Lit Chick

This should rock my world. So many delightful notes. So many favorites! So why is it so "meh" on me? I ordered this with Snow,Glass,Apples - and that should have been hideous, but it was magic. Lune Noir should be my holy grail, and it's not. I think it's the blue musk. Don't get me wrong - it is a lovely scent. Very dark-purple and slinky. It starts of with a sweent bang that reminds me a lot of Dragon's Milk before it gets all grown-up and sophistocated. When I was in college and skinny, I had a fantastic, outrageous, skin-tight purple velvet BCBG dress with long sleeves that ended in half-gloves. It was so very Morticia-Adams-Goes-Glam. I loved it. I only ever had the guts to wear it in October, but I wore the hell out of it in Octobers. Lune Noir is what I should have smelled like in that dress. Slinky, dark, maybe a touch wicked. But alas, I am not that slinky, dark girl anymore. I think I'm going for less secretive scents lately. If you want a little mystery... prowl in this scent. Grrrr.

This one should not work on me. Fruit = bad. Mint/Eucalyptus = Bad. Ozone = Very Bad. But together... love. Wet it is crisp tart apples and icy air. There is a big waft of eucalyptus, I get a little of the sinus tingle, but in a very good way. I thought it might be very Snow-Moony, but it's not. It's not Snow-Whitey either. It immediately reminded me of Sea of Glass, but I have not smelled that one in a while. This is crisp and clear, but SoG made me think of bright sunshine, and SGA is more like virgin snowfall in a bare forest. Very pure. For a moment when it's morphing from semi to full dry donw, it goes plastic - just like Snow White. But thankfully that is a very short stage, and the driest dry leaves me with apple spiked musk and a tiny little metallic tang of blood. The blood note only comes up when I'm huffing so much that all the other notes are overloaded and fade. It is amazing. I have not felt this way about a BPAL in a while. I've had many successes, but this makes my stomach lurch just a little in OMFG-I-llooooooove-this-and-it's-extremely-LE panic. Which is silly, because I use sparingly, and have other true loves. But still... this is stunning. And I'm sad that this will be my one and only bottle. I bought this for the chapbook, but it's the oil that has me swooning.

