepy Moon if Sleepy Moon were less... bold. It's a nice, rich lavender with a side of gentle sandalwood. I get a little medicinal edge to it that's not lavender-- maybe the mugwort? I'm happy to say that the jasmine in this is out to lunch on my skin. Overall, I found this to be a gentle, comforting scent... perfect for wearing to sleep. I'll be holding on to my imp of this.