BlueSage

Just wondering if anyone else in Europe had recent orders on the way from the lab? I got a CnS on 13 April -- normally packages from the States only take about a week to get here, but two weeks isn't uncommon, so I wasn't really expecting it till this week and the longest a package has ever taken is nearly 4 weeks from the Trading Post. And I'm sure that the delays in flights due to volcanic ash will also have disrupted air mail. All that being so, I don't think it's worth contacting the lab about it yet. On the other hand, it would be great to know if anyone else is experiencing delays or has had European deliveries made during the last fortnight

Does anyone know the maximum number of 4oz or 8oz bottles Puddin can cram into one of the $21 international postage boxes? I'm eying up a LOT of the BPTP yule and other items, but it's so pricy to ship heavy stuff to Euorope that I'm thinking that saying no more than one box would be a sensible way to budget.

Darn... I was quite happily thinking "BPAL in the UK? That's interesting" without any urge to drive halfway across the country to see it. But now you have all posted the descriptions of the retail only scents (and testers as well), it becomes very tempting.

Irina If your allergies are so severe then have you considered scent lockets? The tradingpost makes beautiful ones but there's also a thread dedicated to them in the Beyond Perfume forum -- it's possible to get base metal lockets on ebay etc much more cheaply than the BPTP ones. The oil doesn't touch your skin at all and it would make it much easier to try oils without having to learn to make sprays (and still being able to swap or sell the imps if the scent doesn't work for you).

I see Bordello recommended a LOT on the forums and I love the lab's dark red fruity scents (berries, blackcurrants, and especially plum) but I've held off on trying Bordello because the notes sound a lot like Lady Macbeth, which didn't work for me at all. (The herbs disappeared to virtually nothing on my skin and the wine note was very very sweet). How does bordello compared to Lady Macbeth? Or to fruity scents which do work on me (Fruminous Bandersnatch, Masabakes, the Fruit of Paradise for a start)? ETA -- I have similar reservations which have stopped me ordering Jester

I'm looking for recommendations for a very specific type of jasmine smell. Jasmine is one of my favourite scents (particularly the fresh smell of blooming jasmine in the garden) and my search for jasmine perfumes is one of the things that brought me to bpal in the first place. Not all the lab's jasmine smell's work on me (a few go sharp or soapy, including Twilight and Bat-woman) but those that do are lovely. I particularly like New Orleans, although I'm also very fond of Peitho, Suspiro, Eos and Siren. And I find that all of those blends have very similar types of jasmine in them (although some of them obviously have other prominent notes as well). But much as I love them, this note still isn't that particular fresh smell I'm looking for. And then I got a decant of Jasmine Cottage. I know that many people in the review thread identified lots of different floral notes, but on my skin, this is it. This is my perfect fresh, clear jasmine. The problem is it's very faint and fades fast; maybe 40 minutes on my skin and even in a scent locket there is no throw left after a couple of hours. So what I'm asking for is recommendations, not just of other jasmine scents, but of blends that seem to you to have the exact same jasmine note as Jasmine Cottage. It's so beautiful it makes me want to cry, so I'm hoping there must be at least one or two other scents with the same note out there.

Thanks everyone -- that's reassuring to know. Now I just have to decide what I want... it's very tempting to keep adding just a few more imps

Hi, newbie here I'm thinking of placing my first order, but I'm hoping that some other UK people could let me know whether I will have to pay import VAT, charges etc on the parcel. I know that the Post Office charges a hefty admin fee if there's anything to pay at all (I've been caught in the past buying things from cafe press) so I'm trying to work out whether it's better to place a bigger order and hope to save on postage, place a small order and hope to avoid customs charges or whether it's not an issue. Thanks BlueSage