On 11/29, I woke up at 3 am feeling odd. Not in pain, but I just felt something. I went to the bathroom and I had bloody show, slightly. Now, according to the midwife and all the books I have, that means labor is on it's way - but usually not in any hurry. I decided to stay up, since I wake at 4am anyway for work, and see what happened. Nothing much did. By the time I left for work, I was having contractions, buyt they were of a Braxton-Hicks type. On the ride into work, they got stronger - feeling like menstural cramps. They were very regular, about every 10 minutes, but very short duration. I thought nothing of it, because my best friend gave birth on the 20th, after weeks of similar symptoms. I figuired that I had a day at least, if not more. At 7 am I called my midwife and doula to let them know what was going on. By that point, the cramps were getting a little uncomfy, but still nothing at all bad. Both of them said that it would likely be a very long while, and just keep them in the loop. Wendi (midwife) said to leave work when I started getting distracted, or after a half day so I could rest before labor really got going. At 8 am, I decided that I would leave at 9, since things were really going places. Still no pain, but each hour there was a very noticiable increase in intensity, and since I live an hour from work I did not want to get stuck someplace. I left at 9 and and my parents drove me home. I kept trying to call my husband, but the phone just rang and rang - I was not pleased. He knew about the show, and knew we were on baby watch that day - so why was his phone off? I ended up having to call other people in his company to track him down -he was working at a different account that day and it was in a dead zone for cells. We chatted, and he like my midwife and doula thought it would be hours and hours before anything real started happening, so he did not leave work. It's funny - I knew that I was on my way, but since this was my first time I didn't want to be silly and insistent. So I let other people tell me it would take a long time, and I did not make them come to me when I needed them. I did not want to be a silly needy 1st time mom who thinks she's in active labor and then has the baby 48 hours later. We arrived at my house shortly after 10, and by that point I was truly in labor. I was very distracted, and could no longer talk through the contractions. Agian, not painful, but uncomfy. We got home and I desperately needed to go to the bathroom, but my father had my car. With my keys. And the garage door opener. And he was nowhere in sight. Turns out he stopped for Starbucks! STARBUCKS! Can you believe it? Just as my mom and I were driving away to find a bathroom, he rolled up. If I was not so in need of the facilities, he would have been in trouble. I sorted out the bed, with the waterproof tarp and the extra sheets, and tried to settle down for a nap. I laid down and it was instantly wrong. So complely uncomfortable, and wrong. I gave up on sleep, and sat on my birth ball. Ahhhh. Instant releif. I again called my midwife, and she asked if I wanted Stephaine, the assistant, to come over. Hell Yes! A few minutes after that call, my water broke. Good times. It broke over a series of contractions - not a huge gush, more like I wet myself repeatedly. It's funny how little you care about stuff like that in the moment. All over the bathroom floor? We'll deal with it later. Wiped it up with my good towels? Eh, I'll buy more some other time. Bryan arrived just before noon, and even though I do not remember it being an event, my mother said labor really amped up then. I was very relaxed and very happy to see him. He has the most wonderful look on his face. Fear, excitement, awe, love. He was so visibly moved, and so tender with me. He tried to caress me, but he's a chef - and he stank to high heaven of food. I made him shower before he could touch me. I remember the early moments with him - he was so adorable. He did everything right, perfectly. A little after that, Stephanie arrived and checked me. 5 cm, 100% effaced. On the video, you can see her leaving the bathroom and texting like mad with this "holy crap" look on her face. Now, my mom had very fast labors, and I told them all about that - but still, no one really expects a 1st timer to be so aggressive. Especially since I was only moaning and such. It did not hurt, it was just crampy and uncomfortable. An hour later, I started making different noises - the gutteral grunting that is a red flag for pushing time. Sure enough, I was there - but nobody else was! Stephanie did have all the emergency equipment, but all the other midwives and the doula had yet to show up. They got there about 30 min later, after much speeding, just in time for my pushing. I remember asking Stephanie if I was in transition yet, and she laughed and said I was already past it, and that it was time to see my baby. Whoo! I was so worried about transition, but mine flew by so fast. I do remember a time when I wanted to give up, but I was just so tired and it seemed like there was no break between contractions. They had gotten to a somewhat painful point, but pain is such a wrong word for it. It was not a hurt feeling, just a full-body intensity. Sort of like if you have multiple orgasms, and the point when you have to make it stop because you body is just short-circuiting. It was very much like that - just too much sensation, but not pain. It was exhausting. During that part, I remember wanting to ask for my mommy. I wanted someone to make it stop so I could rest. But every time I opened my mouth to cry, I stopped. I thought "no, you must go forward". I see on the video that I was not 100% successful - there were some moments of sobbing and saying that I didn't want to go on - but overall it was not too bad. It was just the most tiring thing ever. I moved all over the place - toilet, ball, floor. At one point, they asked me to get up on the bed, thinking it might be a good position for me. Oh my god, no. I see why labor is painful for so many women. I was on my side on the bed, and that hurt. It was awful. I had to ride through one contraction like that, and then I scrambled back down to the floor and leaned againt my husband in a squat. Instantly better. It is SO important that a woman be allowed to move durinbg labor - I truly had a nearly painless experience, and it was because I could let my body lead me. Another thing that helped was my mental state. I was very well prepared to birth this baby, I had no fear. At one point, Stephanie said "open up for your baby", and afterthat during a contraction I just said "open, open, open" and I did. Everyone was saying how strong I was, how powerful I was. I kept saying "thank you". Bryan thought it was funny, and asked why. It was because it was more polite than saing "I know". I felt all the power, I knew I was doing an amazing job. It was incredibly hard work, but I knew everything was flowing through me just as it should. And whenever someone said that I was so strong, Bryan nearly cried. Every time. He was so in awe and so proud. When it came time to push, I faltered a little. I never felt the urge to push at all. I gave a few attempts, but they were little and like pooping - not going to get the baby out. Stephanie applied some pressure to give me a target sensation, and after that we were rocking. I thought the contractions were tiring, but pushing was worse. Since I never felt the urge, pushing did not come as a relief. I also did not get any break from transition to the pushing stage - I think there was maybe 10 min of calm between the stages. Steph really had to talk me throuhg it - and it was really funny. At one point she's telling me to push push push, and I broke out of my labor bubble at said "I got nothing" totally in my normal voice, just stating there was no contraction. Pointless. And then a few secons later I say "Here we go!" and give a massive crowning push. I was prepared for a ring of fire, and Steph said "you'll feel streching and burning" but I only felt the stretch. It was not bad at all. Intense, but I was braced for much worse. The crown was easy, but the face - oh, how odd did that feel! His bumpy little nose coming out - so strange. I did not like that. After the head, I thought I was done. I thought one more easy push and his body would slide right out. Wrong. Shoulders. How awful! Now, that is the part that hurt. I did not want to push, so I was a little PO'ed, and then it was like another head when I expected easy slide. I screamed for the shoulders - it was hard work to push him out! I think that's the point where I tore as well - I had a very minoir tear on my labia of all random things. Better that then the perineum though! Bryan caught the baby, and gave him to me. We were both in such shock. I thought we'd cry, but we were both struck completely dumb. I looked at my boy's face, but nothing else. I was scared to examine him. Later, when he was weighed and all, I asked the midwives if he was ok - and he was. Phew. Then I looked him over. It took a while before I connected with the baby - not in a strange depressing way, but I thought that I'd be filled with this huge love right away, and I wasn't. I was a bit empty. I did love my little boy, but I was so shocked! I felt a little detached at first. Very hazy. It took a few hours before I came back to myself and started processing things again. That emptyness was very scary. I see how women go into post-partum depression. During pregnancy, I had an amazing sense of creative power. I felt fertile and glorious. During labor and delivery, I felt a terrifying power run through me. It was amazing, but extremely scary looking back. I was very aware after he was out that the power that birthed him could easily have been the death of us both. If you resist and fight the power of birth, it can be destructive. I did not fight it, and during labor I felt connefted to the force, but when it was gone I felt drained and empty. Like a huge storm had swept through me. I felt extremely small and vulnerable, and scared. I started thinking about the aches and pains, and the body that had been so strong for 9 months felt broken. It was very difficult. But that night, as I was falling asleep, I started to process all those feelings. After I thought about the fertile goddess feeling and the powerful birth/death force of nature, I thought about the triple goddess concept. And even though I was never very religios, it truly helped. I realized that I was not emptied out by that force - not at all. It's just that what was in me now was quieter, gentler. I was now filled with healing. The aches were not evidence of injury, but of my body knitting back together. I pictured myself being cradled in the arms of Motherhood just as I was cradling my infant son. Then, everything fell into place. I felt myself become a mother, and I was able to sleep and be calm. Now it's 2 weeks later, and we're all getting the hang of life as a family. The first few days were tough - I thought breastfeeding would be a simple matter that would come just as naturally as everything else did. Nope. I tried to feed Finn, but he did not seem interested - he'd suck a little and then fuss, and then sleep. The first full day, he slept for a very long time - he had no energy to wake up. Stephaine showed me how to latch, and we started feeding. But it was hard the first day, and I was upset and so was baby. It took a few days before we got the hang of it. Both Finn and I had to learn what to do - but once we got it, it was wonderful. Now, he's still a big sleeper. His usual routine is to drain both breasts and then top himself off on a third go, then sleep for a long time. 3-5 hours at a stretch! I was terrified about that, because that first day, they said do not let him sleep that long - but that was because he had not fed well yet. Now, I let him stay asleep. I found out that if a worried mommy wakes him up, Finn gets very very cranky. It's really helpful though- we all get a pretty full night of sleep, and I have the time to shower and do chores and nap if I want to. He is such a wonderful baby! Finally, our midwife loaned us the best video every - "The Happiest Baby on the Block". It teaches you how to calm an upset newborn, and it is like magic. I was already doing a few of those naturally, but swaddling was tricky. Finn loves to be swaddled, but I could never get it to stay put - the video shows you exactly how to do the wrap. Now we all sleep in the same bed and nobody fusses! And the one time Finn got truly horribly upset (we had to wake him up and put him in a carseat - angry baby!) I was able to hush him back to sleep within 10 min. Amazing. Finn and his daddy are the best things that have ever happened to me. I am loving motherhood!

Bummer. Wet, this is yummy, if a little too sweet for my taste. More booze! More cream! But *poof*, in a few minutes all I am left with is the vanilla, and bpal vanilla goes plastic on me. Boooo! This will be swapped to a more loving home.

This was a risk. All of the chocolate scents I've tried thus far have gone sickly-sweet and nasty. Coffee turns musty, and cinnamon tends to amp into Big Red. I have no idea why I ordered this. It's brownie batter. Pure, dark, rich batter. As it dries a bit, it loses the gooey-ness and turns into just a night straight chocolate smell. Yummy! Throw is crazy, and this stuff lasts all day and into the night. One little dab and it was all I could smell. It ate Eggnog for breakfast and Gingerbread Poppet for lunch. I'm not often in the foodie mood, but I'm glad to have found a choco scent that works. This might layer really well with some other things. I'm contemplating Mad Sweeney (works with Eat Me - maybe it will like brownie as much as cookie? And spiked hot cocoa is always good....).

GP is still a winner! I smell a slight difference in the 2007 version compared to 2005. '07 is a little drier and spicier, a tiny bit less sweet. It's more like a nice hot gingersnap, and '05 had a touch of cookie-batter to it. It's barely a distinction though. Still an amazing, delicious scent. All-time-top-ten, never want to be without a bottle of this!

Sniffle. Pirate Moon does not like me. So many of the notes are on my list of favorites that I was shocked when this just went majorly aquatic and not much else. At first, it was a really pleasant aquatic, but something in the dry-down just battles my skin goes sour. It's probably the citrus and the leather. Some leather smells divine on me, but De Sade was evil incarnate, and I'm getting the same sharp leather smell instead of the warm, broken-in one I was hoping for.

Wow. This is purely mouldering leaves on me, with TONS of throw. Not pleasant at all. I was hoping that it would have the leaf smell, but smoke would be dominant - so it would have the aroma of a slightly damp, crisp fall evening. Seems like plenty of you get that, alas my skin just went with rotting vegetation and ignored the rest. Big bummer, but the rest of the Halloween scents have made up for it.

I ordered this along with Peace to prepare my house for the birth of my first child. I'm glad I did! The oils arrived yesterday, and I could smell the sweet happiness of Bastet's Laughter coming through the box,. I do not practice rituals really - I do what I feel is right. And I immediately dabbed a bit of BL around every window and door of my house. Just a teensy little bit, and I told the house that this would be a place of joy and happiness. I think it worked for me. My DH is out of town, and I'd been having trouble sleeping without him - nightmares and the like. But last night I had a delightful rest, and woke up cheerful and bright (I'd also been in a cranky mood for about a week). I feel very positive and secure. Lovely blend.

Mmmm. MMM. At first sniff, I figured this would be a winner. Sweet floral herbs, but not sugary (bleh). Lots of watery notes, but none of the ozone tang that so many also have. This is not a clean aquatic. First thing this AM, it was very very herbal. So much so that it gave me pause, and I thought it might even go a bit masculine. As it starts to dry, there is a bit of aftershave quality. I suspect that's the lavender, which usually gets aggressive on me for a few moments before calming down into something lovely. It's grassy too, but the florals really balance that out. It's very meadow-y. There's a little saltiness in there too, just barely. I get no smoke at all. As it dries in full it gets very gentle. This is a very perfumey blend, falling into a nearly department-store type of scent. For the first 30 min of the dry-down, I am on the fence about it. But there's still something about it that I really love, and the full dry is soft and gorgeous. This would also be fantastic in a locket, as the wet stage is delicious.

In the bottle and initially wet, this is a slightly sweet, damp herbal floral. I love this stage, but it does not last. On, it has a breif flirtation with a slightly smokey scent (so I thought I mixed it up with Singing Moon because smoke is not a listed note), but that vanished, never to return. Then it becomes a very dark musky amber, and up close it smells like wet rocks. Not wood at all, but a handful of smooth, soaked pebbles. It's closer to a earthy scent than an aquatic, but that's just right up against my skin. The throw is all dark amber and musk, slightly powdery, gently sweet. I can't decide if I like the rocky note or not. It's very interesting to me. I keep smelling my wrists, thinking "hhmmm... no" then I get a waft of the throw and have to go in close again. It's intriguing. I don't want to like it, but I do. ETA - on the very last gasp of the dry down, it's like baby powder and play-dough. However - I think this is the blend's way of saying "apply more". This is about 7 hours after first light application, so they staying power is quite good with the unfortunate morph only showing up in the last 20 min or so.

I am so glad I'm not the only one who smelled crayons. How odd is that? Pencil shavings I can understand, what with the wood and all - but waxy crayon? This is earthy and very dirty. Very low-key. The woody notes remind me of the rich wood in Intrigue, though these smell very different. I kind of like this. Now I see what allt he fuss about dirt is. I might not keep this, as I generally like to smell stronger than this - but this is a BPAL to try. So very off, in a fun way.

I got this as a frimp from the lab ages ago, and just now got around to my review. Slacker! This was swirling and airy, but it has a very strange note that does not work on my skin. It's both cloyingly sweet and medicinal. I can't place what it might be. It's not very dominant in the blend, more a background thing. However, it does not put me in a happy place. I think I'm getting more of the negative aspects in this than the positive.

A tragic heroine from German lore. In despair over a faithless lover, she threw herself into the Rhine. In death, she has become a siren that haunts that river to this day, luring sailors to their doom. Neroli, sandalwood, ylang ylang. This is tangy, sweet, and airy, but it soon starts to amp into cloyingly sweet. It also plays hide and seek - it's here, it's gone. It's the ghost of BPAL, haunting my wrist.

Vetiver, vetiver, and more vetiver. It is so masculine! Also, the vetiver is trying to kill the lemon. So much clashing of notes! And it's so so strong! It's an angry, vicious blend, at least on me. Way too scary.

Whoah vetiver! After I get past that, it's clean leather and rose. Nice and bracing, extremely masculine. Whenever vetiver is in a blend, my nose says "meh, traditional". This really isn't - but it does have notes that have sort of a wide appeal for men. I was trying to figure out why I dislike this, even though it smells nice - and it's very aggresive. It's the smell of a guy who would fight with me just to fight. Hah, but the person I'm now thinking of really could have used this - his scent was generic and dull. Sorta like his personality. Wow, this blend makes me cranky so off it goes!

Hell Yeah. It's a lot like the wonderful Herr D, with the sweet pipe aromas. But Herr D is comforting and cozy - and this is really not. As it dries, the leather really comes out. Extremely fresh leather, with a hint of smokiness. I like it quite a bit, but Herr D will forever be the perfect pipe blend. This will do when I want a little more darkness.

I think so far only 1 violent blend has worked on me, and this is not it. This was a dark, sexy, very masculine scent. The violent turned it to elderly woman on me. You know, I don't even think it's a chemistry thing. I think I really dislike the smell of violet. This smells perfectly nice, did not turn rancid at all on me - but ugh. Combine that with the tang of vetiver, and this is heading off to swaps. Sexy, but not my type.

Shockingly delicious! I adore coconut, but I rarely wear it because it tends to smell too beachy. Suntan lotion, drinks, bleh. Not my thing. I thought this would be a fun little cocktail that would be pleasing, but nothing special. Wrong! Creamy toasted coconut. CREAMY creamy creamy goodness. I find I don't really like the milk scents, but cream and I are soulmates. So fantastically good. I smell really nothing but the toasted, slightly sweetened coconut - perhaps the other notes are what keeps it from going tropical on me. I don't care - it's a delight. Huge success. I love when BPAL suprises me.

I was avoiding this, as fruit notes tend not to be very nice to me. This was actually not bad at all. Not a winner due to chemistry, but not horrific. It smells like the Strawberry Shortcake dolls. Sweet, plastic strawberries. But that's not bad - it's adorable. It's a very little girl scent, but better than the nasty stuff little girls acutally get to wear. Zero staying power on my skin though. *poof* It brought back happy memories of playing in my bedroom as a little tyke. Awwww.

Sweet, soft, and innocent. It's much sweeter than I expected - I thought it would be a more powdery scent. It has an aquatic quality to it, but this is a sugared floral all the way. It's quite bouncy and bright. It has a strange throw on me - it's almost just a hint of scent, and then a few minutes later it's pretty powerful. It confuses my nose. It stayed close to the skin, but the amping shifted wildly. In the end, it got a touch soapy as some florals will do. Overall, not for me. Just a touch too sugary for my skin.

This stuff is AMAZING. How did I ever live without it? Truly. Quietude had been my sleep blend of choice until I had a tragic spillage accident. And while Q was very good - it did not always work. I would get a window of peace and tranqulity - but if I did not get to sleep during that time then I was just going to smell nice for my insomnia. This - this worked so differently. My brain turned off. I was still functional - but my brain was already in shut-down mode. I was so realxed and easy. I dozed off, and then the husband came home. I got up, had a chat, and when it was bedtime again I immediately fell dead asleep. I practially sleepwalked when I needed to go to the bathroom, and again fell right back into deep deep sleep. DH's alarm went off, which usually means I'm up - but I was able to get my extra hour of full snooze before mine went off. This is unheard of! I woke up still in a trance. I was not fuzzy at all, but that was the best night's sleep I've had in ages and I didn't want to let it go. My body stayed relaxed, shoulders down, for a good few hours afterwards. It did take much longer than usual for my mind to rev up to full alert. I wasn't sleepy - but just very chilled out. Plus, it smells like heaven. To me, it was a spicy vanilla scent, very creamy, with a hint of herbal every once and a while in the initial stage. When I made DH sniff, he said it smelled like chocolate. I can see that, actually. Milky chocolate. It's delicious, but not foody (in other words, yum, but did not provoke a craving for sweets like every other food blend currently does). This is a MUST HAVE.

CCNow is the processor - have no fear, BPAL will get the order. If you send through PayPal as well, the you will be essentially making a 2nd, duplicate order. Don't do that. Your 1st order will be fine.

Midnight Mass is probably the best... it's lovely. Sure, it was an LE - but it's not exceedingly rare. I bet you'd have luck with an ISO topic if you decide you're desperate for a sniffie of that.

Quietude is my general-purpose sleep and relax blend. I have tried all the Somnium collection, and none work as well for me as Quietude. However, on my worst mind-racing nights, I find that Dragon's Milk is by far the most effective. It makes sense give the info about Vata above. It's a sweet, milky, soothing scent. I generally sleep like a child when I use it - literally. I makes me feel small and secure and innocent, like mommy just tucked me in. Nothing to worry or stress about.